Burton

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bur·ton

(bûr′tn)

n. Nautical

A light tackle having double or single blocks, used to hoist or tighten rigging.

[Origin unknown.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

burton

(ˈbɜːtən)

1. (Nautical Terms) nautical a kind of light hoisting tackle

2. go for a burton slang

a. to be broken, useless, or lost

b. to die

[C15: of uncertain origin]

Burton

(ˈbɜːtən)

1. (Biography) Sir Richard Francis. 1821–90, English explorer, Orientalist, and writer who discovered Lake Tanganyika with John Speke (1858); produced the first unabridged translation of The Thousand Nights and a Night (1885–88)

2. (Biography) Richard, real name Richard Jenkins. 1925–84, Welsh stage and film actor: films include Becket (1964), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), and Equus (1977)

3. (Biography) Robert, pen name Democritus Junior. 1577–1640, English clergyman, scholar, and writer, noted for his Anatomy of Melancholy (1621)

4. (Biography) Tim. born 1958, US film director whose work includes Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Corpse Bride (2005), and Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Bur•ton

(ˈbɜr tn)

n.

1. Richard (Richard Jenkins), 1925–84, British actor, born in Wales.

2. Sir Richard Francis, 1821–90, English explorer, Orientalist, and writer.

3. Robert ( “Democritus Junior” ), 1577–1640, English clergyman and author.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	Burton - English explorer who with John Speke was the first European to explore Lake Tanganyika (1821-1890) Richard Burton, Sir Richard Burton, Sir Richard Francis Burton
	2.	Burton - Welsh film actor who often co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor (1925-1984) Richard Burton
	3.	Burton - a strong dark English ale ale - a general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast; in some of the United States an ale is (by law) a brew of more than 4% alcohol by volume

Translations

burton

[ˈbɜːtn] (Brit) N it's gone for a burton (= broken etc) → se ha ido al traste; (= lost) → se ha perdido
he's gone for a burton (Brit) [pilot, driver] → estiró la pata, la palmó (Sp)

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

burton

n (dated Brit, sl) to have gone for a burton → im Eimer sein (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in classic literature ?

It was Burton's Journey to Meccah, which he had just got out of the Westminster Public Library; and he read the first page, but could make no sense of it, for his mind was elsewhere; he was listening all the time for a ring at the bell.

He went back to his rooms, but they filled him with horror, he had been so wretched in them; he tried once more to read Burton's book, but, as he read, he told himself again and again what a fool he had been; it was he who had made the suggestion that they should go away, he had offered the money, he had forced it upon them; he might have known what would happen when he introduced Griffiths to Mildred; his own vehement passion was enough to arouse the other's desire.

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His captor was Burton Duff, the jailer, as white as death and bearing upon his brow the livid mark of the iron bar.

On a table in the corridor lay the dead body of Burton Duff.

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THE NORTHERN REVIEW, after publishing "The Cradle of Beauty," had written him for half a dozen similar essays, which would have been supplied out of the heap, had not BURTON'S MAGAZINE, in a speculative mood, offered him five hundred dollars each for five essays.

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The Misses Burton have just seen them, and THEY pronounce them the most beautiful articles of the sort they have ever seen; and I believe they have been over half the world."

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"Black" Burton, a man evil-tempered and malicious, had been picking a quarrel with a tenderfoot at the bar, when Thornton stepped good-naturedly between.

Those who were looking on heard what was neither bark nor yelp, but a something which is best described as a roar, and they saw Buck's body rise up in the air as he left the floor for Burton's throat.

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Think of Richard Burton! When I read his wife's life of him I could so understand her love!

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Moreover, at a place in Yorkshire, England, Burton constable by name, a certain sir clifford constable has in his possession the skeleton of a Sperm Whale, but of moderate size, by no means of the full-grown magnitude of my friend King Tranquo's.

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"Burton," called Henry, "serve tea and coffee from the side-board!" It wasn't genuine tact, but it was tact, of a sort--the sort that is as useful as the genuine, and saves even more situations at Board meetings.

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You know Anna has been longing to go; working and hoping for a chance, and never getting it, till all of a sudden Miss Burton is inspired to invite the girl to go with her for several years to Italy.