What does drilling mean?
Drilling is the act of boring holes into hard materials such as rock, soil, or metal, most famously to extract oil, natural gas, and groundwater from beneath the Earth's surface. The word functions as a noun describing both the activity itself — as in "offshore drilling" or "a drilling rig" — and, in older British usage, the repetitive instruction given to soldiers until their movements become automatic. The term carries strong connotations in modern public life: debates over drilling licenses, Arctic drilling, and deepwater exploration place it at the center of conversations about energy and the environment. Beyond industry headlines, drilling is an everyday technical reality, used by dentists, carpenters, miners, and geologists alike. Its figurative extension, "drilling down" into data or details, borrows the image of penetrating beneath the surface to reach something hidden below.
The act or process of boring a hole in a hard substance, especially to extract oil, gas, water, or mineral samples.
"Deepwater drilling requires equipment capable of operating miles beneath the ocean surface."
Frequently appears in energy and environmental contexts, where it can evoke controversy.
(British English) Rigorous, repetitive training or instruction, especially of soldiers.
"The sergeant put the new recruits through hours of drilling each morning."
Chiefly British and largely restricted to military contexts today.
Rarely used in the plural; when it occurs, it usually refers to individual instances or types of drilling activity, or to small fragments produced by drilling.
"Metal drillings littered the workbench after he finished the repair."
Every offshore oil platform floats above a hole that may have cost hundreds of millions of dollars before a single barrel came up — all thanks to drilling.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of drilling
Drilling derives from the verb "drill," which entered English around the early seventeenth century, probably from the Dutch verb "drillen," meaning to bore or pierce. The noun form followed naturally, first applied to the mechanical action of boring holes and later extended to the disciplined, repetitive exercise of troops, which was thought to resemble the tireless turning of a drill bit. The industrial sense expanded dramatically with the rise of petroleum extraction in the nineteenth century.
Related word forms
How drilling is actually used
In American English, "drilling" overwhelmingly refers to the physical process of making holes, especially for fossil fuels, and often carries political or environmental connotations in public debate. The military-training sense is chiefly British and somewhat dated outside military contexts.