shore

/ʃɔər/

/ʃɔ/

Other forms: shores; shoring; shored

The land right at the edge of a lake, river, or ocean is called the shore. Even the bravest swimmers will head for the shore when they hear someone yell "Shark!"

The verb shore means "prop up or support," so you might shore up a house that's tilting on its foundation or shore up a failing company with an investment of money. The water's-edge shore has a Germanic root that means "cut," and experts believe that the noun shore grew either from a sense of "division between land and water," or possibly "land cut off from the mainland by marshes."

Definitions of shore

1. noun

   the land along the edge of a body of water
   types:

   lakeshore, lakeside

   the shore of a lake

   coast, sea-coast, seacoast, seashore

   the shore of a sea or ocean

   strand

   a poetic term for a shore (as the area periodically covered and uncovered by the tides)

   litoral, littoral, littoral zone, sands

   the region of the shore of a lake or sea or ocean

   landfall

   the seacoast first sighted on a voyage (or flight over water)

   seaboard, seaside

   the shore of a sea or ocean regarded as a resort

   tideland

   land near the sea that is overflowed by the tide

   type of:

   formation, geological formation

   (geology) the geological features of the earth
2. verb

   serve as a shore to
   “The river was shored by trees”

   type of:

   border, bound

   form the boundary of; be contiguous to
3. verb

   arrive on shore
   synonyms: land, set ashore

   type of:

   arrive, come, get

   reach a destination; arrive by movement or progress
4. verb

   support by placing against something solid or rigid
   “shore and buttress an old building”

   synonyms: prop, prop up, shore up

   types:

   bolster

   prop up with a pillow or bolster

   type of:

   hold, hold up, support, sustain

   be the physical support of; carry the weight of
5. noun

   a beam or timber that is propped against a structure to provide support
   synonyms: shoring

   type of:

   beam

   long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in construction