shore

See also: Shore

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English schore, from Old English *sċora (attested as sċor- in placenames), from Proto-Germanic *skurô (“rugged rock, cliff, high rocky shore”). Possibly related to Old English sċieran (“to cut”), which survives today as English shear.

Cognate with Middle Dutch scorre (“land washed by the sea”), Middle Low German schor (“shore, coast, headland”), Middle High German schorre ("rocky crag, high rocky shore"; > German Schorre, Schorren (“towering rock, crag”)), and Limburgish sjaor (“riverbank”). Maybe connected with Norwegian Bokmål skjær.

Noun

shore (plural shores)

  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
  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
Derived terms
Terms derived from shore (noun)
Translations
land adjoining a large body of water

Verb

shore (third-person singular simple present shores, present participle shoring, simple past and past participle shored)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To arrive at the shore
    • 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:
      the ship quickened her way, and shot past that rocke, where wee thought shee would have shored.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To put ashore.[1]

Etymology 2

From Late Middle English shore (“a prop, a support”) [and other forms],[2] from Middle Dutch schore, schare (“a prop, a stay”) (modern Dutch schoor), and Middle Low German schōre, schāre (“a prop, a stay; barrier; stockade”) (compare Old Norse skorða (“a prop, a stay”) (Norwegian skor, skorda)); further etymology unknown.[3]

Noun

shore (plural shores)

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

Etymology 3
A boat on dry land which has been shored up (etymology 3) to keep it upright.

From Late Middle English shoren (“to prop, to support”) [and other forms],[4][5] from Middle English shore (“a prop, a support”) (see etymology 2) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive form of verbs);[6] compare Middle Dutch schooren (“to prop up, support”) and Middle Low German schore (“to shovel; to sweep”).

Derived terms

Verb

shore (third-person singular simple present shores, present participle shoring, simple past and past participle shored) (transitive)

  1. Not followed by up: to provide (something) with support.
    Synonyms: buttress, reinforce, strengthen, support
    • 1990, Christopher Gravett, Richard Hook, Medieval Siege Warfare, page 45:
      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, page 106:
      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, page 94:
      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, page 14:
      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 followed by up: to reinforce (something at risk of failure).
    Synonyms: bolster, prop up
    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, volume III, page 342:
      ... 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
Derived terms
Translations
support — see shore up

Etymology 4

See shear.

Verb

shore

  1. simple past of shear
    Synonym: sheared
    • 1954, J R R Tolkien, “Shelob's Lair”, in The Two Towers: The second part of The Lord of the Rings, 2nd edition, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1966, page 331:
      Then Frodo stepped up to the great grey net, and hewed it with a wide sweeping stroke[…]. The blue-gleaming blade shore through them like a scythe through grass […].

Etymology 5

Originally, common-shore

Noun

shore (plural shores)

  1. (obsolete except Scotland) A sewer.[7]

Etymology 6

Perhaps a variant of score or sure, equivalent to assure.

Verb

shore (third-person singular simple present shores, present participle shoring, simple past and past participle shored) (transitive, Scotland, archaic)

  1. To threaten or warn (someone).
  2. To offer (someone).

Adverb

shore (comparative more shore, superlative most shore)

  1. Pronunciation spelling of sure.

References
  1. “shore”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  2. “shōre, n.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. “shore, n.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2021; “shore2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. “shōren, v.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. Compare “shore, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2021; “shore2, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. “-en, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  7. “shore”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Further reading

Anagrams
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