different between scratch vs burr

English

Etymology

From Middle English scracchen, of uncertain origin. Probably a blend of Middle English scratten (“to scratch”) and cracchen (“to scratch”). More at scrat and cratch.

Pronunciation

• enPR: skr?ch, IPA^(key): /sk?æt?/
• Rhymes: -æt?

Verb

scratch (third-person singular simple present scratches, present participle scratching, simple past and past participle scratched)

1. To rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.
   • 1733, Jonathan Swift, On Poetry, a Rhapsody

     Be mindful, when invention fails, / To scratch your head, and bite your nails.

2. To rub the skin with rough material causing a sensation of irritation; to cause itching.
   1. For a man, when kissing someone, to irritate the skin of that person with one's unshaven beard.
3. To mark a surface with a sharp object, thereby leaving a scratch (noun).

4. To cross out, strike out, strike through some text on a page.
   1. Hence, to remove, ignore or delete.

5. (music) To produce a distinctive sound on a turntable by moving a vinyl record back and forth while manipulating the crossfader (see also scratching).
6. (billiards) To commit a foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.

7. (billiards, dated, US) To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate chance of the game.
8. To write or draw hastily or awkwardly; scrawl.
9. (transitive, intransitive) To dig or excavate with the claws.

10. To dig or scrape (a person's skin) with claws or fingernails in self-defense or with the intention to injure.

Synonyms

• scrattle

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

scratch (countable and uncountable, plural scratches)

1. A disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching.
   • 1677-1684, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises

     The coarse file […] makes deep scratches in the work.

   • 1709, Matthew Prior, Henry and Emma, line 503

     These nails with scratches deform my breast.
2. An act of scratching the skin to alleviate an itch or irritation.

3. (sports)
   1. A starting line (originally and simply, a line scratched in the ground), as in boxing.

      (Can we find and add a quotation of Grose to this entry?)

   2. A technical error of touching or surpassing the starting mark prior to the official start signal in the sporting events of long jump, discus, hammer throw, shot put, and similar. Originally the starting mark was a scratch on the ground but is now a board or precisely indicated mark.
   3. (cycling) The last riders to depart in a handicap race.
   4. (billiards) An aberration.
      1. A foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.
      2. (archaic, US, slang) A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke.
   5. (horse racing) A horse withdrawn from a race prior to the start.

4. (slang) Money.
   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p. 153:

     He and Bruce cooked up a script together, and Bruce flew home to raise the scratch.

5. A feed, usually a mixture of a few common grains, given to chickens.
6. (in the plural) Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy.
   • 1887, James Law, The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser

     These are exemplified in the scurfy, scaly affections which appear in the bend of the knee (mallenders) and hock (sallenders) and on the lower parts of the limbs, by scratches, and by a scaly exfoliation […].

7. (now historical) A scratch wig.
   • 1775, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 26 March:

     [H]e turned to him with a dejected Face, and said ‘ – pray Sir, – could you touch up This a little?’ taking hold of his frightful scratch.

8. (music) A genre of Virgin Islander music, better known as fungi.

Synonyms

• (Virgin Islander music): fungi, quelbe

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

scratch (not comparable)

1. For or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc. work.

2. Hastily assembled, arranged or constructed, from whatever materials are to hand, with little or no preparation
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2004, p. 740:

     Bluecoats began crossing the James on June 14 and next day two corps approached Petersburg, which was held by Beauregard with a scratch force of 2,500.

3. (computing, from scratchpad) Relating to a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary use.
4. (sports) (of a player) Of a standard high enough to play without a handicap, i.e. to compete without the benefit of a variation in scoring based on ability.

Derived terms

• scratch sheet

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “scratch”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• The Jargon File - Scratch

French

Etymology

From English scratch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk?at?/

Noun

scratch m (plural scratchs)

1. Velcro

Synonyms

• velcro

Italian

Etymology

From English scratch.

Noun

scratch m (invariable)

1. (music) scratch

Spanish

Etymology

From English scratch.

Noun

scratch m (plural scratchs)

1. (music) scratch

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /b?/
• Homophones: Burr, brr
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English burre, perhaps related to Old English byrst (“bristle”). Cognate with Danish burre, borre (“burdock, burr”), Swedish borre (“sea-urchin”).

Noun

burr (plural burrs)

1. A sharp, pointy object, such as a sliver or splinter.
2. A bur; a seed pod with sharp features that stick in fur or clothing.

   Synonym: sticker

   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, X:

     But cockle, spurge, according to their law / Might propagate their kind, with none to awe, / You'd think; a burr had been a treasure trove.

3. A small piece of material left on an edge after a cutting operation.
4. A thin flat piece of metal, formed from a sheet by punching; a small washer put on the end of a rivet before it is swaged down.
5. A broad iron ring on a tilting lance just below the grip, to prevent the hand from slipping.
6. The ear lobe.
7. The knot at the bottom of an antler.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic, influenced by bur. Compare to French bruire

Noun

burr (plural burrs)

1. A rough humming sound.
2. A uvular "r" sound, or (by extension) an accent characterized by this sound.

Translations

Verb

burr (third-person singular simple present burrs, present participle burring, simple past and past participle burred)

1. (transitive) To pronounce with a uvular "r".
2. (intransitive) To make a rough humming sound.
   • 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Collins, 1998, Chapter 7,

     The first thing Lucy noticed as she went in was a burring sound, and the first thing she saw was a kind-looking old she-beaver sitting in the corner with a thread in her mouth working busily at her sewing machine, and it was from it that the sound came.

Translations

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain.

Noun

burr (plural burrs)

1. (historical) A metal ring at the top of the hand-rest on a spear.

Etymology 4

From burl.

Noun

burr (plural burrs)

1. (Britain) Alternative spelling of burl

Albanian

Alternative forms

• bunnë (Gheg)
• burrë (Standard, Tosk)

Noun

burr

1. (Gheg) husband
2. (Gheg) man

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *buriz (“male offspring; son”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?er- (“to bear, carry, bring”). Cognate with Old English byre, Gothic ???????????????? (baur).

Noun

burr m

1. son
   1. (when preceded by genitive of j?rð) kenning for Thor.
      • verse 1 of the Þrýmskviða, (1936 translation by Henry Adams Bellows)

2. poet

Declension

Synonyms

• (son): sonr

Descendants

• Icelandic: bur

References

• burr in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Yatzachi Zapotec

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish burro.

Noun

burr (possessed xpurr)

1. donkey
2. donkey-load

Derived terms

References

• Butler H., Inez M. (2000) Diccionario zapoteco de Yatzachi: Yatzachi el Bajo, Yatzachi el Alto, Oaxaca (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 37)?^[6], second electronic edition, Coyoacán, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 31