Bourne
name, noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A boundary; a limit. archaic, countable
"[T]he dread of ſomething after death, / The vndiſcouer'd country, from whoſe borne / No trauiler returnes, puzzels the will, […]"
- 2 A stream or brook in which water flows only seasonally; a small stream or brook.
- 3 an archaic term for a goal or destination wordnet
- 4 A goal or destination. archaic, countable, uncountable
"I passed through many beautiful and majestic scenes; but my eyes were fixed and unobserving. I could only think of the bourne of my travels, and the work which was to occupy me whilst they endured."
- 5 an archaic term for a boundary wordnet
- 1 A market town and civil parish with a town council in South Kesteven district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TF0920).
- 2 A town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, named after Jonathan Bourne Sr.
- 3 A river in Wiltshire, England, which flows into the Salisbury-Hampshire Avon.
- 4 A small river in Dorset, England, which flows into the English Channel at Bournemouth.
- 5 Either of two rivers in Surrey, England, passing through Chertsey and Addlestone before converging and flowing into the Thames.
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- 6 A small river in Kent, England, which joins the River Medway.
- 7 A surname.
"When HBO airs “Behind the Candelabra” on May 26, the world will get to see Matt Damon play Liberace’s drug-addled, surgically enhanced lover – a role about as far from Jason Bourne as it gets."
Example
More examples"[T]he dread of ſomething after death, / The vndiſcouer'd country, from whoſe borne / No trauiler returnes, puzzels the will, […]"
Etymology
From Middle French borne, from Old French bodne, from Medieval Latin bodina, a word of unknown ultimate origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom, base”), see also Proto-Celtic *bundos.
From Middle English bourne, from Old English burna. Doublet of burn.
The placename and English surname are derived from Old English burna (“stream”), whence also the common noun bourne (“stream”).