terebra

See also: Terebra

English

Etymology

From Latin terebra (“a borer”).

Noun

terebra (plural terebras or terebrae)

1. The boring ovipositor of a hymenopterous insect.
2. (historical) An Ancient Roman engine for making a breach in a wall.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “terebra”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Italian

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin terebra.

Noun

terebra f (plural terebre)

1. terebra (the ovipositor of hymenopterous insects)

Etymology 2

Verb

terebra

1. inflection of terebrare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• trabere

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈte.re.bra/, [ˈt̪ɛrɛbrä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈte.re.bra/, [ˈt̪ɛːrebrä]

Etymology 1

From ter(ō) +‎ -bra.

Alternative forms

• terebrum
• terebellum

Noun

terebra f (genitive terebrae); first declension

1. an instrument for boring; borer; gimlet

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	terebra	terebrae
genitive	terebrae	terebrārum
dative	terebrae	terebrīs
accusative	terebram	terebrās
ablative	terebrā	terebrīs
vocative	terebra	terebrae

Derived terms

• terebrō

Descendants

• → Albanian: turjelë (from a diminutive)
• → Italian: terebra
• Old Galician-Portuguese: (from a diminutive)
  • Galician: tarabela
  • Portuguese: taramela
• → Portuguese: térebra
• Spanish: tarabilla (from a diminutive)

Etymology 2

Verb

terebrā

1. second-person singular present active imperative of terebrō

References

• “terebra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• terebra in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• terebra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “terebra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “terebra”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin