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tidal bore

 - 7 dictionary results

bore

3  [bawr, bohr]
–noun
an abrupt rise of tidal water moving rapidly inland from the mouth of an estuary.
Also called tidal bore.

Origin:
1275–1325; ME bare < ON bāra wave
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

bore 
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: bore
past of BEAR
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2bore
Pronunciation: 'bO(&)r, 'bo(&)r
Function: noun
1 : the long usually cylindrical hollow part of something (as atube or artery)
2 : the internal diameter of a tube (as a hypodermic needle, catheter, or sound) bore catheter> bore>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Science Dictionary
bore   (bôr)  Pronunciation Key 

  1. In fluid mechanics, a jump in the level of moving water, generally propagating in the opposite direction to the current. Strong ocean tides can cause bores to propagate up rivers.

    1. The white, shallow portion of a wave after it breaks. The bore carries ocean water onto the beach.

    2. A tidal wave caused by the surge of a flood tide upstream in a narrowing estuary or by colliding tidal currents.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

tidal bore

body of water that, during exceptionally high sea tides, rushes up some rivers. Traveling upstream about two or three times as fast as the normal tidal current, a bore usually is characterized by a well-defined front of one or several waves, often breaking, followed by the bore's main body, which rises higher than the water level at its front. The height of the bore is greater near the banks of a river than at midstream. Because of momentum, some bores continue to move upstream for about one-half hour after high water. Not arising in estuaries, tidal bores are formed at a position a short distance upstream, where the river channel has become sufficiently narrow or shallow to concentrate the momentum of the rising tide. Bores occur at spring tides and at several tides preceding and following spring tides but never at neap tides. The formidable tidal bore that occurs on the lower Seine in France between Rouen and the sea is known as the Mascaret.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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