burke
verb (used with object)
to murder, as by suffocation, so as to leave no or few marks of violence.
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Burking.
burke
1 American
[burk]
/ bɜrk /
verb (used with object)
burked,
burking
-
to murder, as by suffocation, so as to leave no or few marks of violence.
-
to suppress or get rid of by some indirect maneuver.
Burke
2
American
[burk]
/ bɜrk /
noun
-
Billie Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke, 1886–1970, U.S. actress.
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Edmund, 1729–97, Irish statesman, orator, and writer.
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Kenneth Duva 1897–1993, U.S. literary critic.
Burke
1
British
/ bɜːk /
noun
-
Edmund . 1729–97, British Whig statesman, conservative political theorist, and orator, born in Ireland: defended parliamentary government and campaigned for a more liberal treatment of the American colonies; denounced the French Revolution
-
Robert O'Hara . 1820–61, Irish explorer, who led the first expedition (1860–61) across Australia from south to north. He was accompanied by W. J. Wills, George Grey, and John King; King alone survived the return journey
-
William . 1792–1829, Irish murderer and body snatcher; associate of William Hare
burke
2
British
/ bɜːk /
verb
-
to murder in such a way as to leave no marks on the body, usually by suffocation
-
to get rid of, silence, or suppress
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of burke
After W. Burke, hanged in 1829 in Edinburgh for murders of this kind
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:
I think they used it first for Pethick Lawrence, that man who did so much to run the old militant suffragettes and burke the proper discussion of woman's future.
From Marriage by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
He added: "The Government ... has no disposition or desire to burke the question; it is clearly an issue on which the new House ought to be given an opportunity to express its views."
From The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI by Ida Husted Harper
You cannot, beyond a certain limit of time, burke reality.
From The Free Press by Hilaire Belloc
Confound the greedy hypocrite!" said Bob; "does he think we shall let him burke the line for nothing?
From Stories by English Authors: Scotland (Selected by Scribners) by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
He has never been known to burke a school.
From Anticipations Of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human life and Thought by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Caro Claire Burke, the author of this summer’s runaway bestseller, “Yesteryear,” is one of the book’s greatest champions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
He has often talked about his great-grandfather Edmund "Ned" Burke who lived in Drogheda before emigrating with his family to Liverpool in the late 19th Century.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
That status “justifies range instrumentation, tracking and communications, road and utility work” and cost-sharing partnerships like those the FAA is looking into, Burke wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
Burke insisted that new black lung cases do not reflect current mining conditions, because of the delay in the onset of symptoms.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
When Glenn Burke died, the man who invented the high five could barely lift his hand.
From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner
They burked the challenge then; their half measures of diplomatic ostracism only strengthened Franco with his own people.
From Time Magazine Archive
I am sorry to say that, stenographically speaking, I burked Isaiah, and contented myself with the long-hand abbreviation, Is., and as to the text itself, I thought the first three words would suffice.
From Curious Church Customs and Cognate Subjects by William Andrews
One or two motions for amnesty were burked by the previous question.
From History of the Commune of 1871 by P. Lissagary
Sir Charles's proposal was burked; but he had laid the powder, which was soon after fired and led to the successive explosions around the Parnell Commission.
From The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 29, May 1893 An Illustrated Monthly by Various
They burked the fact that Sprot confessed all these, with one or, perhaps, two exceptions, to be forgeries by himself.
From James VI and the Gowrie Mystery by Andrew Lang
Any tax, therefore, levied on those who have neither land nor money is a crying injustice, except, indeed," he added with bitter irony, "we admit of a small pole-tax to keep down burking.
From Dilemmas of Pride, (Vol 1 of 3) by Margracia Loudon
For there is no burking the truth that in many respects the American woman carries about her a peculiar charm ungranted as yet to her European sisters.
From Post-Prandial Philosophy by Grant Allen
I encounter a Vagualame disguised, who runs as if all the devils of hell were after him ... who makes off with extraordinary agility, whose presence of mind in burking pursuit is marvellous!...
From A Nest of Spies by Marcel Allain
Macdonald's motion provoked charges of burking free discussion, and counter-charges of obstruction, want of patriotism and inclinations towards annexation.
From George Brown by John Lewis
"I'm not even allowed to weed my own garden now," John thought, burking the point at issue; and his disillusionment became so profound that he actually invited Harold to go for a walk with him.
From Poor Relations by Compton MacKenzie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
