Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pierce

Pierce (pērs; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pierced; p. pr. & vb. n. Piercing.] [OE. percen, F. percer, OF. percier, perchier, parchier; perh. fr. (assumed) LL. pertusiare for pertusare, fr. L. pertundere, pertusum, to beat, push, bore through; per through + tundere to beat: cf. OF. pertuisier to pierce, F. pertuis a hole. Cf. Contuse, Parch, Pertuse.] 1. To thrust into, penetrate, or transfix, with a pointed instrument. "I pierce . . . her tender side." Dryden.

2. To penetrate; to enter; to force a way into or through; to pass into or through; as, to pierce the enemy's line; a shot pierced the ship.

3. Fig.: To penetrate; to affect deeply; as, to pierce a mystery. "Pierced with grief." Pope.

Can no prayers pierce thee? Shak.

Pierce, v. i. To enter; to penetrate; to make a way into or through something, as a pointed instrument does; — used literally and figuratively.

And pierced to the skin, but bit no more. Spenser.

She would not pierce further into his meaning. Sir P. Sidney.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.