BIRMINGHAMISE, bir'ming-ham-[=i]z, _v.t._ to make up artificially. [See
BRUMMAGEM.]
BIROSTRATE, b[=i]-ros'tr[=a]t, _adj._ having a double beak. [L. _bi-_,
twice, and _rostratus_, beaked--_rostrum_, a beak.]
BIRR, bir, _n._ impetus: a violent push: stress in pronunciation: any sharp
whirring sound. [_Scot._; Ice. _byrr_, a favouring wind.]
BIRSE, birs, _n._ bristle.--_adj._ BIRS'Y.--TO LICK THE BIRSE, to draw a
hog's bristle through the mouth--part of the ceremony of citizenship in
Selkirk; TO SET UP ONE'S BIRSE, to rouse the wrath of, from the habit of
animals bristling up when enraged. [Scot.; A.S. _byrst_.]