bury definition | Dictionary.com

bur⋅y

[ber-ee]

verb, bur⋅ied, bur⋅y⋅ing, noun, plural bur⋅ies.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to put in the ground and cover with earth: The pirates buried the chest on the island.

2.	to put (a corpse) in the ground or a vault, or into the sea, often with ceremony: They buried the sailor with full military honors.

3.	to plunge in deeply; cause to sink in: to bury an arrow in a target.

4.	to cover in order to conceal from sight: She buried the card in the deck.

5.	to immerse (oneself): He buried himself in his work.

6.	to put out of one's mind: to bury an insult.

7.	to consign to obscurity; cause to appear insignificant by assigning to an unimportant location, position, etc.: Her name was buried in small print at the end of the book.

–noun

8.	Nautical. housing ¹ (def. 8a, b).

—Idioms

9.	bury one's head in the sand, to avoid reality; ignore the facts of a situation: You cannot continue to bury your head in the sand—you must learn to face facts.

10.	bury the hatchet, to become reconciled or reunited.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME berien, buryen, OE byrgan to bury, conceal; akin to OE beorgan to hide, protect, preserve; c. D, G bergen, Goth bairgan, ON bjarga

Synonyms:
2. inter, entomb, inhume. 4. hide, secrete.

Antonyms:
2. disinter, exhume. 4. uncover.

hous⋅ing

1 [hou-zing]

–noun

1.	any shelter, lodging, or dwelling place.

2.	houses collectively.

3.	the act of one who houses or puts under shelter.

4.	the providing of houses for a group or community: the housing of an influx of laborers.

5.	anything that covers or protects.

6.	Machinery. a fully enclosed case and support for a mechanism.

7.	Carpentry. the space made in one piece of wood, or the like, for the insertion of another.

Nautical.

a.	Also called bury. the portion of a mast below the deck.

b.	Also called bury. the portion of a bowsprit aft of the forward part of the stem of a vessel.

c.	the doubling of an upper mast.

9.	a niche for a statue.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME husing. See house, -ing ¹

Synonyms:
5. covering, casing, shield, sheath.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source

Link To bury

bur·y (běr'ē)

tr.v. bur·ied, bur·y·ing, bur·ies

To place in the ground: bury a bone.
1. To place (a corpse) in a grave, a tomb, or the sea; inter.
2. To dispose of (a corpse) ritualistically by means other than interment or cremation.
To conceal by or as if by covering over with earth; hide: buried her face in the pillow; buried the secret deep within himself.
To occupy (oneself) with deep concentration; absorb: buried myself in my studies.
To put an end to; abandon: buried their quarrel and shook hands.

[Middle English burien, from Old English byrgan; see bhergh-¹ in Indo-European roots.]
bur'i·er n.

Word History: Why does bury rhyme with berry and not with jury? The answer goes back to early English times. The late Old English form of the verb bury was byrgan, pronounced approximately (bür'yən). During Middle English times this (ü) sound changed, but with different results in different regions of England: to (ŏŏ) as in put in the Midlands, to (ĭ) as in pit in southern England, or to (ě) as in pet in southeast England. London is located in the East Midlands, but because of its central location and its status as the capital, its East Midlands dialect was influenced by southern (Saxon) and southeastern (Kentish) dialects. The normal East Midlands development of (ü) was (ŏŏ), spelled u. Because scribes from the East Midlands pronounced the word with this vowel they tended to spell the word with a u, and this spelling became standard when spellings were fixed after the introduction of printing. The word's pronunciation, however, is southeastern. Bury is the only word in Modern English with a Midlands spelling and a southeastern pronunciation. Similarly, the word busy, from Old English bysig, bisig, and its verb bysgian, bisgian, "to employ," is spelled with the East Midlands dialect u, but pronounced with the southern (Saxon) development of (ü), (ĭ).

Bur·y (běr'ē)

A borough of northwest England north-northwest of Manchester. Population: 60,700.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Bury

Bur"y\ (b[e^]r"r[y^]), n. [See 1st Borough.]

1. A borough; a manor; as, the Bury of St. Edmond's;

Note: used as a termination of names of places; as, Canterbury, Shrewsbury.

2. A manor house; a castle. [Prov. Eng.]

To this very day, the chief house of a manor, or the lord's seat, is called bury, in some parts of England. --Miege.

Bury

Bur"y\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buried; p. pr. & vb. n. Burying.] [OE. burien, birien, berien, AS. byrgan; akin to beorgan to protect, OHG. bergan, G. bergen, Icel. bjarga, Sw. berga, Dan. bierge, Goth. ba['i]rgan. [root]95. Cf. Burrow.]

1. To cover out of sight, either by heaping something over, or by placing within something, as earth, etc.; to conceal by covering; to hide; as, to bury coals in ashes; to bury the face in the hands.

And all their confidence Under the weight of mountains buried deep. --Milton.

2. Specifically: To cover out of sight, as the body of a deceased person, in a grave, a tomb, or the ocean; to deposit (a corpse) in its resting place, with funeral ceremonies; to inter; to inhume.

Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. --Matt. viii. 21.

I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave. --Shak.

3. To hide in oblivion; to put away finally; to abandon; as, to bury strife.

Give me a bowl of wine In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius. --Shak.

Burying beetle (Zo["o]l.), the general name of many species of beetles, of the tribe Necrophaga; the sexton beetle; -- so called from their habit of burying small dead animals by digging away the earth beneath them. The larv[ae] feed upon decaying flesh, and are useful scavengers.

To bury the hatchet, to lay aside the instruments of war, and make peace; -- a phrase used in allusion to the custom observed by the North American Indians, of burying a tomahawk when they conclude a peace.

Syn: To intomb; inter; inhume; inurn; hide; cover; conceal; overwhelm; repress.

Language Translation for : bury

Spanish: enterrar,

German: begraben,

Japanese: 埋葬する

More Translations »

bury

O.E. byrgan, akin to beorgan "to shelter," from P.Gmc. *burzjanan "protection, shelter" (cf. O.N. bjarga, Sw. berga, Ger. bergen, Goth. bairgan), from PIE base *bhergh- "protect, preserve" (cf. O.C.S. brego "I preserve, guard"). The O.E. -y- was a short "oo" sound, like modern Fr. -u-. It normally transformed into Mod.Eng. -i- (cf. bridge, kiss, listen, sister), but in bury and a few other words (merry, knell) it retains a Kentish change to "e" that took place in the late O.E. period. In the West Midlands, meanwhile, the O.E. -y- sound persisted, slightly modified over time, giving the standard modern pronunciation of blush, much, church.

Search another word or see bury on Thesaurus | Reference

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Advertise with Us · Link to Us · NASCAR® · Contact Us