auger

American  

[aw-ger] / ˈɔ gər /

noun

• augers
  plural

1. Carpentry.

   1. a bit, as for a brace.

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

2. earth auger.

3. 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.

4. snake.

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auger British  

/ ˈɔːɡə /

noun

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

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• augers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of auger

before 900; Middle English nauger ( a nauger misdivided as an auger; cf. adder ¹, 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. gore ³, garlic

Explanation

If you need to bore a hole in a block of ice, grab your auger. An auger is a hand tool with a long blade that looks sort of like a screw, which drills holes when turned. An auger is typically used to drill holes in material such as wood, soil, or ice. When you turn the auger, the blade digs into the material and slowly shaves away a thin layer, eventually creating a hole. Think of it as working like a drill — only you’re the one supplying the power. A special kind of auger made out of a long coil of wire can be used to clear clogs out of drains or pipe

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

auger augers

The first stop on the conveyor belts takes the materials over a series of rolling coils called an auger screen that sift out the cardboard and push it to a separate conveyor belt.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

They pull out the auger and take a sample of the excavated dirt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024

Rescuers had managed to drill 34m downwards horizontally, with just 12m remaining, when the auger machine broke down on Friday.

From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2023

The drill machine, called an auger, was damaged as it was being pulled out of the nearly 47-meter pipe inserted to bring out the trapped workers, after hitting an obstacle on Friday.

From Reuters ● Nov. 25, 2023

“The second thing I learned when you lied to me,” hissed the snake to Baugi, who stood, astonished, holding the auger like a weapon, “was that you would betray me.”

From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman

Many drain cleaning jobs involve either snakes or long augers that slide down into the pipes and tear up or pull out debris.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 22, 2024

“We think that augers well for working people.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2023

Do you have 800 people working on pellet grill augers?

From The Verge ● Jul. 4, 2022

Also see lots of feed trucks with unloading augers on the truck which feed the broilers.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2017

He handed him different old rasps and augers and chisels and files and mallets he’d brought over from England.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown