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Showing results for bourn. Search instead for bournes.
Synonyms

bourn

1 American  
[bawrn, bohrn] / bɔrn, boʊrn /
Or bourne

noun

Scot. and North England.
  1. burn.


bourn 2 American  
[bawrn, bohrn, boorn] / bɔrn, boʊrn, bʊərn /

noun

Archaic.
  1. a bound; limit.

  2. destination; goal.

  3. realm; domain.


bourn 1 British  
/ bɔːn /

noun

  1. a destination; goal

  2. a boundary

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

bourn 2 British  
/ bɔːn /

noun

  1. a stream, esp an intermittent one in chalk areas Compare burn 2

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of bourn

1515–25; earlier borne < Middle French, Old French, originally a Picard form of bodne; see bound 3


Vocabulary lists containing bourn

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Paul Reubens has left the Earth, riding a sporty red-and-white bicycle into that Puppetland from whose bourn no traveler returns, but leaving us with his great creation and alter ego: Pee-wee Herman.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2023

In other words, was Hamlet right to call death an inescapable boundary, “the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns?”

From New York Times ● Jan. 21, 2021

It is the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns and all that.

From Slate ● May 9, 2018

Beyond the bestsellers: Michael Dirda picks 12 books for the holidays Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” writes vividly, if not quite accurately, of “the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns.”

From Washington Post ● Dec. 16, 2015

O’er your dark bourn the soul will spring To Him who loves to save.

From Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion by Various

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