{ Bur"hel, Burr"hel } (&?;), n. (Zoöl.) The wild Himalayan, or blue, sheep (Ovis burrhel).
Bur"i*al (&?;), n. [OE. buriel, buriels, grave, tomb, AS. byrgels, fr. byrgan to bury, and akin to OS. burgisli sepulcher.] 1. A grave; a tomb; a place of sepulture. [Obs.]
The erthe schook, and stoones weren cloven, and biriels weren opened.
Wycliff [Matt. xxvii. 51, 52].
2. The act of burying; depositing a dead body in the earth, in a tomb or vault, or in the water, usually with attendant ceremonies; sepulture; interment. "To give a public burial." Shak.
Now to glorious burial slowly borne.
Tennyson.
Burial case, a form of coffin, usually of iron, made to close air-tight, for the preservation of a dead body. -- Burial ground, a piece of ground selected and set apart for a place of burials, and consecrated to such use by religious ceremonies. -- Burial place, any place where burials are made. -- Burial service. (a) The religious service performed at the interment of the dead; a funeral service. (b) That portion of a liturgy which is read at an interment; as, the English burial service.
Syn. -- Sepulture; interment; inhumation.
Bur"i*er (&?;), n. One who, or that which, buries.
Till the buriers have buried it.
Ezek. xxxix. 15.
And darkness be the burier of the dead.
Shak.
Bu"rin (&?;), n. [F. burin, cf. It. burino, bulino; prob. from OHG. bora borer, born to bore, G. bohren. See 1st Bore.] 1. The cutting tool of an engraver on metal, used in line engraving. It is made of tempered steel, one end being ground off obliquely so as to produce a sharp point, and the other end inserted in a handle; a graver; also, the similarly shaped tool used by workers in marble.
2. The manner or style of execution of an engraver; as, a soft burin; a brilliant burin.
Bu"rin*ist, n. One who works with the burin. For. Quart. Rev.
Bu"ri*on (&?;), n. (Zoöl.) The red-breasted house sparrow of California (Carpodacus frontalis); -- called also crimson-fronted bullfinch. [Written also burrion.]
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.
Burk"ism (&?;), n. The practice of killing persons for the purpose of selling their bodies for dissection.
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. √92. 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, 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.
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.]
Burl"er (&?;), n. One who burls or dresses cloth.
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.
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.