See Also: Drill(medicine)
drill(encyclopedia)
drill(9)(dictionary)
drill(8)(dictionary)
drill(7)(dictionary)
drill(6)(dictionary)
drill(5)(dictionary)
drill(4)(dictionary)
drill(3)(dictionary)
drill(2)(dictionary)

drill(8) (iou)



drill verb3. E17.
[Middle Dutch drillen bore, turn in a circle, brandish = Middle Low German drillen roll, turn, whence Middle & mod. High German drillen turn, round off, bore, drill soldiers.]
I. Make a hole (in).
verb trans. Make a hole or passage in (something), esp. with a drill. E17.
R. Jefferies Rabbit-holes drill the bank everywhere.
b. Shoot (a person etc.). colloq. E19.
verb trans. Produce (a hole) or sink (an oil well) by or as by drilling. M17.
J. Higgins The bullet drilled a neat hole through the windscreen.
verb intrans. Drill a hole or well. L17.
drilling mud: see MUD noun1. drilling rig a structure above an oil well etc. containing the machinery needed to drill it. drilling string: see STRING noun 22b.
N. Calder Equipped for drilling into the bed of the deep ocean. Economist Five rigs are now drilling.
verb trans. Turn round and round; churn (butter). L17-M19.
II. Military & derived senses.
verb trans. & intrans. Train or be trained in military exercises and the use of arms. E17.
E. Linklater The whole army would be paraded and drilled in a variety of movements. C. Milne We drilled on the Square, marching and counter-marching.
verb trans. & intrans. Instruct or be instructed (in a subject) by repeated exercises. Also, regulate (affairs) exactly. E17.
E. K. Kane We had drilled with knapsacks and sledge till we were almost martinets in our evolutions on the ice. H. Keller I had been well drilled in English by Miss Sullivan. N. Podhoretz I needed repeated drilling before the lesson of those negotiations could..sink in.
verb trans. Inculcate (knowledge etc.) into a person by strict methods. M19.
A. Koestler The necessity to drill every sentence into the masses by..endless repetition.
drillable adjective L19.
driller noun1 (a) a person who teaches or practises military drill; (b) a person who or a machine which drills holes or wells: M17.