"Bore" Definition

Definitions for the word "Bore" from multiple English dictionaries.

1. v.
(-ring) 1 make (a hole), esp. With a revolving tool. 2 make a hole in, hollow out. n. 1 hollow of a firearm barrel or of a cylinder in an internal-combustion engine. 2 diameter of this. 3 deep hole made esp. To find water. [old english]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
2. n.
Tiresome or dull person or thing. v. (-ring) weary by tedious talk or dullness. bored adj. Boring adj. [origin unknown]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
3. n.
High tidal wave in an estuary. [scandinavian]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
4. slang
a troublesome friend or acquaintance, perhaps so called from his unvaried and pertinacious pushing; a nuisance; anything which wearies or annoys. The _Gradus ad Cantabrigiam_ suggests the derivation of BORE from the _Greek_ Βάρος, a burden. _Shakspeare_ uses it, _King Henry VIII._, i. 1— “----at this instant He BORES me with some trick.” _Grose_ speaks of this word as being much in fashion about the year 1780-81, and states that it vanished of a sudden without leaving a trace behind. That this was not so, the constant use of the word nowadays will prove. The late Prince Consort spoke as follows on the subject of BORES in his address to the British Association, at Aberdeen, September 14, 1859— “I will not weary you by further examples, with which most of you are better acquainted than I am myself, but merely express my satisfaction that there should exist bodies of men who will bring the well-considered and understood wants of science before the public and the Government, who will even hand round the begging-box, and expose themselves to refusals and rebuffs, to which all beggars are liable, with the certainty besides of being considered great BORES. Please to recollect that this species of BORE is a most useful animal, well adapted for the ends for which nature intended him. He alone, by constantly returning to the charge, and repeating the same truths and the same requests, succeeds in awakening attention to the cause which he advocates, and obtains that hearing which is granted him at last for self-protection, as the minor evil compared to his importunity, but which is requisite to make his cause understood.”
Source: The Slang Dictionary, 1864
5. slang
(_Pugilistic_), to press a man to the ropes of the ring by superior weight. In the world of athletics to BORE is to push an opponent out of his course. This is a most heinous crime among rowers, as it very often prevents a man having the full use of the tide, or compels him to foul, in which case the decision of the race is left to individual judgment, at times, of necessity, erroneous.
Source: The Slang Dictionary, 1864

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