Definition of "bore"

bore¹

/bɔɹ/

verb
third-person singular simple present bores, present participle boring, simple past and past participle bored
1. (transitive) To inspire boredom in somebody.
  Quotations
  He bores me with some trick.
  1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i], page 206
  […] used to come and bore me at rare intervals.
  1881, Thomas Carlyle, Reminiscences
2. (transitive) To make a hole through something.
  Quotations
  I'll believe as soon this whole earth may be bored.
  c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
  On June 8, 1872, the London & North Western Railway obtained powers to quadruple its main line, and a new tunnel was bored for the up and down slow lines.
  1950 September, “Network News: Watford Tunnel, L.M.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 641
3. (intransitive) To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool.
4. (transitive) To form or enlarge (something) by means of a boring instrument or apparatus.
  Quotations
  short but very powerful jaws, by means whereof the insect can bore […] a cylindrical passage through the most solid wood
  1862, Thaddeus William Harris, A Treatise on Some of the Insects Injurious to Vegetation
5. (transitive) To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; to force a narrow and difficult passage through.
  Quotations
  What bustling crowds I bored.
  , [John] Gay, “Book III. Of Walking the Streets by Night.”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], page 79
6. (intransitive) To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns.
7. (intransitive) To glare (as if to drill a hole with the eyes).
8. (transitive, sports, slang) To push or drive (a boxer into the ropes, a boat out of its course, etc.).
  Quotations
  The right hand of Curtis was open too much ; but he nevertheless had the best of the hitting in this round, till Inglis bored him down, out of the ropes.
  1824, Pierce Egan, Boxiana; Or, Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism, page 600
  Hanlan, it seems, led at about a mile, when Beach's steamer bored him, and to avoid the danger of being swamped, he put on a violent spurt and drew well clear of Beach, getting some lengths lead.
  1885, Tresham Gilbey, Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume 43, page 107
9. (intransitive) To push forward in a certain direction with laborious effort.
  Quotations
  They take their flight […] boring to the west.
  1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
10. (obsolete) To fool; to trick.
noun
plural bores
1. A hole drilled or milled through something, or (by extension) its diameter.
  Quotations
  the bores of wind-instruments
  1631, Francis [Bacon], “II. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], page 53
2. The tunnel inside of a gun's barrel through which the bullet travels when fired, or (by extension) its diameter.
3. A tool, such as an auger, for making a hole by boring.
4. A capped well drilled to tap artesian water.
  1. The place where such a well exists.
5. One who inspires boredom or lack of interest; an uninteresting person.
6. Something dull or uninteresting.
  Quotations
  It is as great a bore as to hear a poet read his own verses.
  1871, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from the French and Italian Notebooks
7. Calibre; importance.
  Quotations
  Yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter.
  c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene vi]

bore²

/bɔɹ/

noun
plural bores
1. A sudden and rapid flow of tide occurring in certain rivers and estuaries which rolls up as a wave.
  Quotations
  In another moment a huge wave, like a muddy tidal bore, but almost scaldingly hot, came sweeping round the bend up-stream.
  1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 102

bore³

/bɔɹ/

verb
1. simple past of bear
2. (colloquial) past participle of bear
  Quotations
  Q. When the Fireſhip appeared to be going down towards the Real, do you think that the Dorſetſhire could have bore down in Time, to have covered and aſſiſted her?
  1746, Charles Fearne, Minutes of the proceedings of a court-martial, aſſembled […] ‎, London, page 159
  […] by altering their course a very little, and easily have bore down abreast of our settlement, without incurring the smallest risk!
  1834, Augustus Earle, A Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand in 1827 […] ‎, pages 345–346
  The end of the 20th century and the start of the new millennium have bore witness to a remarkable revolution in the way parasite/host biological interactions can be conceptually designed and experimentally studied.
  2006 February 10, Karl F. Hoffman, Jennifer M. Fitzpatrick, “The Application of DNA Microarrays in the Functional Study of Schisostome/Host Biology”, in W. Evan Secor, Daniel G. Colley, editors, Schistosomiasis, Springer Science & Business Media, page 101
3. (proscribed) simple past of bare

Definition of "bore"

bore1

verb

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noun

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bore2

noun

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bore3

verb

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bore¹

bore²

bore³