Part 875

Burl, n. 1. A knot or lump in thread or cloth.

2. An overgrown knot, or an excrescence, on a tree; also, veneer made from such excrescences.

Bur"lap (&?;), n. A coarse fabric, made of jute or hemp, used for bagging; also, a finer variety of similar material, used for curtains, etc. [Written also burlaps.]

Burl"er (&?;), n. One who burls or dresses cloth.

Bur*lesque" (&?;), a. [F. burlesque, fr. It. burlesco, fr. burla jest, mockery, perh. for burrula, dim. of L. burrae trifles. See Bur.] Tending to excite laughter or contempt by extravagant images, or by a contrast between the subject and the manner of treating it, as when a trifling subject is treated with mock gravity; jocular; ironical.

It is a dispute among the critics, whether burlesque poetry runs best in heroic verse, like that of the Dispensary, or in doggerel, like that of Hudibras. Addison.

Bur*lesque" (&?;), n. 1. Ludicrous representation; exaggerated parody; grotesque satire.

Burlesque is therefore of two kinds; the first represents mean persons in the accouterments of heroes, the other describes great persons acting and speaking like the basest among the people. Addison.

2. An ironical or satirical composition intended to excite laughter, or to ridicule anything.

The dull burlesque appeared with impudence, And pleased by novelty in spite of sense. Dryden.

3. A ludicrous imitation; a caricature; a travesty; a gross perversion.

Who is it that admires, and from the heart is attached to, national representative assemblies, but must turn with horror and disgust from such a profane burlesque and abominable perversion of that sacred institute? Burke.

Syn. -- Mockery; farce; travesty; mimicry.

Bur*lesque" (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Burlesqued (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Burlesquing (&?;).] To ridicule, or to make ludicrous by grotesque representation in action or in language.

They burlesqued the prophet Jeremiah's words, and turned the expression he used into ridicule. Stillingfleet.

Bur*lesque", v. i. To employ burlesque.

Bur*les"quer (&?;), n. One who burlesques.

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||Bur*let"ta (bûr*lt"t), n. [It., dim. of burla mockery. See Burlesque, a.] (Mus.) A comic operetta; a music farce. Byron.

Bur"li*ness (bûr"l*ns), n. Quality of being burly.

Bur"ly (bûr"l), a. [OE. burlich strong, excellent; perh. orig. fit for a lady's bower, hence handsome, manly, stout. Cf. Bower.] 1. Having a large, strong, or gross body; stout; lusty; -- now used chiefly of human beings, but formerly of animals, in the sense of stately or beautiful, and of inanimate things that were huge and bulky. "Burly sacks." Drayton.

In his latter days, with overliberal diet, [he was] somewhat corpulent and burly. Sir T. More.

Burly and big, and studious of his ease. Cowper.

2. Coarse and rough; boisterous.

It was the orator's own burly way of nonsense. Cowley.

Bur"man (&?;), n.; pl. Burmans (&?;). ["The softened modern M'yan-ma, M'yan-ma [native name] is the source of the European corruption Burma." Balfour.], (Ethnol.) A member of the Burman family, one of the four great families Burmah; also, sometimes, any inhabitant of Burmah; a Burmese. -- a. Of or pertaining to the Burmans or to Burmah.

Bur" mar"i*gold (&?;). See Beggar's ticks.

Bur`mese" (&?;), a. Of or pertaining to Burmah, or its inhabitants. -- n. sing. & pl. A native or the natives of Burmah. Also (sing.), the language of the Burmans.