Burinist
(Bu"rin*ist), n. One who works with the burin. For. Quart. Rev.
Burion
(Bu"ri*on) n. (Zoöl.) The red-breasted house sparrow of California (Carpodacus frontalis); —
called also crimson-fronted bullfinch. [Written also burrion.]
Burke
(Burke) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Burked ; p. pr. & vb. n. Burking.] [From one Burke of Edinburgh,
who committed the crime in 1829.]
1. To murder by suffocation, or so as to produce few marks of violence, for the purpose of obtaining a
body to be sold for dissection.
2. To dispose of quietly or indirectly; to suppress; to smother; to shelve; as, to burke a parliamentary question.
The court could not burke an inquiry, supported by such a mass of a affidavits.
C. Reade.
Burkism
(Burk"ism) n. The practice of killing persons for the purpose of selling their bodies for dissection.
Burl
(Burl) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Burled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Burling.] [OE. burle stuffing, or a knot in cloth; cf.
F. bourlet, bourrelet, OF. bourel, a wreath or a roll of cloth, linen, or leather, stuffed with flocks, etc.,
dim. of bourre. &radic92. See Bur.] To dress or finish up (cloth); to pick knots, burs, loose threads,
etc., from, as in finishing cloth.
Burling iron, a peculiar kind of nippers or tweezers used in burling woolen cloth.
Burl
(Burl), n.
1. A knot or lump in thread or cloth.
2. An overgrown knot, or an excrescence, on a tree; also, veneer made from such excrescences.
Burlap
(Bur"lap) n. A coarse fabric, made of jute or hemp, used for bagging; also, a finer variety of similar
material, used for curtains, etc. [Written also burlaps.]
Burler
(Burl"er) n. One who burls or dresses cloth.
Burlesque
(Bur*lesque") a. [F. burlesque, fr. It. burlesco, fr. burla jest, mockery, perh. for burrula,
dim. of L. burrae trifles. See Bur.] Tending to excite laughter or contempt by extravagant images, or
by a contrast between the subject and the manner of treating it, as when a trifling subject is treated with
mock gravity; jocular; ironical.
It is a dispute among the critics, whether burlesque poetry runs best in heroic verse, like that of the
Dispensary, or in doggerel, like that of Hudibras.
Addison.
Burlesque
(Bur*lesque") n.
1. Ludicrous representation; exaggerated parody; grotesque satire.
Burlesque is therefore of two kinds; the first represents mean persons in the accouterments of heroes,
the other describes great persons acting and speaking like the basest among the people.
Addison.
2. An ironical or satirical composition intended to excite laughter, or to ridicule anything.
The dull burlesque appeared with impudence,
And pleased by novelty in spite of sense.
Dryden.
