Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Drill   /drɪl/   Listen
noun
Drill  n.  
1.
An instrument with an edged or pointed end used for making holes in hard substances; strictly, a tool that cuts with its end, by revolving, as in drilling metals, or by a succession of blows, as in drilling stone; also, a drill press.
2.
(Mil.) The act or exercise of training soldiers in the military art, as in the manual of arms, in the execution of evolutions, and the like; hence, diligent and strict instruction and exercise in the rudiments and methods of any business; a kind or method of military exercises; as, infantry drill; battalion drill; artillery drill.
3.
Any exercise, physical or mental, enforced with regularity and by constant repetition; as, a severe drill in Latin grammar.
4.
(Zool.) A marine gastropod, of several species, which kills oysters and other bivalves by drilling holes through the shell. The most destructive kind is Urosalpinx cinerea.
Bow drill, Breast drill. See under Bow, Breast.
Cotter drill, or Traverse drill, a machine tool for drilling slots.
Diamond drill. See under Diamond.
Drill jig. See under Jig.
Drill pin, the pin in a lock which enters the hollow stem of the key.
Drill sergeant (Mil.), a noncommissioned officer whose office it is to instruct soldiers as to their duties, and to train them to military exercises and evolutions.
Vertical drill, a drill press.


Drill  n.  
1.
A small trickling stream; a rill. (Obs.) "Springs through the pleasant meadows pour their drills."
2.
(Agr.)
(a)
An implement for making holes for sowing seed, and sometimes so formed as to contain seeds and drop them into the hole made.
(b)
A light furrow or channel made to put seed into sowing.
(c)
A row of seed sown in a furrow. Note: Drill is used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, drill barrow or drill-barrow; drill husbandry; drill plow or drill-plow.
Drill barrow, a wheeled implement for planting seed in drills.
Drill bow, a small bow used for the purpose of rapidly turning a drill around which the bowstring takes a turn.
Drill harrow, a harrow used for stirring the ground between rows, or drills.
Drill plow, or Drill plough, a sort plow for sowing grain in drills.


Drill  n.  (Zool.) A large African baboon (Cynocephalus leucophaeus).


Drill  n.  (Manuf.) Same as Drilling.
Imperial drill, a linen fabric having two threads in the warp and three in the filling.


verb
Drill  v. t.  (past & past part. drilled; pres. part. drilling)  
1.
To pierce or bore with a drill, or a with a drill; to perforate; as, to drill a hole into a rock; to drill a piece of metal.
2.
To train in the military art; to exercise diligently, as soldiers, in military evolutions and exercises; hence, to instruct thoroughly in the rudiments of any art or branch of knowledge; to discipline. "He (Frederic the Great) drilled his people, as he drilled his grenadiers."


Drill  v. t.  
1.
To cause to flow in drills or rills or by trickling; to drain by trickling; as, waters drilled through a sandy stratum. (R.)
2.
To sow, as seeds, by dribbling them along a furrow or in a row, like a trickling rill of water.
3.
To entice; to allure from step; to decoy; with on. (Obs.) "See drilled him on to five-fifty."
4.
To cause to slip or waste away by degrees. (Obs.) " This accident hath drilled away the whole summer."


Drill  v. i.  To practice an exercise or exercises; to train one's self.


Drill  v. i.  
1.
To trickle. (Obs. or R.)
2.
To sow in drills.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar




"Drill" Quotes from Famous Books



... them in any situation. That as soon as the vocabulary is large enough they should be written in the form of a new exercise, as on pp. 36, 44, 52, 60, and 68 of this book. 4th.—That thorough and systematic drill in Spelling is absolutely necessary. That the "Reading Reviews" should be so constructed as to contain all the new words used in the lessons they were intended to review, and no others, so that they can be used for "Written ...
— New National First Reader • Charles J. Barnes, et al.
... wing, one by one, and flies down to the ground with them. As soon as her brood of ten or a dozen is thus collected, she leads them off to the nearest water, and the whole lot of Ducklings go in swimming, bobbing for food as if they were a year old instead of only a few hours. Then mamma begins to drill them in danger-signalling, so that at the slightest hint from her they dive and swim ...
— Citizen Bird • Mabel Osgood Wright and Elliott Coues
... of hostilities—one of preparation on both sides —the battles were naturally fewer in number and less decisive in character than afterwards, when discipline had been imparted to the troops by drill, and when the materiel of war had been collected and stored for prolonged campaigns. The engagements of all kinds in 1861 were thirty-five in number, of which the most serious was the Union defeat at Bull Run. In 1862 the war had greatly increased in magnitude and ...
— Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine
... listened to the lectures and wrote them down afterwards, so far as their memory served them. The usual text-book was the "Book of Sentences," by Peter Lombard. The bachelor, after having previously studied ten years, was obliged to go through a three years' drill, and then submit to a public examination in presence of the whole university before he was thought fit to teach. He could not then receive his master's badge until he had successfully maintained a public disputation ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume V • John Lord
... did, he certainly had nothing to complain about. His long nose was as good as a drill. And his front legs were just long enough so that he could reach his large, spade-like feet beyond his nose and throw the dirt back. His fur lay in one direction as easily as in another, never troubling him in the least ...
— The Tale of Grandfather Mole • Arthur Scott Bailey


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com