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into; to make way into the interior of; to effect an entrance into; to pierce; as, light penetrates darkness.

To penetrate between or within; to penetrate mutually. It interpenetrates my granite mass. Shelley.

of adamant, or having the qualities of adamant; incapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated; as, adamantine bonds or chains.

Incapable of being penetrated by balls from firearms.

Hard to impress or penetrate. [R.] I find my heart hardened and blunt to new impressions. Pope.

A structure which heavy shot and shell will not penetrate.

To perforate or penetrate, as a solid body, by turning an auger, gimlet, drill, or other instrument; to make a round hole in or through; to pierce; as, to bore a plank. I'll believe as soon this whole earth may be bored. Shak.

One of the larvæ of many species of insects, which penetrate trees, as the apple, peach, pine, etc. See Apple borer, under Apple.

A process of fecundation in which the pollen tube penetrates to the embryosac through the tissue of the chalaza, instead of entering through the micropyle. It was originally discovered by Treub in Casuarina, and has since been found to occur regularly in the families Betulaceæ and Juglandaceæ. Partial chalazogamy is fo…

To penetrate or pierce; to wound. Which, with his cruel tusk, him deadly cloyed. Spenser. He never shod horse but he cloyed him. Bacon.

Hard to penetrate or comprehend; profound; -- opposed to shallow or superficial; intricate; mysterious; not obvious; obscure; as, a deep subject or plot. Speculations high or deep. Milton. A question deep almost as the mystery of life. De Quincey. O Lord, . . . thy thought are very deep. Ps. xcii. 5.…

To dig into; to penetrate; to trace out; to fathom. I can not delve him to the root. Shak.

To pierce; to penetrate; -- followed by in or into. When I dipt into the future. Tennyson.

To thrill; to vibrate; to penetrate. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Fig.: To plunge or to go deeply into any subject, question, business, etc.; to penetrate; to explore. South.

or go into; to pass into the interior of; to pass within the outer cover or shell of; to penetrate; to pierce; as, to enter a house, a closet, a country, a door, etc.; the river enters the sea. That darksome cave they enter. Spenser. I, . . . with the multitude of my redeemed, Shall enter heaven, long absent. Milton.…

To search through or into; to penetrate or range over for discovery; to examine thoroughly; as, to explore new countries or seas; to explore the depths of science. "Hidden frauds [to] explore." Dryden.

The measure by a sounding line; especially, to sound the depth of; to penetrate, measure, and comprehend; to get to the bottom of. Dryden. The page of life that was spread out before me seemed dull and commonplace, only because I had not fathomed its deeper import. Hawthotne.

this want of organization, this looseness and fluidity of the new movement, that made it penetrate through every class of society. J. R. Green.

To pierce or wound, as with a horn; to penetrate with a pointed instrument, as a spear; to stab. The low stumps shall gore His daintly feet. Coleridge.