Wiktionary

burr

See also: Burr

English edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English burre, perhaps related to Old English byrst (“bristle”). Cognate with Danish burre, borre (“burdock, burr”), Swedish borre (“sea-urchin”).

Noun edit

burr (plural burrs)

  1. A sharp, pointy object, such as a sliver or splinter.
  2. A bur; a seed pod with sharp features that stick in fur or clothing.
    Synonym: sticker
  3. A small piece of material left on an edge after a cutting operation.
  4. 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.
  5. A broad iron ring on a tilting lance just below the grip, to prevent the hand from slipping.
  6. The ear lobe.
  7. A burr knot or burl.
    • 2022, Carol Maxwell, Northern Territory Literary Awards, page 58:
      We notice wild bees gathering sap in a burr of the third mango tree[.]
  8. The knot at the bottom of an antler.
  9. (engineering) A revolving disk or cone with abrasive surfaces used to grind hard products in a grinder or mill.
    Synonyms: millstone, grindstone
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb edit

burr (third-person singular simple present burrs, present participle burring, simple past and past participle burred)

  1. (transitive, engineering) To grind using a burr (revolving disk or cone with abrasive surfaces).

Etymology 2 edit

Onomatopoeic, influenced by bur. Compare to French bruire

Noun edit

burr (plural burrs)

  1. A rough humming sound.
  2. A uvular "r" sound, or (by extension) an accent characterized by this sound.
    • 1843 January, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Madame D'Arblay”, in Critical and Historical Essays‎[2], volume 2:
      Foote’s mimicry was exquisitely ludicrous, but it was all caricature. He could take off only some strange peculiarity, a stammer or a lisp, a Northumbrian burr or an Irish brogue, a stoop or a shuffle.
    • 1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The Absence of Mr Glass”, in The Wisdom of Father Brown‎[3]:
      “That man Glass has been with him again; I heard them talking through the door quite plain. Two separate voices: for James speaks low, with a burr, and the other voice was high and quavery.”
    • 1920, Melville Davisson Post, “The House by the Loch”, in The Sleuth of St. James's Square‎[4]:
      He spoke with the deep rich burr of his race and with a structure of speech that I cannot reproduce here.
    • 2004 January 9, Kirsty Scott, “Why ye cannae learn English in Scotland”, in The Guardian‎[5]:
      The Scottish burr may often prove incomprehensible to English ears, but the Foreign Office apparently considers the accent so impenetrable that it has rejected a Russian student's application to study in Scotland on the grounds that she might not understand the language.
    • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 65:
      Judging by the new voice over the PA, we've had a crew change in Plymouth - the warning about masks and the apology for lack of catering is made in a chirpy Cockney twang rather than a West Country burr.
Translations edit

Verb edit

burr (third-person singular simple present burrs, present participle burring, simple past and past participle burred)

  1. (transitive) To pronounce with a uvular "r".
  2. (intransitive) To make a rough humming sound.
    • 1950, C. S. Lewis, chapter 7, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Collins, published 1998:
      The first thing Lucy noticed as she went in was a burring sound, and the first thing she saw was a kind-looking old she-beaver sitting in the corner with a thread in her mouth working busily at her sewing machine, and it was from it that the sound came.
Translations edit

Etymology 3 edit

Uncertain.

Noun edit

burr (plural burrs)

  1. (historical) A metal ring at the top of the hand-rest on a spear.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter IV, in Le Morte Darthur, book XXI:
      And there kyng Arthur smote syr mordred vnder the shelde wyth a foyne of his spere thorughoute the body more than a fadom / And whan syr Mordred felte that he had hys dethes wounde / He thryst hym self wyth the myght that he had vp to the bur of kynge Arthurs spere / And right so he smote his fader Arthur wyth his swerde holden in bothe his handes
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1724, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldry:
      burr or ring of iron behind the hand
    • 1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia:
      The front of it was defended by an iron-plate, called a vam-plat, that is, an avant-plate, and behind it was a broad iron ring, called a burr.
    • 2003, Thomas Howard Crofts, Fifteenth-century Malory, page 290:
      We are made to witness a cathartic shuffling-off of mortalities and of hatreds: Mordred's pulling himself up to the 'burr' of Arthur's spear is Malory's own detail and one of the most memorable in the book.
    • 2012, Howard Pyle, The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur:
      And when his body was against the burr of the spear, he took his sword in both his hands and he swung the sword above his head, and he smote King Arthur with the edge of the sword upon the helmet.
    • 2015, James B. Tschen-Emmons, Artifacts from Medieval Europe, page 280:
      Many saddles, especially those for use on warhorses, had high burr plates and cantles. this was especially important when knights began using stirrups and the couched lance.

Etymology 4 edit

From burl.

Noun edit

burr (plural burrs)

  1. (British) Alternative spelling of burl

Further reading edit

Albanian edit

Noun edit

burr

  1. Gheg form of burrë

References edit

  • Jungg, G. (1895) “burr”, in Fialuur i voghel sccȣp e ltinisct [Small Albanian–Italian dictionary], page 13

Old Norse edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Germanic *buriz (“male offspring; son”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry, bring”). Cognate with Old English byre, Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂 (baur).

Noun edit

burr m

  1. son
    1. (when preceded by genitive of jǫrð) kenning for Thor.
      • verse 1 of the Þrýmskviða, (1936 translation by Henry Adams Bellows)
        Skegg nam at hrista / skǫr nam at dýja, / réð Jarðar burr / um at þreifask.
        He [Thor] shook his beard / his hair was bristling / as the son of Jorth / about him sought.
    Synonym: sonr
  2. poet

Declension edit

  Declension of burr (strong i-stem, ar-genitive)
masculine singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative burr burrinn burir burirnir
accusative bur burinn buri burina
dative bur burinum burum burunum
genitive burar burarins bura buranna

Descendants edit

  • Icelandic: bur

References edit

  • “burr”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Yatzachi Zapotec edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Spanish burro.

Noun edit

burr (possessed xpurr)

  1. donkey
  2. donkey-load

Derived terms edit

References edit

  • Butler H., Inez M. (2000) Diccionario zapoteco de Yatzachi: Yatzachi el Bajo, Yatzachi el Alto, Oaxaca (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 37)‎[6], second electronic edition, Coyoacán, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 31
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=burr&oldid=77843729"