# gore

Pronunciation: US say "GOR" /ɡoɹ/; UK say "GAW" /ɡɔː/

## Noun

1. Blood shed through violence or from wounds, often thickened, especially when shown in gruesome detail.
   - Simple: Blood from wounds and violent injuries, especially when shown in a horrible, detailed way in films.
   - _Critics praised the battle scenes but complained that the gore felt gratuitous._
   - _The war correspondent spared her readers none of the gore of the siege._
3. A triangular or rhomboid piece of fabric, especially one that forms part of a shaped surface such as a sail or skirt.
   - Simple: A piece of cloth shaped like a triangle or diamond, used to shape a skirt, sail, or similar thing.
   - _The seamstress cut eight gores so the skirt would flare out from the hips._
   - _The sailmaker replaced one torn gore near the top of the mainsail._
4. A curved section of a globe's surface between two close lines of longitude, or a similar section of any sphere or dome.
   - Simple: A curved strip of a globe between two lines from pole to pole, or a similar piece of a dome.
   - _The globe maker trimmed each paper gore carefully so the coastlines would meet at the seams._
   - _The balloon's envelope is sewn from long nylon gores that meet at the crown._
5. An elastic gusset set into a shoe to give it a snug fit.
   - Simple: A stretchy piece in the side of a shoe that helps it fit tightly.
   - _Chelsea boots rely on elastic gores at the ankle instead of laces._
   - _The cobbler replaced the worn gore so the loafer would grip her foot again._
6. A triangular area of ground where two roads split or meet; in older or regional use, also a wedge of land left at the edge of an irregular field.
   - Simple: A three-cornered piece of ground where roads split, or in older use, a wedge of land at a field's edge.
   - _The driver cut across the gore at the last second to make the exit._
   - _Engineers moved the light pole out of the gore to protect drivers who drift off the road._
7. A small unincorporated tract that results when surveys conflict or a boundary is mismeasured. *(US)*
   - Simple: A small piece of land left outside any town because land measurements disagreed or were wrong.
   - _Because two old surveys never matched, a narrow gore was left between the townships._
   - _The state finally settled who owned the gore after decades of boundary disputes._

## Verb

2. Of an animal, to pierce someone or something with a horn or tusk.
   - Simple: Of an animal, to push a horn or tusk into someone or something.
   - _The buffalo lowered its head and gored the lion in the side._
   - _Wild boars will gore a dog that corners them._
8. To cut fabric into gores, or to shape a skirt, sail or similar item by fitting it with them.
   - Simple: To cut cloth into long three-cornered pieces, or sew them into a skirt or sail to shape it.
   - _Sailmakers gore the big headsail so that it bellies out into a curve._
   - _The skirt was gored at the sides so it hung smoothly over the hips._

## Verb

9. To pierce someone or something with any pointed object, such as a spear. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To push a spear or other sharp, pointed thing into someone or something.
   - _The pikemen were ordered to gore any horse that broke through the line._
   - _One of the guards gored the intruder with a halberd before he reached the gate._
10. To needle someone or wound their feelings. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To hurt someone's feelings with sharp or unkind words.
12. To cover or smear something with blood. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To cover something with blood or smear blood on it.

## Noun

11. A large drop or mass of thickened blood. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A lump or thick patch of blood.
13. Dirt or filth, often in the form of dung or mud. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Dirt or muck, often mud or animal droppings.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A heraldic charge outlined by two inward-curving lines that run from the middle of the base and from one upper corner of the shield to meet at its center.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 11–13** — From Middle English gore ("mud, muck"), from Old English gor ("manure, dung, filth, dirt"), from Proto-Germanic *gurą ("half-digested stomach contents; faeces; manure"), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- ("hot; warm"). It is cognate with Old Norse gor ("intestinal contents, filth, dung").
**Meanings 2, 9–10** — Old English gār ("spear") is the ultimate source, going back through Proto-Germanic *gaizaz to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰoysós. Middle English goren came from it, and gar and gore ("a projecting point") are related.
**Meanings 3–8** — Proto-Germanic *gaizô gave Proto-West Germanic *gaiʀō and then Old English gāra, which became Middle English gore, meaning a patch of land or fabric, or clothes.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/gore (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).