R. A. Sokolov
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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.
Examples of harry in a Sentence
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2024
The ensemble, particularly Kevin Del Aguila, makes all kinds of mischief, and Kim excels at seeming harried.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2024
While Clark says these threats can be mitigated through security control policies and configurations, such as multifactor authentication (MFA), these introduce extra steps that harried guests may not always want to jump through.
—Kevin Williams, CNBC, 1 Sep. 2024
Popular on Variety Curtis (Cho) and Meredith (Waterston) are devoted if harried suburban parents to three subadult offspring with problems typical for their age.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 30 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for harry 
Dictionary Entries Near harry
Cite this Entry
“Harry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/harry. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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