SuaviloquyToday’s word

shore

Shore, n.

Etymology: [OE. schore, AS. score, probably fr. scieran, and so meaning properly, that which is shorn off, edge; akin to OD. schoore, schoor. See Shear, v. t.]

The coast or land adjacent to a large body of water, as an ocean, lake, or large river. Michael Cassio, Lieutenant to the warlike Moor Othello, Is come shore. Shak. The fruitful shore of muddy Nile. Spenser. In shore, near the shore. Marryat. -- On shore. See under On. -- Shore birds (Zoöl.), a collective name for the various limicoline birds found on the seashore. -- Shore crab (Zoöl.), any crab found on the beaches, or between tides, especially any one of various species of grapsoid crabs, as Heterograpsus nudus of California. -- Shore lark (Zoöl.), a small American lark (Otocoris alpestris) found in winter, both on the seacoast and on the Western plains. Its upper parts are varied with dark brown and light brown. It has a yellow throat, yellow local streaks, a black crescent on its breast, a black streak below each eye, and two small black erectile ear tufts. Called also horned lark. -- Shore plover (Zoöl.), a large-billed Australian plover (Esacus magnirostris). It lives on the seashore, and feeds on crustaceans, etc. -- Shore teetan (Zoöl.), the rock pipit (Anthus obscurus). [Prov. Eng.]

5 other Webster entries under this spelling

Shore

imp. of Shear. Chaucer.

Shore, n.

A sewer. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

Shore, n.

A prop, as a timber, placed as a brace or support against the side of a building or other structure; a prop placed beneath anything, as a beam, to prevent it from sinking or sagging. [Written also shoar.]

Shore, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shored; p. pr. & vb. n. Shoring.]

To support by a shore or shores; to prop; -- usually with up; as, to shore up a building.

Shore, v. t.

To set on shore. [Obs.] Shak.

Shades of meaning

Fernald has no entry of its own for shore; he lists it under bank.

Where he writes about it:

Shore is any land, whether cliff, or sand, or marsh, bordering water. — from bank