Pore Meaning
/pɔː(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA tiny opening in the skin.
nounBy extension any small opening or interstice, especially one of many, or one allowing the passage of a fluid.
Sentence Examples
Experts will now pore over the fine print of the contract.
In lab experiments, when researchers blocked that pore the parasite stopped growing and eventually died.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The tiny opening on the skin's surface that releases sweat is called a ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She spent hours ____ over the ancient manuscript, trying to decipher the faded handwriting.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English pore, from Old French pore, from Latin porus, from Ancient Greek πόρος (póros, “passage”). Displaced native English sweat hole from Middle English swet hole, which might have been a reformation of Old English swātþȳrel (literally “sweat hole”), which competed with līcþēote (literally “body pipe”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Under certain conditions tangential sections indicate that the zoœcial walls and the intermural space are seemingly pierced by communication pores or connecting foramina."
— 1903, Ray Smith Bassler, The Structural Features of the Bryozoan Genus Homotrypa, with Descriptions of Species from the Cincinnatian Group, page 570:
"After reading White’s vitriolic language, The New York Times facetiously remarked that “Kansas is bleeding from every pore of her vocabularium. Sharp’s rifles are discharging from the well-known Emporium of White & Son, unlimited, and Bibles are closed until after election.”"
— 1947, Walter Johnson, “The Rebirth of the Progressive Movement”, in William Allen White’s America, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, part IV (Normalcy and Reform), page 436:
"Yet each foreign post day she watched for the arrival of letters - knew the postmark, and watched me as I read. I found her often poring over the articles of Greek intelligence in the newspaper."
— 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter X, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The tiny opening on the skin's surface that releases sweat is called a ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She spent hours ____ over the ancient manuscript, trying to decipher the faded handwriting.