▪ I. † ˈburnet, a. and n.1 Obs.
[a. OFr. burnete, brunette in same sense, dim. of brun, brown.]
A. adj. a. Of a dark brown colour.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 Hire mentel grene oðer burnet. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 56 Burnet colowre, burnetum. a 1500 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 569 Burnetus, burnet, color quidam est. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 106 Sa mony diuers hew, Sum pers, sum paill, sum burnet, and sum blew. |
b. absol.| a 1450 Syr Peny v. in Rel. Ant. II. 108 He may gar them trayle syde In burnet and in grene. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 194 The roabes..of Greene or Burnet. |
B. n. A wool-dyed cloth of superior quality,
orig. of dark brown colour.
| 1284 in Rogers Agric. & Prices. II. 536/3. c 1325 Love song in Rel. Ant. II. 19 Of a blak bornet al wos hir wede. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4759 As well be amourettes In mourning blak, as bright burnettes. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Burnet, in middle age writers, denotes brown cloth made of dyed wool. |
| attrib. c 1400 Rom. Rose 226 A burnet cote henge therwithalle. |
¶ See
quot.| 1616 Bullokar, Burnet, a hood, or attire for the head. 1623 in Cockeram. 1678 in Phillips. |
▪ II. burnet, n.2 (
ˈbɜːrnɪt)
[f. prec. from the dark brown colour of its flowers.] 1. The popular name of plants belonging to the genera
Sanguisorba and
Poterium (family Rosaceæ), of which the Great or Common Burnet (
Sanguisorba officinalis) is common in meadows, and the Lesser or Salad Burnet (
Poterium Sanguisorba) on the Chalk. The old herbalists confounded with these the Burnet Saxifrage
Pimpinella Saxifraga, an umbelliferous plant resembling the Burnets in foliage.
| [c 1265 Anglo-Norm. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 557 Burneta, sprungwurt.] c 1400 MS. Sloane 2457, f. 6 (Halliw.) Pympurnolle..Englysch y-called is burnet. c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 25 Burnete [uel burnette]. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters C j, The other is named the greate Pympinella or burnet. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 109 Byrnet openeth the stoppings of the liuer..and helpeth the Jaundies. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 49 The euen Meade, that erst brought sweetly forth The freckled Cowslip, Burnet, and greene Clouer. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 188 Burnet, called in French Pimprenelle or Pimpernelle, is a very common and ordinary Sallet furniture. 1757 Dyer Fleece i. 695 Mix'd with the greens of burnet, mint & thyme. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. xii. (1813) 264 Burnet is a warm perennial sallad herb, used also in cool tankards. 1882 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. No. 3. 461 By the waysides..the common burnet was growing. |
2. Comb., as
burnet blood-wort,
Sanguisorba officinalis;
burnet-buttons, the flower-heads of Burnet;
burnet-fly,
-moth (
Anthrocera or Zygæna filipendulæ), a greenish black moth, with crimson spots on its wings;
burnet-rose, the Scotch Rose (
Rosa spinosissima);
burnet saxifrage,
Pimpinella Saxifraga (
cf. 1);
burnet-sphinx = burnet-moth.
| 1776 Withering Bot. Arrangem. (1801) II. 197 *Burnet Blood-wort, a hard woody plant with winged leaves and a 4-cleft blossom. |
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 124 On the pis⁓mire's castle hill While the *burnet-buttons quak'd. |
| 1885 Pall Mall G. 1 June 5/1 A good *burnett fly, and some harelips hovering overhead. |
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 345/2 The six-spotted *Burnet moth (Anthrocera Filipendulæ)..has six red spots on the superior wings. |
| 1884 Worsley-Benison in Evang. Mag. June 251 The little *Burnet-Rose of our chalk-hills and sandy shores..has white flowers. |
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. iv. §4 *Burnet saxifrage. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. v. 57 Most of them have their little flowers white as..burnet-saxifrage. |
| 1870 J. Clifford in Eng. Mech. 21 Jan. 449 3 In February..the caterpillars of the Six Spotted *Burnet Sphinx (Zygæna Filipendulæ). |
3. In the names of species of moths belonging to the genus
Zygæna;
cf. burnet-moth in 2.
| 1775 M. Harris Engl. Lepidoptera..Catal. Moths & Butterflies 15 English Names... Burnet, sphinx..six spots of scarlet, inferiors scarlet. Burnet, companion... Brown clouded, inferior yellow vein'd with brown. 1832 J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 22 The Melilot Burnet... The Trefoil Burnet... The Five Spot Burnet. 1921 19th Cent. Feb. 273 The Zygaenidae, or Burnets. 1961 R. South Moths 334 The Six-spot Burnet..is the most generally common of our Burnets. |