bore

bore (unmutated)
vore (soft)
pore
fore (mixed)
vore (after-th mutation-mixed)

Borrowed from Welsh bore. Cognate with Breton beure, Old Irish báireach and Old Irish bárach, whence i mbáireach and i mbárach (“tomorrow”), modern Irish amáireach (Munster, Connaught) and Irish amárach (Donegal).


bore

(dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of boren


bore

to bore someone to death

Reading books really bores me; films are much more exciting.

He bores me with some trick.

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:

[…] used to come and bore me at rare intervals.

(transitive) To inspire boredom in somebody.

I'll believe as soon this whole earth may be bored.

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]:

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.

1950 September, “Network News: Watford Tunnel, L.M.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 641:

(transitive) To make a hole through something.

to bore for water or oil

An insect bores into a tree.

(intransitive) 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 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

1862, Thaddeus William Harris, A Treatise on Some of the Insects Injurious to Vegetation:

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

to bore one’s way through a crowd

What bustling crowds I bored.

[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:

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

This timber does not bore well.

(intransitive) To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns.

Their eyes bore into my back.

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

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.

1824, Pierce Egan, Boxiana; Or, Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism, page 600:

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.

1885, Tresham Gilbey, Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume 43, page 107:

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

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

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:

(intransitive) To push forward in a certain direction with laborious effort.

en-verb

bore (third-person singular simple present bores, present participle boring, simple past and past participle bored)

bores (present singular third-person)
boring (participle present)
bored (participle past)
bored (past)

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.

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger


bore

the bore of a cannon

the bores of wind-instruments

1631, Francis [Bacon], “II. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, page 53:

A hole drilled or milled through something, or (by extension) its diameter.

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

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

A capped well drilled to tap artesian water.

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

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

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.

1871, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from the French and Italian Notebooks:

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

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi]:

отвор

a hole drilled or milled through something

膛

the tunnel inside of a gun's barrel through which the bullet travels when fired


bore

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

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 102:

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

From Middle English *bore, bare, a borrowing from Old Norse bára (“billow, wave”), from Proto-Germanic *bērō (“that which bears or carries”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear”). Cognate with Icelandic bára (“billow, wave”), Faroese bára (“billow, wave”). Doublet of bier.


bore

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?

1746, Charles Fearne, Minutes of the proceedings of a court-martial, aſſembled […] , London, page 159:

[…] by altering their course a very little, and easily have bore down abreast of our settlement, without incurring the smallest risk!

1834, Augustus Earle, A Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand in 1827 […] , pages 345–346:

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.

2006 February 10, Karl F. Hoffman, Jennifer M. Fitzpatrick, “The Application of DNA Microarrays in the Functional Study of Schisostome/Host Biology”, in W. Evan Secor, Daniel G. Colley, editors, Schistosomiasis, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 101:


bore

→ Persian: بور (bor)

Coined by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard in 1808, from the same root but independently of English boron.


bore

(rare, euphemistic) The anus; the asshole.

English: bore

Scots: bore, boir

A back-formation of boren; reinforced by Old Norse bora.


bore

to bore or drill (make a hole through something)

head

bore (imperative bor, present tense borer, simple past and past participle bora or boret, present participle borende)

bor (imperative)
borer (present)
bora (participle past)
bora (past)
boret (participle past)
boret (past)
borende (participle present)


bore

From Middle Welsh bore, from Proto-Brythonic *bọreɣ, from Proto-Celtic *bāregos (“morning”). Cognate with Breton beure and Old Irish bárach (whence i mbárach (“tomorrow”), modern Irish amáireach and amárach).