Link Centre Dictionary

birr

UK/bɜː/ US/bɝ/ uncommon
noun (2) verb (1)

noun

1.

the basic unit of money in Ethiopia; equal to 100 cents

2.

sound of something in rapid motion

  • “whir of a bird”
  • “;”
Synonyms

verb

1.

make a soft swishing sound

  • “the motor whirred”
  • “the car engine purred”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English bir (“favorable or strong wind”), from Old English byre (“strong wind, storm”); cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk bør, Icelandic byrr (“sailing winds”), Albanian borë (“snow”), and Polish burza (“storm, thunderstorm”).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.