pierce

(pîrs)

v. pierced, pierc·ing, pierc·es

v.tr.

1. To cut or pass through with or as if with a sharp instrument; stab or penetrate.

2. To make a hole or opening in; perforate.

3. To make a way through: The path pierced the wilderness.

4. To sound sharply through: His shout pierced the din.

5. To succeed in penetrating (something) with the eyes or the intellect: Large glowing yellow eyes pierced the darkness.

v.intr.

To penetrate into or through something: The rocket pierced through space.

[Middle English percen, from Old French percer, probably from Vulgar Latin *pertūsiāre, from Latin pertūsus, past participle of pertundere, to bore through : per-, per- + tundere, to beat.]

pierc′er n.

pierc′ing adj.

pierc′ing·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adv.	1.	piercingly - extremely and sharply; "it was bitterly cold"; "bitter cold" bitingly, bitter, bitterly
	2.	piercingly - in a shrill voice; "she sang rather shrilly" shrilly

Translations

بِصورَةٍ ثاقِبَه أو مُخْتَرِقَه

pronikavě

gennemtrængende

durchdringend

metszőnszúrón

á stingandi hátt

delerek

洞察地

piercingly

[ˈpɪəsɪŋlɪ] ADV [stare] → de modo penetrante; [blow] → de modo cortante
it was piercingly cold → el frío se te metía hasta los huesos

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

piercingly

adv

scream, look at → durchdringend

(liter: = painfully) → scharf, schneidend

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

pierce

(piəs) verb

1. (of pointed objects) to go into or through (something). The arrow pierced his arm; A sudden light pierced the darkness.

2. to make a hole in or through (something) with a pointed object. Pierce the lid before removing it from the jar.

ˈpiercing adjective

1. loud; shrill. a piercing scream.

2. (of cold weather, winds etc) sharp; intense. a piercing wind; piercing cold.

3. looking intently or sharply as though able to see through things. piercing eyes; a piercing glance.

ˈpiercingly adverb

ˈpiercingness noun

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The woman screamed piercingly. Seeing Prince Andrew she leaned out from behind the apron and, waving her thin arms from under the woolen shawl, cried:

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there is something singular about you," said he: "you have the air of a little nonnette; quaint, quiet, grave, and simple, as you sit with your hands before you, and your eyes generally bent on the carpet (except, by-the-bye, when they are directed piercingly to my face; as just now, for instance); and when one asks you a question, or makes a remark to which you are obliged to reply, you rap out a round rejoinder, which, if not blunt, is at least brusque.

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“The next thing, I trust, will be to learn to drive,” said the Judge, who bad busied himself in throwing the buck, together with several other articles of baggage, from his own sleigh into the snow; “here are seats for you all, gentlemen; the evening grows piercingly cold, and the hour approaches for the service of Mr.

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The strong wind was piercingly cold, and the atmosphere rather hazy, so that we did not stay long on the top of the mountain.

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Through the ru- mours of the country-side, which lasted for a good many days after his arrival, we know that the fish- ermen of West Colebrook had been disturbed and startled by heavy knocks against the walls of weatherboard cottages, and by a voice crying piercingly strange words in the night.

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It seemed, however, that his poor injured brain had been working in the interval, for when he was quite conscious, he looked at me piercingly with an agonized confusion which I shall never forget, and said, "I must not deceive myself.

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In the dark patches of the orbits the eyeballs glimmered piercingly. Long, drooping moustaches, the colour of ripe corn, framed with their points the square block of his shaved chin.

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"The old dodging Devil," he screamed piercingly and burst into such a loud laugh as I had never heard before.

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As he rides in his chariot, he shines upon men and deathless gods, and piercingly he gazes with his eyes from his golden helmet.

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"Son Adam, and daughter Martha," said the venerable Father Ephraim, fixing his aged eyes piercingly upon them, "if ye can conscientiously undertake this charge, speak, that the brethren may not doubt of your fitness."

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Paul's piercingly blue eyes were magnified and blurred by horn-rimmed spectacles, so that his gaze seemed perpetually thrown forward.

MORNING SERIAL; The Element of Water

Piercingly observant, gloriously funny and achingly sad, this is David Nicholls' best book

Sweet Sorrow David Nicholls; BOOKS with charlotte heathcote