pour

noun

Etymology: From Middle English pouren (“to pour”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old Northern French purer (“to sift (grain), pour out (water)”), from Latin pūrō (“to purify”), from pūrus (“pure”). Compare Middle Dutch afpuren (“to pour off, drain”). To pour displaced several Middle English verbs: * schenchen, schenken (“to pour”), from Old English sċenċan (“to pour out”) and Old Norse skenkja, from Proto-Germanic *skankijaną. Compare dialectal English shink, skink. * yeten, from Old English ġēotan (“to pour”), from Proto-Germanic *geutaną. * birlen (“to pour, serve drink to”), from Old English byrelian (“to pour, serve drink to”). * hellen (“to pour, pour out”), from Old Norse hella (“to pour out, incline”). * temen (“to pour out, empty”), from Old Norse tœma (“to pour out, empty”). Compare archaic English teem.

1. The act of pouring.

   “The bartender's inexpert pour left me with a pint of beer that was half foam.”

2. Something, or an amount, poured.

   “Over this time period, the first concrete pour has not only lost workability but has started to set so that it is no longer affected by the action of a vibrator.”

   “HS2 Ltd has completed the first base-slab concrete pour at the western end of Old Oak Common station.”

3. A downpour; a flood of precipitation.

   “Then, as if to give the lie to the offensive insinuation, he mounted his horse, and rode home ten miles in a pour of rain, without a great coat or umbrella.”

   “But then one of Mr. Knott's men would have had to put on his coat and hat and turn out, as likely as not in the pitch dark, and in torrents of rain in all probability, and grope his way in the dark in the pours of rain, with the pot of food in his hand, a wretched and ridiculous figure, to where the dog lay.”

verb

1. Misspelling of pore.