DRILLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does drilling mean? 

• DRILLING (noun)
  The noun DRILLING has 2 senses:

1. the act of drilling

2. the act of drilling a hole in the earth in the hope of producing petroleum

  Familiarity information: DRILLING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DRILLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of drilling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

boring; drilling

Hypernyms ("drilling" is a kind of...):

creating by removal (the act of creating by removing something)

Derivation:

drill (make a hole, especially with a pointed power or hand tool)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of drilling a hole in the earth in the hope of producing petroleum

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

boring; drilling; oil production

Hypernyms ("drilling" is a kind of...):

production ((economics) manufacturing or mining or growing something (usually in large quantities) for sale)

Derivation:

drill (make a hole, especially with a pointed power or hand tool)

 Context examples 

Human-made sounds can be everything from spinning wind turbines and ship traffic to water scooters and drilling platforms.

(Marine Birds Can Hear Under Water, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Rosetta's lander will obtain the first images taken from a comet's surface and will provide the first analysis of a comet's composition by drilling into the surface.

(Rosetta closing in on comet, NASA)

The WISSARD team made scientific and engineering history in late January of 2013 when they used clean hot-water drilling technology to access subglacial Lake Whillans.

(800 meters beneath Antarctic ice sheet, subglacial lake holds viable microbial ecosystems, NSF)

Amid this new drilling and analyzing, Curiosity took a break to watch some clouds - all in the name of science.

(Curiosity Mars Rover Finds a Clay Cache, NASA)

Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2, the second phase of an effort by a group of scientists to produce long records of climate by drilling into the Greenland Ice Sheet from the surface to bedrock.

(GISP2, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

After this drilling is completed, Curiosity will continue farther south and higher up Mount Sharp, leaving behind these spectacular formations.

(Mars Rover Views Spectacular Layered Rock Formations, NASA)

But enhancements to deep ocean drilling techniques and decreasing costs of DNA sequencing have for the first time made it possible to unravel the secrets of the underworld.

(Researchers Create New Model of Ecosystem Hidden Beneath Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The team used geologic records from deep-sea drilling cores recovered using the NSF-funded research drillship JOIDES Resolution to extend the astronomical time scale by about eight million years.

(Deep-sea sediments lead to new understanding of solar system, National Science Foundation)

It's an expanded record of events that we were able to recover from within 'ground zero,' said Gulick, who led the study and co-led the International Ocean Discovery Program scientific drilling mission that retrieved the rocks from the impact site off the Yucatan Peninsula.

(Rocks at asteroid impact site record first day of dinosaur extinction, National Science Foundation)

In this location, the rover began its latest drilling campaign (on Sept. 9).

(Mars Rover Views Spectacular Layered Rock Formations, NASA)