drill

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch drillen (“bore, move in a circle”).

verb

1. (transitive) To create (a hole) by removing material with a drill (tool).
   Drill a small hole to start the screw in the right direction.
2. (intransitive) To practice, especially in (or as in) a military context.
   They drilled daily to learn the routine exactly.
   On his return the team that faced Hull City had been reconfigured. Moses wasn’t overly drilled, just told he would be playing right wing-back, that Conte had seen enough to know. May 13, 2017, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in the Guardian
3. (ergative) To cause to drill (practice); to train in military arts.
   The sergeant was up by 6:00 every morning, drilling his troops.
   He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he drilled his grenadiers. 1859, Thomas Macaulay, Life of Frederick the Great
4. (transitive) To repeat an idea frequently in order to encourage someone to remember it.
   The instructor drilled into us the importance of reading the instructions.
5. (intransitive, figurative) To investigate or examine something in more detail or at a different level
   Drill deeper and you may find the underlying assumptions faulty.
6. (transitive) To hit or kick with a lot of power.
   He did get their attention when he drilled the ball dead center into the hole for an opening birdie. 2006, Joe Coon, The Perfect Game
   Without compromising he drilled the ball home, leaving Dynamos' ill-fated keeper diving for fresh air. 2007, Craig Cowell, Muddy Sunday
   Bolton were then just inches from taking the lead, but the dangerous-looking Taylor drilled just wide after picking up a loose ball following Jose Bosingwa's poor attempted clearance. December 29, 2010, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC
7. (baseball) To hit someone with a pitch, especially in an intentional context.
8. (slang, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse with; to penetrate.
   Everytime when I rape your daughter. Your beautiful faces expressing how it hurts. Always while I drill her c*nt. I want to see you dead. 2010, MasseMord (lyrics and music), “Masshealing Masskilling”
   Guess I'll be drilling her butt 2012, SwizZz (lyrics and music), “Flu Shot”
9. (slang) To shoot; to kill.

noun

1. A tool used to remove material so as to create a hole, typically by plunging a rotating cutting bit into a stationary workpiece.
   Wear safety glasses when operating an electric drill.
2. The portion of a drilling tool that drives the bit.
   Use a drill with a wire brush to remove any rust or buildup.
3. An activity done as an exercise or practice (especially a military exercise), particularly in preparation for some possible future event or occurrence.
   Regular fire drills can ensure that everyone knows how to exit safely in an emergency.
   “[…] if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […]” 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
4. A short and highly repeatable sports training exercise designed to hone a particular skill that may be useful in competition.
   At today's practice, the football team performed a variety of goalkeeping drills.
5. Any of several molluscs, of the genus Urosalpinx, especially the oyster drill (Urosalpinx cinerea), that drill holes in the shells of other animals.
6. (uncountable, music) A style of trap music with gritty, violent lyrics, originating on the South Side of Chicago.
   Though the young women of Chicago’s drill scene can be as rowdy as their male counterparts, they’re also more diverse in subject matter and point to a possible way forward. 2012-10-04, Jon Caramanica, “Chicago Hip-Hop’s Raw Burst of Change”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
   New York City mayor Eric Adams held a summit with a group of drill rappers on Tuesday night and clarified he doesn’t actually want to ban their music, days after he appeared to blame the music scene for the recent shooting deaths of two young New York rappers and suggested drill videos be pulled from the internet. 2022-02-18, Wilfred Chan, “Eric Adams meets with the drill rappers whose music he said he wanted to ban”, in The Guardian
   Between ticky off-kilter rhythms and otherworldly digital voice processing, the experimental hip-hop genres trap and drill have delivered radical hymns from alien planets. 2022, W. David Marx, chapter 10, in Status and Culture, Viking

Etymology 2

Perhaps the same as Etymology 3; compare German Rille which can also mean "small furrow".

noun

1. An agricultural implement for making holes for sowing seed, and sometimes so formed as to contain seeds and drop them into the hole made.
   I found down at the side of the house the remains of what must have once been a kitchen garden. Everything was choked with weeds and scutch grass, but the outlines of bed and drill were still there. 1993, John Banville, Ghosts
2. A light furrow or channel made to put seed into, when sowing.
3. A row of seed sown in a furrow.

verb

1. (transitive) To sow (seeds) by dribbling them along a furrow or in a row.

Etymology 3

Uncertain. Compare the same sense of trill, and German trillen, drillen. Attestation predates Etymology 1.

noun

1. (obsolete) A small trickling stream; a rill.
   Springs through the pleasant meadows pour their drills. c. 1635, George Sandys

verb

1. (transitive) To cause to flow in drills or rills or by trickling; to drain by trickling.
   waters drilled through a sandy stratum

Etymology 4

From Middle English drillen (“to delay, defer, put off”), of origin unknown.

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete or dialectal) To protract, lengthen out; fritter away, spend (time) aimlessly.
   Quit purposely drilling out the time hoping that someone else will do your chores.
2. (transitive, obsolete or dialectal) To entice or allure; to decoy; with on.
   He tells me with great passion that she has bubbled him out of his youth; that she drilled him on to five and fifty [years old], and that he verily believes she will drop him in his old age, if she can find her account in another. 1711-06-12, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 89; republished in The Works of Joseph Addison, volume 1, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1842, page 142
3. (transitive, obsolete or dialectal) To cause to slip or waste away by degrees.
   August 28, 1731, letter by Jonathan Swift to John Gay and Catherine Douglas, Duchess of Queensberry This cursed accident hath drilled away the whole summer.

Etymology 5

]] Probably of African origin; compare mandrill.

noun

1. An Old World monkey of West Africa, Mandrillus leucophaeus, similar in appearance to the mandrill, but lacking the colorful face.

Etymology 6

From German Drillich (“denim, canvas, drill”).

noun

1. A strong, durable cotton fabric with a strong bias (diagonal) in the weave.