burke使窒息而死；使平息，压制

【使用地区】：英国

【释义】：

To smother or strangle someone to death，though in relatively recent times it has also come to mean to hush up，to suppress something，especially a rumor or relevant fact in an argument．Both meanings commemorate a murderer．William Burke(1792－1829)was an Irish laborer who with his confederate William Hare murdered some thirty people and sold their bodies to anatomists，smothering their victims so no marks would be left on them．Burke was hanged，but Hare turned state’s evidence and went free．

此词意为“把某人扼死”，但近来也有“隐瞒、压制某事，特别是指在辩论中抹杀谣言或相关事实”。这两个意义都与一个谋杀犯有关。William Burke(1792－1829)是爱尔兰劳工，与其同伙William Hare谋杀了约30余人。他们杀人的方法就是把人扼杀，从而不留痕迹。他们出售尸体供解剖。Burke被处绞刑，但William Hare因揭发同案犯而获释。