bury

[ ber-ee ]

verb (used with object)

buried, burying.

1. to put in the ground and cover with earth:

   The pirates buried the chest on the island.

2. to put (a corpse) in the ground or a vault, or into the sea, often with ceremony:

   They buried the sailor with full military honors.

   Synonyms: inhume, entomb, inter

   Antonyms: exhume, disinter

3. to plunge in deeply; cause to sink in:

   to bury an arrow in a target.

4. to cover in order to conceal from sight:

   She buried the card in the deck.

   Synonyms: secrete, hide

   Antonyms: uncover

5. to immerse (oneself):

   He buried himself in his work.

6. to put out of one's mind:

   to bury an insult.

7. to consign to obscurity; cause to appear insignificant by assigning to an unimportant location, position, etc.:

   Her name was buried in small print at the end of the book.

noun

plural buries.

1. Nautical. housing ¹( def 8a, 8b ).

bury

¹

/ ˈbɛrɪ /

verb

1. to place (a corpse) in a grave, usually with funeral rites; inter
2. to place in the earth and cover with soil
3. to lose through death
4. to cover from sight; hide
5. to embed; sink

   to bury a nail in plaster

6. to occupy (oneself) with deep concentration; engross

   to be buried in a book

7. to dismiss from the mind; abandon

   to bury old hatreds

8. bury the hatchet
   to cease hostilities and become reconciled
9. bury one's head in the sand
   to refuse to face a problem

Bury

²

/ ˈbɛrɪ /

noun

1. a town in NW England, in Bury unitary authority, Greater Manchester: an early textile centre. Pop: 60 178 (2001)
2. a unitary authority in NW England, in Greater Manchester. Pop: 181 900 (2003 est). Area: 99 sq km (38 sq miles)

Other Word Forms

• re·bur·y verb (used with object) reburied reburying

Word History and Origins

Origin of bury¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English berien, buryen, Old English byrgan “to bury, conceal”; akin to Old English beorgan “to hide, protect, preserve”; cognate with Dutch, German bergen, Gothic bairgan, Old Norse bjarga

Word History and Origins

Origin of bury¹

Old English byrgan to bury, hide; related to Old Norse bjarga to save, preserve, Old English beorgan to defend

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. bury one's head in the sand, to avoid reality; ignore the facts of a situation:

   You cannot continue to bury your head in the sand—you must learn to face facts.

2. bury the hatchet, to become reconciled or reunited.

Example Sentences

We’re being inundated with mass amounts of ugliness, and the purveyors of this unsightly deluge want to bury us so deeply that we’ll forget how pleasant the world can be.

From Salon

"It felt like being buried alive, being totally cut off from the outside world," he tells the BBC.

From BBC

Still another told me I was brave because that was “too long,” and buried issues would start to rear their ugly heads.

From Los Angeles Times

But Corder shot and killed Miss Marten, burying her in the barn.

From BBC

As far back as 2004, another buried Pentagon report argued that climate change “should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern.”

From Salon

Related Words

• deposit
• entomb
• plant