Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun especially in plural A moustache, with whiskers on the cheeks but with no beard on the chin

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ambrose Burnside

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Examples

  • Even when not in bloom, the burnside plants display the wealth of texture so recommended to us by expensive garden designers.

    Country diary 2010

  • I did not follow the road, but the burnside which flanked it on the right, where the bracken grew deep and the high banks made a tolerable screen.

    The Thirty-Nine Steps 2005

  • There, in a hollow place by the burnside that was shaded by some birks, he was aware of a barefoot boy, perhaps a matter of three years older than himself.

    Lay Morals 2005

  • I ran up the burnside, crawling over the open places, and for a large part wading in the shallow stream.

    The Thirty-Nine Steps 2005

  • The glow was maybe a hundred yards distant, a little spark of fire I could have put in my cap, and, from its crackling and smoke, composed of dry seaweed and half-green branches from the burnside thickets.

    Prester John 2005

  • I forsook the burnside, crossed another dyke, and almost before I knew was on a rough lawn.

    The Thirty-Nine Steps 2005

  • I've got Duncan Stewart's house, down by the burnside.

    Rose cottage Stewart, Mary, 1916- 1997

  • I've got Duncan Stewart's house, down by the burnside.

    Rose cottage Stewart, Mary, 1916- 1997

  • And waly waly yon burnside where I and my love wont to gae.

    Waly, Waly 3 1962

  • The whistle of the engine shrieked, and the train steamed out of the station along the burnside toward Huntly.

    The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Comments

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  • "I forsook the burnside, crossed another dyke, and almost before I knew was on a rough lawn. A glance back told me that I was well out of sight of the pursuit, which had not yet passed the first lift of the moor."

    - John Buchan, 'The Thirty-Nine Steps'.

    August 27, 2009

  • WeirdNet is also equating this to sideburn.

    August 27, 2009

  • WordNet has this one right: 'side-burn BURNSIDE, after side-hair, etc.'>alteration of BURNSIDE, after side-hair, etc. orig. U.S., a short side-whisker' (O.E.D.)

    Edit: and here's Burnside with his sideburns.

    August 27, 2009

  • Ooh, clever chops, WordNet!

    August 27, 2009

  • I'm kind of amazed it wasn't listed, too, though. Hm.

    August 28, 2009