Augered

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Created a hole in a material by using a spiral drill bit ; moved or extracted something by means of a helical device
2. Drilled into a surface to form a cylindrical opening ; conveyed or shifted by turning a screw-shaped tool
3. Bored a circular cavity by twisting a curved blade ; carried or removed material through a rotating spiral mechanism

Etymology: The verb "augered" is simply the past tense of "auger," so the interesting history belongs to the noun. The word began as "nafugār" in Old English, meaning "nave drill," and the "nave" was the hub of a wheel. The tool was thus a drill built around the central hub, with "gār" (spear) recalling its pointed, spear-like shaft. The name's "na" element was the wheel-hub, which is why the tool's original name pointed to a wheel rather than to any boring action. Over the Middle Ages, the word was misheard. Speakers in Middle English said "a nauger," and because "a" was a common article, they split off the initial "n" and treated the rest as "an auger," with "auger" as the true noun. This process, called rebracketing, left the modern word with its shape, while the old "n" simply went to the article. Dutch "avegaar" preserves the same tool name, a reminder that the tool and its name spread across the North Sea world together.