Adjacent Words

boring definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness; "a boring evening with uninteresting people"; "the deadening effect of some routine tasks"; "a dull play"; "his competent but dull performance"; "a ho-hum speaker who couldn't capture their attention"; "what an irksome task the writing of long letters is"- Edmund Burke; "tedious days on the train"; "the tiresome chirping of a cricket"- Mark Twain; "other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome" [syn: boring, deadening, dull, ho-hum, irksome, slow, tedious, tiresome, wearisome] n
1: the act of drilling [syn: drilling, boring]
2: the act of drilling a hole in the earth in the hope of producing petroleum [syn: boring, drilling, oil production]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1785 causing boredom ; tiresome <a boring lecture> • boringly adverb • boringness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. that makes one bored; uninteresting, tedious, dull. Derivatives: boringly adv. boringness n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bore Bore, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bored; p. pr. & vb. n. Boring.] [OE. borien, AS. borian; akin to Icel. bora, Dan. bore, D. boren, OHG. por?n, G. bohren, L. forare, Gr. ? to plow, Zend bar. [root]91.] 1. To perforate or penetrate, as a solid body, by turning an auger, gimlet, drill, or other instrument; to make a round hole in or through; to pierce; as, to bore a plank. I'll believe as soon this whole earth may be bored. --Shak. 2. To form or enlarge by means of a boring instrument or apparatus; as, to bore a steam cylinder or a gun barrel; to bore a hole. Short but very powerful jaws, by means whereof the insect can bore, as with a centerbit, a cylindrical passage through the most solid wood. --T. W. Harris. 3. To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; as, to bore one's way through a crowd; to force a narrow and difficult passage through. ``What bustling crowds I bored.'' --Gay. 4. To weary by tedious iteration or by dullness; to tire; to trouble; to vex; to annoy; to pester. He bores me with some trick. --Shak. Used to come and bore me at rare intervals. --Carlyle. 5. To befool; to trick. [Obs.] I am abused, betrayed; I am laughed at, scorned, Baffled and bored, it seems. --Beau. & Fl.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Boring Bor"ing, n. 1. The act or process of one who, or that which, bores; as, the boring of cannon; the boring of piles and ship timbers by certain marine mollusks. One of the most important applications of boring is in the formation of artesian wells. --Tomlinson. 2. A hole made by boring. 3. pl. The chips or fragments made by boring. Boring bar, a revolving or stationary bar, carrying one or more cutting tools for dressing round holes. Boring tool (Metal Working), a cutting tool placed in a cutter head to dress round holes. --Knight.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Someone or something boring is so dull and uninteresting that they make people tired and impatient. Not only are mothers not paid but also most of their boring or difficult work is unnoticed. ...boring television programmes. = dull, tedious ? interesting ADJ • boringly The meal itself was not so good–everything was boringly brown including the vegetables. ADV: usu ADV adj

Moby Thesaurus

acupunctuation, acupuncture, arid, bore, boresome, broach, dead, drab, dreary, drill hole, drudging, dry, dull, empiercement, exhausting, fatiguing, fixing, flat, goring, gray, humdrum, impalement, irksome, lancing, long-drawn-out, monotonous, penetration, perforation, piercing, pricking, prolix, punching, puncture, puncturing, repetitious, repetitive, same, samely, skewering, soporific, stale, stupefyingly boring, stuporific, tedious, terebration, tired, tiresome, tiring, transfixation, transfixion, transforation, trepanning, trephining, unending, unexciting, uninteresting, unrelieved, weariful, wearing, wearisome, wearying, wordy, yawny