To suppress or smother something, or to suppress public discussion of something controversial or uncomfortable.
Named after William Burke, an 18th-century Scottish murderer who killed people by suffocation to sell their bodies for medical study. His method of death gave rise to the term 'burking' meaning to suppress something quietly.
One of the few English words that comes directly from a criminal's name—Burke's infamy became so associated with quiet murder that 'burking' now means any kind of sneaky suppression, especially of inconvenient truths.
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