POUR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pour mean? 

• POUR (verb)
  The verb POUR has 6 senses:

1. cause to run

2. move in large numbers

3. pour out

4. flow in a spurt

5. supply in large amounts or quantities

6. rain heavily

  Familiarity information: POUR used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pour    ... he / she / it pours   
Past simple: poured   
Past participle: poured   
-ing form: pouring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to run

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

pour water over the floor

Hypernyms (to "pour" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Cause:

course; feed; flow; run (move along, of liquids)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pour"):

pour forth; shed; spill (pour out in drops or small quantities or as if in drops or small quantities)

dribble; drip; drop (let or cause to fall in drops)

transfuse (pour out of one vessel into another)

effuse; pour out; decant; pour; pour out (pour out)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

The women pour water into the bowl

Also:

pour down (drink down entirely)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move in large numbers

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

pour; pullulate; stream; swarm; teem

Context example:

beggars pullulated in the plaza

Hypernyms (to "pour" is one way to...):

crowd; crowd together (to gather together in large numbers)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pour"):

pour out; spill out; spill over (be disgorged)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Pour out

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

decant; pour; pour out

Context example:

the sommelier decanted the wines

Hypernyms (to "pour" is one way to...):

pour (cause to run)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 4

Meaning:

Flow in a spurt

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

Water poured all over the floor

Hypernyms (to "pour" is one way to...):

course; feed; flow; run (move along, of liquids)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pour"):

gush; spirt; spout; spurt (gush forth in a sudden stream or jet)

regurgitate (pour or rush back)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sentence example:

Water and oil pour into the bowl

Sense 5

Meaning:

Supply in large amounts or quantities

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

We poured money into the education of our children

Hypernyms (to "pour" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 6

Meaning:

Rain heavily

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

pelt; pour; rain buckets; rain cats and dogs; stream

Context example:

Put on your rain coat-- it's pouring outside!

Hypernyms (to "pour" is one way to...):

rain; rain down (precipitate as rain)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pour"):

sheet (come down as if in sheets)

sluice; sluice down (pour as if from a sluice)

Sentence frame:

It is ----ing

Sentence example:

It was pouring all day long

 Context examples 

“Stop it!” I cried; “pull yourself together!” and I poured out some water from a caraffe.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I then took the purse, and, opening it, poured all the gold into his palm.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

This is only the beginning, for more people will continue to pour into your life this year.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The old man, leaning on his son, walked each day at noon, when it did not rain, as I found it was called when the heavens poured forth its waters.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He chuckled as he poured out the coffee.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A dense volume of smoke was pouring out of the steerage companion-way.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I sympathise with poor Desdemona when she had such a dangerous stream poured in her ear, even by a black man.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Issue associated with unintentional pouring out or releasing of chemical substances.

(Chemical Spillage Medical Device Problem, Food and Drug Administration)

Miss Mills had a wonderful flow of words, and liked to pour them out.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)