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n. [ L. alburnus, fr. L. albus white. Cf. Auburn. ] (Zool.) The bleak, a small European fish having scales of a peculiarly silvery color which are used in making artificial pearls. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to alburnum; of the alburnum; as, alburnous substances. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., fr. albus white. ] (Bot.) The white and softer part of wood, between the inner bark and the hard wood or duramen; sapwood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Anbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. ampre, ompre, a crooked swelling vein: cf. Prov. E. amper a tumor with inflammation. Cf. the first syllable in agnail, and berry a fruit. ] 1. (Far.) A soft tumor or bloody wart on horses or oxen. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A disease of the roots of turnips, etc.; -- called also fingers and toes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl. Hist.) One who seceded from the Scottish Burghers (1747), deeming it improper to take the Burgess oath. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. auburne blonde, OF. alborne, auborne, fr. LL. alburnus whitish, fr. L. albus white. Cf. Alburn. ] 1. Flaxen-colored. [ Obs. ] Florio. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Reddish brown. [ 1913 Webster ]

His auburn locks on either shoulder flowed. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A battle in which the Scots under Robert the Bruce defeated the English and assured the independence of Scotland. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ So called in allusion to the fable of the man who burned his barn in order to rid it of rats. ] 1. A member of the radical section of the Democratic party in New York, about the middle of the 19th century, which was hostile to extension of slavery, public debts, corporate privileges, etc., and supported Van Buren against Cass for president in 1848; -- opposed to Hunker. [ Political Cant, U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. an impressively successful or unusually good event. [ informal ] ”The rock concert was a real barnburner.” [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A furnace or stove in which the fuel is contained in a hopper or chamber, and is fed to the fire as the lower stratum is consumed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a fried cake of minced beef served on a bun.
Syn. -- hamburger. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

[ Named from Mrs. Blackburn, an English lady. ] (Zool.) A beautiful warbler of the United States (Dendroica Blackburniæ). The male is strongly marked with orange, yellow, and black on the head and neck, and has an orange-yellow breast. [ 1913 Webster ]

A sweet and juicy variety of European grape, of a dark purplish black color, much grown under glass in northern latitudes. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ So named after Brandenburg, a province and a town of Prussia. ] A kind of decoration for the breast of a coat, sometimes only a frog with a loop, but in some military uniforms enlarged into a broad horizontal stripe. [ 1913 Webster ]

He wore a coat . . . trimmed with Brandenburgs. Smollett. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ See Bude light. ] A burner consisting of two or more concentric Argand burners (the inner rising above the outer) and a central tube by which oxygen gas or common air is supplied. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Burundi. Population (2000) = 300, 000. [ PJC ]

(Chem.), a kind of burner, invented by Professor Bunsen of Heidelberg, consisting of a straight tube, four or five inches in length, having small holes for the entrance of air at the bottom. Illuminating gas being also admitted at the bottom, a mixture of gas and air is formed which burns at the top with a feebly luminous but intensely hot flame. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a light gabardine raincoat of the type made by Burberry's of London. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. to to make a burbling sound; -- used of water, especially brooks.
Syn. -- ripple, babble, guggle, bubble, gurgle. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. uttered with unrestrained enthusiasm; as, a novel told in burbly panting tones.
Syn. -- effusive, gushing. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. bubbling; -- of sounds, especially of water. [ PJC ]

n. A birdbolt. [ Obs. ] Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. barbote, fr. barbe beard. See 1st Barb. ] (Zool.) A fresh-water fish of the genus Lota, having on the nose two very small barbels, and a larger one on the chin. [ Written also burbolt. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The fish is also called an eelpout or ling, and is allied to the codfish. The Lota vulgaris is a common European species. An American species (Lota maculosa) is found in New England, the Great Lakes, and farther north. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. bourdelais, prob. fr. bordelais. See Bordelais. ] A sort of grape. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Written also burthen. ] [ OE. burden, burthen, birthen, birden, AS. byrðen; akin to Icel. byrði, Dan. byrde, Sw. börda, G. bürde, OHG. burdi, Goth. baúrþei, fr. the root of E. bear, AS. beran, Goth. bairan. √92. See 1st Bear. ] 1. That which is borne or carried; a load. [ 1913 Webster ]

Plants with goodly burden bowing. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is borne with labor or difficulty; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive. [ 1913 Webster ]

Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone,
To all my friends a burden grown. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry; as, a ship of a hundred tons burden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Metal.) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace. Raymond. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A fixed quantity of certain commodities; as, a burden of gad steel, 120 pounds. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A birth. [ Obs. & R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Beast of burden, an animal employed in carrying burdens. --
Burden of proof [ L. onus probandi ] (Law), the duty of proving a particular position in a court of law, a failure in the performance of which duty calls for judgment against the party on whom the duty is imposed. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Burden, Load. A burden is, in the literal sense, a weight to be borne; a load is something laid upon us to be carried. Hence, when used figuratively, there is usually a difference between the two words. Our burdens may be of such a nature that we feel bound to bear them cheerfully or without complaint. They may arise from the nature of our situation; they may be allotments of Providence; they may be the consequences of our errors. What is upon us, as a load, we commonly carry with greater reluctance or sense of oppression. Men often find the charge of their own families to be a burden; but if to this be added a load of care for others, the pressure is usually serve and irksome. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Burdened p. pr. & vb. n. Burdening ] 1. To encumber with weight (literal or figurative); to lay a heavy load upon; to load. [ 1913 Webster ]

I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened. 2 Cor. viii. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To oppress with anything grievous or trying; to overload; as, to burden a nation with taxes. [ 1913 Webster ]

My burdened heart would break. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable). [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

It is absurd to burden this act on Cromwell. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To load; encumber; overload; oppress. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. burdoun the bass in music, F. bourdon; cf. LL. burdo drone, a long organ pipe, a staff, a mule. Prob. of imitative origin. Cf. Bourdon. ] 1. The verse repeated in a song, or the return of the theme at the end of each stanza; the chorus; refrain. Hence: That which is often repeated or which is dwelt upon; the main topic; as, the burden of a prayer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I would sing my song without a burden. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The drone of a bagpipe. Ruddiman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Burdon. ] A club. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. bearing a heavy load; as, a hiker burdened with a heavy backpack.
Syn. -- heavy-laden, laden, weighed down. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who loads; an oppressor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Burdensome. [ Obs. ] “Burdenous taxations.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Grievous to be borne; causing uneasiness or fatigue; oppressive. [ 1913 Webster ]

The debt immense of endless gratitude
So burdensome. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Heavy; weighty; cumbersome; onerous; grievous; oppressive; troublesome. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Bur"den*some*ly, adv. -- Bur"den*some*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Bur + dock the plant. ] (Bot.) A genus of coarse biennial herbs (Lappa), bearing small burs which adhere tenaciously to clothes, or to the fur or wool of animals. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The common burdock is the Lappa officinalis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Bourdon. ] A pilgrim's staff. [ Written also burden. ] Rom. of R. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. E. Bureaus F. Bureaux [ F. bureau a writing table, desk, office, OF., drugget, with which a writing table was often covered, equiv. to F. bure, and fr. OF. buire dark brown, the stuff being named from its color, fr. L. burrus red, fr. Gr. &unr_; flame-colored, prob. fr. &unr_; fire. See Fire, n., and cf. Borel, n. ] 1. Originally, a desk or writing table with drawers for papers. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The place where such a bureau is used; an office where business requiring writing is transacted. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence: A department of public business requiring a force of clerks; the body of officials in a department who labor under the direction of a chief. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ On the continent of Europe, the highest departments, in most countries, have the name of bureaux; as, the Bureau of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In England and America, the term is confined to inferior and subordinate departments; as, the “Pension Bureau, ” a subdepartment of the Department of the Interior. [ Obs. ] In Spanish, bureo denotes a court of justice for the trial of persons belonging to the king's household. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A chest of drawers for clothes, especially when made as an ornamental piece of furniture. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Bureau system. See Bureaucracy. --
Bureau Veritas, an institution, in the interest of maritime underwriters, for the survey and rating of vessels all over the world. It was founded in Belgium in 1828, removed to Paris in 1830, and reëstablished in Brussels in 1870. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Bureau + Gr. &unr_; to be strong, to govern, &unr_; strength: cf. F. bureaucratie. ] 1. A system of carrying on the business of government by means of departments or bureaus, each under the control of a chief, in contradiction to a system in which the officers of government have an associated authority and responsibility; also, government conducted on this system. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Government officials, collectively; -- used especially of nonelected government officials. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. An official of a bureau; esp. an official confirmed in a narrow and arbitrary routine. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the formal and often obscure style of writing characteristic of some government officials; officialese; -- it is characterized by euphemisms, circumlocutions, vague abstractions, and circumlocutions. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

{ } a. [ Cf. F. bureaucratique. ] Of, relating to, or resembling, a bureaucracy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. nonelective government officials; same as bureaucracy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. An advocate for, or supporter of, bureaucracy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. & a. Same as Borrel. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., can, cruet, dim. of buire flagon. ] (Chem.) An apparatus for delivering measured quantities of liquid or for measuring the quantity of liquid or gas received or discharged. It consists essentially of a graduated glass tube, usually furnished with a small aperture and stopcock. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) A spinose, plectognath fish of the Allantic coast of the United States (esp. Chilo mycterus geometricus) having the power of distending its body with water or air, so as to resemble a chestnut bur; -- called also ball fish, balloon fish, and swellfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. burh, burg, cf. LL. burgus. See 1st Borough. ] 1. A fortified town. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A borough. [ Eng. ] See 1st Borough. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Burg: cf. F. bourgage, LL. burgagium. ] (Eng. Law) A tenure by which houses or lands are held of the king or other lord of a borough or city; at a certain yearly rent, or by services relating to trade or handicraft. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A small marine fish; -- also called cunner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Bergamot. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Burgonet. [ 1913 Webster ]