drill definition

English drill definition

Pronunciation

• enPR: drĭl, IPA^(key): /dɹɪl/, [dɹɪɫ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪl

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch drillen (“bore, move in a circle”).

Verb

drill (third-person singular simple present drills, present participle drilling, simple past and past participle drilled)

1. (transitive) To create (a hole) by removing material with a drill (tool).

   Synonyms: excavate, bore, gouge; see also Thesaurus:make a hole

   Drill a small hole to start the screw in the right direction.

2. (intransitive) To practice, especially in (or as in) a military context.

   They drilled daily to learn the routine exactly.

   • 2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:

     On his return the team that faced Hull City had been reconfigured. Moses wasn’t overly drilled, just told he would be playing right wing-back, that Conte had seen enough to know.

3. (ergative) To cause to drill (practice); to train in military arts.

   The sergeant was up by 6:00 every morning, drilling his troops.

   • 1859, Thomas Macaulay, Life of Frederick the Great

     He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he drilled his grenadiers.

4. (transitive) To repeat an idea frequently in order to encourage someone to remember it.

   The instructor drilled into us the importance of reading the instructions.

5. (intransitive) To investigate or examine something in more detail or at a different level

   Drill deeper and you may find the underlying assumptions faulty.

6. (transitive) To hit or kick with a lot of power.
   • 2006, Coon, Joe, The Perfect Game:

     He did get their attention when he drilled the ball dead center into the hole for an opening birdie.

   • 2007, Cowell, Craig, Muddy Sunday:

     Without compromising he drilled the ball home, leaving Dynamos' ill-fated keeper diving for fresh air.

   • 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     Bolton were then just inches from taking the lead, but the dangerous-looking Taylor drilled just wide after picking up a loose ball following Jose Bosingwa's poor attempted clearance.

7. (baseball) To hit someone with a pitch, especially in an intentional context.
8. (slang, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse with; to penetrate.

   Synonyms: plow, poke, root, shaft; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

   • 2010, MasseMord (lyrics and music), “Masshealing Masskilling”:

     Everytime when I rape your daughter. Your beautiful faces expressing how it hurts. Always while I drill her c*nt. I want to see you dead.

   • 2012, SwizZz (lyrics and music), “Flu Shot”:

     Guess I'll be drilling her butt

Translations

Noun

drill (plural drills)

1. A tool used to remove material so as to create a hole, typically by plunging a rotating cutting bit into a stationary workpiece.

   Wear safety glasses when operating an electric drill.

2. The portion of a drilling tool that drives the bit.

   Use a drill with a wire brush to remove any rust or buildup.

3. An activity done as an exercise or practice (especially a military exercise), particularly in preparation for some possible future event or occurrence.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     “[…] if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […]”

   Regular fire drills can ensure that everyone knows how to exit safely in an emergency.

   • Springs through the pleasant meadows pour their drills.

4. Any of several molluscs, of the genus Urosalpinx, especially the oyster drill (Urosalpinx cinerea), that drill holes in the shells of other animals.
5. (uncountable, music) A style of trap music with gritty, violent lyrics, originating on the South Side of Chicago.

Wikispecies

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:drill.

Derived terms

Translations

Related terms

• drill bit
• twist drill
• drill press
• drill down

Etymology 2

Perhaps the same as Etymology 3; compare German Rille which can also mean "small furrow".

Noun

drill (plural drills)

1. An agricultural implement for making holes for sowing seed, and sometimes so formed as to contain seeds and drop them into the hole made.
   • 1993, John Banville, Ghosts:

     I found down at the side of the house the remains of what must have once been a kitchen garden. Everything was choked with weeds and scutch grass, but the outlines of bed and drill were still there.

2. A light furrow or channel made to put seed into, when sowing.
3. A row of seed sown in a furrow.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

drill (third-person singular simple present drills, present participle drilling, simple past and past participle drilled)

1. (transitive) To sow (seeds) by dribbling them along a furrow or in a row.

Translations

Etymology 3

Uncertain. Compare the same sense of trill, and German trillen, drillen. Attestation predates Etymology 1.

Noun

drill (plural drills)

1. (obsolete) A small trickling stream; a rill.

Translations

Verb

drill (third-person singular simple present drills, present participle drilling, simple past and past participle drilled)

1. (transitive) To cause to flow in drills or rills or by trickling; to drain by trickling.
   • 1615, George Sandys, “(please specify the page)”, in The Relation of a Journey Begun An. Dom. 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, OCLC 25923553:

     Now it is a great square profunditie ; greene , and uneven at the bottome : into which a barren spring doch drill from betweene the stones of the North - ward wall

   waters drilled through a sandy stratum

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English drillen, origin unknown.

Verb

drill (third-person singular simple present drills, present participle drilling, simple past and past participle drilled)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To entice or allure; to decoy; with on.

   Synonyms: entice, lead on, lure

   • 1711 June 12, Addison, Joseph, The Spectator, number 89; republished in The Works of Joseph Addison, volume 1, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1842, page 142:

     He tells me with great passion that she has bubbled him out of his youth; that she drilled him on to five and fifty [years old], and that he verily believes she will drop him in his old age, if she can find her account in another.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to slip or waste away by degrees.
   • August 28, 1731, letter by Jonathan Swift to John Gay and Catherine Douglas, Duchess of Queensberry

     This cursed accident hath drilled away the whole summer.

Translations

Etymology 5

Probably of African origin; compare mandrill.

Noun

drill (plural drills)

1. An Old World monkey of West Africa, Mandrillus leucophaeus, similar in appearance to the mandrill, but lacking the colorful face.

Translations

Further reading

• Mandrillus leucophaeus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mandrillus leucophaeus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Mandrillus leucophaeus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Etymology 6

From German Drillich (“denim, canvas, drill”).

Noun

drill (countable and uncountable, plural drills)

1. A strong, durable cotton fabric with a strong bias (diagonal) in the weave.

Synonyms

• chino

Derived terms

• khaki drill, KD

Translations

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French drill definition

Etymology

English drill.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʁil/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

drill m (plural drills)

1. drill (tool)

Related terms

• driller

Further reading

• “drill”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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German drill definition

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

drill

1. singular imperative of drillen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of drillen

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Norwegian Bokmål drill definition

Verb

drill

1. imperative of drille

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Westrobothnian drill definition

Etymology

From Middle Low German drein (“bore, turn in a circle”).

Verb

drill (preterite drillä)

1. (transitive) twist, turn