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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
pierce
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a piercing gaze (=a look that seems to see what you are thinking)
▪ He fixed the boy with a piercing gaze and waited for his response.
a shrill/piercing/high-pitched scream (=with a very high sound)
▪ The sound of gunfire mingled with the shrill screams of the injured.
body piercing
have your ears pierced (=have a hole put into the skin, so that you can wear an earring)
▪ I had my ears pierced when I was quite young.
pierced (=with a hole in the skin where an earring can be put)
▪ Her new boyfriend's got long hair and pierced ears.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
through
▪ He is pierced through for our faults.
■ NOUN
body
▪ Only one small, white-highlighted ripple showed where the supple arrow of his body had pierced the water.
▪ As with getting a tattoo, the major risk associated with body piercing is one of infection.
ear
▪ I had my ears pierced very young, and my nose pierced more recently.
▪ His skin was dark, dark brown, his head perfectly slick, his ear pierced by a tiny gold ring.
▪ It's no worse than having your ears pierced.
▪ Then, their ears protected against the piercing whine, they activated the suction pump.
▪ It's just like having your ears pierced - some have it, some don't.
▪ So, lay in a good stock of chalk, get your ear pierced and head for the sun.
heart
▪ Lances of remembrance pierced her heart, and she flinched.
▪ Procris was there and she sank to the ground dead, pierced to the heart.
▪ A sudden spasm of pain pierced her heart, subduing her anger.
▪ Something else about Cowher has pierced the steel-plated hearts of Pittsburgh women.
▪ Her deep green eyes were made up expertly and there was a wistfulness in them that pierced Roy's heart.
▪ The gesture pierces me to the heart.
▪ He turned and lunged at her, stabbing her three times, the last thrust piercing her heart.
▪ Faye was stabbed 20 times in the body and one of the stab wounds pierced her heart.
nose
▪ Depleted uranium is used in the nose of armour-piercing shells because its density helps it to punch through modern tanks.
▪ I am a female, mid-twenties and happen to have my nose pierced with one small silver ring.
▪ I had my ears pierced very young, and my nose pierced more recently.
skin
▪ A searching, frantic hand savagely grasped Maggie's hip, and she yelped as sharp nails pierced her skin.
▪ Sometimes the practitioner just pierces the skin, while other times the needle is inserted up to an inch deep.
▪ A spear point cut through her fur robes, pierced her skin, then drew back.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
cut/sting/pierce sb to the quick
▪ Son, you really cut down to the quick.
▪ That's probably why she sent him - she knew it would cut him to the quick.
▪ The answer cut him to the quick.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ A bullet pierced his spinal cord.
▪ Orange-red flames pierced the dark sky.
▪ She pierced the lid of the can and poured the milk into a saucepan.
▪ Shelley had her ears pierced when she was a teenager.
▪ The arrow pierced his heart.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A spear point cut through her fur robes, pierced her skin, then drew back.
▪ An awl is an iron instrument used for piercing leather, but the word has been in punning use since time immemorial.
▪ Generation X, best known for its pierced bodies and jaded outlook, is more optimistic about Wall Street than previous generations.
▪ His skin was dark, dark brown, his head perfectly slick, his ear pierced by a tiny gold ring.
▪ Some distance away, sharp sirens pierce the silence of the dark night.
▪ Then, their ears protected against the piercing whine, they activated the suction pump.
▪ When nailing or screwing down carpet gripper strips, be careful to avoid piercing any water pipes or electricity cables.
▪ Whether voicing joyful exuberance or piercing heartbreak, she wrings all passion from the moment.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pierce

Pierce \Pierce\, v. i. 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.

Pierce

Pierce \Pierce\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pierced; p. pr. & vb. n. Piercing.] [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.]

  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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
pierce

late 13c. "make a hole in; force one's way through," from Anglo-French perser, Old French percier "pierce, transfix, drive through" (12c., Modern French percer), probably from Vulgar Latin *pertusiare, frequentative of Latin pertusus, past participle of pertundere "to thrust or bore through," from per- "through" (see per) + tundere "to beat, pound," from PIE *tund-, from root *(s)teu- "to push, strike, knock, beat, thrust" (see obtuse). Related: Pierced; piercing.

Wiktionary
pierce

vb. 1 (context transitive English) to puncture; to break through 2 (context transitive English) to create a hole in the skin for the purpose of inserting jewelry 3 (context transitive English) to break or interrupt abruptly 4 (context figurative English) To penetrate; to affect deeply.

Gazetteer
Pierce, NE -- U.S. city in Nebraska
Population (2000): 1774
Housing Units (2000): 736
Land area (2000): 0.876814 sq. miles (2.270939 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.021368 sq. miles (0.055343 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 0.898182 sq. miles (2.326282 sq. km)
FIPS code: 39100
Located within: Nebraska (NE), FIPS 31
Location: 42.199477 N, 97.529321 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 68767
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Pierce, NE
Pierce
Pierce, CO -- U.S. town in Colorado
Population (2000): 884
Housing Units (2000): 318
Land area (2000): 0.737487 sq. miles (1.910083 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 0.737487 sq. miles (1.910083 sq. km)
FIPS code: 59005
Located within: Colorado (CO), FIPS 08
Location: 40.635134 N, 104.754574 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 80650
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Pierce, CO
Pierce
Pierce, ID -- U.S. city in Idaho
Population (2000): 617
Housing Units (2000): 298
Land area (2000): 0.824168 sq. miles (2.134585 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 0.824168 sq. miles (2.134585 sq. km)
FIPS code: 62740
Located within: Idaho (ID), FIPS 16
Location: 46.492566 N, 115.799466 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 83546
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Pierce, ID
Pierce
Pierce -- U.S. County in Georgia
Population (2000): 15636
Housing Units (2000): 6719
Land area (2000): 343.252449 sq. miles (889.019723 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.650957 sq. miles (1.685972 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 343.903406 sq. miles (890.705695 sq. km)
Located within: Georgia (GA), FIPS 13
Location: 31.344717 N, 82.219039 W
Headwords:
Pierce
Pierce, GA
Pierce County
Pierce County, GA
Pierce -- U.S. County in Nebraska
Population (2000): 7857
Housing Units (2000): 3247
Land area (2000): 573.926599 sq. miles (1486.463005 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 1.341066 sq. miles (3.473344 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 575.267665 sq. miles (1489.936349 sq. km)
Located within: Nebraska (NE), FIPS 31
Location: 42.271344 N, 97.610948 W
Headwords:
Pierce
Pierce, NE
Pierce County
Pierce County, NE
Pierce -- U.S. County in North Dakota
Population (2000): 4675
Housing Units (2000): 2269
Land area (2000): 1017.818245 sq. miles (2636.137042 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 64.341646 sq. miles (166.644091 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 1082.159891 sq. miles (2802.781133 sq. km)
Located within: North Dakota (ND), FIPS 38
Location: 48.246230 N, 99.988330 W
Headwords:
Pierce
Pierce, ND
Pierce County
Pierce County, ND
Pierce -- U.S. County in Washington
Population (2000): 700820
Housing Units (2000): 277060
Land area (2000): 1678.913627 sq. miles (4348.366146 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 127.582472 sq. miles (330.437071 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 1806.496099 sq. miles (4678.803217 sq. km)
Located within: Washington (WA), FIPS 53
Location: 47.171571 N, 122.383565 W
Headwords:
Pierce
Pierce, WA
Pierce County
Pierce County, WA
Pierce -- U.S. County in Wisconsin
Population (2000): 36804
Housing Units (2000): 13493
Land area (2000): 576.486252 sq. miles (1493.092474 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 15.098751 sq. miles (39.105584 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 591.585003 sq. miles (1532.198058 sq. km)
Located within: Wisconsin (WI), FIPS 55
Location: 44.735376 N, 92.463689 W
Headwords:
Pierce
Pierce, WI
Pierce County
Pierce County, WI
Wikipedia
Pierce

Pierce may refer to:

Pierce (surname)

Pierce is a surname, a cognate of French Pierre (" Peter"). Notable persons with that surname include:

  • Aaron Pierce (American football) (born 1969), former professional American football player
  • Abe E. Pierce, III (born 1934), African-American educator and mayor of Monroe, Louisiana
  • Aida Pierce (born 1956), Mexican actress and comedian
  • Andrew Pierce (disambiguation)
  • Anna Pierce (née Willard, born 1984), American middle distance runner
  • Barbara Bush (née Pierce, born 1925), First Lady of the United States 1989-1993
  • Barbara Pierce Bush (born 1981), daughter of U.S. President George W. Bush
  • Barry Pierce (born 1934), English professional footballer
  • Bemus Pierce (1873–1957), American football player and college sports coach
  • Bernard Pierce (born 1990), American football player
  • Benjamin C. Pierce, professor of computer science at the University of Pennsylvania known for two books on type theory
  • Bill Pierce (disambiguation)
  • Billy Pierce (1927-2015), American former professional baseball player
  • Bobby Pierce (born 1959), American college baseball coach
  • Bradley Pierce (born 1982), American voice-over artist and character actor
  • Brent Pierce (born 1969), Canadian curler
  • Buck Pierce (born 1981), retired American football player, now a coach
  • Caroline Pierce (golfer) (born 1963), English golfer
  • Charlie Pierce (born 1953), American sportswriter
  • Charles Pierce (disambiguation), several people
  • Chonda Pierce, American Christian comedian often billed as "The Queen of Clean"
  • David Pierce (disambiguation)
  • Donald R. Pierce (born 1937), American retired jockey
  • Edward Pierce (disambiguation)
  • Francis Junior Pierce (1924–1986), U.S. Navy Corpsman who received the Medal of Honor for actions in the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II
  • Franklin Pierce (1804–1869), the fourteenth President of the United States
  • Gareth Pierce, Welsh actor
  • G. W. Pierce (George Washington Pierce; 1872–1956), Harvard professor of physics and inventor in the development of electronic telecommunications
  • George Pierce (disambiguation), several people
  • Gilbert A. Pierce (1839–1901), author, journalist, playwright, member of the Indiana state legislature, eighth Governor of Dakota Territory, and representative for North Dakota in the U.S. Senate
  • Greg Pierce (born 1950), Australian former rugby league footballer, coach and administrator
  • Gus Pierce, alternative name for Augustus Baker Peirce (1840–1919) American traveler; riverboat captain and artist in Australia
  • Harry Pierce (1913-1975), Australian rugby league footballer
  • Henry L. Pierce (1825–1896), U.S. Representative from Massachusetts
  • J. A. Pierce (Joseph Audley Pierce) football coach of the University of Tennessee 1899–1900
  • Jack Pierce (disambiguation), several people
  • James Pierce (1900–1983), American football player and coach, the fourth actor to portray Tarzan on film
  • James F. Pierce (1830–1905), New York politician
  • James Pieronnet Pierce, (c. 1825–1897), California entrepreneur
  • Jane Pierce (1806–1863), wife of U.S. President Franklin Pierce
  • Jason Pierce (born 1965), English musician
  • Jeffrey Lee Pierce (1958–1996), American singer, songwriter and guitarist
  • Jeffrey Pierce (born 1971), American actor, film director and producer
  • John Pierce (disambiguation)
  • Julian Pierce (?–1988), Lumbee Indian, chemist, lawyer, murdered at start of campaign to win electoral primary for position of superior court judge for Robeson, North Carolina
  • Justin Pierce (1975–2000), English-American actor and professional skateboarder
  • Larry Pierce (disambiguation)
  • Lovick Pierce, American pastor, Chaplain in the War of 1812
  • Marvin Pierce (1893–1969), American publisher, president of McCall Corporation
  • Mary Pierce (born 1975), French-American retired tennis player
  • Mike Pierce (born 1980), American mixed martial artist
  • Nat Pierce (1925–1992), American jazz pianist and arranger
  • Paul Pierce (born 1977), American professional basketball player
  • Pierre Pierce (born 1983), American professional basketball player
  • Ray V. Pierce (1840–1914), U.S. Representative from New York State
  • Richard Pierce (disambiguation)
  • Ricky Pierce (born 1959), American retired basketball player
  • Rusty Pierce (born 1979), American former soccer player
  • Ryan Pierce (soccer) (born 1983), American soccer player
  • Sarah Pierce (1767–1852), American educator
  • Samuel Pierce (1922–2000), United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1981–1989
  • Shanghai Pierce, an early ring name of American professional wrestler Mark Canterbury (born 1964), better known as Henry O. Godwinn
  • Tamora Pierce (born 1954), American fantasy fiction author
  • Tedd Pierce (Edward Stacey Pierce III; 1906–1972), American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist
  • The Pierces: Allison and Catherine, American alternative band
  • Tim Pierce (born 1959), American session guitarist
  • Walter M. Pierce (1861–1954), Governor of Oregon and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives
  • Webb Pierce (1921–1991), American country music singer
  • Wendell Pierce (born 1962), American actor
  • William Pierce (disambiguation), several people

Usage examples of "pierce".

There was still a beaten way between the tree-boles, though not overwide, albeit, a highway, since it pierced the wood.

The piercing sound reaching Alker in the closet, the trapped man acted frantically.

If, as has chanced to others--as chanced, for example, to Mangan-- outcast from home, health and hope, with a charred past and a bleared future, an anchorite without detachment and self-cloistered without self-sufficingness, deposed from a world which he had not abdicated, pierced with thorns which formed no crown, a poet hopeless of the bays and a martyr hopeless of the palm, a land cursed against the dews of love, an exile banned and proscribed even from the innocent arms of childhood--he were burning helpless at the stake of his unquenchable heart, then he might have been inconsolable, then might he have cast the gorge at life, then have cowered in the darkening chamber of his being, tapestried with mouldering hopes, and hearkened to the winds that swept across the illimitable wastes of death.

I saw Asteria, standing in attendance behind Clearchus, shrink back behind the slave girl next to her, seeking to avoid his piercing gaze.

Sir Arthur turned on the headlamps of the autocar, and the beams pierced the dimness, casting eerie shadows and picking out the twisted branches of trees.

Another, and another wail, while the wretched man hurries off, stopping his ears in vain against those piercing cries, which follow him, like avenging angels, through the dreadful vaults.

The bottoms of Federation ships were built with reinforced armor that no Zak bazooka or rifle had ever managed to pierce.

At noon, as we were at dinner in the kitchen, where we took our meals on account of the cold weather, Bettina began again to raise piercing screams.

He began by ordering me to give him the hatchet and the tools I had used to pierce the floor, and to tell him from which of the guards I had got the tools.

Sara begged us not to say a word about it to her papa or mamma, as they would be sure to scold her as they had scolded her when she got her ears pierced without asking their leave.

Countess Daru, in a gown of peacock blue satin, was sitting dreamily beside her cousin, a young civil servant by the name of Henri Beyle with a broad, plain face redeemed from the commonplace by a magnificent brow, a bright and piercing eye and a sardonic curve of the lips.

In my chagrin I threw my crossbow on the ground, when suddenly the bittern fell almost at my feet, an arrow having pierced its body from wing to wing.

The sun was piercing the plum thicket like icepicks and when Bowie turned on his back he placed his forearm over his eyes.

Beau Brachman on a Colorado mountaintop awaited starships from Elsewhere to appear and touch down, Pierce stood on his rooftop with an illustrated Hyginus in one hand and a flashlight in the other, and discerned for the first time the moon rise into the polluted sky in a sign, the sign of Pisces, two fishes bow-tied at the tail.

Beau Brachman had sat listening to their discussion with a faint smile of amusement, as though knowing better, keeping quiet, while Pierce asked questions and Val put forth notions, laughing at her own unhandiness with logical intellection.