shore
pronunciation
How to pronounce shore in British English:
UK [ʃɔː(r)]
How to pronounce shore in American English:
US [ʃɔːr]
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- Noun:
- the land along the edge of a body of water
- a beam or timber that is propped against a structure to provide support
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- Verb:
- serve as a shore to
- arrive on shore
- support by placing against something solid or rigid
Word Origin
- shore
- shore: English has two words shore. The one meaning ‘land at the water’s edge’ [14] was borrowed from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German schōre, which probably came from the Germanic base *skur- ‘cut’ (source also of English score, shear, etc). Shore ‘support’ [14], as in ‘shore up’, comes from Middle Dutch schōren ‘prop’, a word of unknown origin.=> share, shear, short
- shore (n.)
- "land bordering a large body of water," c. 1300, from an Old English word or from Middle Low German schor "shore, coast, headland," or Middle Dutch scorre "land washed by the sea," all probably from Proto-Germanic *skur-o- "cut," from PIE *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear (v.)). According to etymologists originally with a sense of "division" between land and water. But if the word began on the North Sea coast of the continent, it might as well have meant originally "land 'cut off' from the mainland by tidal marshes" (compare Old Norse skerg "an isolated rock in the sea," related to sker "to cut, shear"). Old English words for "coast, shore" were strand (n.), waroþ, ofer. Few Indo-European languages have such a single comprehensive word for "land bordering water" (Homer uses one word for sandy beaches, another for rocky headlands). General application to "country near a seacoast" is attested from 1610s.
- shore (v.)
- mid-14c., "to prop, support with a prop;" of obscure etymology though widespread in Germanic (Middle Dutch schooren "to prop up, support," Old Norse skorða (n.) "a piece of timber set up as a support"). Related: Shored; shoring. Also as a noun, "post or beam for temporary support of something" (mid-15c.), especially an oblique timber to brace the side of a building or excavation.
Example
- 1. Areas near the jersey shore have also been evacuated .
- 2. Fiscal stimulus has helped shore up aggregate demand .
- 3. On its shore , the sulfur mining operation .
- 4. The brown government has moved aggressively to shore up troubled banks .
- 5. He stole a rowboat and made to the shore .