▪ I. † ˈbury, n. Obs.
Also 6 bery, 7 berry.
[Originally dative of burh: see borough 1 b.]
A manor-house, or large farm; a specialization of the OE. burh, byriᵹ ‘an enclosed or fortified place’ which still survives in many local names.
| 1175–1576 [see borough 1 b]. 1598 Stow Surv. xxxiii. (1603) 294 The name of Aldermans burie (which is to say a Court) there kept in their Bery or Court-hall. 1654 Gayton Fest. Notes iii. vi. 106 They went untill they came to a Bury. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Berry..The chief house of a Manor, or the Lords seat is so called..to this day; especially in Herefordshire, where there are the Berries of Luston, Stockton, etc. |
▪ II. bury, v.
(ˈbɛrɪ)
Forms: 1 byrᵹ(e)an, byriᵹan, 2 byrien, 3 birrȝenn (Orm.), 3–5 burien, byry(en, birien, 4 birin, 5 byryyn, byryn, beryyn, berry, 3–5 biry, beri(e, 4–6 bery, byry, (6 byrry, byrrey, burrey, burry, burye, bewry, 7 buerie, bure), 4 burye, 4–7 burie, 4– bury. Also Sc. 5 beryss, 6 berisch.
[OE. byrᵹan wk. v.:—WGer. *burgjan (of which the only other trace is the OS. derivative burgisli n. = buriels), app. f. burg- ablaut-stem of OTeut. *berg-an str. v. to protect, cover: see bergh v. The Scotch forms beryss, berisch, appear to follow the analogy of words from French like peryss, perisch.]
1. a. To deposit (a corpse) in the ground, in a tomb; to inter. Hence to commit (a corpse) to the sea, with appropriate funeral rites.
| a 1000 Hymns (Gr.) x. 29 Þone ᵹeomormod Josep byriᵹde. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137. §7, & sythen byrieden him. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2520 Hise oðre breðere..Woren ybiried at ebron. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 489 He deit soyn, and beryit was. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13674 Ascatus..Gert bryng hom to burgh, birit hom faire. c 1440 York Myst. xvii. 285 Sen thy body beryed shalbe, This mirre will I giffe to þi grauyng. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. 51 Thame that will nocht berisch or erde the bodis of thair freindis on the North part of the kirk yard. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iii. 155 Ile be buryed in the Kings high-way. 1635 Tom a Lincolne ii. in Thoms Prose Rom. (1858) II. 344 Buring him inhumanly upon a dunghill. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 1 Let us bury the Great Duke. |
b. Said of the surviving relatives: hence, to have buried (one's relatives) = to have lost them by death.
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 215 ¶4 My elder Sister buried her Husband about Six Months ago. 1723 S. Morland Spec. Lat. Dict. 11 To Bury, as one buries his Relations when he survives them, Efferre. |
c. Said of the religious functionary who celebrates the rites which accompany interment.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 51 So no þing be askid..for dead to be byried. 1401 Pol. Poems & Songs (1859) II. 87 Whi..wil we not..birien the pore as wel as the riche? Mod. ‘I never object to bury a dissenter; indeed I should be most happy to bury them all.’ |
d. absol.
| 1552–3 Inv. Ch. Goods Staffs. in Ann. Diocese Lichfield IV. 46, Xls. peyd to the bysshope for his laysance to byrrey. 1854 Card. Wiseman Fabiola ii. xi. 145 There is no evidence of the Christians having buried anywhere, anteriorly to the construction of catacombs. |
e. fig.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 51 Hwenne þu scrift underuongest þenne buriest þu þine sunnen. 1382 Wyclif Rom. vi. 4 We ben to gidere biried with him bi cristendom in to deeth. a 1555 Lyndesay Trag. 427 Ȝe Prencis and Prelatis..Sall bureit be in hell. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 423 Thou didst kil my Children. But in your daughters wombe I bury them. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) I. iii. 119 His first care must have been to bury the evidence in the graves of his associates. 1875 Jowett Plato, Gorgias (ed. 2) II. 393 He would bury you under a mountain of words. |
2. a. To put under ground for the same purposes as a corpse, e.g. to bury a person alive; to consign to the ground any carcase, decaying organized matter, rubbish, etc.; also, other things, in sign of their final abandonment or abrogation. to bury the hatchet: to put away strife, settle a quarrel, in allusion to the American-Indian ceremony of burying a tomahawk on the conclusion of a peace.
| 1535 Coverdale Jer. xxii. 19 As an Asse shall he be buried. 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 55 I'le breake my staffe, Bury it certaine fadomes in the earth. |
| [1680 S. Sewall in New England Hist. & Genealogical Reg. (1870) XXIV. 121 Meeting w{supt}{suph} y⊇ Sachem the[y] came to an agreemt and buried two Axes in y⊇ Ground;..which ceremony to them is more significant & binding than all Articles of Peace the Hatchet being a principal weapon w{supt}{suph} y{supm}.] 1754 in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1836) 3rd Ser. V. 10 We have ordered..our Governor of New York to hold an interview with them [sc. the Six Nations] for delivering those presents, [and] for burying the hatchet. 1796 ‘P. Pindar’ Wks. IV. 485 Gentle Reader, Wouldst thou not have imagined that the war hatchet was buried for ever? 1794, etc. [see hatchet n. 2]. 1884 Harper's Mag. Feb. 412/2 She buried the hatchet. 1954 I. Murdoch Under Net xiv. 189 It is possible to break the ice without burying the hatchet. |
b. fig. To consign to oblivion, put out of the way, abandon and forget.
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. i. 55 In your Bride you bury Brotherhood. 1601 ― Jul. C. iv. iii. 159 Giue me a bowl of wine, In this I bury all vnkindnesse Cassius. 1670 J. Law Let. in Lauderdale Papers (1885) III. App. i. 234 To burie presbiterian government with their oun consent. 1712 Addr. Cambridge in Lond. Gaz. No. 5027/5 May Faction be buried. 1885 A. B. Ellis W. Afric. Isl. xi. 263 The natives..had buried their own differences and united to repel the invaders. |
c. To consign to a position of obscurity, inaccessibility, or inaction; often refl. and pass.
| 1711 Vind. Sacheverell 74 It would be a pity to bury so promising a young Gentleman in such a place. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 186, I looked upon myself as one buried alive in a remote part of the world. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 100 ¶1 Many well disposed persons..are so unfortunate as to be totally buried in the country. 1782 Cowper Truth 443 Sorrow might..Bury herself in solitude profound. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth (1860) 5 To retire from the world and bury herself in the recesses of the cloister. |
3. a. Without restriction of purpose: To deposit or hide under ground; to cover up with earth or other material.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 16919 (Fairf.) Þe Iewis..beried [tho crossis] fro Crysten men in a preuy stede. 1530 Palsgr. 451/1 It is the propertye of a dogge to burye his meate in the grounde. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xviii. (1870) 277 Bake meate..is buryd in paast. 1626 Bacon Sylva §378 A Bottle of Beer, buried in like manner as before, became more lively. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 547 The frozen Earth lyes buried there, below A hilly Heap, seven Cubits deep in Snow. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Burial, Chemists sometimes bury their cements. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. 53 So I took the money..and buried 3000 pieces of gold. |
b. Of things: To cover over out of sight, to submerge.
| 1737 Miller Gard. Dict. (1759) s.v. Cedrus, This wood..resisting gun shots, and burying the shot without splintering. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. §272 The seas that are said..in a manner to bury the house in time of storms. Ibid. §273 The two stones together would compleatly..bury the cramps. |
4. a. To plunge or sink deep in, so as to cover from view; to put out of sight; also in phrases, to bury one's face in one's hands, bury one's hands in one's pockets, etc.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 45 The riuer that is buried vnder the earth, twentie miles off appeareth againe. 1710 Addison Whig-Exam. No. 4 ¶1 As well assault an army that is buried in intrenchments. 1815 Byron Hebrew Mel., Song of Saul i, Bury your steel in the bosoms of Gath. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxiii. 299 Taking a pin..he buried it to the head in her flesh. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xxv. 312 Hypatia sat still in her chamber, her face buried in her hands. |
b. intr. for refl. or pass. To burrow; also Mech. to lie embedded or enclosed. Of a vessel: to plunge the bows under water. Also trans.
| 1841 Johnston in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. 9. 266 The animal buries in sand. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 124 Those ends of the planks which bury in the rabbets. 1866 ‘Argonaut’ Arts Rowing & Training i. iv. 28 The oar will be feathered under water, and thus the boat will be buried. 1886 Outing (U.S.) Nov. 117/1 It was asserted that she [sc. the keel schooner] was too fine forward,..that she would bury in driving hard. 1888 W. B. Woodgate Boating x. 128 The aspirant to sculling honours had better..take his first lesson in a gig... A dingey buries too much on the stroke, and spoils style. |
c. fig.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. viii. 39 The inward book of lawe of kinde, biried in mannis soule and herte. 1712 Berkeley Pass. Obed. §9 Wks. 1871 III. 113 Every man's particular rule is buried in his own breast. 1855 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Hist. ii. 61 The truth, that now is buried beneath the mass of the old British legends. |
5. pass. To be profoundly absorbed or engrossed in a habit or practice.
| c 1380 Wyclif Tracts xviii. Wks. (1880) 271 Prelatis & peynted religious beried in here olde synne. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 654 Charles the emperour resolved..to passe over into Affricke, whilest Solyman was yet buried in the Persian wars. 1868 Tennyson Lucretius 9 His mind Half buried in some weightier argument. |
▪ III. bury
obs. form of burrow.