bore

Definitions

1. 1.To form or enlarge by means of a boring instrument or apparatus; as, 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, as with a centerbit, a cylindrical passage through the most solid wood. T. W. Harris.
2. 2.To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; as, to bore one's way through a crowd; to force a narrow and difficult passage through. "What bustling crowds I bored." Gay.
3. 3.To weary by tedious iteration or by dullness; to tire; to trouble; to vex; to annoy; to pester. He bores me with some trick. Shak. Used to come and bore me at rare intervals. Carlyle.
4. 4.To befool; to trick. [Obs.] I am abused, betrayed; I am laughed at, scorned, Baffled and bored, it seems. Beau. & Fl.
5. 5.To make a hole or perforation with, or as with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool; as, to bore for water or oil (i. e., to sink a well by boring for water or oil); to bore with a gimlet; to bore into a tree (as insects).
6. 6.To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns; as, this timber does not bore well, or is hard to bore.
7. 7.To push forward in a certain direction with laborious effort. They take their flight . . . boring to the west. Dryden.
8. 8.(Ma To shoot out the nose or toss it in the air; Crabb.
9. 9.A hole made by boring; a perforation.
10. 10.The internal cylindrical cavity of a gun, cannon, pistol, or other firearm, or of a pipe or tube. The bores of wind instruments. Bacon. Love's counselor should fill the bores of hearing. Shak.
11. 11.The size of a hole; the interior diameter of a tube or gun barrel; the caliber.
12. 12.A tool for making a hole by boring, as an auger.
13. 13.Caliber; importance. [Obs.] Yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter. Shak.
14. 14.A person or thing that wearies by prolixity or dullness; a tiresome person or affair; any person or thing which causes ennui. It is as great a bore as to hear a poet read his own verses. Hawthorne.
15. 15.(a) A tidal flood which regularly or occasionally rushes into certain rivers of peculiar configuration or location, in one or more waves which present a very abrupt front of considerable height, dangerous to shipping, as at the mouth of the Amazon, in South America, the Hoogly and Indus, in India, and the Tsien-tang, in China. (b) Less properly, a very high and rapid tidal flow, when not so abrupt, such as occurs at the Bay of Fundy and in the British Channel.
16. 16.imp. of 1st & 2d Bear.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "bore" mean?
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Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is bore.

• What is to make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; as, to bore one's way through a crowd; to force a narrow and difficult passage through. "What bustling crowds I bored." Gay called?
• What is to weary by tedious iteration or by dullness; to tire; to trouble; to vex; to annoy; to pester. He bores me with some trick. Shak. Used to come and bore me at rare intervals. Carlyle called?
• What is to befool; to trick. [Obs.] I am abused, betrayed; I am laughed at, scorned, Baffled and bored, it seems. Beau. & Fl called?
• What is to be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns; as, this timber does not bore well, or is hard to bore called?
• What is to push forward in a certain direction with laborious effort. They take their flight . . . boring to the west. Dryden called?
• What is (Ma To shoot out the nose or toss it in the air; Crabb called?
• What is the internal cylindrical cavity of a gun, cannon, pistol, or other firearm, or of a pipe or tube. The bores of wind instruments. Bacon. Love's counselor should fill the bores of hearing. Shak called?
• What is the size of a hole; the interior diameter of a tube or gun barrel; the caliber called?
• What is a tool for making a hole by boring, as an auger called?
• What is caliber; importance. [Obs.] Yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter. Shak called?
• What is a person or thing that wearies by prolixity or dullness; a tiresome person or affair; any person or thing which causes ennui. It is as great a bore as to hear a poet read his own verses. Hawthorne called?