Burmoothes, the Bermudas. Beaumont and Fl., Women Pleased, i. 2 (end). See [Bermoothes].
burnish, to grow stout or plump, to fill out; said of the human frame. Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xi, ch. 37; vol. i, p. 345 b (1634); Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 3 (Mrs. Marwood); ‘Femme qui encharge, that grows big on’t, who burnishes, or whose belly increases’, Cotgrave; Dryden, Hind and Panther, i. 390. In prov. use, see EDD.
burnt, branded as a criminal. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II. v. 2 (Cat. Bountinall).
burnt sack, a particular kind of wine heated at the fire, Merry Wives, ii. 1. 222; burnt wine, Heywood, Eng. Traveller, i. 2 (Scapha); burnt claret, The Tatler, no. 36, § 5 (1709).
burre, the lowest of the tines on a stag’s horn. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 21, p. 53. Still in use in Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Burr, sb.1 7), where the word is defined, ‘the ball or knob of a stag’s horn at its juncture with the skull’. See [antlier].
burre, an iron ring on a tilting spear, just behind the place for the hand. ‘Burre or yron of a launce, &c.’, Florio, tr. of Montaigne, ii. 37; in form burgh, Middleton, Roaring Girl, ii. 1 (Moll). ME. burwhe, sercle, ‘orbiculus’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 268). See EDD. (s.v. Burr, sb.6), and NED. (s.v. Burr, sb.1).
burrough, borrow, a pledge, a surety. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1 (Pan); v. 2 (Turfe). ME. borwe, a pledge (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1622). OE. borh (dat. borge).
Burse, an Exchange; esp. the Royal Exchange built by Sir Thomas Gresham in 1566; it contained shops. Massinger, City Madam, iii. 1. 13; Middleton, The Roaring Girl, iv. 1 (Moll’s Song). F. bourse.
bursmen, (perhaps) shopmen; ‘Welcome, still my merchants of bona speranza [i.e. gamblers]; . . what ware deal you in? . . Say, my brave bursmen’, A Woman never vext, ii. 1 (beginning). I think the reference is to keepers of shops in the Burse; see above.
bursten, ruptured. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 3 (Savil). In common prov. use (with various pronunciations), see EDD. (s.v. Burst, vb. 2).