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Wear out   /wɛr aʊt/   Listen
verb
Wear  v. t.  (past wore; past part. worn; pres. part. wearing)  
1.
To carry or bear upon the person; to bear upon one's self, as an article of clothing, decoration, warfare, bondage, etc.; to have appendant to one's body; to have on; as, to wear a coat; to wear a shackle. "What compass will you wear your farthingale?" "On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore."
2.
To have or exhibit an appearance of, as an aspect or manner; to bear; as, she wears a smile on her countenance. "He wears the rose of youth upon him." "His innocent gestures wear A meaning half divine."
3.
To use up by carrying or having upon one's self; hence, to consume by use; to waste; to use up; as, to wear clothes rapidly.
4.
To impair, waste, or diminish, by continual attrition, scraping, percussion, on the like; to consume gradually; to cause to lower or disappear; to spend. "That wicked wight his days doth wear." "The waters wear the stones."
5.
To cause or make by friction or wasting; as, to wear a channel; to wear a hole.
6.
To form or shape by, or as by, attrition. "Trials wear us into a liking of what, possibly, in the first essay, displeased us."
To wear away, to consume; to impair, diminish, or destroy, by gradual attrition or decay.
To wear off, to diminish or remove by attrition or slow decay; as, to wear off the nap of cloth.
To wear on or To wear upon, to wear. (Obs.) "(I) weared upon my gay scarlet gites (gowns.)"
To wear out.
(a)
To consume, or render useless, by attrition or decay; as, to wear out a coat or a book.
(b)
To consume tediously. "To wear out miserable days."
(c)
To harass; to tire. "(He) shall wear out the saints of the Most High."
(d)
To waste the strength of; as, an old man worn out in military service.
To wear the breeches. See under Breeches. (Colloq.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Wear out" Quotes from Famous Books



... white man to marry an Injun. The red never dies out in the woman, but the white in the man always changes into a dirty, muddy red. I laid awake a long while tryin' to figger out a way to block his game, but the only thing I could think of was to tie him up and wear out a cinch on him. Just as I was dozin' off I had an idy. I didn't like it much at first; I had to swaller hard to down it, but the more I studied it the better it looked, so for fear I'd weaken I rolled ...
— Laughing Bill Hyde and Other Stories • Rex Beach

... as yours," he replied; "the teatrino is dirty and they soon wear out. My great-coat appears to be fresh because I seldom put it on. I shall use it in Catania to conceal the shabbiness of my ...
— Castellinaria - and Other Sicilian Diversions • Henry Festing Jones

... Hills.—The drainage of the western slopes of the Suliman range finding no exit on that side has had to wear out ways for itself towards the plains which lie between the foot of the hills and the Indus. This is the explanation of the large number of passes, about one hundred, which lead from the plains into the Suliman hills. The chief ...
— The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir • Sir James McCrone Douie

... done that, there is the other. Two years hence, how you will wonder that there ever was a time when you had not a stitch of work in the house! Wedding clothes last about two years, and then they all wear out together. I wish you joy of the work you will have to do then—if nothing should come between you ...
— Deerbrook • Harriet Martineau

... woman, time has been when thou wert to us as the edge of the poisonous sword or the midnight torch of the murderer; but now I know not how it will be, or if the grief which thou hast given me will ever wear out or not. And now that I have beheld thee, I have little to do to blame my son; for indeed when I look on thee I cannot deem that there is any evil in thee. Yea, however it may be, take thou this gift as the ...
— The Roots of the Mountains • William Morris


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