Definition of "burin" [bu•rin]

• A steel cutting tool with a sharp beveled point, used in engraving or carving stone. Also called graver. (noun)
• The style or technique of an engraver's work. (noun)
• Archaeology A stone tool with a chisellike head. Also called graver. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Seeing that in the Treatise on the Technique of Painting there was little said of copper-plate engraving, since it was enough at that time to describe the method of engraving silver with the burin, which is a square tool of iron, cut on the slant, with a sharp point, I shall use the occasion of this Life to say as much on that subject as I may consider to be sufficient."
• "A burin was a flaked rock tool with a chisel-like edge probably used to remove flesh from bone."
• "“A burin probably helped engrave the models for the first pennies.”"