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 one is for the first born, the other for the last bourn.
From The Handbook of Conundrums by Edith B. Ordway
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
