bore

¹ American  

[bawr, bohr] / bɔr, boʊr /

verb

1. simple past tense of bear.

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bore ² American  

[bawr] / bɔr /

verb (used with object)

bored, boring

1. to weary by dullness or sameness.

   The long speech bored me.

   Synonyms:

   annoy, tire, fatigue

   Antonyms:

   enrapture, thrill, amuse

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noun

1. a dull, tiresome, or uncongenial person.

   He's such a bore that I'd rather stay home than go out with him.

2. a cause of inconvenience or petty annoyance.

   The job has a lot of repetitive tasks that are a bore to do.

bore ³ American  

[bawr] / bɔr /

verb (used with object)

bored, boring

1. to pierce (a solid substance) with some rotary cutting instrument.

   Synonyms:

   drill, perforate

2. to make (a hole) by drilling with such an instrument.

3. to form, make, or construct (a tunnel, mine, well, passage, etc.) by hollowing out, cutting through, or removing a core of material.

   to bore a tunnel through the Alps;

   to bore an oil well 3,000 feet deep.

4. Machinery. to enlarge (a hole) to a precise diameter with a cutting tool within the hole, by rotating either the tool or the work.

5. to force (an opening), as through a crowd, by persistent forward thrusting (usually followed by through orinto ); to force or make (a passage).

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verb (used without object)

bored, boring

1. to make a hole in a solid substance with a rotary cutting instrument.

2. Machinery. to enlarge a hole to a precise diameter.

3. (of a substance) to admit of being bored.

   Certain types of steel do not bore well.

noun

1. a hole made or enlarged by boring.

2. the inside diameter of a hole, tube, or hollow cylindrical or conical object or device, such as a bushing or bearing, engine cylinder, musical wind instrument, or barrel of a gun.

   Synonyms:

   caliber

bore ⁴ American  

[bawr, bohr] / bɔr, boʊr /

noun

1. an abrupt rise of tidal water moving rapidly inland from the mouth of an estuary.

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bore ¹ British  

/ bɔː /

verb

1. (tr) to tire or make weary by being dull, repetitious, or uninteresting

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noun

1. a dull, repetitious, or uninteresting person, activity, or state

bore ² British  

/ bɔː /

verb

1. to produce (a hole) in (a material) by use of a drill, auger, or other cutting tool

2. to increase the diameter of (a hole), as by an internal turning operation on a lathe or similar machine

3. (tr) to produce (a hole in the ground, tunnel, mine shaft, etc) by digging, drilling, cutting, etc

4. informal (intr) (of a horse or athlete in a race) to push other competitors, esp in order to try to get them out of the way

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noun

1. a hole or tunnel in the ground, esp one drilled in search of minerals, oil, etc

2. 1. a circular hole in a material produced by drilling, turning, or drawing

   2. the diameter of such a hole

3. 1. the hollow part of a tube or cylinder, esp of a gun barrel

   2. the diameter of such a hollow part; calibre

4. an artesian well

bore ³ British  

/ bɔː /

noun

1. a high steep-fronted wave moving up a narrow estuary, caused by the tide

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bore ⁴ British  

/ bɔː /

verb

1. the past tense of bear 1

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bore Scientific  

/ bôr /

1. In fluid mechanics, a jump in the level of moving water, generally propagating in the opposite direction to the current. Strong ocean tides can cause bores to propagate up rivers.

2. 1. The white, shallow portion of a wave after it breaks. The bore carries ocean water onto the beach.

   2. A tidal wave caused by the surge of a flood tide upstream in a narrowing estuary or by colliding tidal currents.

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Other Word Forms

• borable adjective
• boreable adjective
• bored adjective

Etymology

Origin of bore¹

First recorded in 1760–70; of uncertain origin

Origin of bore¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English bor(i)en, Old English borian; cognate with Old High German borōn, German bohren, Old Norse bora, Latin forāre

Origin of bore¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English bare “a wave, billow,” from Old Norse bāra

Example Sentences

"Free our president," read a placard held by a man with a red flannel shirt which bore the image of Maduro's predecessor and mentor, late socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez.

From Barron's

It is an idea rooted in the thinking that if our reality really is a simulation, we would get shut down if we were boring.

From The Wall Street Journal

Given this was hundreds of millions of years ago, Scotland bore no resemblance to the land it is today, instead being located near the equator.

From BBC

“It’s intended to be friendly, of course, and navigate through a world built for humans and eliminate dangerous repetitive and boring tasks,” he said at the time.

From The Wall Street Journal

Their fans used to sing 'glory glory Man United' but now they are more likely to sing 'boring boring Man United', when I expected a bit more from them this season.

From BBC

Related Words

• annoy
• bother
• exhaust
• fatigue
• irk
• irritate
• jade
• tire
• worry