The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Burke \Burke\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Burked; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Burking.] [From one Burke of Edinburgh, who committed the
   crime in 1829.]
   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.
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   2. To dispose of quietly or indirectly; to suppress; to
      smother; to shelve; as, to burke a parliamentary question.
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            The court could not burke an inquiry, supported by
            such a mass of a affidavits.          --C. Reade.
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