▪ I. perforate, ppl. a.
(ˈpɜːfərət)
[ad. L. perforāt-us, pa. pple. of perforāre: see perforate v.]
= perforated: construed as pple. and as adj.
| 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. 40 Suche abuses can not be longe hidde from princes, that haue theyr eares perforate (as is the prouerb). 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. C ij b/1 Applyede cleane through the perforate tonge. 1626 Bacon Sylva §470 An Earthen Pot perforate at the Bottom to let in the Plant. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., The teeth are serrate and sharp, and two are..perforate, by which they ejaculate their poyson. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 33 Alyssum..septum entire or perforate. |
▪ II. perforate, v.
(ˈpɜːfəreɪt)
[f. L. perforāt-, ppl. stem of perforāre to bore through, pierce through; f. per- 1 + forā-re to bore, pierce.]
1. trans. To make a hole or holes right through; to pierce with a pointed instrument or projectile; to bore through; spec. to make rows or series of small holes or perforations separating coupons, stamps, etc., in a sheet.
| 1538 Elyot Dict., Inforo..to perforate or make a hole. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 26 b/1 We should perforate or thrust them throughe. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. vi. 194 We tooke out the guts and bladder, and also perforated the Cranium. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 407 Worms will perforate the Guts. 1772–84 Cook's Voy. (1790) V. 1799 Some of them..perforate the lower-lip into separate holes. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1668/2 The machine will perforate 250 sheets [of postage stamps] per hour, and the punches and holes are adjustable for stamps of different sizes. 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy §120 Key a causes 1, 2, and 3 to perforate the paper in one vertical line. 1891 ‘Phil’ Penny Post. Jubilee 73 The red penny was first issued imperforated... Later [1854] it was perforated with fifteen oval holes. 1896 Times 16 Dec. 5/2 The wounds..showed that the destruction of bone and tissue perforated by the new bullet was tremendous. |
b. To make a hole or holes into the interior of (a thing); to bore into; to make an opening into.
| 1712 Blackmore Creation i. 20 Tell, what could drill and perforate the Poles, And to th' attractive Rays adapt their Holes? 1856 Stanley Sinai & Pal. ix. 337 Large caves..still perforate the rocky sides of the hill. 1863 Bates Nat. Amazon II. 96 The ground is perforated with the entrances to their subterranean galleries. |
c. To ‘pass through’ in position (cf. pass v. 1 d); to extend or be continued through the substance of.
| 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 242 Dark passages, with which this old city is perforated, like an ancient cheese. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 510 [The nerve] descends obliquely outwards, perforates the glutæus maximus muscle,..and expands upon its posterior surface. 1840 G. Ellis Anat. 56 The divisions of the eighth nerve..again perforate the dura mater through smaller openings. |
2. To form (a hole, etc.) by boring or punching.
| 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy §120 The punches which perforate these holes in the paper. |
3. intr. To penetrate, make its way into or through something; to make a perforation.
| 1775 Sterne's Sent. Journ. Contin. III. 179 Casting a most amorous leer through those beautiful eye-lashes, which penetrated farther than I thought it possible for a single look to perforate. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 975 The stomach..may become adherent to the transverse colon into which the ulcer perforates. |
b. In pass. sense: To suffer perforation, to become perforated.
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 889 The cysts are apt to perforate and to burst. |