Synonyms for burr
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR BURR
When 323 Burr chose, neither man nor woman could resist him.
“So am I,” said Burr, beginning to pace up and down the narrow room.
No lawyer for the defence was ever better prepared than Burr, and he did his best.
The replies also were typical, and in the burr of conversation her fears vanished.
Joe answered with a grating laugh, and then with a burr he applied a towel to his face.
Around the wide doorway there was a close crowd that seemed to cling to it like a burr.
"Well, Baker," said Burr nonchalantly, nodding to his former assistant.
"Neither of us will be injured in any way by the change," said Burr calmly.
"So it was with Smith, when the alloys burned out," said Burr.
"I cannot allow Professor Burr to do anything for me," he said dully.
WORD ORIGIN
"rough sound of the letter -r-" (especially that common in Northumberland), 1760, later extended to "northern accented speech" in general. Possibly the sound of the word is imitative of the speech peculiarity itself, or it was adapted from one of the senses of bur (q.v.), perhaps from the phrase to have a bur in (one's) throat (late 14c.), which was a figure of speech for "feel a choking sensation, huskiness." OED says the Scottish -r- is a lingual trill, not a true burr.