bur

noun

• 1a prickly seed case or flower head that clings to animals and clothes.

  [ Middle English]
• [usually as modifier] a plant that produces burs, e.g., bur reed.

• 2 [as modifier] denoting wood containing knots or other growths that show a pattern of dense swirls in the grain when sawn, used for veneers and other decorative woodwork:bur walnut

  [ late 19th century]

• 3variant spelling of burr (sense 2 of the noun), burr (sense 3 of the noun), burr (sense 5 of the noun).