burr vs shrub

burr

verb
  • To pronounce with a uvular "r". 

  • To make a rough humming sound. 

noun
  • 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. 

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

  • 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 

shrub

verb
  • To mispronounce a word by replacing some consonant sounds with others of a similar place of articulation due to interference from one's knowledge of an indigenous Kenyan language. 

noun
  • A word mispronounced by replacing some consonant sounds with others of a similar place of articulation due to interference from one's knowledge of an indigenous Kenyan language. 

  • A liquor composed of vegetable acid, fruit juice (especially lemon), sugar, sometimes vinegar, and a small amount of spirit as a preservative. Modern shrub is usually non-alcoholic, but in earlier times it was often mixed with a substantial amount of spirit such as brandy or rum, thus making it a liqueur. 

  • A woody plant smaller than a tree, and usually with several stems from the same base. 

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