harry

verb

har·​ry ˈher-ē 

ˈha-rē

harried; harrying

transitive verb

1

: to make a pillaging or destructive raid on : assault

2

: to force to move along by harassing

harrying the terrified horses down out of the mountains

—R. A. Sokolov

3

: to torment by or as if by constant attack

Did you know?

Harry has been a part of English for as long as there has been anything that could be called English. It took the form hergian (“to make predatory raids, ravage, wage war”) in Old English and harien (“to plunder, ravage, torment, pursue, drag”) in Middle English, passing through numerous variations before finally settling into its modern spelling. While its oldest senses were violent indeed (and harry can still be used today to mean “to make a pillaging or destructive raid upon”) one is just as likely today to encounter the word in less martial, though still fraught, contexts that involve someone or something being troubled or worried. Holiday travelers may be harried, for example, by numerous stresses (traffic, flight delays, lost baggage, etc.), while sports teams are often said to harry one another while vying for control of the ball, puck, or what-have-you.

Choose the Right Synonym for harry

worry, annoy, harass, harry, plague, pester, tease mean to disturb or irritate by persistent acts.

worry implies an incessant goading or attacking that drives one to desperation.

pursued a policy of worrying the enemy

annoy implies disturbing one's composure or peace of mind by intrusion, interference, or petty attacks.

you're doing that just to annoy me

harass implies petty persecutions or burdensome demands that exhaust one's nervous or mental power.

harassed on all sides by creditors

harry may imply heavy oppression or maltreatment.

the strikers had been harried by thugs

plague implies a painful and persistent affliction.

plagued all her life by poverty

pester stresses the repetition of petty attacks.

constantly pestered with trivial complaints

tease suggests an attempt to break down one's resistance or rouse to wrath.

children teased the dog

Examples of harry in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

They'd been harried westward by immigrant settlers avid for their land. —Jack Schnedler, Arkansas Online, 16 June 2025

For a decade, we were harried Los Angeles co-parents, entwined by conversations involving camp sign-ups, parent/teacher conferences, pediatrician appointments, dividing spring break weeks and the antidotes of two troublesome felines. —Kim O’Hara, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025

And so there was Tonali harrying and hassling from the off. —George Caulkin, New York Times, 12 May 2025

For newbies: Orphaned after the death of their parents, 6-year-old Lilo (Maia Kealoha), ostracized at school, is being raised by her devoted but harried teenage sister Nani (Sydney Agudong), nearing the age of adult guardianship. —Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 21 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English hærȝen, herien, harien, herwen, harwen "to plunder, ravage, torment, pursue, drag," going back to Old English hergian, herian, heregian, hergon "to make predatory raids, ravage, wage war," going back to Germanic *harjōjan- (whence also Old Saxon herion "to plunder," Middle Dutch heren, hergen "to destroy with an army, ravage," Old High German heriōn, herrōn "to devastate, plunder," Old Norse herja "to despoil, lay waste"), verbal derivative of *harja- "body of armed men" (whence Old English here "body of armed men, army," Old Frisian here [in compounds], Old Saxon heri "army, crowd," Old High German heri, hari, Old Norse herr "host, army," Gothic harjis), going back to Indo-European *kori̯o- (whence also Middle Irish cuire "troop, host, company," Middle Welsh cord, cordd "tribe, clan, multitude, troop," Lithuanian kãrias "war, army"), derivative of appurtenance from *kor- "war," whence Lithuanian kãras "war," Old Persian kāra- "army, people" (with lengthened grade?); also, with suffix -no-, Greek koíranos "commander, ruler" (< *koironos < *kori̯o-no-s)

Note: Old English forms such as her(e)gian, 3rd singular present hergaþ, show variants with reversion of palatal g (= [j]) to velar g (= [ɣ]) before a back vowel, though in this case there was no original g, and the reversion is analogical. The two competing sets of forms were passed on to Middle English. The variants with either -i- or -w- gave rise to two more or less distinct words in modern English, harry and harrow entry 1. For other words containing Old English here "body of armed men" or Germanic *harja- see arrière-ban, harbinger entry 1, harbor entry 1, harness entry 1, herald entry 1, heriot.

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for harry

• aerie
• airy
• arie
• barre
• cherry
• clary
• dairy
• eyrie
• faerie
• faery
• fairy
• ferry

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Kids Definition

harry

verb

har·​ry ˈhar-ē 

harried; harrying

1

: raid entry 2, pillage

2

: torment entry 2 sense 2, worry