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birr

[bur]

noun

force; energy; vigor.

emphasis in statement, speech, etc.

a whirring sound.

verb (used without object)

to move with or make a whirring sound.

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to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.

to bark; yelp.

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Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English bire, bur, Old English byre strong wind; cognate with Icelandic byrr favorable wind; akin to bear¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun, plural birr.

a paper money, silver coin, and monetary unit of Ethiopia, equal to 100 cents: replaced the Ethiopian dollar in 1976.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To birr

Collins

World English Dictionary

birr¹ (bɜː)

—vb
1.	to make or cause to make a whirring sound

—n
2.	a whirring sound
3.	force, as of wind
4.	vigour; energy

[Old English byre storm, related to Old Norse byrr favourable wind]

birr² (bɜː)

—n
	the standard monetary unit of Ethiopia, divided into 100 cents

[C20: from Amharic]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Quote Of The Day

"Good writing is always a breaking of the soil, clearing away prejudices, pulling up of sour weeds of crooked thinking, stripping the turf so as to get at what is fertile beneath. It would be amusing to carry the simile further. Those bulbs that flower in the sand and wither! The gay fiction annual that has to be planted again every year! Those experimental plants from Russia, France, and Greenwich Village that are always getting winter killed—confound 'em!—is it worth while planting them again? The stocky perennial that keeps coming up and coming up—so easy to grow and so ugly. Scarlet sage that gives a touch of fiery sin to the edge of the suburbanite's concrete walk! And then the good flowers—as honest as they are beautiful! The well-ordered gar den! The climbing rose that escapes and is the most beautiful of all!"

-Henry Seidel Canby

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