Shore

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ʃɔː(r)/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)
• Homophones: sure in some dialects

From Middle English, from Old English. Cognate to Middle Low German schor ("shore, coast, headland") and Middle Dutch scorre ("land washed by the sea").

Full definition of shore

Noun

1. Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
   lake shore;  bay shore;  gulf shore;  island shore;  mainland shore;  river shore;  estuary shore;  pond shore;  sandy shore;  rocky shore
• Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)the fruitful shore of muddy Nile
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 8, Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges...: or anon we shot into a clearing, with a colored glimpse of the lake and its curving shore far below us.
2. (from the perspective of one on a body of water) Land, usually near a port.
   The seamen were serving on shore instead of in ships.
   The passengers signed up for shore tours.

Usage notes

Generally, only the largest of rivers, which are often estuaries, are said to have shores.

Rivers and other flowing bodies of water are said to have banks.

River bank(s) outnumbers River shore(s) about 200:3 at COCA.

Hyponyms

• (land adjoining a large body of water) beach, headland, coast

Derived terms

Related terms

• longshoreman
• shorage

Verb

1. (obsolete) To set on shore.

Of uncertain origin, but found in some other Germanic languages; cf. Middle Dutch schooren ("to prop up, support"), Old Norse skorða ("piece of timber set up as a support").

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shore?s=t

Noun

1. A prop or strut supporting the weight or flooring above it.The shores stayed upright during the earthquake.

Verb

1. (transitive, without up) To provide with support.
• 1990, Christopher Gravett, Richard Hook, Medieval siege warfare, If houses were present these could be used to conceal the mine opening. As the mine progressed the roof was shored with timbers.
• 1993, Jim Trefethen, Wooden Boat Renovation: New Life for Old Boats Using Modern Methods, Sometimes it's easier to laminate the strips one at a time, shoring each in place only long enough for the epoxy to set.
• 1999, Vincent J. M. Di Maio, Gunshot Wounds, These are called shored exit wounds. They are characterized by a broad, irregular band of abrasion of the skin around the exit. In such wounds the skin is reinforced, or "shored," by a firm surface at the instant the bullet exits.
• 1999, William P. Spence, Carpentry & Building Construction: A Do-It-Yourself Guide, It must provide the same degree of protection offered by a complete shoring system. Shoring Excavations Shallow trenches can be shored using wood sheet piling braced by stringers and rakers
2. (usually with up) To reinforce (something at risk of failure).My family shored me up after I failed the GED.The workers were shoring up the dock after part of it fell into the water.
• 1811, Robert Kerr, A general history of voyages and travels to the end of the 18th century, ... but his caravels were so much worm-eaten and shattered by storms that he could not reach that island, and was forced to run them on shore in a creek on the coast of Jamaica, where he shored them upright with spars

Synonyms

• (without up) reinforce, strengthen, support, buttress
• (with up) prop up, bolster

Derived terms

See shear

Verb

1. shore

   (simple past of shear)

Noun

1. (obsolete, UK, dialect) A sewer.

Anagrams

• hoers, horse, HORSE; hoser, shero, shoer