Advertisement

shore (n.)

"land bordering a large body of water," c. 1300, from an Old English word or from Middle Low German schor "shore, coast, headland," or Middle Dutch scorre "land washed by the sea," all probably from Proto-Germanic *skur-o- "cut," from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut."

According to etymologists originally with a sense of "division" between land and water. But if the word began on the North Sea coast of the continent, it might as well have meant originally "land 'cut off' from the mainland by tidal marshes" (compare Old Norse skerg "an isolated rock in the sea," related to sker "to cut, shear"). Old English words for "coast, shore" were strand (n.), waroþ, ofer. Few Indo-European languages have such a single comprehensive word for "land bordering water" (Homer uses one word for sandy beaches, another for rocky headlands). General application to "country near a seacoast" is attested from 1610s.

shore (v.)

mid-14c., "to prop, support with a prop;" of obscure etymology though widespread in Germanic (Middle Dutch schooren "to prop up, support," Old Norse skorða (n.) "a piece of timber set up as a support"). Related: Shored; shoring. Also as a noun, "post or beam for temporary support of something" (mid-15c.), especially an oblique timber to brace the side of a building or excavation.

Others are reading

Advertisement
Definitions of shore from WordNet
1
shore (v.)
serve as a shore to;
The river was shored by trees
shore (v.)
arrive on shore;
Synonyms: land / set ashore
shore (v.)
support by placing against something solid or rigid;
shore and buttress an old building
Synonyms: prop up / prop / shore up
2
shore (n.)
the land along the edge of a body of water;
shore (n.)
a beam or timber that is propped against a structure to provide support;
Synonyms: shoring
From wordnet.princeton.edu