Birl
(Birl) v. t. & i. To revolve or cause to revolve; to spin. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.
Birl
(Birl) v. t. & i. [AS. byrlian. &radic92.] To pour (beer or wine); to ply with drink; to drink; to carouse.
[Obs. or Dial.] Skelton.
Birlaw
(Bir"law) n. [See -law.] (Law) A law made by husbandmen respecting rural affairs; a rustic or
local law or by-law. [Written also byrlaw, birlie, birley.]
Birostrate
(Bi*ros`trate Bi*ros"tra*ted) a. [Pref. bi- + rostrate.] Having a double beak, or two processes
resembling beaks.
The capsule is bilocular and birostrated.
Ed. Encyc.
Birr
(Birr) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Birred ; p. pr. & vb. n. Birring.] [Cf. OE. bur, bir, wind, storm wind, fr.
Icel. byrr wind. Perh. imitative.] To make, or move with, a whirring noise, as of wheels in motion.
Birr
(Birr), n.
1. A whirring sound, as of a spinning wheel.
2. A rush or impetus; force.
Birrus
(Bir"rus) n. [LL., fr. L. birrus a kind of cloak. See Berretta.] A coarse kind of thick woolen
cloth, worn by the poor in the Middle Ages; also, a woolen cap or hood worn over the shoulders or over
the head.
Birse
(Birse) n. A bristle or bristles. [Scot.]
Birt
(Birt) n. [OE. byrte; cf. F. bertonneau. Cf. Bret, Burt.] (Zoöl.) A fish of the turbot kind; the brill.
[Written also burt, bret, or brut.] [Prov. Eng.]
Birth
(Birth) n. [OE. burth, birth, AS. beor&edt, gebyrd, fr. beran to bear, bring forth; akin to D. geboorte,
OHG. burt, giburt, G. geburt, Icel. burðr, Skr. bhrti bearing, supporting; cf. Ir. & Gael. beirthe born,
brought forth. &radic92. See 1st Bear, and cf. Berth.]
1. The act or fact of coming into life, or of being born; — generally applied to human beings; as, the birth
of a son.
2. Lineage; extraction; descent; sometimes, high birth; noble extraction.
Elected without reference to birth, but solely for qualifications.
Prescott.
3. The condition to which a person is born; natural state or position; inherited disposition or tendency.
A foe by birth to Troy's unhappy name.
Dryden.
4. The act of bringing forth; as, she had two children at a birth. "At her next birth." Milton.
5. That which is born; that which is produced, whether animal or vegetable.
Poets are far rarer births than kings.
B. Jonson.
Others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself.
Addison.
6. Origin; beginning; as, the birth of an empire.
New birth (Theol.), regeneration, or the commencement of a religious life.
