The Sailor's Word-Book / An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc.

by W. H. Smyth

BURGOMASTER. In the Arctic Sea, a large species of gull (Larus glaucus).

BURGONET. A steel head-piece, or kind of helmet. Shakspeare makes Cleopatra, alluding to Antony, exclaim—

"The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
And burgonet of men."

In the second part of "Henry VI." Clifford threatens Warwick—

"And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear,
And tread it underfoot with all contempt."

BURGOO. A seafaring dish made of boiled oatmeal seasoned with salt, butter, and sugar. (See [Loblolly] and [Skilly].)

BURLEY. The butt-end of a lance.

BURLEY-TWINE. A strong and coarse twine or small string.

BURN, or Bourne. The Anglo-Saxon term for a small stream or brook, originating from springs, and winding through meadows, thus differing from a beck. Shakspeare makes Edgar say in "King Lear"—

"Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me."