A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In Physical Oceanography a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past and present, while the beach is at the edge of the shore, representing the intertidal zone where there is one. In contrast to a coast, a shore can border any body of water, while the coast must border an ocean; that is, a coast is a type of shore. Shore is often substituted for coast where an oceanic shore is meant.
Shores are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape, as well as by water induced erosion, such as waves. The geological composition of rock and soil dictates the type of shore which is created.
Famous quotes containing the word shore:
“He stood bewildered, not appalled, on that dark shore which separates the ancient and the modern world.... He is power, passion, self-will personified.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
“Then you arrived, meditative, ironic,
richly human; and your presence was shore where I rested
released from the hoodoo of that dance, where I spoke
with my true voice again.”
—Robert Earl Hayden (1913–1980)
“Who heeds the waste abyss of possibility? The ocean is everywhere the same, but it has no character until seen with the shore or the ship.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)