tore

Etymology 1

From Middle English tor, tore, toor, from Old Norse tor- (“hard, difficult, wrong, bad”, prefix), from Proto-Germanic *tuz- (“hard, difficult, wrong, bad”), from Proto-Indo-European *dus- (“bad, ill, difficult”). Cognate with Old High German zur- (“mis-”, prefix), Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌶- (tuz-, “hard, difficult”, prefix), Ancient Greek δυσ- (dus-, “bad, ill, difficult”, prefix). More at dys-.

adj

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Hard, difficult; wearisome, tedious.
2. (dialectal or obsolete) Strong, sturdy; great, massive.
3. (dialectal or obsolete) Full; rich.

Etymology 2

verb

1. simple past of tear (“rip, rend, speed”).
2. (now colloquial, nonstandard) past participle of tear (“rip, rend, speed”)
   […]that a Spirit came into him that did make him quake and tremble ſo exceedingly that he thought it would have tore him, &c[…] 1661, George Whitehead, Edward Burroughs, The Son of Perdition Revealed[…], London, page 39
   "Would've tore your head clean off," Dudley was bellowing. "Would've snapped it off your neck like wet toilet paper[…] 11 May 1999, Rick Bass, Where the Sea Used to Be, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, page 393

Etymology 3

See torus.

noun

1. (architecture) Alternative form of torus
2. (geometry) The surface described by the circumference of a circle revolving about a straight line in its own plane.
3. The solid enclosed by such a surface; an anchor ring.

Etymology 4

Probably from the root of tear; compare Welsh word for a break or cut.

noun

1. The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring.