Forms: α. 1 nabfogár, nabogár, -gaar, -gér, nafogár, nafegár, 2–3 nauegar, navegar, -gor, 3–6 nauger, 4–5 nagere, 6 nagare, nauguayre. β. 5–8 augur, 6 awgure, -ar, 7 augar, -oer, -ure, -or, awgor, oagar, -er, 7–9 augre, 6– auger. [OE. nafu-gár, f. nafu ‘nave’ (of a wheel) + gár piercer, borer, spear; lit. ‘nave-borer,’ a compound found also in other Teutonic idioms; cf. OHG. nabugêr, nabigêr, nagibêr, MHG. nabeger, neg(e)ber, mod.G. näber, neber, LG. naviger, näviger, Du. avegaar (eveger, egger), ON. nafarr. The original -af- passed through -av- to -aw-, -au-, as in OE. hafoc, now hawk, and the initial n- has been lost, as in adder, through confusion of an nauger, a nauger, an auger. The latter change has taken place also in Dutch, and one analogous to the former in German.]
1. A carpenter’s tool for boring holes in wood, etc., having a long pointed shank with a cutting edge and a screw point, and a handle fixed at right angles to the top of the shank, by means of which the tool is worked round with both hands.
c. 700. Epinal Gloss., 1010. Terebellus, nabfogar; Erfurt Gl., naboger; Corpus Gl., 2002. nabogaar.
a. 1000. in Wright, Voc. (W.) /44. Rotrum, nabogar. /106. Terebrum, nafegar. /241. Foratorium, nafogar.
a. 1100. Ibid., /333. Nauegar.
a. 1200. Ibid.., /550. Navegar.
a. 1300. W. de Biblesworth, in Wright, Voc., 170. Par terere [glossed] wymble (nauger).
c. 1400. Chester Pl., I. 107. With this axe that I beare This perscer and this nagere.
a. 1500. in Wright, Voc. (W.), /616. Terebrum, an augur or a persour.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 3. 12. An augurs bore. Ibid. (1523), Surv., xxv. (1539), 48. To boore an hole with an nauger.
1556. Inv., in French, Shaks. Geneal. (1869), 472. One axe, a bill, iiij nagares.
1572. Inv., in Midl. C. Hist. Coll., II. 363. Item three naugers.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 490. To bore a hole into them with an augoer.
1607. Shaks., Cor., IV. vi. 87. Your Franchises … confin’d Into an Augors boare.
1611. Cotgr., Villette, a little Turrell, or Coopers oagar.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 94. The Augre hath a handle and bit. Its office is to make great round holes.
1746. Brit. Mag., 12. Something like an Augur or Cheese-borer.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 235. The Auger is the largest of all tools which are used for boring wood.
1848. De Quincey, Wks., IX. 282. To bore with an augre in a ship’s bottom.
1881. Mechanic, § 265. The auger … is a gimlet on a large scale.
2. An instrument for boring in the soil or strata of the earth, having a stem which may be lengthened as the perforation extends.
1594. Plat, Div. Sorts Soyle, 29. A piercing Augur to search into the bowels of the earth.
1643. Wood, in Prynne & Walker, Fiennes’ Trial (1644), App. 11. Below that a firme strong Rocke, and that he had searched purposely with an Awgor.
1784. E. Darwin, in Phil. Trans., LXXV. 2. Till some sand was brought by the auger.
1879. Wrightson, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 175. The auger or boring apparatus … looked upon … as saving excavation.
3. Comb. auger-hole, the hole drilled by an auger; auger-shell, the shell of the molluscous genus Terebra. Also auger-bit, -stem, etc.
1601. Dent, Pathw. Heaven (1831), 305. To creep into an auger-hole to hide their heads.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 154. Should the augure-hole be too wide, the Shank would be loose in it.
1813. Mar. Edgeworth, Patronage (1833), I. ii. 37. I could have squeezed myself into an Auger-hole once, when you blundered.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Auger-stem, the bar to which a drilling-bit is attached.
1883. Century Mag., July, 329/2. The ‘augur stem,’ an iron bar perhaps eight feet long screwed into the bit.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 762. The first paire are called Styloglossi or the Auger-tongue Muscles.
1757. Borlase, in Phil. Trans., L. 52. Pierced with the teredo, or augur-worm.
