bore
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /bɔː(ɹ)/
ipa: /boɹ/
note: rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /bo(ː)ɹ/
note: non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /boə/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
homophone: boar
homophone: Bohr
homophone: boor (pour–poor merger)
Forms: form: bores
form: boring
form: bored
form: bored
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: to bore someone to death
text: Reading books really bores me; films are much more exciting.
text: He bores me with some trick.
ref: 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 206:
text: […] used to come and bore me at rare intervals.
ref: 1881, Thomas Carlyle, Reminiscences:
glosses: To inspire boredom in somebody.
examples: text: I'll believe as soon this whole earth may be bored.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
text: 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.
ref: 1950 September, “Network News: Watford Tunnel, L.M.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 641:
glosses: To make a hole through something.
examples: text: to bore for water or oil
text: An insect bores into a tree.
glosses: To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool.
examples: text: to bore a steam cylinder or a gun barrel; to bore a hole
text: short but very powerful jaws, by means whereof the insect can bore […] a cylindrical passage through the most solid wood
ref: 1862, Thaddeus William Harris, A Treatise on Some of the Insects Injurious to Vegetation:
glosses: To form or enlarge (something) by means of a boring instrument or apparatus.
examples: text: to bore one’s way through a crowd
text: What bustling crowds I bored.
ref: [1716], [John] Gay, “Book III. Of Walking the Streets by Night.”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], →OCLC, page 79:
glosses: To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; to force a narrow and difficult passage through.
examples: text: This timber does not bore well.
glosses: To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns.
examples: text: Their eyes bore into my back.
glosses: To glare (as if to drill a hole with the eyes).
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1824, Pierce Egan, Boxiana; Or, Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism, page 600:
text: 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.
ref: 1885, Tresham Gilbey, Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume 43, page 107:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To push or drive (a boxer into the ropes, a boat out of its course, etc.).
examples: text: They take their flight […] boring to the west.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To push forward in a certain direction with laborious effort.
glosses: To fool; to trick.
Synonyms: sense: make a hole through something
word: make a hole
Derived terms: boreable
boree
bore in
bore off
bore out
boring clam
rebore
tongue-boring
unbore
wood-boring
Related terms: sense: to make a hole
word: borer
sense: to inspire boredom
word: bored
sense: to inspire boredom
word: boredom
sense: to inspire boredom
word: boring