Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A rough edge or area remaining on material, such as metal, after it has been cast, cut, or drilled.
- transitive verb To form a burr on.
- transitive verb To remove burrs from.
- noun A washer that fits around the smaller end of a rivet.
- noun A trilling of the letter r, usually made with the tip of the tongue and characteristic of Scottish speech.
- noun A buzzing or whirring sound.
- intransitive verb To pronounce with a burr.
- intransitive verb To speak with a burr.
- intransitive verb To make a buzzing or whirring sound.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun etc. See
bur , bur, etc.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To speak with burr; to make a hoarse or guttural murmur.
- noun (Bot.) A prickly seed vessel. See
bur , 1. - noun The thin edge or ridge left by a tool in cutting or shaping metal, as in turning, engraving, pressing, etc.; also, the rough neck left on a bullet in casting.
- noun A thin flat piece of metal, formed from a sheet by punching; a small washer put on the end of a rivet before it is swaged down.
- noun A broad iron ring on a tilting lance just below the gripe, to prevent the hand from slipping.
- noun The lobe or lap of the ear.
- noun A guttural pronounciation of the letter r, produced by trilling the extremity of the soft palate against the back part of the tongue; rotacism; -- often called the
Newcastle burr ,Northumberland burr , orTweedside burr . - noun The knot at the bottom of an antler. See
Bur , n., 8.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
sharp , pointy object, such as asliver orsplinter . - noun A
bur ; aseed pod with sharp features that stick in fur or clothing. - noun A small piece of
material left on anedge after acutting operation. - noun A rough humming sound.
- noun A rolled "r".
- verb transitive To pronounce with a rolled "r".
- verb intransitive To make a rough humming sound.
- noun UK Alternative spelling of
burl . - noun obsolete A metal
ring at the top of the hand-rest on aspear .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb remove the burrs from
- noun rough projection left on a workpiece after drilling or cutting
- noun seed vessel having hooks or prickles
- noun rotary file for smoothing rough edges left on a workpiece
- noun United States politician who served as vice president under Jefferson; he mortally wounded his political rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel and fled south (1756-1836)
- noun small bit used in dentistry or surgery
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I came to bed to sleep, and every time I'm dozing off nicely and comfortably you begin _burr, burr, burr_, and I can't understand you a bit. "
Glyn Severn's Schooldays George Manville Fenn 1870
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By Valleys Mam, at Fri Nov 02, 07:06:00 PM anon - I find no similarity between the accents of Montgomeryshire and there is the world of difference between Llanfair Caereinion and Newtown and what you call the burr used the English side of Offa's Dyke.
Whats in a name Glyn Davies 2007
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The name burr clover has doubtless arisen from the closely coiled seed pod, which, being covered with curved prickles, adhere to wool more or less as burrs do.
Clovers and How to Grow Them Thomas Shaw 1880
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The burr is an excrescence of would-be buds rising from somewhere deep inside the tree like a spring.
Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009
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The burr is an excrescence of would-be buds rising from somewhere deep inside the tree like a spring.
Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009
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They find that the burr is a little basket filled with seeds.
Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study Ontario. Ministry of Education
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There were two roses of similar quality, one that detestable mockery known as the burr-rose.
Aunt Jane of Kentucky Eliza Calvert Hall
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Southern California has a troublesome burr, which is not found north of Sacramento, except on the lower lands.
Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands Charles Nordhoff 1865
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Other kinds of grinders are known as burr grinders, use-grinding wheels.
xml's Blinklist.com 2008
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England has a wonderful variety of accents, - as we do, and I love that Geordie 'burr'.
Tamil pulp Peter Rozovsky 2010
bilby commented on the word burr
Interesting that the verb - v. To remove burrs from - is the same as the noun. In most cases in English you need a de- or un- or other suitable negative prefix added to the root noun to make a verb with negative polarity.
July 23, 2012