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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Quotation dates: 1714-1721, 1830

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BURRIO, BURRIOR, n. Also burrier. A hangman, an executioner.Sc. 1714 Cloud of Witnesses. Pref. xiv.:
To deliver them up to the hands of these burriors.
Sc. 1721 R. Wodrow Sufferings ii i. s.3: 
One of the Eight who were condemned should have his Life, if he would consent to become Burrier to the rest.
Sc. 1830 Scott Demonology 324:
In respect the Devil, by God's permission, had made her associates, who were lights of the cause, to be their own burrioes.

[O.Sc. burrio, burrio(u)r, id. (D.O.S.T.), Fr. bourreau, earlier boreau, borel. The form burrior is an adaptation from burrio, with the suff. -or, denoting the agent.]

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"Burrio n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/burrio>

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