birr

Noun (1)

birr (plural birrs)

1. (Scotland) Strength, vigor, energy.
   • Ye'll be sae kind as let me see How this same bird o' yours can flee. T'oblige ye, friend, I winna stand — Syne loos'd the falcon frae his hand. Unhooded, up she sprang wi' birr, While baith stood staring after her.1720, Allan Ramsay, “The Lure”, in Poems
   • Then steer thro' life wi' birr an' vigour1789, Sillar, Poems
2. (Scotland) The force of movement; rush, impetus, momentum, driving force.
   • A chaise in full birr came upon her and knocked her down.1822, Galt, Provost
   • And away down, in full birr, to the Duke's gate.1828, Moir, Mansie Wauch
3. (Scotland) A whirring noise.
   • O' the sounds o' love and joy, There's nane sae pleasant as the birr o' Scotland's spinnin' wheel.1837, Nicoll, Poems
   • Close by the ingle sat his widow Elsie enjoying its warmth, and listening to the birr of her wheel.1851, James Grant, The Scottish Cavalier: An Historical Romance, page 88
4. (Scotland) A strong trilling.
   • Nae mair he will wi' rattlin' birr, Sing to his soul-inspirin' girr, The dormant Gothamites to stir, His powers to heed;1865, Peter Mackenzie, Reminiscences of Glasgow and the West of Scotland, page 213
   • […] can only be accounted for on the supposition that they recognise the resemblance it bears to their national pipe, and believe in nothing without a "sough", whether it be the "birr" of the drone, or the more dissonant but characteristic falsetto that governs the higher notes of the "chaunter".1993, Scottish Studies - Volumes 31-33, page 59

Verb

birr (third-person singular simple present birrs, present participle birring, simple past and past participle birred)

1. (Scotland) To make a whirring noise; make a noise like that of revolving wheels, or of millstones at work.
   • if it is ordained that ye must forget him, ye will banish him from your mind the mair easily that ye ken nae mair o' him than ye do o' the bird that birrs past ye in the wood—that it has a bonny feather in its tail."1869, John Mackay Wilson, Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Vol. XXIII
   • The gudewife birrs wi ' the wheel a' day, Three threeds an' a thrum, Three threeds an' a thrum,1883, Edwin Paxton Hood, Scottish Characteristics, page 336
2. (Scotland) To lurch or set to spinning.
   • His cowt grew reezy, its lang tail 'Twad swash, and lugs wad birr up, At length it cuist him, and did trail Him hame, by fit i'e stirrup,1824, “The Burning O' The Bible”, in John Mactaggart, editor, The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia, page 499
   • She's bow't i' the bacck, has a growth on her shouther, And hirples in daytime when steerin ' frae hame ; But nichtly birrs aff like a rocket o ' puother, And reels ' mang the staurs on a broomstick o ' fame .1889, David Herschell Edwards, editor, One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets, page 192

Noun (2)

UK/bɪə/US/bɪɚ/

birr (plural birrs)

1. The currency of Ethiopia, divided into 100 santims.

   Synonyms:

   ETB

Proper noun capitalized: Birr

Birr (usually uncountable, plural Birrs)

1. (usually) A surname.
2. (usually) A community in Middlesex Centre municipality, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada.
3. (usually) A town in County Offaly, Ireland, originally named Parsonstown (Irish grid ref N 0605).
4. (usually) A municipality in Aargau canton, Switzerland.