pour

[pawr, pohr]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pour ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

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.

to emit or propel, especially continuously or rapidly: The hunter poured bullets into the moving object.

to produce or utter in or as in a stream or flood (often followed by out): to pour out one's troubles to a friend.

verb (used without object)

to issue, move, or proceed in great quantity or number: Crowds poured from the stadium after the game.

to flow forth or along; stream: Floodwaters poured over the embankments.

to rain heavily (often used impersonally with it as subject): It was pouring, but fortunately we had umbrellas.

noun

the act of pouring.

an abundant or continuous flow or stream: a pour of invective.

a heavy fall of rain.

Origin of pour

1300–50; Middle English pouren; origin uncertain

Related formspour·a·ble, adjectivepour·a·bil·i·ty, nounpour·er, nounpour·ing·ly, adverbin·ter·pour, verb (used with object)re·pour, verb (used with object)trans·pour, verb (used with object)un·pour·a·ble, adjectiveun·poured, adjective

Can be confusedpause paws pores pours

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pouring

running, flowing, flooding, rushing, gushing, raining, spouting, rainy

Examples from the Web for pouring

Contemporary Examples of pouring

He was grabbing my hips and he was pouring with perspiration and he had this cheesy smile.
From Playboy Prince to Dirty Old Man?
Tom Sykes
January 5, 2015
Q: What was your sensation when they were pouring water... what did you physically feel?
The Luxury Homes That Torture and Your Tax Dollars Built
Michael Daly
December 12, 2014
There was a time when the love-struck couple would kiss in the pouring rain.
Sex, Blood and Maroon 5: Pop Culture’s Wounds Run Deep
Lizzie Crocker
October 3, 2014
His first novel, Red Earth and Pouring Rain (1995), won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first book.
Vikram Chandra Is A Novelist Who's Obsessed With Writing Computer Code
Jane Ciabattari
August 29, 2014
Here you are, writing to a damn advice columnist, while you could be pouring everything you have into that foundation.
Dear Dick (Cheney): Advice From the Former Veep
Kelly Williams Brown
June 21, 2014

Historical Examples of pouring

What could the little bird mean by pouring it forth at midnight?
Buds and Bird Voices (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The pouring of coffee may be done at the table or in the kitchen.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Give him that truck you've been pouring down me for the last week.
Chip, of the Flying U
B. M. Bower
Repeat this every day; first pouring off the liquid of the day before.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
Roast or bake it; pouring a glass of port wine into the gravy.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie

British Dictionary definitions for pouring

pour

verb

to flow or cause to flow in a stream

(tr) to issue, emit, etc, in a profuse way

Also: pour with rain (intr often foll by down) to rain heavilyit's pouring down outside

(intr) to move together in large numbers; swarm

(intr) to serve tea, coffee, etcshall I pour?

it never rains but it pours events, esp unfortunate ones, come together or occur in rapid succession

pour cold water on informal to be unenthusiastic about or discourage

pour oil on troubled waters to try to calm a quarrel, etc

noun

a pouring, downpour, etc

Derived Formspourer, noun

Word Origin for pour

C13: of unknown origin

usage

The verbs pour and pore are sometimes confused: she poured cream over her strudel; she pored (not poured) over the manuscript

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pouring

adj.

"raining heavily," c.1600, present participle adjective from pour (v.).

pour

c.1300, of unknown origin, not in Old English; perhaps from Old French (Flanders dialect) purer "to sift (grain), pour out (water)," from Latin purare "to purify," from purus "pure" (see pure). Replaced Old English geotan. Intransitive sense from 1530s. Related: Poured; pouring; pourable. As a noun from 1790.

Idioms and Phrases with pouring

pour

In addition to the idioms beginning with pour

pour cold water on
pour oil on troubled waters
pour on the coal
pour out one's heart

also see:

it never rains but it pours