burke
verb (used with object)
to murder, as by suffocation, so as to leave no or few marks of violence.
Showing results for burke.
Search instead for
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.
-
Edmund, 1729–97, Irish statesman, orator, and writer.
-
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:
Little joy would you have had in most that has befallen since the Reform Bill was passed, to the chivalrous cry of "burke Sir Walter."
From Letters to Dead Authors by Andrew Lang
It has been said that in the delays in bringing forward this subject, I have been anxious to burke discussion.
From Indian speeches (1907-1909) by John Morley
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
Look here—it's no use trying to burke facts.
From Scarhaven Keep by J. S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher
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
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
In a statement, deputy public defender Walid Kandeel said Burke "is entitled to a defense that takes his circumstances seriously and carefully examines the evidence".
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Burke was signed to a multimillion-dollar recording deal at the time of Hernandez’s death.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 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
“He said Glenn Burke never got the high five he deserved.”
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
If luck favoured him he might set his own project on foot before the mayor’s messenger burked it by a civic order.
From The Day of Wrath A Story of 1914 by Louis Tracy
And she had burked the revolution—betrayed it, I suppose—and the consequences did not ensue, and Halderschrodt and all the rest of them were left high and dry.
From The Inheritors by Joseph Conrad
The Mahmal was burked this year, and the fair at Tantah forbidden.
From Letters from Egypt by Janet Ross
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
You don’t suppose as I’m giving up my respectable business of a nat’ralist to go in for burking and doctor’s work, do you?
From A Little World by George Manville Fenn
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
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
It was a singular fact that the really effective means of burking inquiry by the local authorities only occurred to Armathwaite's perplexed brain as he was hurrying back to the Grange.
From The House 'Round the Corner by Louis Tracy
But there is an Ulster difficulty, and no amount of burking it will solve it.
From The Insurrection in Dublin by James Stephens
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.
