BORE, verb transitive [Latin foro and perforo, to bore to perforate; Gr. to pierce or transfix; also, to pass over, in which sense it coincides with ferry; Latin veru, from thrusting or piercing, coincide in elements with this root.

1. To perforate or penetrate a solid body and make a round hole by turning an auger, gimlet, or other instrument. Hence, to make hollow; ; to form a round hole; as, to bore a cannon.

2. To eat out or make a hollow by gnawing or corroding, as a worm.

3. To penetrate or break through by turning or labor; as, to bore through a crowd.

BORE, verb intransitive To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that turns; as, this timber does not bore well or is hard to bore

1. To pierce or enter by boring; as, an auger bores well.

2. To push forward toward a certain point.

Boring to the west.

3. With horsemen, a horse bores, when he carries his nose to the ground.

4. In a transitive or intransitive sense, to pierce the earth with scooping irons, which, when drawn out, bring with them samples of the different stratums, through which they pass. This is a method of discovering veins of ore and coal without opening a mine.

BORE, noun The hole made by boring. Hence, the cavity or hollow of a gun, cannon, pistol or other fire-arm; the caliber; whether formed by boring or not.

1. Any instrument for making holes by boring or turning, as an auger, gimlet or wimble.

BORE, noun A tide, swelling above another tide.

A sudden influx of the tide into a river or narrow strait.

BORE, preterit tense of bear. [See Bear.]