What does burked mean?
"Burked" is the past tense of the verb "burke," which means to suppress or hush up something—typically a report, question, or awkward issue—deliberately and without open confrontation. A critic might say a government "burked" an inquiry, meaning it quietly buried it rather than addressing it honestly. The word has a grim origin: it derives from William Burke, who with William Hare murdered at least sixteen people in Edinburgh in the late 1820s, suffocating victims so their bodies could be sold to anatomists for dissection. Burke was executed in 1829, and his surname entered English as both a noun and a verb, first carrying the literal sense of murder by suffocation and later settling into the figurative sense of suppressing discussion. Today the word is chiefly British, somewhat formal or literary, and relatively rare, but it remains useful precisely because it implies concealment by quiet, calculated evasion.
verb (past tense and past participle)Past tense of 'burke': to suppress or hush up something, especially information or an argument, quietly and deliberately. The word also carries its darker original sense of murdering by suffocation so as to leave no marks.
- (of a report, question, or issue) suppressed or brushed aside deliberately; hushed up.
- Murdered by suffocation so as to leave no visible marks, in reference to the crimes of William Burke.
"The committee burked every attempt to investigate the scandal."
"The government was accused of having burked the inquiry into the disaster."
"In Victorian slang, anyone who had been burked had met with foul play."
This word for quietly covering things up comes straight from the name of a 19th-century Edinburgh murderer who killed people to sell their bodies for dissection.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of burked
The word comes from William Burke, an Irishman who, with accomplice William Hare, murdered people in Edinburgh in the late 1820s and sold their bodies to anatomists. Burke was hanged in 1829, and his name quickly passed into English as a verb. Its earliest sense referred literally to killing by suffocation, leaving no mark on the body; within a few decades it had developed the figurative sense of suppressing information or debate, which survives as the standard modern usage.
Related word forms
How burked is actually used
The verb 'burke' in its modern sense is chiefly British and somewhat formal or literary; it is rare in American English. It carries a connotation of deliberate, quiet suppression rather than open denial. The murderous sense is now almost entirely historical.
Easily confused with burked
'Berk' is British slang for a foolish person, while 'burked' is the past tense of the verb meaning to suppress or hush up.