Join free

Burke

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

burke¹

  • /bɜː(ɹ)k/

Sounds like berk, birk, Bourke, burk, Burke · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)k

Where it comes from

Eponymous, from William Burke.

verb burkes · burking · burked

  1. Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, slang To murder by suffocation. As soon as the executioner proceeded to his duty, the cries of ‘Burke him, Burke him—give him no rope’... were vociferated... ‘Burke Hare too!’
  2. Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, historical, slang To murder for the same purpose as Burke, to kill in order to have a body to sell to anatomists, surgeons, etc. "I don’t know that," interrupted the landlady; "Williams is a good hanging name: there was Williams who murdered the Marr's family, and Williams who burked all those poor dear children; I dare say he is some relation of theirs; but to think of his coming to the White Hart—it's no place for his doing
  3. Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, slang To smother; to conceal, hush up, suppress. The reporters left it out... Those who spoke in favour of the poor men, were what the reporters call burked.

burke²

  • /bɜː(ɹ)k/

Sounds like berk, birk, Bourke, burk, Burke · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)k

noun burkes

  1. UK, alternative, slang Alternative form of berk.berk

Burke³

  • /bɜːk/ UK
  • /bɝk/ US

Sounds like berk, birk, Bourke, burk, burke · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)k

Where it comes from

From an Anglo-Norman pronunciation of burg.

proper noun Burkes · de Burgh · Burgh · Bourke · Burgo · Burk

  1. countable, uncountable A topographical surname from Anglo-Norman for someone who lived in a fortified place.
  2. countable, uncountable A ghost town in Shoshone County, Idaho.
  3. countable, uncountable A town and village therein, in Franklin County, New York.
  4. countable, uncountable A small city, the county seat of Gregory County, South Dakota.
  5. countable, uncountable A minor city in Angelina County, Texas.
  6. countable, uncountable A town in Caledonia County, Vermont, named after Edmund Burke.
  7. countable, uncountable A census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia.
  8. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Grant County, Washington.
  9. countable, uncountable A town and unincorporated community therein, in Dane County, Wisconsin, named after Edmund Burke.
  10. countable, uncountable A local government area in north-west Queensland, Australia, named after Robert O'Hara Burke; in full, the Shire of Burke.

Talk about this word