auger Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a long flexible steel coil for dislodging stoppages in curved pipes
    plumber's snake.
  2. noun hand tool for boring holes
    gimlet; wimble; screw auger.

WordNet

Au"ger noun
Etymology
OE. augoure, nauger, AS. nafegar, fr. nafu, nafa, nave of a wheel + gar spear, and therefore meaning properly and originally a nave-bore. See Nave (of a wheel) and 2d Gore, n.
Definitions
  1. A carpenter's tool for boring holes larger than those bored by a gimlet. It has a handle placed crosswise by which it is turned with both hands. A pod auger is one with a straight channel or groove, like the half of a bean pod. A screw auger has a twisted blade, by the spiral groove of which the chips are discharge.
  2. An instrument for boring or perforating soils or rocks, for determining the quality of soils, or the nature of the rocks or strata upon which they lie, and for obtaining water.

Webster 1913