Lewis & Short

tĕrē̆bro, āvi, ătum, 1, v. a. [terebra], to bore, bore through, perforate (not in Cic.; syn.: foro, perforo)

  1. I. Lit.: terebrā vitem pertundito … artitoque eā quā terebraveris, Cato, R. R. 41, 3: vites Gallicā terebrā, Col. 5, 9, 16: ossa (capitis), Liv. Ep. 52 med.: cavas uteri latebras, Verg. A. 2. 38: telo lumen acuto, id. ib. 3, 635: buxum per rara foramina, Ov. F. 6, 697: gemmā terebratā, Vitr 9, 9: vitem in oblicum, Plin. 17, 18, 25, § 115; Col. 5, 9, 16: gryllus quoniam terram terebret, Plin. 29, 6, 39, § 138.
    1. B. Transt., to bore out: regustatum digito terebrare salinum Contentus perages, to bore out the salt-dish with the fingers; to hunt out the last grain, Pers. 5, 138.
      1. 2. To bore, make by boring: foramen, Vitr 10, 16, 5.
  2. II. Trop., to insinuate one’s self, to coax, Plaut. Bacch. 5, 2, 82; so perh. also, id Fragm. ap. Fest. s. v. subscudes, p. 306 Müll.