harry

English

Pronunciation

IPA: /hæɹi/
Rhymes: -æɹi

Etymology

Middle English harien, herien, from Old English hergian (“to pillage, plunder”), from Proto-Germanic *harjōną (compare East Frisian ferheerje, German verheeren (“to harry, devastate”)), from Proto-Germanic *harjaz (“army”) (compare Old English here, West Frisian hear, Dutch heer, German Heer), from Proto-Indo-European *kori̯os (compare Middle Irish cuire (“army”), Lithuanian kãrias (“army; war”), Old Church Slavonic кара (kara, “strife”), Ancient Greek κοίρανος (koíranos, “chief, commander”), Old Persian kāra ‘army’).

Verb

harry (third-person singular simple present harries, present participle harrying, simple past and past participle harried)

(transitive) To bother; to trouble.
We shall harry the enemy at every turn until his morale breaks and he is at our mercy.
- 2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1 - 0 Chelsea”, BBC Sport:
  Chelsea also struggled to keep possession as QPR harried and chased at every opportunity, giving their opponents no time on the ball.