burr
/bɝ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.36 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
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
The ear lobe.
Example Sentences
- "[…] nay Friar, I am a kind of Burre, I ſhal ſticke."
- "But cockle, spurge, according to their law / Might propagate their kind, with none to awe, / You'd think; a burr had been a treasure trove."
- "You left a bunch of burrs on those parts yesterday. You've already been told not to miss the deburring operation."
- "But the graver, in ploughing furrows in the surface of the copper, raises corresponding ridges or burrs"
- "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"
- "burr or ring of iron behind the hand"
Etymology
From Middle English burre, perhaps related to Old English byrst (“bristle”). Cognate with Danish burre, borre (“burdock, burr”), Swedish borre (“sea-urchin”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: burre
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɝ/
- British English: /bɜː/
Usage
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb
- British usage