burnsides
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of burnsides
An Americanism dating back to 1870–75; named after General A.E. Burnside
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.
It is generally believed by people who speak flippantly of 'side-burns,' 'sideboards,' etc., that burnsides were so named because they cluttered up both sides of their proprietor's countenance.
From Time Magazine Archive
The old bedesman delighted “to daunder down the burnsides and green shaws.”
From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
This strange assortment of whiskers of different fashions on various parts of his face, imperial, goatee, burnsides, he brought back with him.
From Walking-Stick Papers by Holliday, Robert Cortes
Nobody cares a rap whether Saunders, middle-aged and unheroic bachelor, with his precise little "burnsides," won the heart of the pert Miss Pelham, precise in character if not always so in type.
From The Man from Brodney's by McCutcheon, George Barr
The men are very partial to "burnsides" and wear their hair pretty long, combed wet and stroked down so as to look smooth and glossy.
From The Youthful Wanderer An Account of a Tour through England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany by Heffner, George H.
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.
