bore.
To inspire boredom in somebody.
Meaning & usage
To inspire boredom in somebody.
to bore someone to death
Reading books really bores me; films are much more exciting.
To make a hole through something.
To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool.
to bore for water or oil
An insect bores into a tree.
To form or enlarge (something) by means of a boring instrument or apparatus.
to bore a steam cylinder or a gun barrel; to bore a hole
To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; to force a narrow and difficult passage through.
to bore one’s way through a crowd
To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns.
This timber does not bore well.
To glare (as if to drill a hole with the eyes).
Their eyes bore into my back.
To push or drive (a boxer into the ropes, a boat out of its course, etc.).
To push forward in a certain direction with laborious effort.
To fool; to trick.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-der. Proto-Germanic *burōną Proto-West Germanic *borōn Old English borian Middle English boren English bore From Middle English boren, from Old English borian (“to pierce”), from Proto-West Germanic *borōn, from Proto-Germanic *burōną. Compare Danish bore, Norwegian Bokmål bore, Dutch boren, German bohren, Old Norse bora. Cognate with Latin forō (“to bore, to pierce”), Latin feriō (“strike, cut”) and Albanian birë (“hole”). Sense of wearying may come from a figurative use such as "to bore the ears"; compare German drillen.
A hole drilled, bored, or milled through something.
the bore of a cannon
A borehole sunk into an artesian basin to provide a source of water.
The diameter of such a hole.
The diameter of such a hole. The diameter of a cylinder in a piston engine or compressor.
The bore times the stroke times the number of cylinders equals displacement.
The tunnel inside of a gun's barrel through which the bullet travels when fired, or (by extension) its diameter.
A tool, such as an auger, for making a hole by boring.
A capped well drilled to tap artesian water.
A capped well drilled to tap artesian water. The place where such a well exists.
One who inspires boredom or lack of interest; an uninteresting person.
My neighbour is such a bore when he talks about his coin collection.
Something dull or uninteresting.
What a bore that movie was! There was no action, and the dialogue was totally uncreative.
Calibre; importance.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-der. Proto-Germanic *burōną Proto-West Germanic *borōn Old English borian Middle English boren English bore From Middle English boren, from Old English borian (“to pierce”), from Proto-West Germanic *borōn, from Proto-Germanic *burōną. Compare Danish bore, Norwegian Bokmål bore, Dutch boren, German bohren, Old Norse bora. Cognate with Latin forō (“to bore, to pierce”), Latin feriō (“strike, cut”) and Albanian birë (“hole”). Sense of wearying may come from a figurative use such as "to bore the ears"; compare German drillen.
A sudden and rapid flow of tide occurring in certain rivers and estuaries which rolls up as a wave.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *bore, bare, a borrowing from Old Norse bára (“billow, wave”), from Proto-Germanic *bērō (“that which bears or carries”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear”). Cognate with Icelandic bára (“billow, wave”), Faroese bára (“billow, wave”). Doublet of bier.
simple past of bear
past participle of bear
simple past of bare
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.