burr

1
[ bur ]
See synonyms for burr on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Also buhr. a protruding, ragged edge raised on the surface of metal during drilling, shearing, punching, or engraving.

  2. a rough or irregular protuberance on any object, as on a tree.

  1. a small, handheld, power-driven milling cutter, used by machinists and die makers for deepening, widening, or undercutting small recesses.

  2. a lump of brick fused or warped in firing.

verb (used with object)
  1. to form a rough point or edge on.

Origin of burr

1
First recorded in 1605–15; spelling variant of bur1
  • Also bur (for defs. 1, 3) .

Other definitions for burr (2 of 5)

burr2

or bur

[ bur ]

noun
  1. a washer placed at the head of a rivet.

  2. a blank punched out of a piece of sheet metal.

Origin of burr

2
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English burrewez (plural), buruhe “circle,” variant of brough “round tower”; see broch

Other definitions for burr (3 of 5)

burr3
[ bur ]

noun
  1. a pronunciation of the r-sound as a uvular trill, as in certain Northern English dialects.

  2. a pronunciation of the r-sound as an alveolar flap or trill, as in Scottish English.

  1. any pronunciation popularly considered rough or nonurban.

  2. a whirring noise.

verb (used without object)
  1. to speak with a burr.

  2. to speak roughly, indistinctly, or inarticulately.

  1. to make a whirring sound.

verb (used with object)
  1. to pronounce (words, sounds, etc.) with a burr.

Origin of burr

3
First recorded in 1750–60; apparently both imitative and associative, the sound being thought of as rough like a bur

Other definitions for burr (4 of 5)

burr4

or buhr

[ bur ]

noun

Origin of burr

4
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English burre, probably so called from its roughness

Other definitions for Burr (5 of 5)

Burr
[ bur ]

noun
  1. Aaron, 1756–1836, vice president of the U.S. 1801–05.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use burr in a sentence

  • Some were blatantly inferior, he said, at times with metal shavings and burrs in the threads.

    Patients Screwed in Spine Surgery ‘Scam’ | The Center for Investigative Reporting | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • It appears that what the sheep do not eat in the way of burrs they gather in their wool, and in that way clean up the farm.

  • It stopped to nibble a few burrs, and when it was shooed on, it didn't stop to walk around the obstruction.

  • By much diligence we got the horses that must appear in public free from burrs, but the colts still carry some of their trophies.

  • A lively colt will gather more burrs in ten minutes than an industrious man can pick out of its mane and tail in a day.

  • You are weel set up in life, laddie, and Heriot's has pulled the warst of the burrs from your tongue.

    Greyfriars Bobby | Eleanor Atkinson

British Dictionary definitions for burr (1 of 5)

burr1

/ (bɜː) /


noun
  1. a small power-driven hand-operated rotary file, esp for removing burrs or for machining recesses

  2. a rough edge left on a workpiece after cutting, drilling, etc

  1. a rough or irregular protuberance, such as a burl on a tree

  2. British a burl on the trunk or root of a tree, sliced across for use as decorative veneer

noun, verb
  1. a variant spelling of bur

verb(tr)
  1. to form a rough edge on (a workpiece)

  2. to remove burrs from (a workpiece) by grinding, filing, etc; deburr

Origin of burr

1
C14: variant of bur

British Dictionary definitions for burr (2 of 5)

burr2

/ (bɜː) /


noun
  1. phonetics an articulation of (r) characteristic of certain English dialects, esp the uvular fricative trill of Northumberland or the retroflex r of the West of England

  2. a whirring sound

verb
  1. to pronounce (words) with a burr

  2. to make a whirring sound

Origin of burr

2
C18: either special use of bur (in the sense: rough sound) or of imitative origin

British Dictionary definitions for burr (3 of 5)

burr3

bur

/ (bɜː) /


noun
  1. a washer fitting around the end of a rivet

  2. a blank punched out of sheet metal

Origin of burr

3
C16 (in the sense: broad ring on a spear): variant of burrow (in obsolete sense: borough)

British Dictionary definitions for burr (4 of 5)

burr4

buhr or bur

/ (bɜː) /


noun
  1. short for buhrstone

  2. a mass of hard siliceous rock surrounded by softer rock

Origin of burr

4
C18: probably from bur, from its qualities of roughness

British Dictionary definitions for Burr (5 of 5)

Burr

/ (bɜː) /


noun
  1. Aaron . 1756–1836, US vice-president (1800–04), who fled after killing a political rival in a duel and plotted to create an independent empire in the western US; acquitted (1807) of treason

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012