Definition of "burr"

[…] nay Friar, I am a kind of Burre, I ſhal ſticke.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii], page 78

But cockle, spurge, according to their law / Might propagate their kind, with none to awe, / You'd think; a burr had been a treasure trove.

1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section X

But the graver, in ploughing furrows in the surface of the copper, raises corresponding ridges or burrs

1852, Charles Tomlinson, “Engraving”, in Cyclopædia of Useful Arts & Manufactures‎, page 607

We notice wild bees gathering sap in a burr of the third mango tree[.]

2022, Carol Maxwell, Northern Territory Literary Awards, page 58

Foote’s mimicry was exquisitely ludicrous, but it was all caricature. He could take off only some strange peculiarity, a stammer or a lisp, a Northumbrian burr or an Irish brogue, a stoop or a shuffle.

1843 January, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Madame D'Arblay”, in Critical and Historical Essays‎, volume 2

“That man Glass has been with him again; I heard them talking through the door quite plain. Two separate voices: for James speaks low, with a burr, and the other voice was high and quavery.”

1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The Absence of Mr Glass”, in The Wisdom of Father Brown‎

He spoke with the deep rich burr of his race and with a structure of speech that I cannot reproduce here.

1920, Melville Davisson Post, “The House by the Loch”, in The Sleuth of St. James's Square‎

The Scottish burr may often prove incomprehensible to English ears, but the Foreign Office apparently considers the accent so impenetrable that it has rejected a Russian student's application to study in Scotland on the grounds that she might not understand the language.

2004 January 9, Kirsty Scott, “Why ye cannae learn English in Scotland”, in The Guardian‎

Judging by the new voice over the PA, we've had a crew change in Plymouth - the warning about masks and the apology for lack of catering is made in a chirpy Cockney twang rather than a West Country burr.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 65

The first thing Lucy noticed as she went in was a burring sound, and the first thing she saw was a kind-looking old she-beaver sitting in the corner with a thread in her mouth working busily at her sewing machine, and it was from it that the sound came.

1950, C. S. Lewis, chapter 7, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Collins, published 1998

And there kyng Arthur smote syr mordred vnder the shelde wyth a foyne of his spere thorughoute the body more than a fadom / And whan syr Mordred felte that he had hys dethes wounde / He thryst hym self wyth the myght that he had vp to the bur of kynge Arthurs spere / And right so he smote his fader Arthur wyth his swerde holden in bothe his handes(please add an English translation of this quotation)

1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter IV, in Le Morte Darthur, book XXI

burr or ring of iron behind the hand

1724, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldry

The front of it was defended by an iron-plate, called a vam-plat, that is, an avant-plate, and behind it was a broad iron ring, called a burr.

1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia

We are made to witness a cathartic shuffling-off of mortalities and of hatreds: Mordred's pulling himself up to the 'burr' of Arthur's spear is Malory's own detail and one of the most memorable in the book.

2003, Thomas Howard Crofts, Fifteenth-century Malory, page 290

And when his body was against the burr of the spear, he took his sword in both his hands and he swung the sword above his head, and he smote King Arthur with the edge of the sword upon the helmet.

2012, Howard Pyle, The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur

Many saddles, especially those for use on warhorses, had high burr plates and cantles. this was especially important when knights began using stirrups and the couched lance.

2015, James B. Tschen-Emmons, Artifacts from Medieval Europe, page 280