auger

• augre

From a rebracketing of Middle English a nauger (seen as an + auger), from Old English nafogār (“nave drill”, literally “nave spear”), from Proto-Germanic *nabōgaizaz. Cognate with Dutch avegaar.

• Rhymes: -ɔːɡə(ɹ)
• Homophone: augur; see also AGA

auger (plural augers)

1. A carpenter's tool for boring holes longer than those bored by a gimlet.
   • 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 231

     Pete Burnett needs a fan belt for his auger.

2. A snake or plumber's snake (plumbing tool).
3. A tool used to bore holes in the ground, e.g. for fence posts
4. A hollow drill used to take core samples of soil, ice, etc. for scientific study.

auger (third-person singular simple present augers, present participle augering, simple past and past participle augered)

1. To use an auger; to drill a hole using an auger.
2. To proceed in the manner of an auger.
   • 2010, Clive Cussler, Jack Du Brul, The Silent Sea‎:

     It augered into the water and vanishedunder the surface only to float up again, its keel pointing skyward.

   • 2012, Ronald Wright, A Scientific Romance‎:

     There was no way to measure progress inside the sphere, to know whether it spun or leapt or wobbled like a top as it augered through the years.

   • 2014, Steven R. Boyett, Mortality Bridge‎:

     It augers down again behind him to gyre like a mindless deadly battling top.

• gimlet

• auger in

• Argue, Gauer, Graue, argue, augre, rugae

From auge.

• IPA^(key): /oʒe/

auger

1. to dig in order to get the shape of a trough
2. to bend a piece of flat iron into the shape of a gutter, of an eavestrough

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written auge- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a “soft” /ʒ/ and not a “hard” /ɡ/). This spelling-change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

• argue, argué
• urgea

From Latin augēre, present active infinitive of augeō (“I increase, I augment”). From Proto-Italic *augeō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg-.

Cognates include Proto-Germanic *aukaną, Ancient Greek αὐξάνω (auxánō), Lithuanian áugti, and, via Iranian, Old Armenian վաշխ (vašx). Akin to English eke.

• (Castilian) IPA^(key): /au.ˈxeɾ/
• (Latin America) IPA^(key): /au.ˈxeɾ/

auger (first-person singular present aujo, first-person singular preterite augí, past participle augido)

1. To increase, eke, augment
2. To enlarge, spread, expand
3. To lengthen
4. To exaggerate
5. To honor, enrich
6. (figuratively) To exalt, praise

• Rule: g becomes a j before a or o.

• (enlarge): amplificar
• (exalt, praise): laudar, loar

• (enlarge): minuir, menguar