# bury

Pronunciation: say "BE-ree" /ˈbɛ.ɹi/

## Verb

1. To place a dead body in a grave or tomb with ceremony, as part of a funeral or similar rite.
   - Simple: To put a dead body into a grave or tomb, with a special ceremony.
   - _Soldiers who died in the battle are buried with full military honors at the national cemetery._
   - _The whole village gathered to bury the old fisherman, singing hymns as his coffin was lowered into the grave._
2. To place something in the ground, often covering it over with earth.
   - Simple: To put something in the ground and cover it with dirt.
   - _Squirrels bury acorns all over the park each fall._
   - _The workers buried the new cable along the edge of the road._
3. To hide or obscure something by covering it, placing it out of sight, or surrounding it with more prominent things.
   - Simple: To make something hard to see, hear, or notice by hiding it or surrounding it with other things.
   - _The editors buried the correction in the back pages of the paper._
   - _Lawyers sometimes bury key conditions deep within long agreements._
4. To suppress an emotion or memory and hide it away in one's mind.
   - Simple: To push a feeling or memory deep down inside and try not to think about it.
   - _She buried the memory of the accident for decades._
   - _Many veterans bury their grief rather than talk about it._
5. To overwhelm someone or something with an amount too great to manage.
   - Simple: To give someone so much of something that they cannot handle it all.
   - _The office buried the new clerk in paperwork during tax season._
   - _A sudden rush of orders can bury a small kitchen staff._
6. To put an end to something; to abandon it for good.
   - Simple: To stop something for good and leave it behind.
   - _The board buried the merger proposal after months of debate._
   - _Both companies agreed to bury the dispute and sign a new deal._
8. To outlive another person: that is, to live long enough to attend their burial; usually humorous.
   - Simple: To live longer than someone else, often said as a joke.
   - _At ninety-five, she has buried three husbands and still gardens every day._
   - _He swears he will bury every cardiologist who ever warned him about bacon._
9. To kill or murder someone. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To kill or murder a person.
   - _Witnesses feared the cartel would bury them before the trial._
   - _He bragged that he had buried men for less than an insult._
7. To score with a clean, confident shot, putting the ball or puck into the net, basket or hole; to make a goal, shot or putt successfully.
   - Simple: To score a goal or make a shot or putt in a sport, with a strong, sure shot.
   - _Martinez buried the rebound to tie the game late in the third period._
   - _Strikers at this level should bury those one-on-one chances._

## Noun

10. A burrow; the underground hole or tunnel that an animal digs for shelter. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: A hole in the ground that an animal digs and lives in.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To ruin another wrestler's image or character, usually by embarrassing them or defeating them in dominating fashion.
- (noun) A borough or town; a manor together with its lands.

## Origin

From Middle English burien, from Old English byrġan, tracing back through Proto-West Germanic and Proto-Germanic *burgijaną ("to keep safe") to the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰergʰ- ("to defend, protect"). It is cognate with German bergen ("to save/rescue") and West Frisian bergje ("to keep"). The spelling with ⟨u⟩ reflects the West Midland and Southern dialect pronunciation, while the Modern English pronunciation with /ɛ/ comes from the Kentish dialects.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bury (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).