Drill (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Drilled (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Drilling.] [D. drillen to bore, drill (soldiers);
probably akin to AS. pyrlian, pyrelian, to pierce. See
Thrill.] 1. To pierce or bore with a
drill, or a with a drill; to perforate; as, to drill a hole
into a rock; to drill a piece of metal.
2. To train in the military art; to exercise
diligently, as soldiers, in military evolutions and exercises; hence,
to instruct thoroughly in the rudiments of any art or branch of
knowledge; to discipline.
He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as
he drilled his grenadiers.
Macaulay.
Drill, v. i. To practice an
exercise or exercises; to train one's self.
Drill, n. 1. An
instrument with an edged or pointed end used for making holes in hard
substances; strictly, a tool that cuts with its end, by revolving, as
in drilling metals, or by a succession of blows, as in drilling
stone; also, a drill press.
2. (Mil.) The act or exercise of
training soldiers in the military art, as in the manual of arms, in
the execution of evolutions, and the like; hence, diligent and strict
instruction and exercise in the rudiments and methods of any
business; a kind or method of military exercises; as, infantry
drill; battalion drill; artillery
drill.
3. Any exercise, physical or mental, enforced
with regularity and by constant repetition; as, a severe drill
in Latin grammar.
4. (Zoöl.) A marine gastropod, of
several species, which kills oysters and other bivalves by drilling
holes through the shell. The most destructive kind is Urosalpinx
cinerea.
Bow drill, Breast drill.
See under Bow, Breast. -- Cotter
drill, or Traverse drill, a machine
tool for drilling slots. -- Diamond drill.
See under Diamond. -- Drill jig.
See under Jig. -- Drill pin,
the pin in a lock which enters the hollow stem of the key. -
- Drill sergeant (Mil.), a
noncommissioned officer whose office it is to instruct soldiers as to
their duties, and to train them to military exercises and
evolutions. -- Vertical drill, a drill
press.
Drill, v. t. [Cf. Trill to
trickle, Trickle, Dribble, and W. rhillio to put
in a row, drill.] 1. To cause to flow in drills
or rills or by trickling; to drain by trickling; as, waters
drilled through a sandy stratum. [R.]
Thomson.
2. To sow, as seeds, by dribbling them along
a furrow or in a row, like a trickling rill of water.
3. To entice; to allure from step; to decoy;
-- with on. [Obs.]
See drilled him on to five-fifty.
Addison.
4. To cause to slip or waste away by
degrees. [Obs.]
This accident hath drilled away the whole
summer.
Swift.
Drill, v. i. 1. To
trickle. [Obs. or R.] Sandys.
2. To sow in drills.
Drill, n. 1. A
small trickling stream; a rill. [Obs.]
Springs through the pleasant meadows pour their
drills.
Sandys.
2. (Agr.) (a) An
implement for making holes for sowing seed, and sometimes so formed
as to contain seeds and drop them into the hole made.
(b) A light furrow or channel made to put seed
into sowing. (c) A row of seed sown in a
furrow.
&fist; Drill is used adjectively, or as the first part of a
compound; as, drill barrow or drill-barrow;
drill husbandry; drill plow or drill-plow.
Drill barrow, a wheeled implement for
planting seed in drills. -- Drill bow, a
small bow used for the purpose of rapidly turning a drill around
which the bowstring takes a turn. -- Drill
harrow, a harrow used for stirring the ground between
rows, or drills. -- Drill plow, or
Drill plough, a sort plow for sowing grain in
drills.
Drill (?), n. [Cf. Mandrill.]
(Zoöl.) A large African baboon (Cynocephalus
leucophæus).
Drill, n. [Usually in pl.]
(Manuf.) Same as Drilling.
Imperial drill, a linen fabric having two
threads in the warp and three in the filling.
