burke
/bɜː(ɹ)k/UK/bɜːk/
burke verb: to murder by suffocation. Also the alternative form of berk.
Verb
burke (third-person singular simple present burkes, present participle burking, simple past and past participle burked)
- To murder by suffocation.
- As soon as the executioner proceeded to his duty, the cries of ‘Burke him, Burke him—give him no rope’... were vociferated... ‘Burke Hare too!’1829 February 2, Times (London), 3/5
- To murder for the same purpose as Burke, to kill in order to have a body to sell to anatomists, surgeons, etc.
- "I don’t know that," interrupted the landlady; "Williams is a good hanging name: there was Williams who murdered the Marr's family, and Williams who burked all those poor dear children; I dare say he is some relation of theirs; but to think of his coming to the White Hart—it's no place for his...1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, The Keepsake 1833, One Peep was Enough, pages 303–304
- Perhaps he is Burked, and his body sold for nine pounds.1833, T. Hook, Parson's Daughter, II. i. 26
- To smother; to conceal, hush up, suppress.
- The reporters left it out... Those who spoke in favour of the poor men, were what the reporters call burked.1835, J. A. Roebuck, Dorchester Labourers, 6/1 (note)
- He put away—burked—the Directors' letter, and went in to talk to Riley1888, Rudyard Kipling, “A Bank Fraud,”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 128
Proper noun capitalized: Burke
Burke (countable and uncountable, plural Burkes)
- A topographical surname from Anglo-Norman for someone who lived in a fortified place.
- A ghost town in Shoshone County, Idaho.
- A town and village therein, in Franklin County, New York.
- A small city, the county seat of Gregory County, South Dakota.
- A minor city in Angelina County, Texas.
- A town in Caledonia County, Vermont, named after Edmund Burke.
- A census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia.
- An unincorporated community in Grant County, Washington.
- A town and unincorporated community therein, in Dane County, Wisconsin, named after Edmund Burke.
- A local government area in north-west Queensland, Australia, named after Robert O'Hara Burke; in full, the Shire of Burke.
Also used as
burke is also the alternative form of berk.
Forms of burke
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | burkes |
| present participle | burking |
| past participle | burked |
| past | burked |
| Noun | |
| plural | burkes |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Burkes |
| alternative form | de Burgh |
| alternative form | Burgh |
| alternative form | Bourke |
| alternative form | Burgo |
| alternative form | Burk |
| alternative form | de Burgo |
| alternative form | de Búrca |
Origin of burke
Eponymous, from William Burke.
From an Anglo-Norman pronunciation of burg.
Words formed from burke
Words that rhyme with burke
Questions about burke
- What does burke mean?
- Burke means to murder by suffocation.
- What part of speech is burke?
- Burke can be a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce burke?
- Burke is pronounced /bɜː(ɹ)k/.
- What is the past tense of burke?
- The past tense of burke is burked.
Words near burke in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: burke (page history and authors); Burke (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-burke.ogg.
Cite this entry: “burke.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/burke. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.