Library / English Dictionary

BORE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A hole or passage made by a drill; usually made for exploratory purposes

Synonyms:

bore; bore-hole; drill hole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("bore" is a kind of...):

excavation (a hole in the ground made by excavating)

Domain category:

excavation; mining (the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bore"):

shot hole (drill hole for a charge of an explosive)

Derivation:

bore (make a hole, especially with a pointed power or hand tool)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Diameter of a tube or gun barrel

Synonyms:

bore; caliber; calibre; gauge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("bore" is a kind of...):

diam; diameter (the length of a straight line passing through the center of a circle and connecting two points on the circumference)

Derivation:

bore (make a hole, especially with a pointed power or hand tool)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A high wave (often dangerous) caused by tidal flow (as by colliding tidal currents or in a narrow estuary)

Synonyms:

aegir; bore; eager; eagre; tidal bore

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("bore" is a kind of...):

tidal current; tidal flow (the water current caused by the tides)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A person who evokes boredom

Synonyms:

bore; dullard

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("bore" is a kind of...):

disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bore"):

gasbag; windbag (a boring person who talks a great deal about uninteresting topics)

nudnick; nudnik ((Yiddish) someone who is a boring pest)

platitudinarian (a bore who makes excessive use of platitudes)

stuffed shirt (a bore who is extremely formal, pompous, and old-fashioned)

Derivation:

bore (cause to be bored)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a hole, especially with a pointed power or hand tool

Example:

carpenter bees are boring holes into the wall

Synonyms:

bore; drill

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bore" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bore"):

spud (initiate drilling operations, as for petroleum)

counter-drill (drill in an opposite direction)

trepan (cut a hole with a trepan, as in surgery)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

bore (a hole or passage made by a drill; usually made for exploratory purposes)

bore (diameter of a tube or gun barrel)

borer (any of various insects or larvae or mollusks that bore into wood)

borer (a drill for penetrating rock)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to be bored

Synonyms:

bore; tire

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to bore Sue

Antonym:

interest (excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of)

Derivation:

bore (a person who evokes boredom)

Credits

 Context examples: 

My dear Watson, you know how bored I have been since we locked up Colonel Carruthers.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Indeed, it was remarkable how well he bore these slights and with what unwearying politeness he kept on trying to ingratiate himself with all.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

So they stood, silent and motionless, when their leader came riding towards them, his face shining and his whole small figure swelling with the news which he bore.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For an instant they looked each other over, and then Berks, ducking his head and rushing in with a handover-hand style of hitting, bored Jim down into his corner.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My father and Ernest yet lived, but the former sunk under the tidings that I bore.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

A certain king had a beautiful garden, and in the garden stood a tree which bore golden apples.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He took kind leave of me, and embraced me at parting, which I bore as well as I could.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) Do you often get bored?

(GDS - Often Get Bored, NCI Thesaurus)

A small bore flexible feeding tube with a weighted metal tip that is ideally placed in the second or third part of the duodenum.

(Nasoduodenal Tube, NCI Thesaurus)

Geriatric Depression Scale, Short Form (GDS-SF) Do you often get bored?

(GDS-SF - Often Get Bored, NCI Thesaurus)