1. (v. t.) To murder by suffocation, or so as to produce few marks of violence, for the purpose of obtaining a body to be sold for dissection.

2. (v. t.) To dispose of quietly or indirectly; to suppress; to smother; to shelve; as, to burke a parliamentary question.

OD be killed bottle up burke censor choke choke off clamp down on cork cork up crack down on crush damp down drown extinguish famish gag garrote hold down jump on keep down keep under kill muzzle pour water on put down quash quell quench repress shut down on silence sit down on sit on smash smother squash squelch stanch starve stifle stop the breath strangle stultify subdue suffocate suppress throttle