GORE  . (1) (0 . Eng. gor, dung or filth), a word formerly used in the sense of dirt, but now confined to

blood that has thickened after being shed . (2) (O . Eng. gdra, probably connected with gore, an old word for " spear "), something of triangular shape, resembling therefore a spear-head . The word is used for a tapering strip of land, in the " common or open field " system of agriculture, where from the shape of the land the acre or half-acre strips could not be portioned out in straight divisions . Similarly " gore " is used in the United States, especially in Maine and Vermont, for a strip of land left out in surveying when divisions are made and boundaries marked . The triangular sections of material used in forming the covering of a balloon or an umbrella are also called " gores," and in dressmaking the term is used for a triangular piece of material inserted in a dress to adjust the difference in widths . To gore, i.e. to stab or pierce with any sharp instrument, but more particularly used of piercing with the horns of a bull, is probably directly connected with gare, a spear .