bourn
1 Americannoun
noun
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a bound; limit.
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destination; goal.
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realm; domain.
noun
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a destination; goal
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a boundary
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bourn
1515–25; earlier borne < Middle French, Old French, originally a Picard form of bodne; see bound 3
Vocabulary lists containing bourn
"The Tempest," Vocabulary from Acts 1 and 2
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Paul Reubens has left the Earth, riding a sporty red-and-white bicycle into that Puppetland from whose bourn no traveler returns, but leaving us with his great creation and alter ego: Pee-wee Herman.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 31, 2023
In other words, was Hamlet right to call death an inescapable boundary, “the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns?”
From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2021
It is the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns and all that.
From Slate • May 9, 2018
Beyond the bestsellers: Michael Dirda picks 12 books for the holidays Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” writes vividly, if not quite accurately, of “the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns.”
From Washington Post • Dec. 16, 2015
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveller returns.—puzzles the will; And makes us rather bear those ills we have.
From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
