It comes from the alternative meaning of the word pore which is to gaze intently. Design l overs wanting a peek at some of the best newly designed home s in the uk can pore over them in new book designing homes for life 2005. Since pour is a common word and sounds identical to pore, many english speakers use the verb pour in the verb phrase pore over meaning to meditate or ponder intently. If you want to piss me off use step foot, orientate and misuse peruse. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more. Nancy pores over her klingon textbook the night before the big test this is an idiom that confuses many. They also belong to the phylum porifera, which means pore bearing. Most work at uninspiring tasks, pore over old court decisions and statute books, and draft memos for their higherups. Pour and pore sound very similar, but they have different meanings. A pore is small opening in a surface that lets stuff through. Sponges have many holes or pores in them which they use for feeding and such. The noun comes from a greek word meaning a passageway. Pore over something definition in the cambridge english. Synonyms for pore over at with free online thesaurus, antonyms, and definitions.
Pored definition, to read or study with steady attention or application. She spent all weekend poring over her textbooks in preparation for the exam. The verb pour, meaning to transfer water or some other substance from a container, came into english by way of old french from a latin verb, purare, to purify. As a verb, pore means to study or closely examine something, often a book, map or document.
Pour, on the other hand, means to send flowing or falling, as in he poured a cup of coffee. Difference between pore, pour and poor difference between. In modern writing, this sense of pore rarely appears outside this phrase. And for firsttimers, she adds, it can be a userfriendly way to. The phrase pore over is used as a verb which means to read or study something very carefully. The verb to pore means to examine something closely. A pore is a tiny opening in a surface through which gases, liquids or microscopic particles may pass.
The phrase meaning to study carefully is pore over. We usually associate the expression to pore over with academics who are passionate about their fields, and students who study obsessively before an important exam a scholar poring over a rare old manuscript. We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website, including to provide targeted advertising and track usage. Though this word is spelled the same as the word that means those little openings in your skin, it has a. To pour, on the other hand, means to flow continuously and rapidly a pore is a little hole in a surface that lets gases, liquids, and microscopic elements through. It shows examples from the time of chaucer, and the older ones clearly indicate a variety of structures on, upon, in, through as well as over.
Often an object will have many pores, not just one, and these pores let liquids pass through them. The definition of a pore is a tiny opening in an animals skin that allows it to breath and sweat. He spent more than 10 hours on the manuscript, poring over the details and asking faculty members for advice. When talking about carefully reading books, wills, or other documents, pore is the verb that youre looking for. Pore as a verb students pore over their books to study for their exams. He pored through the documents for hours looking for a loop hole. Nancy pours over her klingon textbook the night before the big test. Merriam webster shares the difference between pore over. Pore can also refer to a tiny opening, like the pores on your skin, though this pore has a different etymological root. I had to pore over the contract to find who is liable in. I collect them, pore over them, plan vacations by them, even wrap christmas presents in them. On the female, you can see the genital pore behind the anus, and also a urinary pore located behind the genital pore. When you use the phrase to pore over a book, its important to keep these two straight.
If you pore over or through information, you look at it and study it very carefully. Pour on the other hand, is something you do with a liquid. Pour over is of course a meaningful phrase in its own right, but it has nothing to do with studying. Synonyms for pore over include examine, go over, go through, peruse, read, scour, scrutinise, scrutinize, study and weigh. It is possible to pore over anything if you are observing something intently. You can pore over something or pore through something. We usually associate the expression to pore over with academics who are passionate about their fields, and students who study obsessively before an important exam.
Pore means to study or read something with great care. The surface might be your skin think of all those clogged pores suffered through in teen years or something else, like a filter. It comes from a littleused sense of the verb pore namely, to meditate deeply. Translation for to pore over in the free englishitalian dictionary and many other italian translations. Etymology we can find the reason this idiom uses pore instead of pour by looking at the definition and etymology of the two words. They also belong to the phylum porifera, which means porebearing. Pore has this meaning in the expression pore over, as in study a book or notes. I always hated seeing pour over when pore over is called for. The oed provides similar explanations to merriam webster, indicating that although over is the usual following preposition, others are possible. Pore over definition of pore over by the free dictionary.
Using pore as a verb study, examine, inspect, scrutinise. As a verb, to pore is used with through or over and means that you are absorbed in the study of something or that you are reading something intensely. It can also refer to meditating over something, and to be fully absorbed in a subject. Merriamwebster defines pore as to read or study attentively. When you pore over a document or a textbook, you go through it carefully. Hopefully, this post helped you distinguish between the two phrases and you wont commit the mistake of trying to pore over coffee while you pour over the local newspapers sports section. I pored over the old photographs, fascinated by every detail. The water from the broken dam poured all over the rocks standing at its. Pore, meaning a tiny opening, appears in the fourteenth century from the latin word, porus. May 11, 2017 pore over has something to do with studying or concentrating while pour over deals with liquids. Jul 22, 2016 when you use the phrase to pore over a book, its important to keep these two straight. As early as the thirteenth century, pore is used as a verb meaning gaze intently.
If you use pore, youll be saying youre reading the book carefully. It comes from the alternative meaning of the word pore which is to gaze intently or to reflect or meditate steadily as opposed to its common definition. Pore as a verb means to study carefullyto look at a thing so closely that its tiny pores are visible. I have been poring over my new scheme he pored over the book the whole morning and. Also, none of the words pore, book, or notes contains a u. Verb with adverbs or prepositions, having special meaning, not divisiblefor example,go with combine nicely. Pore definition and meaning collins english dictionary. The phrase pore over is used as a verb which means to read or study. As regards the 20th century, some, from 1922, and 1949 indicate a surviving use of pore with on and through. Pore as a noun sweat came out of every pore on the runners body. The male perch has just one urogenital pore, behind the anus. The professor pored over the picture book in silence the tradesman was poring over his accounts what is the book you are poring over this afternoon he spent hours poring over the statistics. Pore over definition is to read or study something very carefully. Pouring over a book is a misspelling, period, and no amount of rationalization is going to change that.
Pore can also be used as a noun meaning a tiny opening in a surface, for example the pores in your skin. Search pore over and thousands of other words in english. Pore over definition of pore over by merriamwebster. The expression pore over is frequently used in everyday contexts to mean to focus intently. Poring over definition of poring over by the free dictionary. Definition of poreover phrasal verb in oxford advanced learners dictionary. Note that the below extract only concerns sense 1b of pore. Maurice sendak, king of all wild things rolling stone. The noun pore, meaning an opening in the skin, is not related to the verb in the expression to pore over. Another word for opposite of meaning of rhymes with sentences with find word forms translate from english translate to english words with friends scrabble crossword codeword words starting with words ending with words containing exactly words containing letters pronounce find conjugations find names. Pore over sth meaning in the cambridge english dictionary. The difference between pour, pore and poor grammar lesson.