burd
nounEtymology From Middle English berde (“woman, lady, young lady”), possibly from Old English byrde, ġebyrde (“of noble birth”), from byrd, ġebyrd (“birth”), or from an unattested *byrde (“embroideress”). Possibly the origin of the English slang bird for a young woman.
- The hall was furnished in a manner equally grand, and at one end of it was a glorious couch of velvet, silk and gold, and there sate Burd Ellen, combing her golden hair with a silver comb.1890, Joseph Jacobs, “Childe Rowland”, in English Fairy Tales, page 122: