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The offense of violating the pledge given by every inhabitant of a tithing to keep the peace; breach of the peace. Burrill.

An ironical or satirical composition intended to excite laughter, or to ridicule anything. The dull burlesque appeared with impudence, And pleased by novelty in spite of sense. Dryden.

n beings, but formerly of animals, in the sense of stately or beautiful, and of inanimate things that were huge and bulky. "Burly sacks." Drayton. In his latter days, with overliberal diet, [he was] somewhat corpulent and burly. Sir T. More. Burly and big, and studious of his ease. Cowper.

One who, or that which, burns or sets fire to anything.

shine; to make smooth and bright; to polish; specifically, to polish by rubbing with something hard and smooth; as, to burnish brass or paper. The frame of burnished steel, that east a glare From far, and seemed to thaw the freezing air. Dryden. Now the village windows blaze, Burnished by the setting sun. Cunningham.…

ol with a hard, smooth, rounded end or surface, as of steel, ivory, or agate, used in smoothing or polishing by rubbing. It has a variety of forms adapted to special uses.

urnt ear, a black, powdery fungus which destroys grain. See Smut. -- Burnt offering, something offered and burnt on an altar, as an atonement for sin; a sacrifice. The offerings of the Jews were a clean animal, as an ox, a calf, a goat, or a sheep; or some vegetable substance, as bread, or ears of wheat or barley. Cal…

To exert force or pressure by which something is made suddenly to give way; to break through obstacles or limitations; hence, to appear suddenly and unexpecedly or unaccountably, or to depart in such manner; -- usually with some qualifying adverb or preposition, as forth, out, away, into, upon, through, etc. Tears, suc…

To cover out of sight, either by heaping something over, or by placing within something, as earth, etc.; to conceal by covering; to hide; as, to bury coals in ashes; to bury the face in the hands. And all their confidence Under the weight of mountains buried deep. Milton.

The tail, or brush, of a fox. To beat about the bush, to approach anything in a round-about manner, instead of coming directly to it; -- a metaphor taken from hunting. -- Bush bean (Bot.), a variety of bean which is low and requires no support (Phaseolus vulgaris, variety nanus). See Bean, 1. -- Bush buck, or Bush go…

e. [Obs.] Chaucer. To do one's business, to ruin one. [Colloq.] Wycherley. -- To make (a thing) one's business, to occupy one's self with a thing as a special charge or duty. [Colloq.] -- To mean business, to be earnest. [Colloq.]

Something huge; a roistering blade; also, a spree. [Slang, U.S.] Bartlett.

others; a meddling person. And not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. 1 Tim. v. 13.

The thicker end of anything. See But.

Apt to let things fall, or to let them slip away; slippery; careless.

e of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, as a door.

Anything which supports or strengthens. "The ground pillar and buttress of the good old cause of nonconformity." South. Flying buttress. See Flying buttress.

To acquire or procure by something given or done in exchange, literally or figuratively; to get, at a cost or sacrifice; to buy pleasure with pain. Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. Prov. xxiii. 23. To buy again. See Againbuy. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- To buy off. (a) To influenc…

Out of the common path; aside; -- used in composition, giving the meaning of something aside, secondary, or incidental, or collateral matter, a thing private or avoiding notice; as, by-line, by-place, by-play, by-street. It was formerly more freely used in composition than it is now; as, by-business, by-concernment, by…

An appendage; that which depends on something else, or is distinct from the main dependence; an accessory. Shak.