drill
    n 1: a tool with a sharp point and cutting edges for making
         holes in hard materials (usually rotating rapidly or by
         repeated blows)
    2: similar to the mandrill but smaller and less brightly colored
       [syn: drill, Mandrillus leucophaeus]
    3: systematic training by multiple repetitions; "practice makes
       perfect" [syn: exercise, practice, drill, practice
       session, recitation]
    4: (military) the training of soldiers to march (as in
       ceremonial parades) or to perform the manual of arms
    v 1: make a hole, especially with a pointed power or hand tool;
         "don't drill here, there's a gas pipe"; "drill a hole into
         the wall"; "drill for oil"; "carpenter bees are boring
         holes into the wall" [syn: bore, drill]
    2: train in the military, e.g., in the use of weapons
    3: learn by repetition; "We drilled French verbs every day";
       "Pianists practice scales" [syn: drill, exercise,
       practice, practise]
    4: teach by repetition
    5: undergo military training or do military exercises

Drill \Drill\, v. i.
   1. To trickle. [Obs. or R.] --Sandys.
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   2. To sow in drills.
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Drill \Drill\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Drilled; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Drilling.] [D. drillen to bore, drill (soldiers); probably
   akin to AS. pyrlian, pyrelian, to pierce. See Thrill.]
   1. To pierce or bore with a drill, or a with a drill; to
      perforate; as, to drill a hole into a rock; to drill a
      piece of metal.
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   2. To train in the military art; to exercise diligently, as
      soldiers, in military evolutions and exercises; hence, to
      instruct thoroughly in the rudiments of any art or branch
      of knowledge; to discipline.
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            He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he
            drilled his grenadiers.               -- Macaulay.
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Drill \Drill\, n.
   1. A small trickling stream; a rill. [Obs.]
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            Springs through the pleasant meadows pour their
            drills.                               --Sandys.
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   2. (Agr.)
      (a) An implement for making holes for sowing seed, and
          sometimes so formed as to contain seeds and drop them
          into the hole made.
      (b) A light furrow or channel made to put seed into
          sowing.
      (c) A row of seed sown in a furrow.
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   Note: Drill is used adjectively, or as the first part of a
         compound; as, drill barrow or drill-barrow; drill
         husbandry; drill plow or drill-plow.
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   Drill barrow, a wheeled implement for planting seed in
      drills.

   Drill bow, a small bow used for the purpose of rapidly
      turning a drill around which the bowstring takes a turn.
      

   Drill harrow, a harrow used for stirring the ground between
      rows, or drills.

   Drill plow, or Drill plough, a sort plow for sowing grain
      in drills.
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Drill \Drill\, v. i.
   To practice an exercise or exercises; to train one's self.
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Drill \Drill\, v. t. [Cf. Trill to trickle, Trickle,
   Dribble, and W. rhillio to put in a row, drill.]
   1. To cause to flow in drills or rills or by trickling; to
      drain by trickling; as, waters drilled through a sandy
      stratum. [R.] --Thomson.
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   2. To sow, as seeds, by dribbling them along a furrow or in a
      row, like a trickling rill of water.
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   3. To entice; to allure from step; to decoy; -- with on.
      [Obs.]
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            See drilled him on to five-fifty.     -- Addison.
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   4. To cause to slip or waste away by degrees. [Obs.]
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            This accident hath drilled away the whole summer. --
                                                  Swift.
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Drill \Drill\, n.
   1. An instrument with an edged or pointed end used for making
      holes in hard substances; strictly, a tool that cuts with
      its end, by revolving, as in drilling metals, or by a
      succession of blows, as in drilling stone; also, a drill
      press.
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   2. (Mil.) The act or exercise of training soldiers in the
      military art, as in the manual of arms, in the execution
      of evolutions, and the like; hence, diligent and strict
      instruction and exercise in the rudiments and methods of
      any business; a kind or method of military exercises; as,
      infantry drill; battalion drill; artillery drill.
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   3. Any exercise, physical or mental, enforced with regularity
      and by constant repetition; as, a severe drill in Latin
      grammar.
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   4. (Zool.) A marine gastropod, of several species, which
      kills oysters and other bivalves by drilling holes through
      the shell. The most destructive kind is Urosalpinx
      cinerea.
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   Bow drill, Breast drill. See under Bow, Breast.

   Cotter drill, or Traverse drill, a machine tool for
      drilling slots.

   Diamond drill. See under Diamond.

   Drill jig. See under Jig.

   Drill pin, the pin in a lock which enters the hollow stem
      of the key.

   Drill sergeant (Mil.), a noncommissioned officer whose
      office it is to instruct soldiers as to their duties, and
      to train them to military exercises and evolutions.

   Vertical drill, a drill press.
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Drill \Drill\, n. [Cf. Mandrill.] (Zool.)
   A large African baboon (Cynocephalus leucoph[ae]us).
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Drill \Drill\, n. [Usually in pl.] (Manuf.)
   Same as Drilling.
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   Imperial drill, a linen fabric having two threads in the
      warp and three in the filling.
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