Sc. Obs. Also 7 burreo; see also BOURREAU. [a. F. bourreau, earlier boreau, borel.] A hangman, an executioner.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. 201. He was burio to himself mair schamefully than we micht devise.
1567. Declar. Lordis Quarr., in Dalyell, Scot. Poems 16th C., II. 274. Syne with his Burrio [she] band ane new mariage.
1634–46. Row, Hist. Kirk (1842), 322. Should ye be burrioes to your brethren?
[1830. Scott, Demonol., 324. The Devil … had made her associates … to be their own burrioes.]
fig. a. 1600. Montgomerie, Sonn., lix. Lovers … Thoght they persaivd that Burrio Death to bost within [hir] eyis.
