bore

CEFRB1

/bɔː(ɹ)/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To make someone feel uninterested, or a hole made by drilling.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To make a hole through something.

Examples

  • He bore the future of the company on his shoulders.

  • How easy would it be to bore a tunnel through it?

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /boɹ/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To inspire boredom in somebody.

  2. To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool.

  3. To form or enlarge (something) by means of a boring instrument or apparatus.

More examples

In context

  • The letter bore the president's seal.

  • Reading books really bores me; films are much more exciting.

  • to bore for water or oil

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The long lecture about taxes began to blank the entire audience.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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.