harness

harness

English

A harness on a capybara

Etymology

From Middle English harneys, harnes, harneis, harnais, herneis, from Anglo-Norman harneis and Old French hernois (“equipment used in battle”), believed to be from Old Norse *hernest, from herr (“army”) + nest (“provisions”) (from Proto-Germanic *nesaną (“to heal, recover”)). More at harry.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑː(ɹ).nəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)nəs

Noun

harness (countable and uncountable, plural harnesses)

1. (countable) A restraint or support, especially one consisting of a loop or network of rope or straps.
2. (countable) A collection of wires or cables bundled and routed according to their function.
3. (dated, uncountable) The complete dress, especially in a military sense, of a man or a horse; armour in general.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene v]:

     Ring the alarum-bell! Blow, wind! come, wrack!
     At least we'll die with harness on our back.

4. The part of a loom comprising the heddles, with their means of support and motion, by which the threads of the warp are alternately raised and depressed for the passage of the shuttle.
5. Equipment for any kind of labour.

Alternative forms

• harnass (rare, archaic)

Derived terms

• die in harness
• harnessed antelope
• harnessed moth
• test harness

Translations

restraint or support

Albanian: fre (sq) Armenian: լծասարք (hy) (lcasarkʿ) Belarusian: ву́праж f (vúpraž), збру́я f (zbrúja) Bulgarian: хамут m (hamut), сбруя (bg) (sbruja) Catalan: arnès (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 挽具 (zh) (wǎnjù) Czech: postroj (cs) m Danish: seletøj n Dutch: tuig (nl) n Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: valjaat (fi) pl French: harnais (fr) m Georgian: აკაზმულობა (aḳazmuloba) German: Geschirr (de) n, Pferdegeschirr n, Gurt (de) m, Anschnallgurt (de) m Greek: ιπποσκευή (el) f (ipposkeví), χάμουρα (el) f (chámoura) Hebrew: רִתְמָה‎ f (ritmá) Hungarian: (for a horse) lószerszám (hu), (for supporting a child) kantár (hu), hám (hu), szíj (hu), szíjzat, kötélzet (hu), heveder (hu) Ido: harneso (io) Irish: gabháil m, úim f Italian: braca f, imbragatura (it) f, imbrago (it) m, imbracatura (it) f Japanese: 馬具 (ja) (ばぐ, bagu) Kazakh: әбзел (äbzel) Khmer: អស្សាភរណ៍ (ahsaapʰɔɔ’nəy) Korean: 마구 (ko) (magu) Lao: ອານມ້າ (ʼān mā), ເຄື່ອງທຽມ (khư̄ang thīam) Latin: capistrum n Manx: greienys, (horse harness) cullee chabbil f Mongolian: морины тоног (moriny tonog) Norman: graie f, att'lage m Persian: استام‎ (fa) (estām) Plautdietsch: Säl n Polish: uprząż (pl) f Portuguese: arnês (pt) m, arreios m pl Romanian: ham (ro) n, harnașament (ro) n Russian: у́пряжь (ru) f (úprjažʹ), сбру́я (ru) f (sbrúja), упря́жка (ru) f (uprjážka), ремни́ (ru) m pl (remní) (e.g. parachute strap), хому́т (ru) m (xomút) (horse collar) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ха̑м m, а̑м m Roman: hȃm (sh) m, ȃm (sh) m Slovak: postroj m Spanish: arnés (es) m Swedish: sele (sv) c (also figuratively), seldon n Tagalog: guwarnisyon Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: koşum (tr) Ukrainian: у́пряж f (úprjaž), збру́я f (zbrúja) Vietnamese: yên cương Walloon: haerna (wa) m

set of wires — see wiring harness

Verb

harness (third-person singular simple present harnesses, present participle harnessing, simple past and past participle harnessed)

1. (transitive) To place a harness on something; to tie up or restrain.

   They harnessed the horse to the post.

   • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

     Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

2. (transitive) To capture, control or put to use.

   Imagine what might happen if it were possible to harness solar energy fully.

   • 2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:

     Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.

3. (transitive) To equip with armour.

Translations

to place a harness on something

Bulgarian: запрягам (zaprjagam) Esperanto: jungi (eo) Finnish: valjastaa (fi), ottaa käyttöön French: harnacher (fr) German: vorspannen (de), aufzäumen (de) Hebrew: רָתַם‎ (he) (ratám) Hungarian: befog (hu), felszerszámoz, felkantároz (hu) Ido: harnesizar (io) Irish: úim Italian: imbracare (it), imbragare, imbrigliare (it), frenare (it), trattenere (it) Manx: greigh Ottoman Turkish: قوشمق‎ (koşmak) Persian: کنترل کردن‎ (fa) Polish: zaprząc (pl) pf, zaprzęgać (pl) impf, ujarzmiać (pl) impf, ujarzmić pf Portuguese: arrear (pt), atrelar (pt) Romanian: înhăma (ro) Russian: запряга́ть (ru) (zaprjagátʹ) Sanskrit: युनक्ति (yunakti) Slovene: zapreči Spanish: arrear (es), aparejar (es) Swedish: sela (sv), sela på, spänna för, binda (sv) (~ to vid) (figuratively) Tagalog: iunsi, mag-unsi Turkish: koşmak (tr) (transitive), koşum takmak, koşum geçirmek Ukrainian: запряга́ти impf (zaprjaháty), запрягти́ pf (zaprjahtý), впряга́ти impf (vprjaháty), впрягти́ pf (vprjahtý) Walloon: ateler (wa), alaxhî (wa)

to control or put to use

German: nutzbar machen Hungarian: hasznosít (hu), felhasznál (hu), kiaknáz (hu) Italian: imbrigliare (it) Norwegian: utnytte Polish: ujarzmić pf, ujarzmiać (pl) impf Portuguese: aproveitar (pt) Spanish: aprovechar (es) Swedish: utnyttja (sv), ta i anspråk, exploatera (sv), utbygga or bygga ut (sv) (e.g. a waterfall), tämja (sv) Turkish: koşmak (tr) (transitive) Ukrainian: прибо́ркувати impf (prybórkuvaty), прибо́ркати pf (prybórkaty) (to control), використо́вувати impf (vykorystóvuvaty), ви́користати pf (výkorystaty) (to put to use)

See also

• harness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Harness in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Shaners, Shearns