shirr

Unknown.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʃɜː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʃɜɹ/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ʃɪr/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ʃøː/
• (Liverpool, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /ʃeː/
• (Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /ʃɛː/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /ʃɜː(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
• Homophone: share (fair–fur merger)

shirr (third-person singular simple present shirrs, present participle shirring, simple past and past participle shirred)

1. (US, sewing) To make gathers in textiles by drawing together parallel threads.
2. (US, transitive) To bake (a raw egg removed from its shell) in a baking dish.
   • 1985 April 27, Sue Hyde, “Sunday Brunch with a Harbor View”, in Gay Community News, page 8:

     The Creole eggs arrived in a ramekin, shirred on a bed of Virginia ham julienne and topped with a robust, spicy tomato sauce of Creole derivation.

   • 2006, Kim Severson, THE CHEF: ANNE QUATRANO; Letting the Land Make a Statement on the Plate, NYTimes, July 6

     But her favorite way to express their simplicity is to shirr them. It's an old-fashioned technique that essentially means baking an egg. In her version, the eggs in ramekins are simmered in seasoned cream that reduces slightly into a soft sauce.

shirr (plural shirrs)

1. (sewing) A shirring.

From Old Irish sirid (“to traverse, seek”). Cognate with Scottish Gaelic sir.

shirr (verbal noun shirrey, past participle shirrit)

1. seek, go after, cast about, search, solicit, prospect
2. request
3. require
4. endeavour
5. apply

• aahirr (“research”)
• cohirr (“compete”)