▪ I. shore, n.1
(ʃɔə(r))
Forms: 4–7 schore, 5 schor, 5–7 Sc. schoir, 6 shawre, Sc. schoyr, 6–7 shoare, Sc. shoir, 6–8 shoar, (7 shoore), 5– shore.
[ME. schore a. or cogn. w. MLG. schore, schare shore, late MDu. schore, schor, also schaer shore, sea-marsh, mod.Du. schoor masc., schor, schorre fem., land washed by the sea, sea-marsh.
Prob. f. the root of shear v., but the etymological notion is not easy to determine; it may perh. be ‘division’ (between land and water). The OE. scoren clif ‘shorn cliff’, precipice, commonly cited as illustrative of the etymology, seems hardly relevant, as the LG. and Du. equivalents of shore are applied only to low-lying shores.]
1. a. The land bordering on the sea or a large lake or river. Often in a restricted sense more or less coinciding with the legal definition (see b).
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 230 On wyþer half water com doun þe schore. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2083 Brokez byled, & breke, bi bonkkez aboute, Schyre schaterande on schorez. c 1470 Henry Wallace x. 797 Thai saylyt furth by part off Ingland schor. c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn xxvi. 97 Where as the sayd mast and Blanchardyn vpon it was cast of the wawes vnto the shores. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. iii. 7 At the schoyr, wndir a gresy bank, Thair navy can thai ankir fast and hank. 1582 N.T. (Rhem.) Acts xxvii. 39 They spied a certaine creeke that had a shore [Vulg. littus]. 1591 Spenser Vis. Worlds Vanitie 29 Beside the fruitfull shore of muddie Nile. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lx. 1 Like as the waues towards the pibled shore. 1601 ― Jul. C. i. ii. 101 The troubled Tyber chafing with her Shores. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. vi. 272 Canute..caus'd his Royal Seat to be set on the shoar, while the Tide was coming in. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3955/4 A Piece of Ground of about 40 Acres in Fulham Parish, and lies upon a clean Gravelly Shore. 1797–1805 S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. I. 349 The sharp promontories and rocky shores of Greece. 1821 Scott Pirate xxv, As he entered the little bay, on the shore and almost on the beach of which the ruins are situated. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits ii. Wks. (Bohn) II. 14 There lay the green shore of Ireland, like some coast of plenty. 1876 Nature 7 Dec. 128/1 On the Swiss shore of the Rhine. |
b. In
Law usually defined as the tract lying between ordinary high and low water mark, but see
quots. Similarly in
Geomorphol.| 1622 Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 221, I then landed at the shore, which in definition containeth those grounds which extend from the lowest Ebb to the highest Flood. a 1676 Hale De Jure Maris i. iv. (1787) 12 The shore is that ground that is between the ordinary high-water and low-water mark. This doth primâ facie and of common right belong to the king. Ibid. i. vi. 25 There seem to be three sorts of shoars, or littora marina, according to the various tides, viz. (1st.) The high spring tides... (2d.) The spring tides... (3d.) Ordinary tides or nepe tides. 1856 Bouvier Amer. Law Dict. (ed. 6) s.v., Land on the side of the sea, a lake, or a river, is called the shore. Strictly speaking, however, when the water does not ebb and flow, in a river, there is no shore. 1919 D. W. Johnson Shore Processes & Shoreline Devel. iv. 160 The most important of the four zones extends from low water mark to the base of the cliff,..which usually marks the landward limit of effective wave action. This is the zone over which the water line, the line of contact between land and sea, migrates; and it will here be called the shore. 1968 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Geomorphol. 62/1 The shore is technically the coastal zone extending from the low tide limit to the maximum swash line. 1978 A. L. Bloom Geomorphology xix. 437 The shore zone, or simply shore, is the zone affected by wave action. |
c. In vague or rhetorical use (
sing. or pl.): A sea-coast or the country which it bounds.
| 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 164 My best Traine I haue from your Sicilian Shores dismiss'd. 1691 Tate Petty's Pol. Anat. Ded., You have since accompanied our Royal Master to other Shores. 1796 Morse Amer. Univ. Geog. II. 546 Their religion seems to forbid them [sc. Hindoos] to quit their own shores. 1820 Byron Juan iii. lxxxvi. ii, The Scian and the Teian muse,..Have found the fame your shores refuse. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxviii. 97 Now on a distant shore, no kind mortality near him. |
d. transf. and
fig.| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 282 The Tyde of Pompe, That beates vpon the high shore of this World. 1603 ― Meas. for M. iii. ii. 266, I haue labour'd for the poore Gentleman, to the extremest shore of my modestie. a 1639 Wotton Surv. Educ. Introd. Reliq. (1651) 317 But before I lanch from the shoars, let me resolve a main question which may be cast in my way. 1742 Blair Grave 709 Thrice welcome Death! That..lands us safe On the long-wish'd for Shore. 1814 Wordsw. Excurs. vii. 28 Deposited upon the silent shore Of memory. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 10 The full flood on which the race is borne to new shores. |
† e. common shore:
app. = ‘shore’ simply. (
Cf. shore n.4)
Obs.| a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 152 As one caried in a small low vessell him selfe verie nie the common shore, not much vnlike the fisher men of Rye [etc.]. |
f. dial. The edge of a ditch.
| 1602 Peramb. Great Park of Fastern in Wilts. Gloss., A Mearstone lyinge within the Shoore of the Dyche. 1879 Jefferies Amateur Poacher (1903) 235 A large hawthorne bush growing on the ‘shore’ of the ditch. |
2. In prepositional phrases without article, as
on shore, on the shore, ashore, on land (indicating either position or direction);
in shore, near or nearer to the shore (from the water).
In the first
quot. upon shore seems to be used for ‘on the ground’.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2332 The haþel heldet hym fro, & on his ax rested, Sette þe schaft vpon schore, & to þe scharp lened. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. ii, [We] returned on shore certaine vnfit eaters. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 153 If the winde blow any way from shore. 1599 ― Much Ado ii. iii. 66 One foote in Sea, and one on shore. 1611 Bible Matt. xiii. 48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore. ― Acts. xxvii. 40 They..made toward shore. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 23 Resolving to swim on Shore as soon as it was dark. 1835 Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. xi. 173 Part of the crew was sent on shore for exercise. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxxviii, Steer in shore of them. |
3. a. Sc. A part of the sea-shore built up as a place for lading and landing; a landing-place.
| 1512 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IV. 292 Item, to the said James, for kepin of the schoir of Dunde in the custumez, v li. 1603 Stirling Burgh Rec. (1887) I. 104 The grete decay of thair shoir and heavin upon the watter of Forthe. 1603 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 515/1 Radum et stationem de Leyth, cum propugnaculis (the peiris, schoiris and bulwarkis) ejusdem. 1747 in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874) 151 The..peir and shore of Leith. 1836 Brit. Cycl., Nat. Hist. II. 737/2 Any one who chose to go to the shore, meaning thereby the harbour of Crail. |
b. local. A place at the side of a river built for a special purpose (see
quot.).
| 1649 W. G. Surv. Newcastle 28 There is many Ballist shoares made below the water, on both sides of the river. Ibid. 29 Below East is many shores built for casting of Ballist out of Ships. |
4. = shore wainscot: see 5 b.
| 1832 J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 87 The Shore (Leucania littoralis, Stephens) appears on the sea coast. |
5. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
shore-cliff,
shore clothes,
shore duty,
shore-fishing,
shore-ice,
shore-sands,
shore-suit,
shore-water;
shore-based adj.;
shore-anchor (see
quot.);
shore-boat, a small boat plying near the shore, or between the shore and large vessels farther out;
shore break Surfing (see
quot. 1962);
† shore-creeper, one who sails close in to shore;
shore dinner U.S., a dinner consisting mainly of sea-food;
shore-due Sc., a toll paid for making use of a ‘shore’ or port; a harbour-due;
shore-end,
† (
a) the end of a ‘shore’ or landing-place; (
b) that end of a rope, net, etc., which is on the shore or nearest the shore;
shore face (see
quots.);
shore-fast Naut. (see
quot.);
shore fishery N. Amer. (see
quot. 1948);
shore-fowler,
-fowling = shore-shooter,
-shooting;
shore-grape = sea-grape 4;
shore grass, a grass, or grass-like plant, growing on the shore;
spec. = shore-weed;
shore-gun, a gun for shore-shooting;
shore-gunner,
-gunning = shore-shooter,
-shooting;
shore-land, land bordering on a shore;
shore leave, leave of absence granted to a sailor to go on shore;
shore-levy Sc., a duty on ships entering a harbour;
shore liberty = shore-leave;
shore-line, (
a) the line where shore and water meet; (
b)
= shore-rope;
shore-loafer Naut. slang, a civilian;
† shore-mail Sc. = shore-due (see
mail n.2);
shore-master Sc., a harbour-master;
shore-oil, the finest kind of cod-liver oil (see
quot.);
shore party, (
a)
N.Z., a body of whalers using a land-based station (
obs.); (
b) a body of persons going ashore from a ship;
spec. a body of soldiers sent ashore;
shore patrol U.S., a naval police organization responsible for the conduct of sailors on land; hence
shore patrolman;
shore platform, a horizontal or gently sloping platform cut at about sea level in a cliff by wave action;
shore-popper, used contemptuously for
shore-shooter;
shore-reef = fringing reef: see
fringing ppl. a.;
shore-rope, a rope connecting a net with the shore;
shore seine, a seine used near the shore;
shore-shooter, one who shoots birds on the shore;
shore-shooting, the sport of shooting birds on the shore (as distinguished from punt-shooting);
† shore-silver Sc. = shore-due;
shore station, a base on land used for shore-whaling;
shore-weed, a weed growing on the shore;
spec. Littorella lacustris;
shore-whaling, whale-fishing near the shore in open boats; also
spec. = bay whaling s.v. bay n.2 5; hence
shore whaler, a person engaged in shore-whaling;
shore zone, the intertidal zone, or the zone affected by wave action;
= shore n.1 1 b.
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Shore-anchor, that which lies between the shore and the ship when moored. |
| 1927 Daily Tel. 22 Mar. 10/7 The limitation of air armaments shall be effected by limiting the number of *shore-based aircraft of service type maintained in commission. 1950 A. Lee Soviet Air Force 34 Its naval force was shore-based except for a few reconnaissance machines on cruisers. 1980 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts July 521/2 The professional mariner currently gives cautious approval to shore-based information services. |
| 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xi, No *shore-boat was near. 1886 Stevenson Treas. Isl. ix, The last man or two came off in a shore-boat. |
| 1962 T. Masters Surfing made Easy 65 *Shore break, waves which break close to the beach. 1965 J. Pollard Surfrider ii. 20 The next one you might take right to the ‘shore break’, the waves breaking on the very edge of the beach. 1972 Y. Maley in G. W. Turner Good Austral. Eng. iv. 77 Drouyn gets it on,..hangs five, re-enters the shore break, then steps off onto the sand. |
| 1838 Longfellow Beowulf's Exped. Heort 67 So that the sailors The land saw, The *shore-cliffs [Beowulf 222 brimclifu] shining. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1013 The long shore-cliff's windy walls. |
| 1862 E. Hodder Mem. N.Z. Life 24 *Shore clothes were unpacked, the ship was made tidy. 1922 E. O'Neill Anna Christie i. 100 He is dressed in a wrinkled, ill-fitting dark suit of shore clothes. |
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 29 Discrediting our countrymen for *shorecreepers, like these Colchester oystermen. |
| 1895 Outing XXVI. 408/2 Happy-Go-Lucky Beach is proud of their achievements..in the ordering of and presiding at a good *shore-dinner. 1947 E. H. Paul Linden on Saugus Branch 267 It was arranged for the party to eat at the Massasoit a shore dinner cooked by Jeff. |
| 1692 in Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1880) IV. 565 *Shoar dewes at Leith 7,700 marks. |
| 1881 Library Universal Knowl. XI. 408 Pay⁓masters..on *shore-duty are employed in the naval purchasing agencies. 1901 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 551/2 Four keepers are employed in connection with the lighthouse, three being in constant attendance while the fourth is on shore-duty. |
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1224/1 At the blacke *shore end, before the said floud, no bote could passe further than the shore end. 1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea 160 The shore-end [of the cord] is generally anchored to a stone. 1900 Law Rep. App. Cases 415 At the point where the water is shallow, the shore-end of the net is generally a good way out, perhaps 300 to 400 yards. |
| 1912 J. Barrell in Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. XXIII. 385 The *shore face is the relatively narrow slope developed by the breaking waves, a slope which separates the subaerial plain above from the subaqueous below. 1944 A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. xiv. 291 In appropriate circumstances some of the sediment in transit across the wave-cut platform accumulates in the deeper water beyond, to form a shoreface terrace which grows forward like a broad embankment with its upper surface in smooth continuity with the platform. 1972 Gloss. Geol. (Amer. Geol. Inst.) 654/2 Shoreface,..the narrow, rather steeply sloping zone seaward or lakeward from the low-water shoreline, permanently covered by water, and over which beach sands and gravels actively oscillate with changing wave conditions. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Shore-fast, a hawser carried out to secure a vessel to a quay, mole, or anchor buried on shore. |
| 1767 T. Hutchinson Hist. Province Mass.-Bay II. iv. 445 In what they call a sedentaire and we a *shore fishery we shall always outdo them. 1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 671/1 Shore fisheries. Under this head are included all those fisheries prosecuted from small boats or from the shore without the aid or use of vessels. 1971 E. R. Seary Place Names Avalon Peninsula iv. 65 [The Killigrews] either settled permanently or had a summer plantation at Killigrews for the shore fishery. |
| 1865 Wilcocks Sea-Fisherman 20 *Shore Fishing.—Fishing from shore with rod and line from the following spots. |
| 1882 Payne-Gallwey Fowler in Irel. 348 *Shore-fowlers. |
| 1841 J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk I. 263 They had gone down to *shore-fowling the night before. |
| 1871 Kingsley At Last xi, The *Shore-grapes with their green bunches of fruit. |
| 1863 Prior Plant-n., *Shore-grass, or Shore-weed. 1893 Scribner's Mag. June 796/1 Covered with the long pendent shore⁓grass. |
| 1841 J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk I. 262 He should go and get Davy's *shore-gun. |
| 1859 H. C. Folkard Wild-Fowler liv. 285 Punters have, generally, a great antipathy to *shore⁓gunners. |
| Ibid. 287 He intended having a night's punting at Ted's expense, by way of change from *shore-gunning. |
| 1752 J. Robson Acct. Six Years Residence in Hudson's Bay 58 At Yorkfort and Churchill-river I have observed that the ice did not break off close at the shore, but gradually; the first field leaving the *shore-ice two or three miles broad, the second less, and so on till it was cleared away. 1856 Kane Arctic Explor. I. vi. 56 The absence of shore or land ice to the south in Baffin's Bay. 1953 Beaver June 22 They walked across the shore ice, perhaps as far as two miles. 1977 New Yorker 10 June 55/1 The river's edges are lined with ice that is stationary—‘shelf ice’, ‘shore ice’, the first to freeze at the start of winter and the last to go in spring. |
| 1807 J. Barlow Columbiad ii. 178 Migrant tribes these fruitful *shorelands hail. 1862 R. H. Story Life R. Story iii. 61 The hill lying behind the level shorelands of Rosneath. |
| 1888 E. L. Dorsey Midshipman Bob 205 They set about making the most of their *shore-leave. 1941 C. S. Forester Captain from Connecticut xv. 216 Shore leave..meant rum and women. 1974 M. Hastings Dragon Island iv. 37 Darley was leaning on the rail. ‘Shore leave?’ he asked. |
| 1593 in Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1870) I. 406 The..supplicatioun..for licence to haue ane impoist and *schoir leiwe within thair harbery..of all schippis arryueand to and fra the samyn. |
| 1906 J. London Let. 17 Nov. (1966) 220 You can depend upon me giving good opportunities for *shore-liberty. 1971 S. E. Morison European Discovery Amer.: Northern Voy. ix. 287 La Dauphine almost always anchored in an uncomfortable roadstead, and they had shore liberty but once in the entire voyage. |
| 1852 Henfrey Veget. Europe 187 The *shore-line along the edge of the hilly ridges. 1866 Lowell Seward-Johnson Reaction Writ. 1890 V. 299 The levels and shore⁓lines of politics are no more stationary than those of continents. 1900 Law Rep. App. Cas. 409 When the coble has paid out the net in the usual way, it curves down the stream, and the Bermoney boat begins to haul down the shore⁓line. The man moves the boat down hand over hand. In that way the shore-rope is taken down. |
| 1916 ‘Taffrail’ Carry On! 25 If an ordinary ‘*shore-loafer’, as a bluejacket sometimes calls a civilian, were suddenly transported to one of His Majesty's battleships he would probably spend his first few days on board in a state of hopeless bewilderment. |
| 1603 Stirling Burgh Rec. (1887) I. 104 Tua penneis of *schoir maill [to be paid]. |
| 1619 in Compt Bk. D. Wedderburne, etc. (S.H.S.) 302 Androw painter *schoir maister. 1833 Cunningham Lives Painters VI. 21 David Allan..was born..at Alloa,..where his father held the situation of shore⁓master. |
| 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 407 In the manufacture of the so-called *shore oil, the only variety usually employed in medicine, the fish caught near land are brought at once to the shore, and the oil is obtained from the fresh livers. |
| 1841 H. W. Petre Acct. Settlements N.Z. Co. iv. 77 System of ‘*shore-parties’..is much more economical than the pursuit of the whale by ships equipped for the purpose. 1901 G. B. Shaw Caesar & Cleopatra iii. 160 My men at the barricades are between the sea party and the shore party. 1974 M. Hastings Dragon Island v. 42 Tallander's concern regarding any shore parties from our ship. |
| 1917 Blue Jacket's Man. (ed. 5) 644 Perhaps the establishment of the *Shore Patrol has done more than any other one institution to make petty officers realize their duty as a class. 1973 H. Gruppe Truxton Cipher xvii. 176 The phone rang urgently in Shore Patrol headquarters at the fleet landing. |
| 1944 Bull. Bur. Naval Personnel Information (U.S.) Sept. 12/1 The *shore patrolman could have barged in to break up the argument. 1973 H. Gruppe Truxton Cipher xx. 208 Dieter leaped..straight into the arms of two waiting Shore Patrolmen. |
| 1895 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. (ed. 4) 220 Besides battering and degrading cliffs, wave-action makes *shore-platforms, by shearing away the rocks of coasts down to a horizontal surface near low-tide level. 1978 A. L. Bloom Geomorphology xix. 448 Shore platforms are developed by water-level weathering at various heights, relative to tide level, depending on structural factors..and also on wave energy, tidal range, and climate. |
| 1826 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 291 Spoiled by some rascally *shore popper. 1886 Payne-Gallwey Shooting (Badm. Libr.) II. 225 A shore-shooter—or ‘shore-popper’, as he is rather contemptuously called by the punter. |
| 1842 Darwin Coral Reefs iii. 51 Fringing reefs, or, as they have been called by some voyagers, *shore reefs. 1900 *Shore-rope [see shore-line]. |
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §613 The Ancients report of a Tree, by the Persian Sea, vpon the *Shore-Sands, which is nourished with the Salt-Water. |
| 1884 G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries & Fishery Industries of U.S. i. 289 It seems..absurd that the Massachusetts people should have supposed that the use of *shore-seines was exterminating the Mackerel on the coast of Massachusetts. 1973 W. Elmer Terminol. Fishing ii. 69 The shore seine is worked with a boat and a shore party. |
| 1880 ‘Wildfowler’ Mod. Wildfowling 422 It must not be imagined that the *shore shooter bags only shore birds. |
| 1829 G. Griffin Collegians III. xxxi. 2 He had gone down to the Dairy farm, for the purpose of *shore-shooting. 1876 ‘Wildfowler’ Shooting & Fishing Trips II. 259 Shore-shooting, Fresh-water Angling, and Sea-fishing near Yarmouth. |
| 1589 in Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1870) I. 299 Sic dewty of *schoir syluer sall..be vplifted att thair particular poirttis of sic gudes as salbe..transported furth thairof. |
| 1966 Austral. Encycl. IX. 276/2 In 1947 a small chaser fed a *shore station at Albany. 1966 Encycl. N.Z. III. 639/1 Hunting, therefore, occurred from vessels ranging considerable distances off shore, from others at bay anchorages, and also from a large number of open boats based on shore stations. |
| 1885 W. D. Howells Rise S. Lapham xxiii. 415 A young fellow in the shabby *shore-suit of a sailor. 1924 J. Masefield Sard Harker i. 30 Steward, will you have the goodness to set out my shore-suit presently? |
| 1856 Kane Arctic Explor. II. xiii. 134 They are still found in groups..disporting in the leads and *shore-water. |
| 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 195 Littorella..Plantain *Shoreweed. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 60 From amid shore-weeds [ex alga]. |
| 1872 Trans. & Proc. N.Z. Inst. V. 156 The females visit the bays and inlets round the coast to calve..where they are captured by the *shore whalers. 1966 Encycl. N.Z. III. 640/1 Hundreds of right whales killed by pelagic whalers off shore and in the bays where ships' boats were often in direct competition with those of the shore whalers. |
| 1841 S. Revans Lett. to H.S. Chapman (typescript) II. 163 If no *shore whaling were allowed the cow would rear the calf and get fat. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick II. xxxix. 273 In the Shore Whaling.., when a Right Whale gives token of sinking, they fasten buoys to him. 1852 Mundy Antipodes 104 What is called shore-whaling, in contradistinction to deep sea-fishing. 1922 E. C. Starks Hist. Calif. Shore Whaling 6 Whaling may be classified under three heads:..Third.—For want of a better term we may call the third form modern shore whaling. The whales are not taken from small boats, but from a seaworthy steam whaler... The whaler stays out until it has secured one or more whales, which it tows to a whaling station on shore. 1959 A. McLintock Descr. Atlas N.Z. p. xvii, Today there is a shore whaling station at the seaward entrance to Tory Channel. |
| 1921 A. W. Grabau Textbk. Geol. I. xvii. 518 This [littoral] district naturally falls into two zones, (a) that of the shore between high and low tide (*shore zone) and (b) that permanently submerged..(neritic zone). 1978 A. L. Bloom Geomorphology xix. 444 Where the postglacial rise of sea level has created a shoreline on a former hill slope, shore-zone processes cut a cliff and bench. |
b. with names of animals:
shore-beetle, a beetle of the family Pimeliidæ;
shore-bird, a bird that frequents the sea-shore or estuaries;
spec. the sand-martin,
Cotile riparia;
shore-bug, a bug belonging to the family Saldidæ;
shore-crab, the common small crab,
Carcinus mænas;
shore finch (see
quot.);
shore-fish, a general name for fish whose habitat is near the shore;
shore fly, a small black fly of the family Ephydridæ, found in damp or marshy places;
shore-hopper,
-jumper, a small crustacean of the genus
Orchestia;
shore lark,
Otocorys (formerly
Alauda)
alpestris;
shore pipit, the rock pipit,
Anthus obscurus;
shore sandpiper, the ruff,
Machetes pugnax;
shore snipe, (
a) the common sandpiper,
Totanus hypoleucus (Swainson
Names of Birds); (
b)
U.S. the grey plover,
Squatarola helvetica;
shore swallow, the sand-martin,
Cotile riparia;
shore wainscot, a night-moth,
Leucania littoralis, found among sandhills.
| 1854 A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 195 Burrowing *Shore-Beetles (Pimeliidæ). |
| a 1672 Willughby Ornith. (1676) 156 Hirundo riparia Aldrov. The Sand-Martin or *Shore-bird. 1888 [see shore-snipe]. |
| 1895 J. H. Comstock Man. Study Insects 134 Some of the *Shore-bugs dig burrows, and live for a part of the time beneath the ground. 1968 Oxf. Bk. Insects 28/2 The most common and widespread British shore bug..lives around the margins of ponds, ditches, and semi-stagnant streams and lakes. |
| 1850 A. White List Specim. Crustacea Brit. Mus. 12 Carcinus Mænas. Common *Shore-Crab. |
| 1869–73 T. R. Jones Cassell's Bk. Birds I. 184 The *Shore Finches (Ammodromus) are likewise included in the family of Bunting Finches. |
| 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1805) II. 249 [The raven] eats *shore-fish, and shell-fish. 1880 Günther Study of Fishes xix. 260 The Shore-fishes of the extremity of Africa. |
| 1942 E. O. Essig College Entomology xxxv. 743 (*Shore Flies, Ephydrid Flies.) Ephydridæ. 1954 Borror & DeLong Introd. Study Insects xxvii. 633 The shore flies are small to very small; most of them are dark coloured. 1979 Nature 29 Nov. 501/2 Eighty per cent of their diet comprises three insect species, the shore fly, Ephydra riparia, the waterboatman, Trichocorixa reticulata, and the mosquito, Aedes dorsalis. |
| 1863 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 623 The *Shore-hopper (Orchestia littorea) is also plentiful on sandy coasts. |
| 1850 A. White List Specim. Crustacea Brit. Mus. 48 Orchestia littorea. The common *Shore-Jumper. |
| 1771 J. R. Forster Catal. Anim. N. Amer. 12 *Shore Lark. Alauda alpestris. 1893 Newton Dict. Birds 512 The Shore-Lark is in Europe a native of only the extreme north. |
| 1839 Macgillivray Brit. Birds II. 194 Anthus aquaticus. The *Shore Pipit. |
| 1785 Pennant Arctic Zool. II. 481 *Shore Sandpiper. Tringa Littorea. |
| 1888 Trumbull Names of Birds 191 note, The term ‘shore-birds’..means such species as the curlews, plovers, sandpipers, &c... On Long Island, and in its vicinity, ‘bay snipe’ and ‘*shore snipe’. |
| 1869–73 T. R. Jones Cassell's Bk. Birds II. 111 The Mountain or *Shore Swallows (Cotyle). |
| 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 263 The *Shore Wainscot (Leucania littoralis). |
▪ II. † shore, n.2 Sc. Obs. Forms: 4–5
schor,
schoyr(e,
schoire, 4–6
schore,
schoir, (7
showre).
[Related to shore v.2] Menace, threatening.
| c 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 621 The fif..Com vith gret schoyr and mannasyng. c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. xii. Wolf & Lamb vi, Swa thy father before Held me at bait, baith with boist and schore. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. Prol. 105 Stand at defens, and schrenk nocht for a schore. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 10 This Victoryn thame manassit with grit schoir. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 60 For weill, for wo, for boist, or zit for schoir, Quhair I am set, I sall lufe euer moir. c 1650 Eger & Grime in Percy Fol. MS. (1867) I. 375 Alas, he may make great boast and showre. |
▪ III. shore, n.3 (
ʃɔə(r))
Forms: 5–6
schore, 6–7
shoare, 7–9
shoar, 9
dial. shoor, 5–
shore.
[Late ME. schore, a. or cogn. w. MLG., MDu. schōre, schāre (Du. schoor masc.) prop, stay; cf. ON. skorða (Norw. skorda, skor) of the same meaning. The ulterior etymology is obscure.] 1. A piece of timber or iron set obliquely against the side of a building, of a ship in dock, etc., as a support when it is in danger of falling or when undergoing alteration or repair; a prop or strut.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 448/1 Schore, undur settynge of a thynge þat wolde falle,..suppositorium. c 1450 Brut 577 And after, vndermynet þe walles and þe toures, and sette shores vndernethe, And after, sette þe same shores on fyre, and brent hem. 1496 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 175 Certayn shorys occupied abought the shoryng of the Soueraigne leing in the dokke. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1545/2 They were faine to susteine the tide thereof with shores. a 1647 Pette in Archæologia XII. 242 To take the dimensions of the ship, to deface the works by striking aside the shores. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 75, I..got two Shores or Posts, pitch'd upright to the Top. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. v. 341 The mast itself is supported by the shore and by the shrowd. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Builder 593 Shoar, an oblique prop, acting as a brace upon the side of a building. 1848 Arnould Mar. Insur. iii. ii. II. 798 The tide..knocked away the shores which supported the ship. 1882 C. H. Stock Shoring & Underpinning 3 The ordinary use of raking shores. |
b. fig. (Now
rare; common in the 16th c.)
| 1534 Joye (title) The subuersion of Moris false foundation; wher vpon he sweteth to set faste and shoue vnder his shamles shoris, to vnderproppe the popis chirche. 1580 Fulke Dang. Rock v. 214 Peter the Apostle is a rocke and a shoare of the Churche. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1127 The true shoares of the unstable wheele of fortune. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. i, He too stands on the adamantine basis of his Manhood, casting aside all props and shoars. |
2. A prop or stake used for various purposes.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xvii. xxii. I. 530 As touching props and shores to support vines, the best..are those of the Oke or Olive tree. 1672 Hoole Comenius' Vis. World liii. 109 The Hunter hunteth wild-beasts, whilest he besetteth a Wood with Toyls, stretched out upon Shoars. 1808 Jamieson, Shore, The prop or support used in constructing flakes for inclosing cattle. 1847 Halliwell, Shoars, stakes set at a distance to shoar or bear up toils or nets in hunting. Ibid., Shore, a post used with hurdles in folding sheep. Dorset. |
† 3. A slope.
Obs. rare.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. ii. ii. (1867) 47 Ye leane (quoth he) to the wrong shore. 1681 Cotton Wond. Peak 61 Where once again the Roof does sloping rise In a steep craggy, and a lubrick shoar. |
4. attrib.| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Shore-cleats, heavy cleats bolted on to the sides of vessels to support the shore-head, and sustain the ship upright. |
▪ IV. shore, n.4 (
ʃɔə(r))
Also 7
shower,
shoare, 7–8
shoar.
[Usually regarded as a variant of sewer n.1, but probably a use of shore n.1; ‘the common shore’ being originally the ‘no-man's-land’ by the water-side, where filth was allowed to be deposited for the tide to wash away. Cf. the use of common shore in shore n.1 1 e; also shore n.1 3 b.] = sewer n.1 2.
Orig. in
common shore = common sewer (see
sewer n.1 2);
cf. shore n.1 1 e.
| 1598 Florio, Fogna,..a common shore iakes or sinke. 1608 Shakes. Per. iv. vi. 186 Emptie olde receptacles, or common-shores of filthe. 1612 Daborne Christian turn'd Turke F 4 b, Here's a vault leads to the common shower. a 1667 Skinner Etymol. Ling. Angl. (1671) s.v., The common Shore, corruptum pro common Sewer. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. ii. 558 Our sayling Ships like common shoars we use. 1705 Addison Italy (1733) 196, I need not mention the old common-shore of Rome. 1708 Brit. Apollo No. 25. 3/2 The Shores..stink..When foul Weather does come. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 262 What, in point of beauty, has London to do with the Thames..any more than with Fleet-ditch, buried as it is, a common shore? 1818 Blackw. Mag. May 202/1 Her Luckenbooths now choak the common shore. 1884 Irish Times 28 Nov., The fox..was..dug out..seventeen yards from the mouth of the shore. |
b. transf. and
fig.| a 1642 Gataker Bale in Fuller Abel Rediv. (1867) II. 260 Lo, here the man that stirred Rome's common shore. 1692 South 12 Serm. (1697) I. 512 The Ungratefull person is a Monster which is all Throat and Belly; a kind of thorough⁓fare, or common-shore, for the good things of the world to pass into. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. v. 51 After the Pope had call'd her all to naught..the common shore of all Wickedness, and the sink of Perdition. 1733 Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. vii. §2 (1734) 186 Carries it into the Guts (the common Shore, to be thence carry'd out of the Habit). |
c. attrib., as
shore-man,
shore-worker.
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 150/2 The persons who are in the habit of searching the sewers, call themselves ‘shore-men’ or ‘shore-workers’. Ibid. 151/2 The shore⁓workers, when about to enter the sewers, provide themselves..with a canvas apron [etc.]. |
▪ V. † shore, a. Chiefly
Sc. Obs. Also 4, 5
schore, 6
schoir.
[Possibly repr. OE. scoren (pa. pple. of sceran shear v.) in scoren clif precipice. More prob. a derivative from the same root, corresp. to Du. schor (WFris. skor, skoar, NFris. schōr, skor) harsh, rough, steep; cf. also OHG. scorro (MHG. schorre) rugged rock.] Steep, precipitous; rugged.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 22 A schoir crag, hye ande hydvouss. 14.. Sailing Directions (Hakl. Soc. 1889) 16 The groundes on the southir side lyen ferr oute, and arne shore too, for ye may come no nere them than vii fadome. 1513 Douglas æneis i. iv. 15 In ane braid sownd..Flowis the schoir deip. a 1585 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 314 The craig was high and schoir. |
▪ VI. shore, v.1 (
ʃɔə(r))
Also 4
ssore,
schore, 7
shoar(e.
[f. shore n.3 (which, however, is not recorded so early). Cf. (MLG., (M)Du. schoren.)] 1. trans. To prop, support with a
prop. Often with
up. Also
fig.| 1340 Ayenb. 207 Holy bene is wel miȝ[t]vol avoreye God, vor hi is yssored mid uour þinges ase mid uour posstes. [1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xix. 47 Ne were hit vnder-shored certes hit sholde nat stande.] 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Cc vij b, If that the house begin to falle, shore and staie it not with pieces of sclender tymbre. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII, 34 b, The Easterlynges..so strongly shored and fortefied them selves that they could not prevayle. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxvii. (1887) 142 Learning hath some strength to shore vp the person. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. xi. xxxi, As when a hunted Stag, now welnigh tir'd, Shor'd by an oak, 'gins with his head to play. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 29 To shoare the middle part of the head of the Windowes. 1680 C. Nesse Church Hist. 340 Christ might stand upon his own legs onely, and not be any longer shored up by the Baptist. 1773 J. Berridge Wks. (1864) 78 The second..would fall to pieces, unless shored up by sincere obedience. 1792 G. Cartwright Jrnl. Labrador I. Gloss. p. xiv, Shore up a Boat. When a boat is placed upon the blocks, and set upright, several shores are placed on each side; to prevent its falling either to one side or the other. 1841 Peter Parley's Ann. II. 48 He would have..shored up the sea-wall as usual. 1884 Stevenson Across the Plains (1892) 135 The old inn, long shored and trussed and buttressed. 1892 ‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claimant xxii. 219 This prop shored him up and kept him from floundering back into democracy and re-renouncing aristocracy. 1959 Listener 10 Dec. 1021/1 These are all signs that local authorities are likely to shore up their position for the time being. 1978 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. d9/4 The Carter Administration was not contemplating any emergency measures to shore up the dollar. |
† 2. To lift up, raise (the eyes).
Obs.| 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 128 Wee may well bid him shore vp his eyes, & see. 1607 Middleton Fam. Love iii. iii, Shore up your eyes, and lead the way to the goodliest people that ever turned up the white o' th' eye. 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely ii. x. 421 Therfore shore vp your eyes, good Mr. Adioynder. |
† 3. intr. To lean, slope, shelve.
Obs.| 1521 Fisher Serm. agst. Luther Wks. 1876 323 The sonne [in winter] shooreth so lowe by the grounde that his bemes thanne sklaunteth vpon the grounde. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. iii. 34 Afrike..is shorter than Europe, but broader toward the Occean, where it riseth into mounteigne. And shoryng toward the Weste, by litle and litle waxeth more streighte. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. xlix. 293 The horse will..stand shoaring or leaning alwaies on that side that he is hurt. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. ii. xiii. 121 That side of the Country vpward, that lieth shoaring vnto the top. 1621 Markham Hungers Prevent. 224 These Lime-roddes must bee prickt sloapewise and crosse, shoaring alongst the ground. |
▪ VII. shore, v.2 Sc. and
north. Forms: 4–6
schoir, 5–6
schore, 6–
shore.
[Belongs to shore n.2; of obscure origin; perh. cogn. w. shore a.] 1. trans. To threaten. Also
absol. or intr. to use threatenings.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xlii. (Agatha) 58 Syne vthir tyme þai wald hir schore vith visage bald. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 85 His forbeding to worschip hem is opunly found: & many veniaunces are schorid to her worschipars. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 733 Than the Coilȝear quoke..Quhen he hard the suith say how he the king schord. a 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xiv. 36 This to correct, thay schoir with mony crakkis. 1516 Caldwell Papers (Maitland Club) I. 53 Ye and your foresaidis..come furth..and w{supt}{suph} greit manissing wordis, schoiring [printed schowing] ye said Johne and his servand..for to slay them perforce. 1597 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xv. 65 Thy absence also shores To cut my breath. 1638 R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (Bannatyne Club) I. 51 The wives railed, and shord him with stones, and were some of them punished. Ibid. 76 A number of women waits on, and did shoare him with stroakes. ? 1721 Ramsay Robt. Richy & Sandy 134 Yon sooty Cloud shores Rain. 1786 Burns To Gavin Hamilton 3 May, Ye'll catechise him every quirk, An' shore him weel wi hell. 1891 ‘H. Haliburton’ Ochil Idylls 66 The freits that were begun To shore us ill. |
2. To offer. (
Cf. similar dialectal use of
threaten: see
Eng. Dial. Dict.)
| 1787 Burns Petition Bruar Water 22 A panegyric rhyme,..Even as I was he shor'd me. 1832–53 Whistle-binkie Ser. iii. 21 A compliment kindly and decently shored. |
▪ VIII. † shore, v.3 Obs. [App. a variant of scour v.2 If the source of
scour be
MDu. or
MLG. schûren, the variation in the initial may be due to dialectal difference of pronunciation of the continental word. For the vowel
cf. the form
score under
scour v.
2]
trans. To scour or cleanse by rubbing.
| c 1460 Promp. Parv. (Winch.) 192 Glacyng, or shoryng of harneys, pernitidacio. 1531 Luton Trinity Guild (1906) 201 Payde to Edwarde Treket for shorynge of the candylstykes. 1564 in Brit. Mag. (1834) VI. 148 It'm pd for shoreinge the egoll, vj{supd}. |
▪ IX. shore, v.4 (
ʃɔə(r))
[f. shore n.1] 1. intr. To go ashore. Of a vessel: To run aground.
| a 1600 Jane in Hakluyt Voy. III. 848 The ship..shot past that rocke, where wee thought shee would have shored. 1645 Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845) 43 They think they are sailing to heaven, and know nothing till they shore, sleeping in the land of death. |
2. trans. To put ashore; to land (passengers or goods); to beach, run aground (a vessel).
| 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 869, I will bring these two Moales, these blind-ones, aboord him, if he thinke it fit to shoare them againe..let him [etc.]. 1611 Chapman Odyss. xvi. 98 Set him where his heart would haue bene shor'd. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 18 Two pence per draft is paid for shoreing or landing the fish from the vessels. 1899 J. Spence Shetland Folk-Lore 126 The boat was temporarily shored on the beach. |
3. To border as a shore, be the shore of.
| 1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 2 A little garden..Just shored the river in its broomy pride. 1865 Masson Rec. Brit. Philos. iv. 273 Clearing..the whole periodicity of its materialistic horror..its dread of being shored by a Nothingness. |
4. intr. To sail
along (a coast).
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. vii. 334 Shoaring along for foure hundred miles, the higher and lower Calabrian Coast,..we landed at Naples. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 169 They had been shoring, as they called it, that is to say, coasting along the shore, to see if they could find anything worth their labour. |
† b. trans. To pass by the side of (a hill).
Obs.| 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie, Capital de Buz 124 Shoring a hill, we plainly do appear By a little wood, and to our enimies neere. |
▪ X. shore (
ʃɔə(r))
repr. colloq. or (in
U.S.)
dial. pronunc. of
sure a.
and adv.| 1890 Dialect Notes I. 71 Shore, sure. 1898 G. B. Shaw Candida I. 97 Glad to meet you, I'm shore. 1932 V. Randolph Ozark Mountain Folks ix. 163 Hit shore was a bad night at our place. Yas, sir, hit shore was! 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling vii. 62 Well, stay, then, if these folks is shore you're welcome. 1973 R. Hoban Lion of Boaz-Jachin & Jachin-Boaz xviii. 100 It's a proper thing for a man to do—not like running a restaurant or some shore thing like that. 1979–80 Verbatim Winter 14/1 My cousin Sharon, a University of Missouri homecoming queen, shore did look pretty, and her mother shore could fry chicken. |
▪ XI. shore obs. f. shower n.;
pa. tense of
shear v.