pierce Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun 14th President of the United States (1804-1869)
    Franklin Pierce; President Pierce.
  2. verb cut or make a way through
    • the knife cut through the flesh
    • The path pierced the jungle
    • Light pierced through the forest
  3. verb move or affect (a person's emotions or bodily feelings) deeply or sharply
    • The cold pierced her bones
    • Her words pierced the students
  4. verb sound sharply or shrilly
    • The scream pierced the night
  5. verb penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument
    thrust.
  6. verb make a hole into
    • The needle pierced her flesh

WordNet

Pierce transitive verb
Etymology
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.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Pierced ; present participle & verbal noun Piercing
Definitions
  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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. 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 1913