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
-
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:
When factories couldn’t keep up with surging demand during the pandemic, they believed industry giants would pour resources into making stuff the world already loved.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
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
The paradox in the AI trade—investors are questioning the hype even as they pour money in—was everywhere at Camp Kotok, an invite-only weekend getaway for pros from across the finance world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
I kept practicing while Calista showed me how to pour the dye over the clothes in the bathtub.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
The petition was started by TVP federation chair Aileen O'Connor who said the decision to consider the killers for early release "pours salt into wounds that have never healed".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Without those friendships, he pours himself into his crime-fighting work to stave off his loneliness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
‘Hysteria’ grips San Francisco’s housing market as AI wealth pours in.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
He pours the Ditka wine into a plastic cup and unwraps his hoagie, layered with ham and, as the cashier so memorably described it, “limited-time yellow squirt.”
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
“I thought you knew,” he says without looking at her, keeping his attention on the teapot as he pours.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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
The industry has poured billions into enormous, yearslong studies meant to prove it can save lives by hitting certain biological targets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 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
Once poured into a cup, that lowers to around 90 or 95 degrees C.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
My thoughts felt sluggish, like someone had poured sand in my brain.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
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
The wave tore through the Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant where Adhikari served as the manager, ripping up steel and concrete defenses with explosive force and pouring into the project’s cavernous tunnels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Thunder and lightning accompanied a torrential downpour, followed by the obligatory pictures of rain pouring into the stadium through a leak in the roof.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
The cloudy skies and pouring rain, however, couldn’t dampen my sunny mood.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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.
