Burke

Burke

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Burked; p. pr. & vb. n. Burking

  1. To murder by suffocation, or so as to produce few marks of violence, for the purpose of obtaining a body to be sold for dissection.
  2. To dispose of quietly or indirectly; to suppress; to smother; to shelve; as, to burke a parliamentary question.
    The court could not burke an inquiry, supported by such a mass of a affidavits.