Speed the plow

Posted by ESC on September 10, 2008 at 22:00

In Reply to: Speed the plow posted by Otto Minera on September 10, 2008 at 10:40:

: What would the phrase "speed the plow" mean? Like in the title of a play by David Mamet.

GOD SPEED THE PLOW -- "God speed the plough, 'a wish for success or prosperity,' was originally a phrase in a 15th-century song sung by ploughmen on Plough Monday, the first Monday after Twelfth Day, which is the end of the Christmas holidays, when farm laborers returned to the plough. On this day ploughmen customarily went from door to door dressed in white and drawing a plough, soliciting 'plough money' to spend in celebration. Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

• Speed the plow Smokey Stover 11/September/08
  • Speed the plow RRC 11/September/08