drill

drill¹

noun

1》 a tool or machine with a rotating or reciprocating cutting tip, used for boring holes.

2》 training in military exercises.

    ↘instruction by means of repeated exercises.

    ↘(the drill) informal the correct or recognized procedure.

3》 a predatory mollusc that bores into the shells of other molluscs. [Urosalpinx cinerea (oyster drill, America) and other species.]

verb

1》 bore (a hole) in something with a drill.

    ↘sink a borehole.

2》 subject to military training or other intensive instruction.

3》 informal (in sport) hit (a shot) hard and in a straight line.

4》 (drill down) Computing access data in a lower level of a hierarchically structured database.

Derivatives

driller noun

Origin

C17: from MDu. drillen 'bore, turn in a circle'.

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drill²

noun a machine which makes small furrows, sows seed in them, and then covers the sown seed.

↘a small furrow made by a drill.

verb sow with a drill.

Origin

C18: perh. from drill¹.

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drill³

noun a West African baboon with a naked blue or purple rump. [Mandrillus leucophaeus.]

Origin

C17: prob. a local word; cf. mandrill.

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drill⁴

noun a coarse twilled cotton or linen fabric.

Origin

C18: abbrev. of earlier drilling, from Ger. Drillich, from L. trilix 'triple-twilled', from tri- 'three' + licium 'thread'.