to threaten (someone).
to offer or proffer (something).
the land along the edge of a sea, lake, or wide river
land, as opposed to water (esp in the phrase on shore )
( as modifier )
shore duty
law the tract of coastland lying between the ordinary marks of high and low water
(often plural) a country
his native shores
What is a basic definition of shore? A shore is land that is located along the edge of a body of water. Shore can also be used more generally to mean any land or a particular country. As a verb, shore means to support something. If a certain area of land touches or runs alongside a body of water, it is a shore. For example, a fisherman would stand at a river’s shore while fishing in it. A shore is similar to a coast or a beach. A coast is a shore that specifically meets the ocean. A beach is a part of a shore covered in sand and pebbles.
Shore, bank, beach, coast refer to an edge of land abutting on an ocean, lake, or other large body of water. Shore is the general word: The ship reached shore. Bank denotes the land along a river or other watercourse, sometimes steep but often not: The river flows between its banks. Beach refers to sandy or pebbly margins along a shore, especially those made wider at ebb tide: a private beach for bathers. Coast applies only to land along an ocean: the Pacific coast.
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English score, Old English scora (recorded only in place names); cognate with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German schore; perhaps akin to shear
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English noun shore, score; cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch schore “prop”; the verb is derivative of the noun
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English ( Scots ) schore, of uncertain origin and meaning
The land right at the edge of a lake, river, or ocean is called the shore. Even the bravest swimmers will head for the shore when they hear someone yell "Shark!" The verb shore means "prop up or support," so you might shore up a house that's tilting on its foundation or shore up a failing company with an investment of money. The water's-edge shore has a Germanic root that means "cut," and experts believe that the noun shore grew either from a sense of "division between land and water," or possibly "land cut off from the mainland by marshes."
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But the matriarch isn’t out of the woods yet after being found weak and unable to fly on the north shore of Big Bear Lake on July 18.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Iran sits on the northern side of the narrow waterway, while Omani territory occupies the top of the point of land jutting out of the southern shore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The marine heat wave is also pushing great white sharks nearer to the shore -- a rare sight.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Despite the incoming tide, Craig went into the sea three times to try and pull them to shore, while Carly spoke to the emergency services.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Had he come back to the bridge, found it gone, and taken another way to reach the shore?
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
Whether South Shore Academy, the high school where Varley worked should be involved in the inquest, was a matter still to be resolved, the hearing was told.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Historians Timothy Snyder and Marci Shore, as well as philosopher Jason Stanley, left their jobs at Yale University to take positions at the University of Toronto.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
Dreesen helped organize his fellow stand-ups and led the landmark six-week strike that ended with Shore agreeing to pay $25 per set to performers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
The fire service was called to the Shore Road last night where a blaze had been set at the rear of a house - there are no reports of injuries.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
It was cold at Christmastime, cold in the winter there on the Eastern Shore.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
They’d loved hiking the Great Wall of China and participating in 150-mile bike rides, and had shored up their finances to retire early.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
Even as its major military capabilities have been all but wiped out, it has shored up its defense through the agile use of cheap drones, mines and other devices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
The Dodgers shored up the bullpen over the winter, signing three-time all-star Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69-million contract.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2026
By borrowing to spend, the chancellor and prime minister have shored up their immediate position in parliament and it appears to put to bed the shocking doubts about passing their budgets.
From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2025
Dirt from the road itself had been dug and shored up as a wall, blocking the way even further.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
In the case of 14 Gay Street in lower Manhattan, owners alleged Domani didn’t inform them of the entire north bearing foundational wall being removed without the installation of shoring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Lopez spent the next three years along with her fellow progressive Santa Ana council members shoring up the city’s rent control policies and its immigrant defense fund.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
Big business and their philanthropic arms have been pouring money into shoring up the future pipeline of trades workers this year, including a $100 million initiative the BlackRock Foundation announced earlier this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
But the visit is also about shoring up India's position in the wider Gulf in the wake of Middle East conflict.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
Ambrose Spike had reported some minor splintering at the top inside edges of the door, but the shoring of earthworks was holding out.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
