Etymology
1. O.E.
borian "to bore," from
bor "auger," from P.Gmc.
*boron, from PIE base
*bhor-/*bhr- "to cut with a sharp point" (cf. Gk.
pharao "I plow," L.
forare "to bore, pierce," O.C.E.
barjo "to strike, fight," Alb.
brime "hole"). The meaning "diameter of a tube" is first recorded 1572; hence fig. slang
full bore (1936) "at maximum speed," from notion of unchoked carburetor on an engine. Sense of "be tiresome or dull" first attested 1768, a vogue word c.1780-81, possibly a figurative extension of "to move forward slowly and steadily."
"The secret of being a bore is to tell everything." [Voltaire, "Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme," 1738]
Boredom "state of being bored" first recorded 1852;
boring "wearisome" is from 1840.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-der.
4. Proto-Germanic *burōną
5. Proto-West Germanic *borōn
6. Old English borian
7. Middle English boren
8. English bore
9. From Middle English boren, from Old English borian (“to pierce”), from Proto-West Germanic *borōn, from Proto-Germanic *burōną.
10. 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. See: Old English '
borian', Proto-Germanic '
*burōną', Danish '
bore', Norwegian '
bore', Dutch '
boren', German, old spelling '
bohren', Latin '
forō', Latin '
feriō'.
Verbs referencing "bore"
Esperanto
bori, Sranan
boro, Latin
foro, Ido borar, Luxembourgish
bueren.