 | WordWeight : Weighing the Words |
| WordWeight : Weighing the Words |
Burke
Pronunciation : Burke, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Burkeder
Part of Speech : p.
Etymology : [From one Burke of Edinburgh, who committed the crime in 1829.]
Definition : 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.
pr. & vb.n. Burkinger.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
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