pour
Americanverb (used with object)
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pours,
present (3rd person singular)
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poured,
past participle, past
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pouring
present participle
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to send (a liquid, fluid, or anything in loose particles) flowing or falling, as from one container to another, or into, over, or on something.
to pour a glass of milk; to pour water on a plant.
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to emit or propel, especially continuously or rapidly.
The hunter poured bullets into the moving object.
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to produce or utter in or as in a stream or flood (often followed byout ).
to pour out one's troubles to a friend.
verb (used without object)
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pours,
present (3rd person singular)
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poured,
past participle, past
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pouring
present participle
-
to issue, move, or proceed in great quantity or number.
Crowds poured from the stadium after the game.
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to flow forth or along; stream.
Floodwaters poured over the embankments.
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to rain heavily (often used impersonally with it as subject).
It was pouring, but fortunately we had umbrellas.
noun
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the act of pouring.
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an abundant or continuous flow or stream.
a pour of insults.
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a heavy fall of rain.
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a wine or other beverage.
a list of the best pours.
verb
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to flow or cause to flow in a stream
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(tr) to issue, emit, etc, in a profuse way
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Also: pour with rain. to rain heavily
it's pouring down outside
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(intr) to move together in large numbers; swarm
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(intr) to serve tea, coffee, etc
shall I pour?
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events, esp unfortunate ones, come together or occur in rapid succession
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informal to be unenthusiastic about or discourage
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to try to calm a quarrel, etc
noun
Usage
The verbs pour and pore are sometimes confused: she poured cream over her strudel; she pored (not poured ) over the manuscript
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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pourabilitynoun
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pourernoun
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interpourverb (used with object)
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repourverb (used with object)
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pourableadjective
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unpourableadjective
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unpouredadjective
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pouringlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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poursimple
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pourssimple
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have pouredperfect
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has pouredperfect
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am pouringprogressive
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are pouringprogressive
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is pouringprogressive
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have been pouringperfect progressive
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has been pouringperfect progressive
Past
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pouredsimple
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had pouredperfect
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was pouringprogressive
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were pouringprogressive
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had been pouringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pour
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English pouren; origin uncertain
Explanation
To pour is to flow rapidly in a steady stream, or to cause something to flow. You can pour good coffee into a cup and pour bad coffee down the drain. You can pour your heart out, pour a cup of orange juice into or out of a cup, or watch the rain pour down while a poem pours from your lips. A jet of water may pour from a spout. Listen to how the water pours in this poem from Lewis Carroll's book, Alice in Wonderland: “How doth the little crocodile / Improve his shining tail, / And pour the waters of the Nile, / On every golden scale!”
Vocabulary lists containing pour
Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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Commonly Confused Words, List 5
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Commonly Confused Words, List 7
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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.
See Examples For:
The exhibitions featured at the Visa pour L'Image event are on display in venues around Perpignan until September 13.
From Barron's ● Sep. 5, 2026
"You can't pour from an empty cup," she posted on social media.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Some 5,000 American sailors will pour into Pattaya starting Wednesday, when the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and two other Navy ships make a five-day port call in eastern Thailand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Hauge Sin lugs bottles of Chinese wine onto the subway to pour samples for stone-faced sommeliers and restaurant wine buyers, who sometimes come back with an order.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
“Unless you brought some cereal? I pour a mean bowl of cereal.”
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
But some of the pollution bypasses the plants and pours directly into the river.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
‘Hysteria’ grips San Francisco’s housing market as AI wealth pours in.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
The first pours of Cup of Ambition will be served at Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop, a new travel center opening June 24 off Exit 22 on Interstate 65 south of Nashville.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
The state pours the tax revenue back into Medicaid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
She takes the kettle off the stove and pours its contents into the tin cup.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
In the past, diesel fuel was poured around the bases of the trees, and grounds staff said last month that they suspected copper sulfate was dumped into the holes drilled near the roots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Tributes poured in for the avid runner, affectionately known as "Tsontso" after police confirmed her death.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Questions poured forth afterward about leadership, difficult personalities, education, institutional blindness, younger generations and whether children would still be able to distinguish between what is real and what is synthetic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Last year’s flood began when water abruptly poured out of a glacial lake 20 miles upstream from Nepal’s border with China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
He opened the last juice pack and carefully poured some into his cupped hand for Moose, who lapped it eagerly.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
In addition to pouring money into his business, he’s making sure to put away enough funds for retirement, and he’s saving on housing costs by living with his parents.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
The offers are pouring in to fill the abandoned prison site, said San Joaquin County Supervisor Robert Rickman, who was mayor of Tracy from 2016-2020.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
But Chinese biotechs are pouring in, hoping to steal a slice of the weight-loss drug market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Images of the office widely shared online showed black smoke pouring from two windows on the front of the building.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Chase watched his father walk across the yard in the now pouring rain.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
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.
