drill 
drille, bore, tire, 'bore,' drill (in agri.), = Sw. 
drilla, bore (the G. and Scand. forms are prob. 
of LG. origin), = AS. thi/rflian, lit. pierce, E. 
I In-ill, raako a hole, < MD. drille, a hole, = AS. 
/lii/i-<l, a hole: seo thrill. See also trilfl- and 
trill'*, andcf. driH 2 .] I. bvuw. 1. To pierce or 
make a hole in with a drill or a similar tool, or 
as if with a drill. 
Perforated sore, 
And drilid in holes, the solid oak U found, 
By worms voracious eaten tlinumh and through. 
Couiper, Task, i. 26. 
2. To mako with a drill: as. to drill a hole. 
3f. To wear away or waste slowly. 
This accident hath drilled away the whole summer. 
Swift. 
4. To instruct and exercise in military tactics 
and the use of arms ; hence, to train in any- 
thing with the practical thoroughness charac- 
teristic of military training. 
And drill the raw world for the inarch of mind. 
Tennyson, Death of Wellington, vii. 
He drilled himself till Inflexible habit stood sentinel 
before all those postern-weaknesses which temperament 
leaves unbolted to temptation. 
Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 78. 
6. On American railroads, to shift (cars or loco- 
motives) about, or run them back and forth, at 
a terminus or station, in order to get them into 
the desired position. 6f. To draw on; entice; 
decoy. 
At length they drilid them [Indians] by discourse so 
near, that our Men lay'd hold on all three at once. 
Dampter, Voyages, I. 114. 
With faint Resistance let her drill him on. 
Conyreoe, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
7. [< drill, ., 4.] laagri. : (a) To sow in rows, 
drills, or channels : as, to drill wheat. (b) To 
sow with seed in drills : as, the field was drilled, 
not sown broadcast. 
II. intrans. 1. To go through exercises in 
military tactics. 2. To sow seed in drills. 
drill 1 (dril), . [= D. Aril = LG. drill = Dan. 
dril = Sw. drill, a drill; from the verb.] 1. A 
tool for boring holes in metal, stone, or other 
hard substance; specifically, 
a steel cutting-tool fixed to 
a drill-stock, bow-lathe, or 
drilling-machine. See cuts 
under bow-drill, brace-drill, 
and cramp-drill, in the widest 
sense, the term is used to include all 
drilling-machines, or machines for 
perforating stone, metal, etc., such 
as the rock-drill, diamond drill, den- 
tal drill, etc. ; but not boring-ma- 
chines which are used for wood. Also 
called iiriH /n't. 
A kind of patent drill 
To force an entrance to the Nation's 
till. Loivell, Tempora Mutantur. 
2. In mining, a borer: the 
more common term in the 
United States. 3. In ai/ri. 
planting seedSj as of grasses, wheat, oats, corn, 
etc., by dropping them in rows and covering 
them with earth. Such machines vary in form and 
size from a small hand-implement sowing one row to the 
gang-drill drawn by one or two horses, and heavy steam- 
power machines drawn by a rope from a traction-engine, 
as in steam-plowing. Horse-power drills are sometimes 
fitted with self-feeding devices for regulating the speed and 
the amount of feed from the hopper to the tubes that con- 
vey the seed to the ground. They all have some form of 
share or tool for opening or preparing the ground for the 
seed, immediately in front of the tube that distributes the 
seed. Nearly all forms have also an attachment for cov- 
ering the seed after it has been dropped. Some of the 
larger machines, particularly for steam-power, are com- 
bined harrows and drills, (train- or seed-drilling machines 
are sometimes called ireders or seedinij-machinet. 
4. (a) A row of seeds deposited in the earth. (6) 
The trench or channel in which the seeds are 
deposited. 5. A shell-fish which is destructive 
to oyster-beds by boring into the shells of young 
oysters. In the United States the name is applied to 
Uronalpinx cinerea, a muricino gastropod with a shell 
about an inch long, of an ashy or brownish coloration, 
with 10 or 12 undulations on the body -whorl. It lays its 
eggs in capsules containing about a dozen eggs. It ranges 
along the Atlantic coast from Canada to Florida, but is 
rare north of Massachusetts. Also called borer and snail- 
bore. 
The destructive drill, which works its way into the shell 
of the young oysters and then feasts on the nutritious oc- 
cupants. Sci. Amer. Supp., p. 886S. 
6. The act of training soldiers in military tac- 
tics ; hence, in general, the act of teaching by 
repeated exercises. 
The second substitute for temperament is drill, the pow- 
er of use and rout inf. Emerson, Conduct of Life. 
Archimedean drill, same as Persian drill. Bur- 
bead drill, a dentists' drill with an enlarged conical head 
A, ordinary iron drill ; 
P. twist-drill; C. coun- 
ursink-drm ; O.H-drill. 
a machine for 
1771 
the surface of which is formed into a series of cutting 
edges: used to excavate a cavity for lining. Car-box 
drill, a drill used to remove damaged cap-bolts from the 
boxes of car-trucks. Centrifugal drill, n drill which 
carries a fly-wheel upon tiie stuck to maintain steady mo- 
tion. Dental drill, a dentists' instrument of various 
forms, for cutting out decayed portions of teeth, open- 
ing a nerve-cavity, etc. Diamond drill, (a) A drill or 
borer which cuts by means of diamonds set like terth in 
an annular bit or boring-head. The boring-head, winch is 
a hollow cylinder, is made to revolve with rapidity by 
suitable machinery, so that a large hole can be made by 
cutting out only a small quantity of rock, a solid core of 
which fills the hollow of the cylinder and is broken off and 
removed from time to time. (6) In dentistry, a small iron 
drill into the end of which is set a small piece of bort. 
Double drill, a drill with two cutters: used for making 
countersink-holes, as for screw- or rivet-heads. Double- 
traverse drill, an adjustable machine-tool for making 
exactly similar holes simultaneously at a distance apart, 
as in the two ends of a bridge-link. It is used when several 
pieces exactly alike are required. E. II. Kniyht. Ex- 
panding drill, a drill with a pair of adjustable bits which 
can be spread apart at any given depth, to increase the 
width of the hole at that point. Finishing-drill, any 
form of drill making a smooth cut, used to follov, a drill 
doing rapid but rough work. Fluted drill, a drill upon 
which are formed, on opposite sides, two longitudinal 
grooves or flutes. The cutting faces at the point are form- 
ed by the edges of these flutes, which are cut away in coni- 
cal form. Forked drill, a slotting-tool with a forked 
point, used in a slot-drilling machine. It is either forged 
and ground from solid steel or formed by fixing two 
movable cutters in a stock. Its action is rapid, but it 
leaves a rough surface, and must be followed by a finish- 
ing-tool. Lip drill, any flat drill upon the cutting edge 
of which a Up is formed, either by grinding or during 
the process of forging. Tin 1 lip adds to the speed and 
cleanness of working. Persian drill, (a) A hand-drill 
operated by a nut moved backward and forward over a 
Suick screw on the stock of the drill, (b) A screw-stock 
rill in which, by means of bevel-pinions, the motion of 
the screw-stock is transmitted to a drill at right angles 
to the stock. Also called Archimedean drill, screw-stofk 
drill. Piercing-drill, a drill for making a hole, as dis- 
tinguished from a finishing-drill or a slotting-drill. Pin 
drill, a drill having a cylindrical pin projecting from the 
center of Its cutting face. It is used to enlarge a hole 
previously made, or to face off the surface around such a 
hole, the pin )>eing inserted into the hole and holding the 
tool true. Plain drill, a drill of which the angular cut- 
ting end is formed on a shank flattened on opposite sides 
toward the point. Such drills do fair work for small holes, 
but should be made with the narrow sides parallel for a 
short distance from the point, to afford guidance to the 
tool In the hole as well as for the needs of sharpening. 
Pneumatic drill, a drill actuated by mechanism for 
which compressed air supplies the power; an air-drill. 
Rose drill, a drill with a cylindrical cutting face, cut on 
the edge in a series of teeth : used for finishing, especially 
in slot-drilling. Roughing-drtll, any form of drill adapt- 
ed for speedy working, but producing a rough cut, such 
as the forked drill. Screw-stock drill. Same as 1'er- 
tian drill. Serpent's-tongue drill, a flat-ended drill of 
which the point has the form of a sharpened oval. It is 
used in a lathe, and is not suitable for very hard or for very 
soft materials Square-ended drill, a drill of which 
the cylindrical end is beveled off to a straight cutting 
edge, from the center of which a small indentation is cut 
out: used for slotting, etc. Swiss drill, a cylindrical 
drill of which one half the body is cut away at the point, 
and the remainder is sharpened in the form of one half of 
a quadrangular pyramid. It is a form of single-acting 
metal-drill. Teat drill, a square-faced cylindrical drill 
with a sharp, pyramidal projection or teat issuing from 
the center of the cutting face. It is used to flatten or 
flnish the bottoms of holes. Twist drill, a cylindrical 
drill around the body of which is carried a deep spiral 
groove, so that the tool appears as if twisted from a flat 
bar. The point is sharpened to an obtuse angle. Such 
drills are used in all sizes, from a diameter of three inches 
down. Vertical drill, a drill with a vertical spindle. E. 
a. Knight. Wall-driU, a drilling-machine set up against 
a wall, and not fitted with a table to receive the work. 
The drilling-tool is often carried on a radial arm for facility 
In adjusting it to the work. It is used for large work, not 
adapted to be placed on a table. Watchmakers' drill, 
a small drill with a spear-shaped head having an obtuse 
or but slightly acute point, the edge of which is usually 
sharpened evenly on both sides. In use it is generally 
driven alternately backward and forward. 
drill 2 (dril), v. [Origin not clear ; cf. ME. dril- 
len, a-drillen (rare, with doubtful meaning), slip 
away; LG. drullen, ooze, =-Dan. dial, drille = 
Sw. dralla, spill, as water out of a full vessel. 
See the equiv. trill.'} I. intrans. To trill ; trickle ; 
flow gently. 
All have cool refreshing rivulets of crystal, drilling over 
pebbles of amber. Sir T. Herbert, Travels in Africa. 
Into which [pool] a barren spring doth drill from be- 
tween the stones of the Northward wall, and stealeth away 
almost undiscerned. Sandys, Travailes, p. 149. 
II. trims. To drain; draw off in drains or 
streams: as, water drilled through a boggy 
soil. 
drill 2 ! (dril), . [< drill?, v.] 1. A sip, as of 
water. 
Drylle, or lytylle drafte of drynke, haustellus. 
Prompt. Pan: 
2. A rill. 
So does a thirsty land drink up all the dew of heaven 
that wets its face, and the greater shower makes no tor- 
rent, nor digs so much us a little furrow, that the drills of 
the water might pass into rivers, or refresh their neigh- 
bour s weariness. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 643. 
Springs through the pleasant meadows pour their drills. 
Sandys. 
drill-press 
drill" (dril), n. [Abbr. of drilling* (regarded 
as a collective n. f); cf. equiv. LG. and G. 
drell.] A trade-name for drilling?: often used 
in the plural. 
drill 4 (dril), n. [Developed from mandrill, an 
ape, appar. regarded as * man + drill, the sec- 
ond element being taken for a kind of ape. Sec 
Mandrill.] Inzool., a baboon. 
What a devil (quoth the midwife), would you have your 
son move his ears like a drill t Martintu Scribterus, II. 
Specifically, Mormtm or Cirnocephalua leucopheeia, a ba- 
boon of western Africa, closely related to the mandrill, 
but smaller, with a black visage, and a stumpy erect tall 
scarcely two inches lonir 
drill-barrow (Uril'bar'6). . Same as drill*, 3. 
[Eng-] 
drill-bit (dril'bit), . Same as drilli, I. 
drill-bow (dril'bo), n. [= D. dritbooa.] A 
small string-bow, generally made of a thin slip 
of steel, used to turn a drill, the string being 
twisted about the drill and the bow being re- 
ciprocated forward and backward. See cut 
under bow-drill. 
drill-chuck (dril'chuk),. In a lathe or drill- 
ing-machine, a chuck which grasps and holds 
the shank of the drill. 
driller (dril'er), n. One who or that which 
drills. 
In drilling, the driller turns the clamps, united to the 
temper screw by a swivel. Sci. Amer., N. S., LV. 116. 
drillet (dril'et), n. The acorn-cups of Quercug 
JEgilops, used in tanning. 
drill-gage (dril'gaj), . A tool for determin- 
ing the angle of the bezel or edge of a drill. 
drill-harrow (dril'har'6), n. [= Dan. dril-harr."\ 
A small harrow employed to extirpate weeds 
and to pulverize the earth between rows of 
plants. [Bug.] 
drill-holder (dril'hol'der), n. A stock, lathe- 
rest, or other attachment for holding a drill 
steady or in position, while it is kept up to its 
work by the tail-center. 
drill-husbandry (dril'huz'ban-dri), . In agri., 
the method of sowing seeds in drills or rows. 
drilling 1 (dril'ing), n. [Verbal n. of drilP-, .] 
That which is worn off by a drill from the sub- 
stance drilled. 
When the oil-sand is reached, specimens of the ilrillinyt 
are taken for every run. 
S. G. Williams, Applied Geology, p. 176. 
drilling 2 (dril'ing), n. [Accom. to the form of 
a collective n. in -inq, < G. drillich, drilling, tick- 
ing, huckaback, < 6HG. drilih, MHG. drilick, 
drilch, drilling, as adj. three-threaded, accozn. 
(to G. dri-, drei = E. three) from L. trilix (trilic-), 
three-threaded, < tri-, tres (= E. three) + licitim, 
a thrum, a thread. Cf. dimity, samite, twill.'] A 
twilled linen or cotton cloth, very stout, and 
used for waist-linings, summer trousers, etc. 
Also called drill and drills. 
drilling-jig (dril'ing- jig), n. A portable drill- 
ing-machine worked by hand. 
drilling-lathe (dril'ing-laTH), n. A drilling- 
machine on horizontal ways or shears, thus re- 
sembling a lathe. E. H. Knight. 
drilling-machine (driring-ma-shen j '),n. Aum- 
chiin' for cutting holes in metal, rock, etc., by 
means of a drill. See drill* Multiple drilling- 
machine, a machine-tool having a number of drills which 
can be adjusted as to their distance apart. It is adapted 
for drilling holes at regulated distances in bars which must 
be exactly alike, as in bridge- and car-work. Pillar 
drilling-machine, a machine-tool of which the bed is 
, 
supported by a post or pillar, and is adjustable vertically 
either by means of. a rack and pinion or by a screw formed 
about the pillar. Radial drilling-machine, a drilling- 
. -, - 
machine of which the arm supporting the drilling-tool is 
pivoted so that it will swing in the radius of a circle over 
the work. 
drill-jar (dril'jar), . A form of stone- or well- 
boring tool in which the tool-holder is lifted 
and dropped successively. E. B. Knight. 
drill-master (dril'mas'ter), n. [= D. dril-mee.i- 
ter.~\ One who gives practical instruction in 
military tactics and the use of arms; hence, one 
who trains in anything, especially in a mechan- 
ical manner. 
The number of educated officers was ... too limited 
to satisfy the imperious demands of the staff, much less 
those of the drill-master. X. A. Rev., CXXVI. 79. 
drill-plate (dril'plat), . A breastplate for a 
hand-drill. 
drill-plow (tlril'plou), n. A plow for sowing 
grain in drills. 
drill-press (dril'pres), n. A form of drilling- 
machine armed with one or more drills for bor- 
ing holes in metal, and designated as rrrtiral, 
horizontal, or universal, in accordance with its 
mode of working. 
