burr
pronunciation
How to pronounce burr in British English:
UK [bɜ:(r)]
How to pronounce burr in American English:
US [bə]
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- Noun:
- seed vessel having hooks or prickles
- rough projection left on a workpiece after drilling or cutting
- rotary file for smoothing rough edges left on a workpiece
- small bit used in dentistry or surgery
-
- Verb:
- remove the burrs from
Word Origin
- burr (n.)
- "rough sound of the letter -r-" (especially that common in Northumberland), 1760, later extended to "northern accented speech" in general. Possibly the sound of the word is imitative of the speech peculiarity itself, or it was adapted from one of the senses of bur (q.v.), perhaps from the phrase to have a bur in (one's) throat (late 14c.), which was a figure of speech for "feel a choking sensation, huskiness." OED says the Scottish -r- is a lingual trill, not a true burr.
Example
- 1. I was writing a memoir of colonel burr .
- 2. The house ended up choosing thomas jefferson over aaron burr .
- 3. Inspect manual valve lever for worn plastic insulation or steel burr worn through plastic .
- 4. Three years after this lamentable affair , colonel burr was arrested .
- 5. I forgot the name , but it was aaron burr 's old livery stable .