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bore

verb
/bɔː(ɹ)/UK/boɹ/US/bo(ː)ɹ/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-der. Proto-Germanic *burōną Proto-West Germanic *borōn Old English borian Middle English boren English bore From Middle English boren, from Old English borian (“to pierce”), from Proto-West Germanic *borōn, from Proto-Germanic *burōną. Compare Danish bore, Norwegian Bokmål bore, Dutch boren, German bohren, Old Norse bora. Cognate with Latin forō (“to bore, to pierce”), Latin feriō (“strike, cut”) and Albanian birë (“hole”). Sense of wearying may come from a figurative use such as "to bore the ears"; compare German drillen.

  1. inherited from *burōną✻
  2. inherited from *borōn✻
  3. inherited from borian — “to pierce”
  4. inherited from boren

Definitions

  1. To inspire boredom in somebody.

    • to bore someone to death
    • Reading books really bores me; films are much more exciting.
    • He bores me with some trick.

  2. To make a hole through something.

    • I'll believe as soon this whole earth may be bored.
    • On June 8, 1872, the London & North Western Railway obtained powers to quadruple its main line, and a new tunnel was bored for the up and down slow lines.

  3. To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument

    To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool.

    • to bore for water or oil
    • An insect bores into a tree.
  4. ›+ 20 more definitions

    1. To form or enlarge (something) by means of a boring instrument or apparatus.

      • to bore a steam cylinder or a gun barrel; to bore a hole
      • short but very powerful jaws, by means whereof the insect can bore […] a cylindrical passage through the most solid wood

    2. To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring

      To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; to force a narrow and difficult passage through.

      • to bore one’s way through a crowd
      • What bustling crowds I bored.

    3. To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns.

      • This timber does not bore well.

    4. To glare (as if to drill a hole with the eyes).

      • Their eyes bore into my back.

    5. To push or drive (a boxer into the ropes, a boat out of its course, etc.).

      • The right hand of Curtis was open too much ; but he nevertheless had the best of the hitting in this round, till Inglis bored him down, out of the ropes.
      • Hanlan, it seems, led at about a mile, when Beach's steamer bored him, and to avoid the danger of being swamped, he put on a violent spurt and drew well clear of Beach, getting some lengths lead.

    6. To push forward in a certain direction with laborious effort.

      • They take their flight […] boring to the west.

    7. To fool

      To fool; to trick.

    8. A hole drilled, bored, or milled through something.

      • the bore of a cannon
      • the bores of wind-instruments

    9. The diameter of such a hole.

    10. The tunnel inside of a gun's barrel through which the bullet travels when fired, or (by…

      The tunnel inside of a gun's barrel through which the bullet travels when fired, or (by extension) its diameter.

    11. A tool, such as an auger, for making a hole by boring.

    12. A capped well drilled to tap artesian water.

    13. One who inspires boredom or lack of interest

      One who inspires boredom or lack of interest; an uninteresting person.

      • My neighbour is such a bore when he talks about his coin collection.

    14. Something dull or uninteresting.

      • What a bore that movie was! There was no action, and the dialogue was totally uncreative.
      • It is as great a bore as to hear a poet read his own verses.

    15. Calibre

      Calibre; importance.

      • Yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter.

    16. A sudden and rapid flow of tide occurring in certain rivers and estuaries which rolls up…

      A sudden and rapid flow of tide occurring in certain rivers and estuaries which rolls up as a wave.

      • In another moment a huge wave, like a muddy tidal bore, but almost scaldingly hot, came sweeping round the bend up-stream.

    17. simple past of bear

    18. past participle of bear

      • Q. When the Fireſhip appeared to be going down towards the Real, do you think that the Dorſetſhire could have bore down in Time, to have covered and aſſiſted her?
      • […] by altering their course a very little, and easily have bore down abreast of our settlement, without incurring the smallest risk!
      • The end of the 20th century and the start of the new millennium have bore witness to a remarkable revolution in the way parasite/host biological interactions can be conceptually designed and experimentally studied.

    19. simple past of bare

    20. A surname.

The neighborhood

Derived

boreable, boree, bore in, bore off, bore out, boring clam, rebore, tongue-boring, unbore, wood-boring, artesian bore, backbore, Boraga, bore draw, bore-draw, borefest, borefield, boregasm, borehole, boreism, bore lake, boreless, bore needle, boreout, borescope, boresight, bore sight, boresighting, boresome, bore water, borewell, chokebore, counterbore, crashing bore, cross bore, drawbore, full bore, full-bore, less is a bore, microbore · +8 more

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for bore. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA