Naut. [f. BUR, or BURR sb.1 + PUMP.] A form of bilge-pump with the piston so constructed as not to require a valve: see quot.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., i. 8. A Bur Pump. The Dutch men vse a Burre pumpe … wherein is onely a long staffe with a Burre at the end, like a Gunners spunge, to pumpe vp the Billage water that … cannot come to the well.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 297/2. The Bur-Pump, or Bildge-Pump…. The maner of these are to have a staffe 6, 7 or 8 foot long with a Bur of wood, where unto the Leather is nailed, this serveth in stead of a Box. And so two men standing over the Pump do thrust down this staffe, to the middle whereof is fastned a rope 6, 8, or 10 to hale by, and so they pull it up and down.
1678–1706. in Phillips.
1721–90. in Bailey.
1755. Johnson, Burr Pump.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Burr-pump, a name for the bilge-pump.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 412. Burr-pump,… in which a cup-shaped cone of leather is nailed by a disk (burr) on the end of a pump-rod, the cone collapsing as it is depressed, and expanding by the weight of the column of water as it is raised.
