pour

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɔː/, /poɹ/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English pouren,^[2] of unknown origin.^[3][4][5] Etymonline and Barnhart suggest a borrowing of Flemish dialect Old French purer, to sift grain, pour out water, from Latin pūrāre (“to purify”), from pūrus, pure.^[3][6] It replaced Old English gēotan.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cause a liquid to flow in a stream: probably about 1300.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive sense, to flow in a stream, is from the 1530s.^[3] The noun, a pouring stream, is from 1790,^[3][7] and figuratively a crowd streaming in or out from 1897.^[7] To rain heavily, and it never rains but it pours, are among the senses Collins lists, with to serve tea or coffee.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to send forth in a stream.^[6]
• 1530s – to flow.^[3]
• 1790 – the noun.^[7]
• 1897 – a stream of people.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make a liquid or granular substance flow from a container.
2. To flow or stream continuously.
3. To rain heavily.
4. To come or go in large numbers.
5. To serve a drink such as tea or coffee.

Noun

1. A pouring stream, especially a downpour of rain.

Word family

• pourer
• pourable
• pouringly
• pourability
• repour
• unpoured
• downpour
• inpour

Related words

• pure

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins