bore1
/bɔː
/verb
1 [with object] Make (a hole) in something with a tool or by digging: bore a hole in the wall to pass the cable through [no object]: the drill can bore through rock figurative his eyes bored into hers...
- He has a story for each tool he demonstrates, be it a drill that bores square holes or a spill plane.
- Unfortunately, the head was attached to his body, which as a unit had rented the apartment under hers and had bored a hole in the ceiling for stalking purposes.
- He was staring at a tree that the rock had bored a hole through.
Synonyms
drill, pierce, perforate, puncture, punch, cut;
tunnel, burrow, mine, dig (out), gouge (out), sink;
make, create, put, drive
1.1Hollow out (a gun barrel or other tube): an 1100 cc road bike bored out to 1168 cc...
- The barrel is bored out and threaded at breech and muzzle to accept a 17-cal. barrel liner.
- It should do well in traditionally bored barrels and less so in over-bored barrels.
- Preparations were made to use a 50 million baht budget to bore pipes to drain off the water into the sea.
2 [no object] (Of an athlete or racehorse) push another competitor out of the way.That's it: a comfortable victory for Chelsea, against a Porto side who are a shadow of the side that bored all before them last season....
- Keane's mastery of the holding role in midfield gave the Reds the chance to go out and attack Olympiakos, contradicting the notion that they will have to bore in order to succeed.
- As the frontrunners sprinted home, Miller's horse bore out just enough to allow Brickell to fit between.
noun
1The hollow part inside a gun barrel or other tube.Barrels have ventilated ribs, hard-chromed bores, interchangeable choke tubes (three provided) and lengthened forcing cones to reduce recoil....
- The inside bore might be 12 in, but the barrels are well over a metre in diameter at the base.
- The bore of the Browning barrel was mirror smooth from one end to the other.
1.1 [often in combination] The diameter of a bore; the calibre: a small-bore rifle...
- It is also available as a shotgun in 12 and 20 gauge, and .410 bore.
- The traditional .22 rifle has been replaced by a choice of Browning automatic handgun or sawn-off 12 bore shotgun.
- In its shotgun line, it has added a 28 gauge and .410 bore to its series.
Synonyms
calibre, diameter, gauge
1.2 [in combination] A gun of a specified bore: he shot a guard in the leg with a twelve-bore
2 short for borehole.Lighting control panels are being installed in the portal equipment rooms, in niches along the length of the tunnel, and in the passageways connecting the bores....
- The firm wanted to eliminate building mandatory escape cross tunnels between bores, a job requiring tricky ground freezing, says Harnois.
- Despite all the difficulties the two ends of the tunnel bore met as planned in 1916.
Synonyms
borehole, hole, well, shaft, pit, passage, tunnel
Origin
Old English borian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to German bohren.
There are three words spelt bore in English. The sense ‘to make a hole’ is Old English. The sense ‘a steep-fronted wave caused by the meeting of two tides’ may be from Old Norse bára ‘wave’. It was used in the general sense ‘billow, wave’ in Middle English, but only in the modern sense since the early 17th century. The bore that is boringly tedious has been with us since the mid 18th century, but the origin of the word is unknown
Rhymes
bore2
/bɔː/noun
1A person whose talk or behaviour is dull and uninteresting: he can be a crashing bore...
- I think he has simply demonstrated once again why he has become such a crashing bore.
- At a deeper level, it seems to me that he is a world-class crashing bore.
- The days of desperately trying to escape the clutches of some crashing bore in the corner of a nightclub are long gone.
1.1 [in singular] A tedious or annoying situation or activity: it’s such a bore cooking when one’s alone...
- Instead, it's a tedious and meretricious bore, and those are the worst kind.
- The course can sometimes be a bore but I find the major subjects quite interesting.
- Will's columns can sometimes be a bore, ripping a social healthcare program here and our educational system's shortcomings there.
verb [with object]
Cause (someone) to feel weary and uninterested by dull talk or behaviour: she is too polite to bore us with anecdotes [with object and complement]: timid women quickly bore her silly...
- Oh please, Damion, your insults are so dull it bores me.
- It's a pretty good story, actually, though I get bored by cards very quickly.
- I'll give it a go next week, but imagine that this will quickly bore me.
Synonyms
be tedious to, pall on, stultify, stupefy, weary, tire, fatigue, send to sleep, exhaust, wear out, leave cold;
bore to tears, bore to death, bore out of one's mind, bore stiff, bore rigid, bore stupid
informal turn off
rare hebetate
Phrases
bore someone to death (or to tears)
Origin
Mid 18th century (as a verb): of unknown origin.
bore3
/bɔː/noun
A steep-fronted wave caused by the meeting of two tides or by the constriction of a tide rushing up a narrow estuary.The largest bores occur on 25 days a year, in the morning and evening, with biggest bores on tides over 32’....
- Experiments in a laboratory wave tank show that interactions between bores refracted by a prowlike beach can produce jets in which the velocity is nearly twice the bore's phase speed.
- On the Shubenacadie River, the tidal bore and rapidly rising tide results in extremely turbulent waters.
Origin
Early 17th century: perhaps from Old Norse bára 'wave'; the term was used in the general sense 'billow, wave' in Middle English.
bore4
/bɔː/ Past of bear1.
- status quo ante
- status quo ante bellum
- status report
- status seeker
- status-seeking
- status symbol
- status symbolism
- status system
- status trophy
- status update
- statusy
- statutable
- statutably
- statute
- statute-barred
- statute book
- statute cap
- statuted
- statute duty
- statute fair
- statute hall
- statute hiring
- statute labor
- statute laborer
- statute labour