Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Burke"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Burke \Burke\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Burked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Burking}.] [From one Burke of Edinburgh, who committed the
crime in 1829.]
1. To murder by suffocation, or so as to produce few marks of
violence, for the purpose of obtaining a body to be sold
for dissection.
2. To dispose of quietly or indirectly; to suppress; to
smother; to shelve; as, to burke a parliamentary question.
The court could not burke an inquiry, supported by
such a mass of a affidavits. --C. Reade.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
Burke
n 1: English statesman famous for his oratory; pleaded the cause
of the American colonists in Parliament and defended the
parliamentary system (1729-1797) [syn: {Burke}, {Edmund
Burke}]
2: American frontierswoman and legendary figure of the Wild
West noted for her marksmanship (1852-1903) [syn: {Burk},
{Martha Jane Burk}, {Burke}, {Martha Jane Burke}, {Calamity
Jane}]
v 1: murder without leaving a trace on the body
2: get rid of, silence, or suppress; "burke an issue"
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.