4 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

bourn

noun

1: an archaic term for a boundary [syn: {bourne}]

2: an archaic term for a goal or destination [syn: {bourne}]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Bourn \Bourn\, Bourne \Bourne\, noun [F. borne. See {Bound} a limit.] A bound; a boundary; a limit. Hence: Point aimed at; goal.

Where the land slopes to its watery bourn. --Cowper.

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveler returns. --Shak.

Sole bourn, sole wish, sole object of my song. --Wordsworth.

To make the doctrine . . . their intellectual bourne. --Tyndall.

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Bourn \Bourn\, Bourne \Bourne\, noun [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. ?. The root is prob. that of burn, v., because the source of a stream seems to issue forth bubbling and boiling from the earth. Cf. {Torrent}, and see {Burn}, v.] A stream or rivulet; a burn.

My little boat can safely pass this perilous bourn. --Spenser.

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

98 Moby Thesaurus words for "bourn": adolescent stream, anchorage, arroyo, beck, border line, bound, boundary, boundary condition, boundary line, braided stream, branch, break boundary, breakoff point, brook, brooklet, burn, ceiling, channel, circumscription, compass, confine, creek, crick, cutoff, cutoff point, deadline, delimitation, destination, determinant, division line, end, extremity, finish, floor, flowing stream, fluviation, fresh, freshet, frontier, gill, goal, harbor, haven, hedge, high-water mark, interface, kill, last stop, lazy stream, limen, limit, limitation, limiting factor, line, line of demarcation, low-water mark, lower limit, march, mark, meandering stream, mete, midchannel, midstream, millstream, moving road, navigable river, port, race, racing stream, river, rivulet, run, rundle, runlet, runnel, sike, spill stream, start, starting line, starting point, stop, stopping place, stream, stream action, streamlet, subterranean river, target date, term, terminal, terminal date, terminal point, terminus, threshold, time allotment, upper limit, wadi, watercourse, waterway

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