bore, n.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

bore n.¹

[OED states ety. unknown. ? f. SE bore, to drill into, but this fails to account for sense 2, from which senses 1 and 3 presumably stem. Partridge suggests poss. link to boar, an uncouth, ignorant person, but this still ignores sense 2, which lasted as sl. no later than the 1760s. Grose notes that senses 1 and 3 were very fashionable c.1780 and then vanished. ‘Not so, burly Grose,’ says Hotten in 1859, ‘the term is still in favour and as piquant and expressive as ever.’ However, although Hotten includes it, the word was by then virtually, if not actually, SE]

1. a tedious person or thing, a nuisance.

c.1500		Summoning of Everyman in Farmer (1906) 12: Alas, that ever I was a bore! For now shall I never be merry.
1592		Nashe Pierce Penilesse 57: He is reputed a Pesaunt and a Boore that will not take his licour profoundly.
1696		D’Urfey Comical Hist. of Don Quixote Pt III Preface: I know no other way in Nature to do the Characters right, but to make a Romp speak like a Romp, and a Clownish Boor blunder out things proper for such a Fellow.
1739		R. Bull Grobianus 11: Why all must own thee for a Boor compleat.
1779		Mme D’Arblay Diary and Letters (1904) I 242: What a bore is life!
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Bore, a bore, a tedious troublesome man or woman, one who bores the ears of his hearers with an uninteresting tale, a term much in fashion about the years 1780 and 1781.
a.1790		C. Dibdin ‘Irish-Italian Song’ Collection of Songs II 97: Astonish’d John cries out bravo! encore! / And swears all English music’s a vile bore.
1798		‘Country Life’ in Hilaria 66: In London, if folks ill together are put, / A bore may be roasted, a quiz may be cut.
1803		‘A Pembrochian’ Gradus ad Cantabrigiam 23: Whatever is odious and disagreeable, however lawful and right, constitutes a Bore — a great Bore — an uncommon Bore — a horrid Bore — an intolerable and d—lish Bore.
1812		W. Combe Doctor Syntax, Picturesque (1868) 17/2: Learning’s become a very bore.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 65: To consider the sacrament a bore!
1822		‘A. Burton’ My Cousin in the Army 10: Voted Lord Castlereagh a bore.
1837		R. Nicholson Cockney Adventures 18 Nov. 19: The little wretches! – what a bore!
1841		‘The Wonderful Nose’ Dublin Comic Songster 74: At last came a sailor, with courage in store, / Who swore he would tackle this long snouted bore!
1849		C. Kingsley Alton Locke (1850) 58: It’s a horrid bore.
1850		J.C. Neal Pic-nic Sketches 88: That’s a Bore! Everybody has heard of bores – of an immense bore – an intolerable bore, or an excruciating bore.
1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 206: It’s past eight and we must go to first lesson. What a bore!
1860		E. Eden Semi-Attached Couple (1979) 137: He looks well [...] considering what a bore of a session it has been.
1862		Thackeray Adventures of Philip (1899) 191: I must confess he is often an old bore.
1874		‘A.P.’ [Arthur Pember] Mysteries and Miseries 446: All soon voted dinner [on the summit of Mont Blanc] a bore.
1885		Isle of Wight Obs. 6 June 5/5: Now, what shall I do with those dolls? [...] An uglier couple I never did see. Awful bore.

2. the equivalent of Fr. ennui, a feeling of world-weariness, the equivalent of Eng. spleen; thus French bore, one who feels or at least affects indifference to all things and people.

1766

G. Williams in Jesse George Selwyn (1843) II 108: He sits every night next to Lord Temple, and has a complete bore of two hours.

3. (US) a trick, a hoax.

1800		Aurora (Phila.) 3 July n.p.: [ref. to rumour of Jefferson’s death] A Federal bore [DAE].
1811		Mass. Spy 1 May n.p.: Tis thus that Hymen cracks his joke, / A hoax, a quiz, a bore [DAE].

bore n.1

bore n.¹