Thesaurus: burke

Related headwords

Definitions

1. v. t. 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. v. t. To dispose of quietly or indirectly; to suppress; to smother; to shelve; as, to burke a parliamentary question.
3. v. murder without leaving a trace on the body
4. v. get rid of, silence, or suppress
5. 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.
6. n. British statesman famous for his oratory; pleaded the cause of the American colonists in British Parliament and defended the parliamentary system (1729-1797) v. murder without leaving a trace on the body v. get rid of, silence, or suppress