| 释义 |
▪ I. bur, burr, n.|bɜː(r)|
Forms: 4 borre, 4–7 burre, 6– bur, 7– burr.
[app. identical or cogn. with Da. borre bur, burdock, Sw. borre sea-urchin, and in comb. kard-borre burdock, though the word is not found in ON., nor in Eng. before the 14th c. A derivation from F. bourre ‘rough hair, flock of wool’, labours under the difficulty that the F. word is not found ever to have had the sense which Eng. bur shares with Da. and Sw. borre; nor does the Eng. word show the wider sense of F. bourre.
The spelling of this and various other words or senses of words, phonetically and perhaps even etymologically identical with it, is very unsettled: in nearly all burr is an earlier spelling, but in the present word bur is now usual. See further under burr.]
1. a. Any rough or prickly seed-vessel or flower-head of a plant: esp. the flower-head of the Burdock (Arctium lappa); also, the small seed-vessel of the Goose-grass (Galium aparine) and other plants; the husk of the chestnut.
c1330Arth. & Merl. 8290 Togider thai cleued..So with other doth the burre. c1440Promp. Parv. 56 Burre, lappa, glis. a1547J. Heywood Four P's in Dodsley (1780) I. 87 Hys eares as ruged as burres. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. iii. 13 They are but burs, Cosen, throwne vpon thee in holiday foolerie..our very petty-coates will catch them. 1684R. Waller Nat. Exper. 87 Like the Burre or Husk of a Chest⁓nut. 1779Mrs. Delany Lett. Ser. ii. II. 425 Goose grass or cleavers..does not bear burrs (which are the seed vessels) till after the time of its flowring. c1817Hogg Tales & Sk. III. 316 The burr of a Scots thistle. 1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 87 Fruits, beset with prickles, are truly burs, clinging very readily to any object. 1874Roe Open. Chestnut Burr xiii, She took the burr from his hand and plucking out the chestnut tossed the burr away.
b. Phr. to stick (cleave, cling, etc.) like a bur.
c1330[see above]. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (1847) 43 Together they cleve more fast then do burres. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. i. iii. 189, I am a kind of Burre, I shal sticke. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull (1727) 59 When a fellow stuck like a bur, that there was no shaking him off. 1810Crabbe Borough v, Friends who will hang like burs upon his coat. 1865Merivale Rom. Emp. VIII. lxiv. 81 It fastens itself like a burr on the memory.
c. The female catkin or ‘cone’ of the hop before fertilization. [Possibly a different word: in Fr. the vine when coming into bud is said to be en bourre; cf. 5.]
1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 396 The male hop has its..pollen previously perfected, so as to impregnate the stigma or bur of the female. Ibid. 403 About the middle of this month [July] the hop..begins to put forth bloom, which is called ‘coming out into bur’. 1881Whitehead Hops 51 It is worse than useless to wash the plants after they are in burr, or blossom.
2. Any plant which produces burs, esp. Arctium lappa (the Burdock), and the genus Xanthium.
1480Cath. Angl. 48 A Burre..paliurus. 1562W. Bullein Bk. Simples 38 a, The great Burre, which is more commonly known then commended. 1585Lloyd Treas. Health F viij, The rote of a little burre sodden in Vinegar. 1634Milton Comus 350 Where may she wander now..amongst rude burs and thistles? 1815Elphinstone Acc. Caubul (1845) I. 33 We found ourselves..among sand-hills, stunted bushes, burs, and phoke. 1842Tennyson Day-Dream 66 Bur and brake and briar.
3. fig. That which clings like a bur; a thing or person difficult to get rid of or ‘shake off’.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 260 Hang off thou cat, thou bur. 1633Heywood Eng. Trav. iii. Wks. 1874 IV. 51 This burre will still cleaue to me; what, no meanes To shake him off? 1690B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Burre, a Hanger on, or Dependant. 1826J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 119 The burr has a pawky expression that's no canny.
4. fig. ‘Bur in the throat’: anything that appears to stick in the throat or that produces a choking sensation, accumulation of phlegm, huskiness; ‘a lump in the throat’.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 306 Smoke and smorþre..Til he be bler-eyed oþer blynde · and þe borre [v.r. burre] in hus þrote. 1609Ev. Wom. in Hum. ii. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Theres hemming indeede, like a Cat..with a burre in her throate. 1641Milton Ch. Govt. Wks. 1738 I. 74 Their honest..natures coming to the Universities..were sent home again with..a scholastical Bur in their throats. 1749Chesterfield Lett. II. ccxiii. 319, I hemm'd once or twice (for it gave me a bur in my throat).
5. a. A knob or knot in a tree; also, one of the ‘buds’ or pimples characteristic of the farcy. [Perhaps a distinct word: cf. F. bourre vine-bud (see 1 c) bourrelet ‘round swelling on a tree’.]
1725Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Maple, That which is fullest of Knots and Burs is of greatest Value. 1725Lond. Gaz. No. 6397/2 Several Burs, Remains of the Farcy. 1869Masters Veg. Terat. 347 The large ‘gnaurs’ or ‘burrs’, met with in elms, etc., also in certain varieties of apples.
b. An ornamental veneering wood or veneer, esp. of walnut, containing knots. Also attrib., as burr-walnut. Cf. burl n.1 4 b.
1885Spons' Mech. Own Bk. 357 Walnut burrs are best cut with scissors. 1901Tradesman's Catal. 1 Bedroom Suite, in solid American Walnut and Burr. 1908Daily Report 5 Sept. 8/2 A burr-walnut armoire. 1923Daily Mail 23 Jan. 1 Sideboard in oak..with finely figured panels of burr walnut. 1938Times 17 Oct. 8/5 The cabinet work is in two shades of burr walnut.
6. a. The rounded knob forming the base of a deer's horn. [Cf. burl, bud of a deer's horn.]
1575Turberv. Bk. Venerie 236 The round roll of pyrled horne that is next to the head of an harte is called the Burre. 1677N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. (1706) 65 The Bur is next the Head; and that which is about the Bur, is called Pearles. 1736Dale in Phil. Trans. XXXIX. 386 The Moose hath a branched Brow-Antler between the Burr and the Palm. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 148 Horns..with a branch above the burr pointing forward.
b. (See quot.)
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Burrs denote bits of flesh adjoining to the horns of a beef's hide, cut off by poor women after it is brought to market.
7. dial. See quots. [? from sense 1.]
1863Atkinson Danby Provinc., N. Riding Yorksh., Bur, the stone or other obstacle placed behind the wheel. 1875Whitby Gloss. (E.D.S.), Bur, (1) an impediment; an annoyance; (2) the drag-chain and shoe for fastening up a carriage wheel when going down a hill.
8. Comb., as bur-breeding, bur-head, bur-leaf-, bur-root; bur-bark, the fibrous bark of Triumfetta semi-triloba, a tropical shrub bearing prickly fruits or burs; bur-flag = bur-reed; bur-grass, Sc. ? a species of Carex; bur-knot = bur 6: bur-marigold, popular name of the genus Bidens; † bur-nettle, perhaps Urtica pilulifera; bur-oak, Quercus macrocarpa of N. America; bur-parsley, the genus Caucalis, esp. C. daucoides, an umbelliferous weed with prickly fruit; bur-reed, common name of the genus Sparganium; bur-thistle, Carduus lanceolatus, also called Spear-thistle; bur-weed, Xanthium strumarium; also other plants producing burs, as Galium aparine (Goose-grass), Caucalis nodosa, and the genus Triumfetta. See also burdock.
1756P. Browne Jamaica 233 The *Bur-Bark. The plant is common in Jamaica.
1630Drayton Muses Elysium iii. (R.) By the rough *bur breeding docks Ranker than the oldest fox.
1834Brit. Husb. i. xxix. 463 A coarse kind of grass called *‘bur-grass’.
1840Browning Sordello v. 412 ‘Spear-heads for battle, *burr-heads for the joust.’
1483Cath. Angl. 48 A *Burre hylle, lappetum, est locus vbi crescunt lappe.
1615Lawson Orch. & Gard. iii. vii. (1668) 15 A *bur-knot..taken from an Apple-tree.
1634Bp. Hall Occas. Med. cxiii. Wks. (1808) 204 On a *bur-leaf. 1833in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. 1. 29.
1879Prior Plant-n., *Bur Marigold, a composite flower allied to the marigold, with seeds that adhere to the clothes like burrs.
1713Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 36 Common *Bur-Nettle.
1815D. Drake Cincinnati ii. 82 The most valuable timber trees are the..*bur oaks. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 704/2 The bur oak (Q. lobata). 1888Ibid. XXIII. 808/1 The burr oak (Q. macrocarpa) has almost as wide a range as the white oak. 1962Victoria & Albert Museum Internat. Art Treasures Exhib. 55/1 A Louis XV Tortoiseshell Casket on burr oak.
1865C. A. Johns in Treas. Bot. I. 241 The *Bur Parsley..is a British plant, growing in corn-fields in a chalky soil.
1597Gerard Herbal i. xxx. §2. 41 These plants of some are called Sparganium..I rather call them *Burre Reede. 1769Sir J. Hill Fam. Herbal (1789) 98 Bur-Reed, a common water-plant, with rough heads of seeds. 1883G. C. Davies in Pall Mall G. 26 Oct. 4/2 The eye to see beauty in bur-reeds and sweet-sedges.
1650tr. Bacon's Life & Death 43 Asparagus, pith of Artichokes and *Burre-roots boiled.
1787Burns Ep. Miss Scott ii, The rough *burr-thistle, spreading wide.
1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) i. s.v. Burr, *Burrweed, Sparganium ramosum. 1882G. Allen Colours of Fl. iv. 84 Unless..like..Xanthium strumarium, burweed, they have declined as far as colourless or green florets.
¶ See also burr n. in all senses.
▪ II. bur, v.1
[f. prec.: cf. also burr n.6]
trans. To remove burs from (wool): see burring.
▪ III. bur, v.2 dial.
[f. bur n. 5.]
trans. (See quots.).
1863Atkinson Danby Provinc., N. Riding Yorksh., Bur, to block or stop the wheel of a waggon or cart..by..a stone. 1876Mid-Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Bur, to maintain an object in position by blockage or leverage, as..a partially raised weight is burred up from the ground with a crowbar.
▪ IV. bur
obs. f. birr, bower n.1 |