burr vs shearing

burr

noun
  • A small piece of material left on an edge after a cutting operation. 

  • A uvular "r" sound, or (by extension) an accent characterized by this sound. 

  • 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. 

  • A thin flat piece of metal, formed from a sheet by punching; a small washer put on the end of a rivet before it is swaged down. 

  • 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. 

  • A rough humming sound. 

  • 1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia 

  • A metal ring at the top of the hand-rest on a spear. 

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

  • A burr knot or burl. 

  • A sharp, pointy object, such as a sliver or splinter. 

  • 1724, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldry 

  • A revolving disk or cone with abrasive surfaces used to grind hard products in a grinder or mill. 

  • 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. 

  • A bur; a seed pod with sharp features that stick in fur or clothing. 

  • A broad iron ring on a tilting lance just below the grip, to prevent the hand from slipping. 

  • The ear lobe. 

  • The knot at the bottom of an antler. 

  • 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. 

  • burr or ring of iron behind the hand 

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

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

verb
  • To pronounce with a uvular "r". 

  • To make a rough humming sound. 

shearing

noun
  • The material cut off in this way. 

  • Deformation by forces acting in opposite directions. 

  • The process of making a vertical side cutting in working into a face of coal. 

  • The act or operation of reaping. 

  • The act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine, as the wool from sheep, or the nap from cloth. 

  • The process of preparing shear steel; tilting. 

  • The act or operation of dividing with shears. 

adj
  • Tending to cut or tear. 

How often have the words burr and shearing occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )