borer

See also: Borer

English

Etymology

From bore +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɔːɹə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (MLE) IPA^(key): /ˈboːɹɐ/
• (US) enPR: bôrʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈbɔːɹɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹə(ɹ)

Noun

borer (plural borers)

1. A tool used for drilling.
2. (MLE, slang) A knife fit for a stabbing.

   Synonyms: wetter, jook, jooker, chete, ching, ying, rambo, poker, pokey, bassy, shank, nank, splash, splasher, cheffer, cutter

3. A person who bores or drills; a person employed to drill bore holes.
4. A tedious person, who bores others; a bore.
   • 1896, Harry Persons Taber, Elbert Hubbard, The Philistine, volume 3, page 21:

     The boree has been heard from frequently since the Renaissance, and his sentiments have undergone little change. The borer hasn't had much to say for himself.

   • 2012, Margaret Atwood, Bodily Harm:

     Rennie was an expert on boredom, having done a piece on it for Pandora's “Relationships” column in which she claimed that there were two people involved in boredom, not just one: the borer and the boree.

5. An insect or insect larva that bores into wood.
6. One of the many types of mollusc that bore into soft rock.
7. A cyclostome, such as a hagfish, which bores into injured, dead, or decaying sea creatures to feed on their flesh.

Derived terms

• apple borer
• ash borer
• Asian corn borer
• banded hickory borer
• borer bomb
• bud borer
• bumelia borer
• cork-borer
• cork borer
• corn borer
• crotalaria pod borer
• emerald ash borer
• European corn borer
• fruit borer
• increment borer
• instep borer
• jig borer
• locust borer
• loosestrife borer
• macroborer
• microborer
• moth-borer
• poplar borer
• raise borer
• raspberry crown borer
• rock-borer
• squash vine borer
• stalkborer
• stemborer
• stone-borer
• sugar cane borer
• sugar-maple borer
• twig borer
• two-lined chestnut borer
• vine borer
• wax-borer
• well-borer
• wharf borer
• wood-borer, woodborer
• yucca borer

Translations

person who bores/drills

• Bulgarian: сондьор m (sondjor)
• Finnish: kairaaja
• Irish: tolladóir m
• Macedonian: ду́пчач m (dúpčač)
• Russian: бури́льщик (ru) m (burílʹščik), сверло́вщик (ru) m (sverlóvščik)
• Swedish: borrare c

tool

• Bulgarian: бормашина (bg) f (bormašina)
• Georgian: ბურღი (ka) (burɣi)
• German: Bohrmaschine (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: τρύπανον n (trúpanon)

• Ido: borilo (io)
• Irish: tollaire m
• Italian: alesatore m
• Latin: terebra f
• Lithuanian: urbis
• Macedonian: ду́пчалка f (dúpčalka), борма́шина f (bormášina), бу́ргија f (búrgija)
• Ottoman Turkish: بورغو (burgu), مثقب (miskab)
• Persian: مته (fa) (matte)
• Romanian: mașină de găurit, bormașină (ro) f
• Russian: бура́в (ru) m (buráv), бур (ru) m (bur), сверло́ (ru) n (sverló)
• Swedish: borrmaskin (sv)

a wood boring insect: the larval stage of the Anobium punctatum beetle

• Bulgarian: дървесен червей (dǎrvesen červej)
• Irish: tolladóir m
• Japanese: 木食い虫 (きくいむし, kikuimushi)
• Khiamniungan Naga: màh
• Latgalian: cyrms m
• Latvian: ķirmis m
• Maori: tākituri, iro poka
• Russian: древото́чец (ru) m (drevotóčec)
• Ukrainian: деревоточець m (derevotočecʹ)

mollusc

• Maori: pātiotio

References

• “borer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

borer

1. present of bore

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From German Bohrer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bǒːrer/
• Hyphenation: bo‧rer

Noun

bórer m (Cyrillic spelling бо́рер)

1. drill bit
2. drill

Declension

Declension of borer

	singular	plural
nominative	borer	boreri
genitive	borera	borera
dative	boreru	borerima
accusative	borer	borere
vocative	boreru	boreri
locative	boreru	borerima
instrumental	borerom	borerima

Synonyms

• (drill bit): svrdlo
• (drill): bormašina

References

• “borer”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025