auger

[ aw-ger ]

/ ˈɔ gər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR auger ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Carpentry.

a bit, as for a brace.
a boring tool, similar to but larger than a gimlet, consisting of a bit rotated by a transverse handle.

a device consisting of a shaft with a broad helical flange rotating within a cylindrical casing to force bulk materials from one end to the other.

snake(def 3a).

RELATED WORDS

grill, tool, gimlet, borer

Nearby words

augean, augean stables, augeas, augen, augend, auger, auger bit, auger effect, auger shower, auger-eyed, aught

Origin of auger

before 900; Middle English nauger (a nauger misdivided as an auger; cf. adder¹, apron), Old English nafogār nave-piercer (cognate with Old Norse nafarr, Old Saxon nabugēr, Middle Dutch navegeer, Old High German nabagēr), equivalent to nafa nave + gār spear; cf. gore³, garlic

Can be confused

auger augur

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for auger

This was a fine house, and contained the room which afterwards became celebrated under the name of the "Auger Hole."
Stories of New Jersey|Frank Richard Stockton
Mr Rackstraw started as if some strong hand had plunged an auger into him.
The Man Upstairs|P. G. Wodehouse
They'd bore an auger hole or two in the box to give him air, and that was greater humanity than he deserved.
Trail's End|George W. Ogden
When it happens that an auger breaks in the hole, a tool similar to that shown at fig. 49.
A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines|Andrew Ure

In my time the sap gouge was used instead of the auger and the manner of tapping was crude and wasteful.
My Boyhood|John Burroughs

British Dictionary definitions for auger

auger

/ (ˈɔːɡə) /

noun

a hand tool with a bit shaped like a corkscrew, for boring holes in wood

a larger tool of the same kind for boring holes in the ground

Word Origin for auger

C15 an augur, resulting from mistaken division of earlier a nauger, from Old English nafugār nave (of a wheel) spear (that is, tool for boring hubs of wheels), from nafu nave ² + gār spear; see gore ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012