shore

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The land along the edge of a sea, lake, or other large body of water.

   We walked along the rocky shore at sunset.

2. 2
   verb

   To support or strengthen something, often with props or extra help.

   They used wooden beams to shore up the old mine roof.

From Middle English schore, from Old English *sċora (attested as sċor- in placenames), from Proto-Germanic *skurô (“rugged rock, cliff, high rocky shore”). Possibly related to Old English sċieran (“to cut”), which survives today as English shear. Cognate with Middle Dutch scorre (“land washed by the sea”), Middle Low German schor (“shore, coast, headland”), Middle High German schorre ("rocky crag, high rocky shore"; > German Schorre, Schorren (“towering rock, crag”)), and Limburgish sjaor (“riverbank”). Maybe connected with Norwegian Bokmål skjær.

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