Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To pierce, punch, or bore a hole or holes in; penetrate.
- intransitive verb To pierce or stamp with rows of holes, as those between postage stamps, to allow easy separation.
- intransitive verb To pass into or through something.
- adjective Having been perforated.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To bore through; pierce; make a hole or holes in, as by boring or driving.
- Synonyms Bore through, Pierce, etc. See
penetrate . - Of the shells of gastropod mollusks, having a tubular cavity extending through the columella from the umbilicus to the apex: contrasted with imperforate, in which case the columella is solid.
- Bored or pierced through: penetrated.
- Specifically— In botany, pierced with one or more small holes, or, more commonly, having translucent dots which resemble holes, as in most plants of the order Hypericineæ.
- In ornithology, noting the nostril of a bird when lacking a nasal septum, so that a hole appears from side to side of the bill, as in the turkey-buzzard, crane, etc.
- In anatomy, open; opened through; affording passage or communication; having the character or quality of a perforation; forminate
- In zoology, full of little holes or perforations; cribrose; foraminulate; specifically, of or pertaining to the Perforata: as, a perforate coral; a perforate foraminifer.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Pierced with a hole or holes, or with pores; having transparent dots resembling holes.
- transitive verb To bore through; to pierce through with a pointed instrument; to make a hole or holes through by boring or piercing; to pierce or penetrate the surface of.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective philately
Perforated . - verb To
pierce ; topenetrate . - verb To make a line of holes in a thin material to allow separation at the line.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance
- verb make a hole into or between, as for ease of separation
- adjective having a hole cut through
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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It is probably derived from a root meaning "to bore," "perforate," and hence denotes perforated wind instruments of all kinds.
Easton's Bible Dictionary M.G. Easton 1897
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But Bassett's relapses grew more frequent, his brief convalescences less and less vigorous, his periods of coma longer, until he came to know, beyond the last promptings of the optimism inherent in so tremendous a constitution as his own, that he would never live to cross the grass lands, perforate the perilous coast jungle, and reach the sea.
THE RED ONE 2010
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But a diamond can scratch the skin, perforate it, bring blood welling to the top, spilling over fascinated edges.
Diamonds Ann-Marie Martino 2011
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Violent accidents perforate the narratives, both as a means of insisting on the contingency of existence and as a means of keeping the reader reading —
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Shuffling penitentially on your knees, bending and scraping with dustpan and brush while vicious pine needles perforate your kneecaps...it's almost enough to make you feel like Christmas might, in a twisted way, be the descendent of some sort of primitive religious festival.
After the Binge Must Come the Purge Sam Leith 2011
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He also talked about the positive role of older, more experienced and hard-bitten men such as Jose Henriquez, 56, a miner trained to perforate holes who is also an evangelical pastor.
In weeks before rescuers made contact, miners struggled with despair Jonathan Franklin 2010
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The "bizarre bits" on display here include a bunch of medical specimens and instruments, such as the smallpox scab, various saws used for amputations and neurosurgery, and a trepan, a grotesque device used to perforate the skull, which was believed to aid in treating mental illness, epilepsy and migraines.
Virginia Historical Society's odd gems offer uncommon insights into the past 2011
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I continue to be haunted by flying dreams, airplane anxiety dreams that perforate my brain with panic.
A Fear of Flying of My Very Own Molly Jong-Fast 2011
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He also talked about the positive role of older, more experienced and hard-bitten men such as Jose Henriquez, 56, a miner trained to perforate holes who is also an evangelical pastor.
In weeks before rescuers made contact, miners struggled with despair Jonathan Franklin 2010
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The bullet, driving with momentum sufficient to perforate a man's body a mile distant, struck Tudor with such force as to pivot him, whirling him half around by the shock of its impact and knocking him down.
Chapter 27 2010
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