burp

Pluralburps

Formsburps, burping, burped

1. 1
   nounCanadaUScountable

   A release of swallowed air or stomach gas out through the mouth, usually making an audible sound.

   He covered his mouth to muffle the burp during the meeting.

   A satisfying burp followed the large glass of cola.

   Similarbelch

   Note

   A word that copies its own sound: an imitative coinage that began in American English and is still chiefly at home in the US and Canada. It names the everyday, audible event, and its natural partner verb is let out (he let out a burp after downing the beer). Outside North America, belch is the safer choice for the same thing.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To release gas from the stomach out through the mouth, typically with an audible sound.

   The toddler burped twice and then started giggling.

   Carbonated drinks make many people burp within minutes.

   Similarbelch

   Note

   Here nothing follows the verb: people simply burp. That bare use underlies the -ing form in burping contest, and it even takes the competitive prefix out-, as in "My dad can outburp any of you!" from Diana S. Richmond Garland's Family ministry: a comprehensive guide (1999). Once an object appears, the meaning shifts to burping a baby or burping out words.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To cause a baby or other person to release stomach gas, typically by patting or rubbing the back.

   New parents learn to burp their newborn over one shoulder.

   He gently burped the baby until she finally settled.

   Similarwind

   Note

   A caregiver's verb, where the object is the one relieved, usually an infant after a feed. It moves easily into the passive (a baby needs to be burped) and even yields the adjective unburped. Robert Webster Watson's Why Not Have Your Second Baby First? (1968) shows both forms, describing a baby put down unburped after feedings.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To produce words or sounds at the same time as releasing stomach gas through the mouth.

   The teenager burped a reply just to annoy his sister.

   Boys at the back tried to burp whole sentences during lunch.

   Similarbelch

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To briefly open a sealed container of fermenting material so the gas that has built up inside can be released.

   Home brewers burp the fermentation jars daily to prevent pressure from building.

   He burped the crock of sauerkraut before the lid could bulge.

   Similarvent

   Note

   The kitchen borrows the bodily verb because a sealed vessel, like a stomach, holds gas that must come out. The object is the container: you burp a bag, jar or crock by opening it briefly and resealing it. It works like the baby-burping verb, with something else made to release the gas. Alan Bergo's The Forager Chef's Book of Flora (2021) burps a bag of fermenting lemons to let out carbon dioxide.

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