drilling
noun
dril·ling ˈdri-liŋ 
: drill entry 6
Word History
Etymology
modification of German Drillich, from Middle High German drilich fabric woven with a threefold thread, from Old High German drilīh made up of three threads, from Latin trilic-, trilix, from tri- + licium thread
First Known Use
1640, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing drilling
drilling 1 of 2
verb (1)
1
as in piercing
to make a hole or series of holes in the nerve-jangling sound when a dentist drills a tooth Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- piercing
- punching
- perforating
- tapping
- poking
- puncturing
- holing
- cutting
- boring
- riddling
- penetrating
- excavating
- broaching
- gouging
- splitting
- grooving
- breaking
- slashing
- pricking
- hollowing
- slitting
- prickling
- rupturing
- gashing
- notching
- rending
- burrowing (into)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- plugging
- filling
- sealing
- patching
2
as in shooting
to strike with a missile from a gun drilled the target from 100 yards away Synonyms & Similar Words
- shooting
- plugging
- gunning
- popping
- killing
- slaughtering
- destroying
- dropping
- slaying
- butchering
- bringing down
- peppering
- picking off
- shooting down
- blowing away
- shotgunning
- blazing
- dispatching
- potshotting
- felling
- decimating
- pistoling
- annihilating
- massacring
- pistolling
- wiping out
- blotting out
- icing
- sniping (at)
- machine-gunning
- tommy-gunning
- firing (at)
- croaking
- blasting (at)
- doing in
drilling
2 of 2verb (2)
as in planting
to put or set into the ground to grow he drills soybeans in the same rows with corn Synonyms & Similar Words
- planting
- seeding
- sowing
- replanting
- putting in
- broadcasting
- potting
- transplanting
- bedding
- scattering
- reseeding
- overseeding
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- harvesting
- gathering
- reaping