poren.1
/pɔː/, U.S. /pɔr/ 1. † e. Porosity; pores collectively. Obsolete. rare.
a. An opening in the skin or body surface of an animal; esp. the opening of the duct of a sweat gland or sebaceous gland in a mammal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > skin > pore in skin > [noun]
porea1387
sweat-hole14..
meatusa1475
meapte1572
spirament1608
spiracle1650
spiramentum1706
inhalant1822
sweat-pore1899
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 53 (MED) Þe contrarie is of norþeren men, in þe whiche colde wiþ oute stoppeþ smale holes and poorus, and holdeþ the hete wiþ ynne.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 125v Þis moneþ for his cooldenesse..stoppiþ pores in bestis and gadreþ humours.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 107 (MED) Þe heeris of þe heed weren..ordeyned þat neiþer cold ne hoot ne schulde not sodeynli entre þe poris of the skyn.
c1440 Liber de Diversis Med. 52 (MED) When þe pores are opyn..þan entres ayere þat es venemous.
a1500 in Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin (1912) 5 73 (MED) The man..nedeth hym to kepe fro outrage and excesse in mete..ne vse noo bathes..for alle thyse openeth the porys of the body.
1568 T. Hill Proffitable Arte Gardening (rev. ed.) ii. lviii. f. 171v A stoppinge both in the veynes, & poeres.
1582 J. Hester tr. L. Fioravanti Compend. Rationall Secretes i. xv. 15 Those..you shal washe with Aqua vitæ, because it openeth the powres.
1602 B. Jonson Poetaster Induct. sig. A2v A freezing sweate Flowes foorth at all my Pores . View more context for this quotation
1705 F. Fuller Medicina Gymnastica 6 A sudden Constriction of the Pores of the Skin.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. I. 298 The articulations are long and narrow, with marginal pores by which it [sc. a tape-worm] attaches itself to the intestines.
1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table xi. 321 As a hide fills its pores lying seven years in a tan-pit.
1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 9/2 Most women are troubled with greasy-looking noses during the summer and sometimes the pores are so large that they appear almost like small holes in the skin.
1960 D. C. Braungart & R. Buddeke Introd. Animal Biol. (ed. 5) x. 132 Along the midline on the dorsal side of the body beginning near the anterior end and extending backward is a series of dorsal pores, a single pore opening at each constriction between adjacent segments.
1992 S. Laws Darkfall (1993) (BNC) 171 The echoing sounds of Mac's voice coming from those walls in his dream had shaken him awake, clutching at the sheets, sweat oozing from every pore.
b. Botany. A small, circular, or slightly elliptical opening in the surface of a plant tissue or organ, esp. a lenticel or other epidermal stoma. Also: an opening in an anther or capsule through which pollen or seed is discharged; a cross-section of a vessel in wood; a circular aperture in the wall of a pollen grain.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > part defined by form or function > [noun] > hole or opening
porea1398
micropore1885
porus1943
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 208v Trees wiþ þynne substaunce and..ful of holes and pores.
1634 W. Habington Castara i. 5 The flowers adore The Deity of her sex, and through each pore Breath forth her glories.
1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. 96 A Bark that is adorn'd with Pores like Stars.
1776 W. Withering Brit. Plants (1796) III. 761 Leaves..transparent, with many minute pores.
1861 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. IV. 88 Snapdragon..capsule..opening by pores at the top.
1873 E. Spon Workshop Receipts 1st Ser. 16/1 This coat closes all the pores of the wood, and does not crack or scale off.
1914 F. E. Fritsch & E. J. Salisbury Introd. Study Plants i. 9 The surface-skin of both sides of the leaf is perforated by a large number of minute holes or pores.
1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. iii. 62 The only intercellular spaces in the whole epidermis are the stoma pores.
1979 C. Ford Making Mus. Instruments i. 33 The next step must be to fill the pores of the wood with some sort of priming.
2005 Washington Post (Nexis) 19 Apr. c9 ‘They're all very different,’ [she] says of the pollen grains. ‘Some are smooth. Some have pores. Some are spiky or have spines.’
c. A minute interstice between particles of matter esp. in soil or rock; a minute hole or channel in a surface, fabric, natural or artificial membrane, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun] > small opening > minute hole
porea1398
porule1846
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 135v Þe souþerne wynde..openeþ poores of þerþe.
a1579 H. Balnaves Confession of Faith (1584) xvi. 91 The Labourer or Plowman, beeing the instrument to open the pores of the earth that the raine may descend into it, and then it bringeth foorthe fruite in due time.
1620 Hæc-vir sig. B1 To wormes and creeping things a time to hide themselues in the pores and hollowes of the earth.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ vi. xxxv. 54 The Sun, whose all searching Beams penetrating the Pores of the Earth, do heat the Waters.
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall xxi. 154 In the Pores or invisible little recesses of Water it self there lie..many parcels..of..Air.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Pores..are small void Spaces between the Particles of Matter, of which all Bodies are made up.
1748 H. Ellis Voy. Hudson's-Bay 223 The Form or Essence of a Magnet..is supposed to consist in it's being perforated by an infinite Number of parallel Pores.
1830 J. F. W. Herschel Prelim. Disc. Study Nat. Philos. iii. i. 235 Water was forced through the pores (as was said) of a golden ball.
1887 H. Stewart Culture Farm Crops 42 Every pore and interstice of the soil is filled with [air]. There it yields up its oxygen to dead matter and quickly converts it into plant food.
1928 Bull. Amer. Soil Surv. Assoc. 9 46 The pores or voids between the individual particles and aggregates that make up the soil.
1947 Lancet 17 May 680/2 Bacteria are removed from the washing by filtration through collodion membranes with an average pore-diameter of 0·7μ.
1952 A. M. Smith Manures & Fertilisers i. 14 Some water..is held in the very small pores and as a film around the soil particles.
1991 Performance Bicycle Holiday 16/1 The nine billion pores per square inch of the Gore-Tex membrane creates a complex barrier.
d. figurative. Esp. in at every pore: in all parts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > the whole or all > that is all or the whole [phrase] > all over
back and sidec1400
all over1633
at every pore1850
1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 53 Their raies..penetrating through the pores of the heart, made themselves knowen.
a1720 J. Sheffield Wks. (1753) I. 13 Love's pow'r can penetrate the hardest hearts; And through the closest pores a passage find.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 79 At the [quicksilver] mines near the village of Idra..some in a manner transpiring quicksilver at every pore.
1850 R. W. Emerson Goethe in Representative Men vii. 271 He sees at every pore.
1874 L. Carr Judith Gwynne I. i. 33 The stolid farmer fairly exuded pleasure at every pore.
1907 H. James Amer. Scene xii. 354 I had to feel myself, at Richmond, in the midst of abnormal wintry rigors, take in at every pore a Southern impression.
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby iv. 79 The very phrases were worn so threadbare that they evoked no image except that of a turbaned ‘character’ leaking sawdust at every pore as he pursued a tiger through the Bois de Boulogne.
2002 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 27 Oct. 14 The latest, magnificent addition to an oeuvre that oozes class at every pore.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun] > small opening > minute hole > quality of being full of
plumminessa1398
porositya1398
spongiosity?1541
spongiousness1598
sponginess1610
poriness1653
porousness1653
porishness1670
poroseness1679
pore1756
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. i. 50 The substances..are seldom of a very strong texture, though frequently of a fine pore and smooth grain.
1774 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 64 271 A large proportion of pore, or interspersed vacuity, is sufficient for all purposes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > shape > [noun] > tube or canal
conduit1340
pipec1385
channela1387
porea1398
canal?a1425
cannel?1553
strait1558
canaliculus1661
tube1661
duct1667
tubule1677
ductus1699
funnel1712
cannule1719
infundibulum1799
meatus1800
tubulet1826
tubulus1826
canalicule1839
canalization1840
ductule1883
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 314 Swete þinges..stoppeþ þe splene, lyuour, and reynes, and þat is for it stoppeþ þe smale pores of þilke parties wiþ here þikke substaunce.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 171 Þe splene..haþ ij poris, & þoruȝ þat oon pore he drawiþ malancolious blood of þe lyuere.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 157 (MED) Ventosez..bene put vpon þe waiez & þe pores by which vryne passeþ fro þe reynez to þe vesic.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 239 Men wyche haue..throgh al the body the ouertures large, that clerkys callyth Pores.
?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens iv. sig. Nivv The wayes and poores wherby the vryne passeth from the reynes to the bladder.
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 138 But this pore of choler is inserted into the small guts, not at their beginning, least the Choler should flye vp into the stomack..but into the end of the Duodenum.
1762 J. Cook New Theory Generation 21 The Egg, upon Impregnation, works its Way through..a Pore or Passage out of the Ovary into the Uterine Tube.
1843 Lancet 21 Jan. 613/2 The magnitude of the liver, and the great capacity of the biliary pores, with the quantity of blood carried to the liver for the secretion of bile, seem to teach us that a very great proportion of this fluid is drained off by the liver.
3. Astronomy. A small sunspot without a penumbra.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun] > that which is small > a small space or extent > a point of space
prickOE
pointa1400
punctule1785
pore1801
1801 W. Herschel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 91 267 I have found it convenient to lay aside the old names... The expressions I have used are openings, shallows, ridges, nodules, corrugations, indentations, and pores.
1833 J. F. W. Herschel Astronomy v. 208 Its ground [sc. the sun's disc] is finely mottled with an appearance of minute, dark dots, or pores.
1869 T. L. Phipson tr. A. Guillemin Sun (1870) 234 It explains neither the faculæ nor the pores nor the curious granulations known as ‘willow-leaves’.
1966 Playground Daily News (Fort Walton Beach, Florida) 25 Sept. 22/4 In an area of intense magnetism, a dark pore forms, then several pores join to become a large spot... This is a sunspot.
1997 J. E. Gore tr. C. Flammarion Pop. Astron. III. iii.253 The knots of this network may sometimes enlarge to the extent of forming pores.
2002 Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chron. (Nexis) 29 Nov. b3 Sunspots are created when lines of magnetic flux created in the sun's interior rise to the surface like air bubbles, carrying small, cool pockets inside. Those small ‘pores’ eventually coagulate into sunspots.
Compounds
C1. † pore-facet n. Obsolete rare
pore canal n.
ΚΠ
1859 Philos. Trans. 1858 (Royal Soc.) 148 896 It is the chitinogenous layer alone which he describes..as entering the large pore-canals of the shell.
1878 F. J. Bell & E. R. Lankester tr. C. Gegenbaur Elements Compar. Anat. 111 The number of these pore-canals (dermo-gastric pores), which have consequently a dermal and gastric orifice, is generally very great.
1949 A. L. Romanoff & A. J. Romanoff Avian Egg 168 The pore canals traverse the spongy layer..and form connecting passages between the exterior of the shell and the network of air spaces in the mammillary layer.
2003 Jrnl. Morphol. 255 24 The secretion is discharged to the outside via a system of very fine pore canals in the wall of the setal shaft.
ΚΠ
1880 Nature 11 Mar. 450/2 The shell has a large opening, as well as scattered pore-facets.
pore size n.
ΚΠ
1916 Proc. Royal Soc. 1915–16 A. 92 372 The pore size is too great for the membrane to act osmotically by exerting a selective mechanical blocking action.
1947 New Biol. 3 175 If a series of filters of known pore-size is used, the size of particles which just fail to pass a certain filter can be obtained.
1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 28 Mar. 690/1 Various changes in the skin, including acne, oiliness, increase in pore size, hyperpigmentation and coarseness of texture, were mentioned by 16 persons.
1997 Gettysburg (Pa.) Times 27 Nov. a7/3 Sphagnum peat..will hold four to eight times its dry weight in water and the pore size allows the water to be readily available to plants.
pore space n.
ΚΠ
1900 Science 2 Feb. 192/1 In some rocks in which the pore spaces are very small and discontinuous, the pores remain entirely filled by water, and when they freeze the expansion ruptures the rock.
1952 A. M. Smith Manures & Fertilisers i. 14 The percentage pore space of a block of soil is determined by the packing of the soil particles, which in turn is related to the amount and nature of the colloid material.
1990 R. Staines Market Gardening iii. 29 (caption) A coarse, cloddy structure with large pore spaces.
C2. † pore capsule n. Botany Obsolete rare a seed capsule that discharges its seeds through pores.† pore coral n. Obsolete = pore stone n.† pore-sieve n. Zoology Obsolete a sieve-like area of pores in the ectosome of certain sponges.† pore stone n. Obsolete a stony coral having pores in the skeleton.
pore area n. (a) a particular region of a surface in which pores are situated; (b) the area within a pore or pores.
ΚΠ
1874 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 164 720 The ambulacral scales are perforated for the passage of tube-feet, which are continued from the pore-areas..in double series up to the edge of the mouth.
1928 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 102 513 The standard deviation of the pore area of a group of stomata may..reach a value of 50 to 60 per cent. of the mean.
1959 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 46 564/1 These pore-areas could be interpreted as scattered, single pores or collections of pores.
2001 New Phytologist 150 765 Stomatal pore area..depends on the stomatal aperture, which is generally determined by the stomatal pore width and the inherent size of the guard cell.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > seed-vessel or pericarp > [noun] > capsule
heada1398
boll?a1500
bladder1578
bollen1578
bullion1589
bob1615
hive1665
seed box1677
capsule1693
amphora1821
pyxis1821
pyxidium1832
pore capsule1878
1878 A. W. Bennett tr. O. W. Thomé Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) iv. 149 Some capsules again dehisce by pores..as the poppy..when they are termed pore-capsules.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Anthozoa Actinozoa > order Zoantharia > suborder Madreporaria > member of
pore coral1708
madrepore1738
madreporite1802
madrepore coral1869
madreporarian1870
madreporacean1877
scleractinian1900
madreporian1961
1708 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 26 79 (advt.) The Pore Stone, or Pore Coral.
pore pressure n. Geology the pressure exerted by a fluid filling the pores of a soil or rock.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > [noun] > water in or percolating through soil > pressure of
pore pressure1947
1947 D. P. Krynine Soil Mech. (ed. 2) iv. 112 (caption) Analogy between (a) pore pressure in clay and (b) hydraulic uplift in a dam.
1969 C. R. Scott Introd. Soil Mech. & Foundations ix. 201 The stability of a retaining wall is adversely affected by large pore pressures in the soil behind it.
2004 New Scientist 24 July 39/1 [The] compression counteracts the increase in pore pressure of 1800 kilopascals, so the rock is never in tension and there should be no danger of fractures developing.
pore rhomb n. Palaeontology (in rhombiferan echinoderms) a diamond-shaped group of surface perforations and canals shared between two thecal plates, believed to have served a respiratory function.
ΚΠ
1854 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 13 248 Cystideans with pore-rhombs. The pores are disposed in rhomboidal figures, the one-half of which belongs to one plate, the other to its contiguous neighbour.
1866 J. W. Salter On Fossils N. Wales in A. C. Ramsay Geol. N. Wales Mem. Geol. Surv. Great Brit. 285 Cystideæ with pore rhombs, i.e. with the pores united by long canals, which extend from one plate to another.
1900 F. A. Bather Echinoderma in E. R. Lankester Treat. Zool. iii. ix. 42 Those [canals] crossing any one suture come to occupy a rhombic area bisected by the suture-line, and, since, in weathered plates, there appear to be pores at the ends of these canals, the areas have been called ‘pore-rhombs’.
2003 Jrnl. Paleontol. 77 114 (caption) Distribution of pore rhombs and periproctal bordering plate number in families of Glyptocystitida.
ΚΠ
1887 W. J. Sollas in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 415/2 Section through the cortex of Cydonium eosaster,..showing the pore-sieve overlying the chone.
ΚΠ
1708 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 26 79 (advt.) The Pore Stone, or Pore Coral.
pore water n. the water or fluid contained in pores, esp. in soil or rock.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > [noun] > water in or percolating through soil
sock1799
ground-sype1839
soil water1892
soil solution1901
pore water1927
1927 Q. Rev. Biol. 2 499/2 A solute particle might enter the plant at any point, by becoming dissolved in the pore water of an external wall.
1943 K. von Terzaghi Theoret. Soil Mech. i. 15 When dealing with clays, we are seldom in a position to compute the pressure which develops in the pore water while the point of failure is approached.
2001 Independent (Nexis) 17 Apr. 3 We may be approaching the peak time of danger [of landslides] now after the autumn and winter rainfall... The late spring is the time when the water table and pore water pressures are at their highest.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† poren.2
Medicine. Obsolete. rare.
= callus n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > discharge or flux > [noun] > matter exuded at fracture
pore1543
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 49 (MED) Wiþ þis poudre, þe generacioun of þese poris [L. pori] may be mendid.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 99v (MED) When materie of þe pore bigynneþ to come..þan be þe ligature loused.
a1525 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 314/15 And als for wengeans the sennoun of the secret pore is brokin quhar as thai bleid thare.
1543 B. Traheron tr. J. de Vigo Most Excellent Wks. Chirurg. i. vi. f. 172v/2 Whan the boone is hardned, and somewhat bounde to gether wyth the pore called sarcoydes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
† poren.3
Obsolete. rare. Hunting.
Apparently: a trace left by a stag.
ΚΠ
1627 J. Taylor Armado sig. D2 What Necromanticke spelles, are Rut, Vault, Slot, Pores, and Entryes, Abatures, and Foyles, Frayenstockes,..and a thousand more such Vtopian fragments of confused Gibberish.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2020).
poren.4
/pɔː/, U.S. /pɔr/ rare.
A careful or close examination.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > attention > earnest attention, concentration > [noun] > instance of
pore1871
1871 Daily News 12 Aug. 5/6 I brought the book..and Madge..and myself shall have many a good pore over it.
2006 www.dogbomb.co.uk 18 May (O.E.D. Archive) Having had a pore over the BB website, both..went on record saying they wouldnt have taken the money.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
porev.
/pɔː/, U.S. /pɔr/ 1.
a. intransitive. To look intently or fixedly, to gaze. Frequently with prepositions, esp. over. Now rare except as passing into sense 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (intransitive)] > stare or gaze
stareOE
gawc1175
darea1225
porec1300
muse1340
glowc1374
gogglec1380
gazec1386
glore?a1400
glopc1400
govec1480
glower?a1513
gowk1513
daze1523
amuse1532
glew1587
to feed one's eyes1590
to seek, buy, or sow gape-seed1598
to shoot one's eyes1602
glazea1616
stargaze1639
gaum1691
to stare like a stuck pig1702
ygaze1737
gawk1785
to feed one's sight1813
gloze1853
glow1856
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (intransitive)] > peer
toot?c1225
porec1300
pirea1393
peer1580
pink1587
under-peer1589
blink1600
to look wormsc1600
squinny1608
pee1673
pore1706
pinker1754
styme1808
speer1866
squint1891
quiz1906
skeeze1922
c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) 1092 (MED) Aþulf was in þe ture [v.r. toure] Abute for to pure [v.r. poure] After his comynge.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 177 Þe men þet doþ zuo grat payne ham to kembe and to pouri [c1450 Bk. Vices & Virtues loke] ine sseaweres.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 5790 (MED) Þere hij seiȝen a selcouþ folk, Alday pouren in þe walken.
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame 1121 And for to powren [v.rr. poure, powryn, power] wonder lowe, Yf I koude any weyes knowe What maner stoon this roche was.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique iii. f. 118 Some pores vpon the grounde, as though they sought for pynnes.
1621 F. Quarles Hadassa Medit. v. E iv All Creatures else pore downward to the ground, Man lookes to heauen.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 27 No Wonder, if they, who were poreing continually at the Clouds, saw Shapes and Figures, Representations and Appearances.
1753 J. Armstrong Taste 9 Maro's self grows dull as they pore o'er him.
1834 H. Martineau Farrers of Budge-Row iv Down on his knees, poring over the pavement, to see which way the stones were laid.
1854 T. B. Macaulay Johnson in Biogr. (1867) 82 He would stand poring on the town clock without being able to tell the hour.
1947 C. Mackenzie Whisky Galore ii. 9 To pore spellbound over a scene of natural beauty.
1979 R. Stow Visitants i. 42 I pored over the tight old face, trying to make out what he might be hinting.
b. intransitive. To examine a book, map, etc., with fixed attention; to study or read earnestly or with intense concentration; to be absorbed in reading or study. Frequently with prepositions, esp. over.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > attention > earnest attention, concentration > be absorbed in [verb (intransitive)]
buryc1380
porec1387
sinka1400
withgoa1400
founce1430
resta1500
intend?1504
to busy one's brains?1532
lose1604
immerse1667
to give into ——1692
to make a study of1884
society > communication > reading > [verb (intransitive)] > attentively
porec1387
society > education > learning > study > [verb (intransitive)] > study diligently or hard
porec1387
muzz?1744
sap1830
bone1832
to study up1846
mug1848
grind1855
swot1860
stew1866
swank1890
groise1913
c1387–95 G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. 185 What sholde he studie and make hym seluen wood, Vpon a book in cloystre alwey to poure [c1415 Lansd. powre].
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 87 Thouȝ ȝe wolden labore and powre and dote alle the daies of ȝoure lijf in the Bible aloon.
c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) Prol. 71 (MED) Þouȝ þat elde opyn it..And poure on it preuyly..It shulde not apeire hem a peere.
1594 J. Lyly Mother Bombie i. iii. sig. B4v In stead of poaring on a booke, you shall holde the plough.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. To Rdr. sig. 4 I haue poored vpon many an old Rowle.
1675 W. Wycherley Country-wife i. 7 Mistresses are like Books; if you pore on them too much, they doze you, and make you unfit for Company.
1718 Free-thinker No. 37. 2 He rises by Three in the Morning to pore over Mathematicks.
1771 J. Beattie Minstrel: Bk. 1st liii. 27 Where dark cold-hearted sceptics, creeping, pore Through microscope of metaphysic lore.
1820 J. Keats Hyperion: a Fragm. ii, in Lamia & Other Poems 175 No, no-where can unriddle, though I search, And pore on Nature's universal scroll.
1876 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 2nd Ser. vii. 322 He had pored over their pages till he knew them by heart.
1879 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 3rd Ser. iii. 98 That disposition which..delights in poring over its own morbid emotions.
1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xxx. 345 I've pored over that geometry until I know every proposition in the first book off by heart.
1922 Times 24 Mar. 10/3 The old Flemish Bible on the pictures of which he pored in childhood.
1949 C. P. Snow Time of Hope i. iv. 38 She pored with anxious concentration through the advertisement columns of the local papers.
1991 G. Ehrlich Islands, Universe, Home iii. 28 We pore over maps, chart our expeditions.
c. intransitive. To think intently about something; to meditate, muse; to ponder. With on, upon, over. Also occasionally transitive with clause as object.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > stare or gaze at
bestarec1220
bigapea1250
to gape atc1290
fix14..
to stick one's eyes in (also into)c1485
attacha1500
porec1500
to take feeding (of)c1500
stare1510
(to have) in gaze1577
gaze1591
outstare1596
over-stare1600
devour1628
trysta1694
ogle1795
begaze1802
toise1888
fixate1889
rubberneck1897
eyeball1901
the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > thinking about, consideration, deliberation > think about, consider [verb (intransitive)]
thinkOE
thinkOE
bethinka1200
umthinka1300
to have mind ofc1300
casta1340
studya1375
delivera1382
to chew the cudc1384
to take advisementa1393
stema1400
compassc1400
advisec1405
deliberc1405
to make it wisec1405
to take deliberationc1405
enter?a1413
riddlec1426
hovec1440
devise?c1450
to study by (also in) oneself?c1450
considerc1460
porec1500
regard1523
deliberate1543
to put on one's thinking or considering cap1546
contemplate1560
consult1565
perpend1568
vise1568
to consider of1569
weigh1573
ruminate1574
dascanc1579
to lay to (one's) heart1588
pondera1593
debate1594
reflect1596
comment1597
perponder1599
revolvea1600
rumine1605
consider on, upon1606
to think twice1623
reflex1631
spell1645
ponderatea1652
to turn about1725
to cast a thought, a reflection upon1736
to wake over1771
incubatea1847
mull1857
fink1888
c1500 (?a1437) Kingis Quair (1939) lxxii (MED) The long day thus gan I prye and pour, Till Phebus endit had his bemes bryght.
a1591 H. Smith Wks. (1866) I. 173 So, while he pores and gapes upon it, by little and little the love of it grows more and more in his heart, until at last he hath mind on nothing else.
a1628 J. Preston Saints Daily Exercise (1629) 138 If a man be poring on his wants still.
a1665 W. Guthrie Serm. Regen. (1709) 14 Folks porring over much on the Tentation is their Neck-break and their Snare.
1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 74 When he has Thought and Por'd on it.
1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh i. 13 She had pored for years What sort of woman could be suitable To her sort of hate.
1882 C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xviii. 137 Dickens..took himself off..to Geneva,..to pore over the story of ‘Dombey and Son’.
1955 S. Beckett Molloy ii. 203 And on myself too I pored, on me so changed from what I was.
1961 L. Nizer My Life in Court (1963) iii. 240 Haven't we poured [sic] over every fact for hours and hours?
1982 Financial Times (Nexis) 22 Jan. 18 The Treasury clearly does not spend all its time poring over macro-economic issues.
2000 G. H. Tavard Starting Point Calvin's Theol. 56 Calvin may be thinking of the many humanists who have pored over the question of the soul.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > of vision: become disordered [verb (intransitive)] > strain eyes
to pore one's eyes out1532
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > stare or gaze at > bring about by staring
stare1663
pore1707
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 425 He were like to pore oute his eyen vpon the latine booke, ere he find that englishe woord elder there.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 43 b I that haue poor'd out myne eyes vpon bookes.
1698 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 20 455 Old, rusty, Moth eaten Books, upon which a Man may pore his Eyes out before he can read a Word or a Line.
1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 37 He might..have..por'd himself into Stupidity.
a1754 H. Fielding Fathers (1778) v. v. 109 Thou' I have hated books as I do the devil,..I'll pore my eyes out rather than lose her.
1788 Times 21 May 3/2 A House where all the windows but three were shut up—the poor mother and children poring their eyes out in the dark.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (intransitive)] > peer
toot?c1225
porec1300
pirea1393
peer1580
pink1587
under-peer1589
blink1600
to look wormsc1600
squinny1608
pee1673
pore1706
pinker1754
styme1808
speer1866
squint1891
quiz1906
skeeze1922
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) To Pore, to look close, as they do that are short-sighted.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 27. ⁋5 Poring with her Eyes half shut at every one she passes by.
a1777 S. Foote Cozeners (1778) i. 24 He doesn't pore, with his eyes close to the book, like a clerk that reads the first lesson.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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