I. bore 1 /bɔː $ bɔːr/ BrE AmE
the past tense of ↑ bear
II. bore 2 BrE AmE verb
1 . [transitive] to make someone feel bored, especially by talking too much about something they are not interested in:
He’s the sort of person who bores you at parties.
a film that will bore its young audience
bore somebody with something
I won’t bore you with all the technical details.
bore somebody to death/tears (=make them very bored)
2 . [intransitive and transitive] to make a deep round hole in a hard surface
bore something through/into/in something
The machine bores a hole through the cards.
bore through/into
To build the tunnel they had to bore through solid rock.
3 . [intransitive + into] if someone’s eyes bore into you, they look at you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable
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THESAURUS
▪ dig to make a hole in the ground using your hands, a tool, or a machine:
Some workmen were digging a trench at the side of the road.
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In Africa, the people know where to dig for water.
▪ make a hole to dig a hole in the ground, using your hands or a tool:
Make a hole just big enough for the plant’s roots.
▪ burrow /ˈbʌrəʊ $ ˈbɜːroʊ/ if an animal burrows, it makes a hole or a passage in the ground by digging the earth with its feet, nose etc:
The rabbits had burrowed a hole under the fence.
▪ plough British English , plow American English /plaʊ/ to turn over the soil using a machine or a tool pulled by animals, to prepare the soil for planting seeds:
The farmers here still plough their fields using buffaloes.
▪ excavate /ˈekskəveɪt/ formal to dig a large hole in the ground, especially as a preparation for building something:
The men began excavating the hole for the pool.
▪ bore to make a deep round hole in the ground using a special machine, especially in order to look for oil or water:
Companies need a special licence to bore for oil.
III. bore 3 BrE AmE noun
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ bore , ↑ boredom ; adjective : ↑ bored , ↑ boring ; verb : bore; adverb : boringly]
1 . [singular] something that is not interesting to you or that annoys you:
Waiting is a bore.
You’ll find it’s a terrible bore.
2 . [countable] someone who is boring, especially because they talk too much about themselves or about things that do not interest you:
He turned out to be a crashing bore (=used to emphasize that someone is very boring) .
3 . [singular] the measurement of the width of the inside of a long hollow object such as a pipe or the ↑ barrel of a gun:
Take a length of piping with a bore of about 15 mm.
12-/16-/20- etc bore
a 12-bore shotgun
wide-/narrow-/fine- bore
a fine-bore tube
4 . [singular] a wave of water that moves quickly along a river from the sea at particular times of the year:
the Severn bore
5 . [countable] a ↑ borehole
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THESAURUS
■ to make a hole in something
▪ make a hole in something to cause a hole to appear in something:
Make a hole in the bottom of the can using a hammer and nail.
▪ pierce to make a small hole in or through something, using a pointed object:
The dog's teeth had pierced her skin.
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Shelley wanted to have her ears pierced (=for earrings) .
▪ prick to make a very small hole in the surface of something, using a pointed object:
Prick the potatoes before baking them.
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My finger was bleeding where the needle had pricked it.
▪ punch to make a hole through paper or flat material using a metal tool or other sharp object:
I bought one of those things for punching holes in paper.
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You have to get your ticket punched before you get on the train.
▪ puncture to make a small hole in something, especially something where skin or a wall surrounds a softer or hollow inside part:
The bullet had punctured his lung.
▪ perforate formal to make a hole or holes in something:
Fragments of the bullet had perforated his intestines.
▪ drill to make a hole using a special tool, often one which turns round and round very quickly:
The dentist started drilling a hole in my tooth.
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They won a contract to drill for oil in the area.
▪ bore to make a deep round hole through a rock, into the ground etc:
They had to bore through solid rock.
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The men were boring a hole for the tunnel.