Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Birch.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Northern English and Scotch form of
birch . - To give a tart answer; converse in a sharp and cutting way.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A small European minnow (
Leuciscus phoxinus ). - noun Prov. Eng. A birch tree.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A birch tree.
- noun zoology A small European
minnow (Leuciscus phoxinus ). - noun UK, slang Alternative spelling of
berk .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Examples
-
I've often wondered why it is pronounced "birk" when it derives from berkeley hoon.
-
I was at the birk store with a friend who was trying them on.
-
I spent ten years at the part-time working, child-caring, birk-wearing partner type.
-
I won't even make you get rid of the birk but only one?
-
I was at the birk store with a friend who was trying them on.
-
Sons o birk an pine an rowan, Jocks an Ivans by the score
-
In Scotland the channering worm doth chide even the souls that come from where, "beside the gate of Paradise, the birk grows fair enough."
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy"
-
'Twas when the wan leaf frae the birk-tree was fa'in ', vol. ii.,
The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume VI The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century
-
Oh, hast thou forgotten the birk-tree's shade, vol. iv.,
The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume VI The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century
-
The angelica is like the green birk of that superb fragment, the ballad of the Wife of Usher's Well -- a little more frankly heathen, of course --
hernesheir commented on the word birk
A lovely Scottish strathspey called "The Birks of Invermay" was published in William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius in 1733. The charming melody honors Invermay House and Estate on the northern edge of the Ochil Hills of central Perth and Kinross.
The tune will always be associated with the
May 24, 2010