pours

1. 1
   verb

   Third person singular simple present of pour.

   The bartender pours each drink with practiced precision.

   Rain pours through the broken gutter whenever a storm hits.

   Note

   One form carries every use of the verb. The -s ending agrees with a singular subject whether someone pours the tea, rain pours through a gutter, or it simply pours, the impersonal way of saying it is raining hard. Behind a bar, a drink that pours is one on tap and ready to serve. The same spelling is the plural noun; a number or determiner in front (two pours, generous pours) marks that one.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of pour.

   The foundation required three separate pours over two days.

   Generous pours from the bartender quickly emptied the bottle.

   Note

   The plural makes pouring countable, both the act and the amount that comes out: generous pours from a bottle, three pours of concrete for a single foundation. In construction each batch placed counts as its own pour. The colloquial noun for a heavy shower can also take the plural, but in careful writing downpours is the clearer choice.

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