colossal bore ???

[tschansey61]

Hi!

I was reading a short story by Roald Dahl (The Butler), and I came across with the expression "colossal bore". I checked lots of dictionaries, but I couldn't really understand what it meant. I believe it is about his being a "nouveau riche" but I am not sure.
The sentence is : "In due course, Mr Cleaver came to regard himself as an expert on wine, and inevitably he turned into a colossal bore."

Can anyone please explain what it really means? I'll really appreciate it..

Thanks a lot.

[magimagicE]

In this instance, a "bore" is a person who talks ad infinitum about a subject of which you have little or no interest. He has bored you with his talk.

A "colossal bore" would be a big/massive/huge bore, ie the degree to which he excels at that "skill".

You can probably guess what that subject is.

[SlickVic9000]

(Not a Teacher)

On different note, 'bore' can refer to the diameter of a gun barrel or other cylindrical object.
"I don't know how a man could keep his courage while looking down the colossal bore of that rifle."
Though, in the case of my example sentence, bore refers to the hole itself. (A gunsmith bores a hole through a solid steel block to create the gun barrel, hence the term.)