birr
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English bir (“favorable or strong wind; assault, blow strike, violence, fury; strength”), from Old English byre (“strong wind, storm”); cognate with Icelandic byrr (“sailing winds”), Albanian borë (“snow”) and Latin borea (“North wind”).
Noun
birr (plural birrs)
Verb
birr (third-person singular simple present birrs, present participle birring, simple past and past participle birred)
- To make a whirring noise; make a noise like that of revolving wheels, or of millstones at work.
References
- Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, 1911
- Dictionary.com, birr
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for birr in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Etymology 2
From Amharic ብር (bir, “silver”)
Synonyms
Old Irish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bʲir͈ʲ/
Adjective
birr
- inflection of berr:
- vocative and genitive singular masculine
- accusative and dative singular feminine
- genitive singular neuter
- nominative plural masculine
Mutation
Old Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Nasalization |
birr | birr pronounced with /v(ʲ)-/ |
mbirr |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |