auger

Etymology

From a rebracketing of Middle English a nauger (seen as an + auger), from Old English nafugār (“nave drill”, literally “nave spear”), from Proto-West Germanic *nabugaiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *nabōgaizaz. Cognate with Dutch avegaar.

noun

1. A carpenter's tool for boring holes longer than those bored by a gimlet.
   Pete Burnett needs a fan belt for his auger. 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 231
2. A snake or plumber's snake (plumbing tool).
3. A tool used to bore holes in the ground, e.g. for fence posts
4. A hollow drill used to take core samples of soil, ice, etc. for scientific study.

verb

1. To use an auger; to drill a hole using an auger.
2. To proceed in the manner of an auger.
   It augered into the water and vanishedunder the surface only to float up again, its keel pointing skyward. 2010, Clive Cussler, Jack Du Brul, The Silent Sea
   There was no way to measure progress inside the sphere, to know whether it spun or leapt or wobbled like a top as it augered through the years. 2012, Ronald Wright, A Scientific Romance
   It augers down again behind him to gyre like a mindless deadly battling top. 2014, Steven R. Boyett, Mortality Bridge