Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) (part 3)

BeÏnef¶iÏcentÏly (?), adv. In a beneficent manner; with beneficence. Ben·eÏfi¶cial (?), a. [Cf. F. b‚n‚ficial, LL. beneficialis.] 1. Conferring benefits; useful; profi?table; helpful; advantageous; serviceable; contributing to a valuable end; Ð followed by to. The war which would have been most beneficial to us. Swift. 2. (Law) Receiving, or entitled to have or receive, advantage, use, or benefit; as, the beneficial owner of an estate. Kent. 3. King. [Obs.] ½A beneficial foe.¸ B. Jonson. Syn. Ð See Advantage. Ben·eÏfi¶cialÏly, adv. In a beneficial or advantageous manner; profitably; helpfully. Ben·eÏfi¶cialÏness, n. The quality of being beneficial; profitableness. Ben·eÏfi¶ciÏaÏry (?), a. [Cf. F. b‚n‚ficiaire, LL. beneficiarius.] 1. Holding some office or valuable possession, in subordination to another; holding under a feudal or other superior; having a dependent and secondary possession. A feudatory or beneficiary king of England. Bacon. 2. Bestowed as a gratuity; as, beneficiary gifts. Ben·eÏfi¶ciÏaÏry, n.; pl. Beneficiaries (?). 1. A feudatory or vassal; hence, one who holds a benefice and uses its proceeds. Ayliffe. 2. One who receives anything as a gift; one who receives a benefit or advantage; esp. one who receives help or income from an educational fund or a trust estate. The rich men will be offering sacrifice to their Deity whose beneficiaries they are. Jer. Taylor. Ben·eÏfi¶ciÏate (?), v. t. [Sp. beneficiar to benefit, to work mines.] (Mining) To reduce (ores). Ð Ben·eÏfi·ciÏa¶tion (?), n. Ben·eÏfi¶cient (?), a. Beneficent. [Obs.] Ben¶eÏfit (?), n. [OE. benefet, benfeet, bienfet, F. bienfait, fr. L. benefactum; bene well (adv. of bonus good) + factum, p. p. of facere to do. See Bounty, and Fact.] 1. An act of kindness; a favor conferred. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Ps. ciii. 2. 2. Whatever promotes prosperity and personal happiness, or adds value to property; advantage; profit. Men have no right to what is not for their benefit. Burke. 3. A theatrical performance, a concert, or the like, the proceeds of which do not go to the lessee of the theater or to the company, but to some individual actor, or to some charitable use. 4. Beneficence; liberality. [Obs.] Webster (1623). 5. pl. Natural advantaged; endowments; accomplishments. [R.] ½The benefits of your own country.¸ Shak. Benefit of clergy. (Law) See under Clergy. Syn. Ð Profit; service; use; avail. See Advantage. Ben¶eÏfit, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Benefited; p. pr. & vb. n. Benefitting.] To be beneficial to; to do good to; to advantage; to advance in health or prosperity; to be useful to; to profit. I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. Jer. xviii. 10. Ben¶eÏfit, v. i. To gain advantage; to make improvement; to profit; as, he will benefit by the change. Ben¶eÏfit·er (?), n. One who confers a benefit; Ð also, one who receives a benefit. BeÏneme¶ (?), v. t. [AS. ben?man. Cf. Benim.] To deprive (of), or take away (from). [Obs.] BeÏnempt¶ (?), p. p. of Bename. 1. Promised; vowed. [Obs.] Spenser. 2. Named; styled. [Archaic] Sir W. Scott. ØBe·ne plac¶iÏto (?). [It. beneplacito pleasure, fr. L. bene well + placitus pleasing.] 1. At or during pleasure. For our English judges there never was … any bene placito as their tenure. F. Harrison. 2. (Mus.) At pleasure; ad libitum. BeÏnet¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Benetted.] To catch in a net; to insnare. Shak. BeÏnev¶oÏlence (?), n. [OF. benevolence, L. benevolentia. See Benevolent.] 1. The disposition to do good; good will; charitableness; love of mankind, accompanied with a desire to promote their happiness. The wakeful benevolence of the gospel. Chalmers. 2. An act of kindness; good done; charity given. 3. A species of compulsory contribution or tax, which has sometimes been illegally exacted by arbitrary kings of England, and falsely represented as a gratuity. Syn. Ð Benevolence, Beneficence, Munificence. Benevolence marks a disposition made up of a choice and desire for the happiness of others. Beneficence marks the working of this disposition in dispensing good on a somewhat broad scale. Munificence shows the same disposition, but acting on a still broader scale, in conferring gifts and favors. These are not necessarily confined to objects of immediate utility. One may show his munificence in presents of pictures or jewelry, but this would not be beneficence. Benevolence of heart; beneficence of life; munificence in the encouragement of letters. BeÏnev¶oÏlent (?), a. [L. benevolens, Ïentis; bene well (adv. of bonus good) + volens, p. pr. of volo I will, I wish. See Bounty, and Voluntary.] Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and happiness; disposed to give to good objects; kind; charitable. Ð BeÏnev¶oÏlentÏly, adv. Syn. Ð Benevolent, Beneficent. Etymologically considered, benevolent implies wishing well to others, and beneficent, doing well. But by degrees the word benevolent has been widened to include not only feelings, but actions; thus, we speak of benevolent operations, benevolent labors for the public good, benevolent societies. In like manner, beneficent is now often applied to feelings; thus, we speak of the beneficent intentions of a donor. This extension of the terms enables us to mark nicer shades of meaning. Thus, the phrase ½benevolent labors¸ turns attention to the source of these labors, viz., benevolent feeling; while beneficent would simply mark them as productive of good. So, ½beneficent intentions¸ point to the feelings of the donor as bent upon some specific good act; while ½benevolent intentions¸ would only denote a general wish and design to do good. BeÏnev¶oÏlous (?), a. [L. benevolus.] Kind; benevolent. [Obs.] T. Puller. BenÏgal¶ (?), n. 1. A province in India, giving its name to various stuffs, animals, etc. 2. A thin stuff, made of silk and hair, originally brought from Bengal. 3. Striped gingham, originally brought from Bengal; Bengal stripes. Bengal light, a firework containing niter, sulphur, and antimony, and producing a sustained and vivid colored light, used in making signals and in pyrotechnics; Ð called also blue light. Ð Bengal stripes, a kind of cotton cloth woven with colored stripes. See Bengal, 3. Ð Bengal tiger. (Zo”l.). See Tiger. BenÏgal¶ee, BenÏgal¶i (?), n. The language spoken in Bengal. Ben·galÏese¶ (?), a. Of or pertaining to Bengal. Ð n. sing. & pl. A native or natives of Bengal. BenÏgo¶la (?), n. A Bengal light. BeÏnight¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Benighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Benighting.] 1. To involve in darkness; to shroud with the shades of night; to obscure. [Archaic] The clouds benight the sky. Garth. 2. To overtake with night or darkness, especially before the end of a day's journey or task. Some virgin, sure, … benighted in these woods. Milton. 3. To involve in moral darkness, or ignorance; to debar from intellectual light. Shall we to men benighted The lamp of life deny ? Heber. BeÏnight¶ment (?), n. The condition of being benighted. BeÏnign¶ (?), a. [OE. benigne, bening, OF. benigne, F. b‚nin, fem. b‚nigne, fr. L. benignus, contr. from benigenus; bonus good + root of genus kind. See Bounty, and Genus.] 1. Of a kind or gentle disposition; gracious; generous; favorable; benignant. Creator bounteous and benign. Milton. 2. Exhibiting or manifesting kindness, gentleness, favor, etc.; mild; kindly; salutary; wholesome. Kind influences and benign aspects. South. 3. Of a mild type or character; as, a benign disease. Syn. Ð Kind; propitious; bland; genial; salubrious; favorable salutary; gracious; liberal. BeÏnig¶nanÏcy (?), n. Benignant quality; kindliness. BeÏnig¶nant (?), a. [LL. benignans, p. pr. of benignare, from L. benignus. See Benign.] Kind; gracious; favorable. Ð BeÏnig¶nantÏly, adv. BeÏnig¶niÏty (?), n. [OE. benignite, F. b‚nignit‚, OF. b‚nignet‚, fr. L. benignitas. See Benign.] 1. The quality of being benign; goodness; kindness; graciousness. ½Benignity of aspect.¸ Sir W. Scott. 2. Mildness; gentleness. The benignity or inclemency of the season. Spectator. 3. Salubrity; wholesome quality. Wiseman. BeÏnign¶ly (?), adv. In a benign manner. BeÏnim¶ (?), v. t. [AS. beniman. See Benumb, and cf. Nim.] To take away. [Obs.] Ire … benimeth the man fro God. Chaucer. Ben¶iÏson (?), n. [OE. beneysun, benesoun, OF. bene‹?un, bene‹son, fr. L. benedictio, fr. benedicere to bless; bene (adv. of bonus good) + dicere to say. See Bounty, and Diction, and cf. Benediction.] Blessing; beatitude; benediction. Shak. More precious than the benison of friends. Talfourd. ØB‚Ïni¶tier· (?), n. [F., fr. b‚nir to bless.] (R. C. Ch.) A holyÐwater stoup. Shipley. Ben¶jaÏmin (?), n. [Corrupted from benzoin.] See Benzoin. Ben¶jaÏmin, n. A kind of upper coat for men. [Colloq. Eng.] Ben¶jaÏmite (?), n. A descendant of Benjamin; one of the tribe of Benjamin. Judg. iii. 15. Ben¶ne (?), n. [Malay bijen.] (Bot.) The name of two plants (Sesamum orientale and S. indicum), originally Asiatic; Ð also called oil plant. From their seeds an oil is expressed, called benne oil, used mostly for making soap. In the southern United States the seeds are used in candy. Ben¶net (?), n. [F. benoŒte, fr. L. benedicta, fem. of benedictus, p. p., blessed. See Benedict, a.] (Bot.) The common yellowÏflowered avens of Europe (Geum urbanum); herb bennet. The name is sometimes given to other plants, as the hemlock, valerian, etc. Ben¶shee (?), n. See Banshee. Bent (?), imp. & p. p. of Bend. Bent, a. & p. p. 1. Changed by pressure so as to be no longer straight; crooked; as, a bent pin; a bent lever. 2. Strongly inclined toward something, so as to be resolved, determined, set, etc.; Ð said of the mind, character, disposition, desires, etc., and used with on; as, to be bent on going to college; he is bent on mischief. Bent, n. [See Bend, n. & v.] 1. The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line; flexure; curvity; as, the bent of a bow. [Obs.] Wilkins. 2. A declivity or slope, as of a hill. [R.] Dryden. 3. A leaning or bias; proclivity; tendency of mind; inclination; disposition; purpose; aim. Shak. With a native bent did good pursue. Dryden. 4. Particular direction or tendency; flexion; course. Bents and turns of the matter. Locke. 5. (Carp.) A transverse frame of a framed structure. 6. Tension; force of acting; energy; impetus. [Archaic] The full bent and stress of the soul. Norris. Syn. Ð Predilection; turn. Bent, Bias, Inclination, Prepossession. These words agree in describing a permanent influence upon the mind which tends to decide its actions. Bent denotes a fixed tendency of the mind in a given direction. It is the widest of these terms, and applies to the will, the intellect, and the affections, taken conjointly; as, the whole bent of his character was toward evil practices. Bias is literally a weight fixed on one side of a ball used in bowling, and causing it to swerve from a straight course. Used figuratively, bias applies particularly to the judgment, and denotes something which acts with a permanent force on the character through that faculty; as, the bias of early education, early habits, etc. Inclination is an excited state of desire or appetency; as, a strong inclination to the study of the law. Prepossession is a mingled state of feeling and opinion in respect to some person or subject, which has laid hold of and occupied the mind previous to inquiry. The word is commonly used in a good sense, an unfavorable impression of this kind being denominated a prejudice. ½Strong minds will be strongly bent, and usually labor under a strong bias; but there is no mind so weak and powerless as not to have its inclinations, and none so guarded as to be without its prepossessions.¸ Crabb. Bent (?), n. [AS. beonet; akin to OHG. pinuz, G. binse, rush, bent grass; of unknown origin.] 1. A reedlike grass; a stalk of stiff, coarse grass. His spear a bent, both stiff and strong. Drayton. 2. (Bot.) A grass of the genus Agrostis, esp. Agrostis vulgaris, or redtop. The name is also used of many other grasses, esp. in America. 3. Any neglected field or broken ground; a common; a moor. [Obs.] Wright. Bowmen bickered upon the bent. Chevy Chase. Bent¶ grass· (?). (Bot.) Same as Bent, a kind of grass. Ben¶thal (?), a. [Gr. ? the depth of the sea.] Relating to the deepest zone or region of the ocean. BenÏtham¶ic (?), a. Of or pertaining to Bentham or Benthamism. Ben¶thamÏism (?), n. That phase of the doctrine of utilitarianism taught by Jeremy Bentham; the doctrine that the morality of actions is estimated and determined by their utility; also, the theory that the sensibility to pleasure and the recoil from pain are the only motives which influence human desires and actions, and that these are the sufficient explanation of ethical and jural conceptions. Ben¶thamÏite (?), n. One who believes in Benthamism. Bent¶ing time¶ (?). The season when pigeons are said to feed on bents, before peas are ripe. Bare benting times … may come. Dryden. Bent¶y (?), a. 1. A bounding in bents, or the stalks of coarse, stiff, withered grass; as, benty fields. 2. Resembling bent. Holland. BeÏnumb¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Benumbed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Benumbing.] [OE. binomen, p. p. of binimen to take away, AS. beniman; pref. be + niman to take. See Numb, a., and cf. Benim.] To make torpid; to deprive of sensation or sensibility; to stupefy; as, a hand or foot benumbed by cold. The creeping death benumbed her senses first. Dryden. BeÏnumbed¶ (?), a. Made torpid; numbed; stupefied; deadened; as, a benumbed body and mind. Ð BeÏnumbed¶ness, n. BeÏnumb¶ment (?), n. Act of benumbing, or state of being benumbed; torpor. Kirby. Ben¶zal (?), n. [Benzoic + aldehyde.] (Chem.) A transparent crystalline substance,? C6H5.CO. NH2, obtained by the action of ammonia upon chloride of benzoyl, as also by several other reactions with benzoyl compounds. BenÏzam¶ide (?), n. [Benzoin + amide.] (Chem.) A transparent crystalline substance, C6H5.CO.NH2, obtained by the action of ammonia upon chloride of benzoyl, as also by several other reactions with benzoyl compounds. Ben¶zene (?), n. [From Benzoin.] (Chem.) A volatile, very inflammable liquid, C6H6, contained in the naphtha produced by the destructive distillation of coal, from which it is separated by fractional distillation. The name is sometimes applied also to the impure commercial product or benzole, and also, but rarely, to a similar mixed product of petroleum. Benzene nucleus, Benzene ring (Chem.), a closed chain or ring, consisting of six carbon atoms, each with one hydrogen atom attached, regarded as the type from which the aromatic compounds are derived. This ring formula is provisionally accepted as representing the probable constitution of the benzene molecule, C6H6, and as the type on which its derivatives are formed. Ben¶zile (?), n. [From Benzoin.] (Chem.) A yellowish crystalline substance, C6H5.CO.CO.C6H5, formed from benzoin by the action of oxidizing agents, and consisting of a doubled benzoyl radical. Ben¶zine (?), n. [From Benzoin.] (Chem.) 1. A liquid consisting mainly of the lighter and more volatile hydrocarbons of petroleum or kerosene oil, used as a solvent and for cleansing soiled fabrics; Ð called also petroleum spirit, petroleum benzine. Varieties or similar products are gasoline, naphtha, rhigolene, ligroin, etc. 2. Same as Benzene. [R.] µ The hydrocarbons of benzine proper are essentially of the marsh gas series, while benzene proper is the typical hydrocarbon of the aromatic series. Ben¶zoÏate (?), n. [Cf. F. benzoate.] (Chem.) A salt formed by the union of benzoic acid with any salifiable base.

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BenÏzo¶ic (?), a. [Cf. F. benzo‹que.] Pertaining to, or obtained from, benzoin.
Benzoic acid, or flowers of benzoin, a peculiar vegetable acid, C6H5.CO2H, obtained from benzoin, and some other balsams, by sublimation or decoction. It is also found in the urine of infants and herbivorous animals. It crystallizes in the form of white, satiny flakes; its odor is aromatic; its taste is pungent, and somewhat acidulous. Ð Benzoic aldehyde, oil of bitter almonds; the aldehyde, C6H5.CHO, intermediate in composition between benzoic or benzyl alcohol, and benzoic acid. It is a thin colorless liquid.
BenÏzoin¶ (?), n. [Cf. F. benjoin, Sp. benjui, Pg. beijoin; all fr. Ar. lub¾nÐj¾wÆ incense form Sumatra (named Java in Arabic), the first syllable being lost. Cf. Benjamin.] [Called also benjamin.] 1. A resinous substance, dry and brittle, obtained from the Styrax benzoin, a tree of Sumatra, Java, etc., having a fragrant odor, and slightly aromatic taste. It is used in the preparation of benzoic acid, in medicine, and as a perfume.
2. A white crystalline substance, C14H12O2, obtained from benzoic aldehyde and some other sources.
3. (Bot.) The spicebush (Lindera benzoin).
Flowers of benzoin, benzoic acid. See under Benzoic.
BenÏzoin¶aÏted (?), a. (Med.) Containing or impregnated with benzoin; as, benzoinated lard.
Ben¶zole Ben¶zol } (?), n. [Benzoin + L. oleum oil.] (Chem.) An impure benzene, used in the arts as a solvent, and for various other purposes. See Benzene.
µ It has great solvent powers, and is used by manufacturers of India rubber and gutta percha; also for cleaning soiled kid gloves, and for other purposes.
Ben¶zoÏline (?), n. (Chem.) (a) Same as Benzole. (b) Same as Amarine. [R.]
Watts.
Ben¶zoyl (?), n. [Benzoic + Gr. ? wood. See Ïyl.] (Chem.) A compound radical, C6H5.CO; the base of benzoic acid, of the oil of bitter almonds, and of an extensive series of compounds. [Formerly written also benzule.]
Ben¶zyl (?), n. [Benzoic + Ïyl.] (Chem.) A compound radical, C6H5.CH2, related to toluene and benzoic acid; Ð commonly used adjectively.
BeÏpaint¶ (?), v. t. To paint; to cover or color with, or as with, paint.
Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek.
Shak.
BeÏpelt¶ (?), v. t. To pelt roundly.
BeÏpinch¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bepinched (?).] To pinch, or mark with pinches.
Chapman.
BeÏplas¶ter (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Beplastered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Beplastering.] To plaster over; to cover or smear thickly; to bedaub.
Beplastered with rouge.
Goldsmith.
BeÏplumed¶ (?), a. Decked with feathers.
BeÏpom¶mel (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bepommeled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bepommeling.] To pommel; to beat, as with a stick; figuratively, to assail or criticise in conversation, or in writing.
Thackeray.
BeÏpow¶der (?), v. t. To sprinkle or cover with powder; to powder.
BeÏpraise¶ (?), v. t. To praise greatly or extravagantly.
Goldsmith.
BeÏprose¶ (?), v. t. To reduce to prose. [R.] ½To beprose all rhyme.¸
Mallet.
BeÏpuffed¶ (?), a. Puffed; praised.
Carlyle.
BeÏpur¶ple (?), v. t. To tinge or dye with a purple color.
BeÏqueath¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bequeathed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bequeathing.] [OE. biquethen, AS. becwe?an to say, affirm, bequeath; pref. beÏ + cwe?an to say, speak. See Quoth.] 1. To give or leave by will; to give by testament; Ð said especially of personal property.
My heritage, which my dead father did bequeath to me.
Shak.
2. To hand down; to transmit.
To bequeath posterity somewhat to remember it.
Glanvill.
3. To give; to offer; to commit. [Obs.]
To whom, with all submission, on my knee
I do bequeath my faithful services
And true subjection everlastingly.
Shak.
Syn. Ð To Bequeath, Devise. Both these words denote the giving or disposing of property by will. Devise, in legal usage, is property used to denote a gift by will of real property, and he to whom it is given is called the devisee. Bequeath is properly applied to a gift by will or legacy; i. e., of personal property; the gift is called a legacy, and he who receives it is called a legatee. In popular usage the word bequeath is sometimes enlarged so as to embrace devise; and it is sometimes so construed by courts.
BeÏqueath¶aÏble (?), a. Capable of being bequeathed.
BeÏqueath¶al (?), n. The act of bequeathing; bequeathment; bequest.
Fuller.
BeÏqueath¶ment (?), n. The act of bequeathing, or the state of being bequeathed; a bequest.
BeÏquest¶ (?), n. [OE. biquest, corrupted fr. bequide; pref. beÏ + AS. cwide a saying, becwe?an to bequeath. The ending Ïest is probably due to confusion with quest. See Bequeath, Quest.] 1. The act of bequeathing or leaving by will; as, a bequest of property by A. to B.
2. That which is left by will, esp. personal property; a legacy; also, a gift.
BeÏquest¶, v. t. To bequeath, or leave as a legacy. [Obs.] ½All I have to bequest.¸
Gascoigne.
BeÏqueth¶en (?), old p. p. of Bequeath. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
BeÏquote¶ (?), v. t. To quote constantly or with great frequency.
BeÏrain (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Berained (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Beraining.] To rain upon; to wet with rain. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
BeÏrate¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Berated; p. pr. & vb. n. Berating.] To rate or chide vehemently; to scold. Holland. Motley.
BeÏrat¶tle (?), v. t. To make rattle; to scold vociferously; to cry down. [Obs.] Shak.
BeÏray¶ (?), v. t. [Pref. beÏ + ray to defile.] To make foul; to soil; to defile. [Obs.] Milton.
ØBer¶be (?), n. [Cf. Berber, Barb a Barbary horse.] (Zo”l.) An African genet (Genetta pardina). See Genet.
Ber¶ber (?), n. [See Barbary.] A member of a race somewhat resembling the Arabs, but often classed as Hamitic, who were formerly the inhabitants of the whole of North Africa from the Mediterranean southward into the Sahara, and who still occupy a large part of that region; Ð called also Kabyles. Also, the language spoken by this people.
Ber¶berÏine (?), n. (Chem.) An alkaloid obtained, as a bitter, yellow substance, from the root of the barberry, gold thread, and other plants.
Ber¶berÏry (?), n. See Barberry.
Ber¶dash (?), n. A kind of neckcloth. [Obs.]
A treatise against the cravat and berdash. Steele.
Bere (?), v. t. [Cf. OIcel. berja to strike.] To pierce. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Bere, n. See Bear, barley. [Scot.]
BeÏreave¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bereaved (?), Bereft (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bereaving.] [OE. bireven, AS. bere fian. See BeÏ, and Reave.]
1. To make destitute; to deprive; to strip; Ð with of before the person or thing taken away.
Madam, you have bereft me of all words. Shak.
Bereft of him who taught me how to sing. Tickell.
2. To take away from. [Obs.]
All your interest in those territories
Is utterly bereft you; all is lost. Shak.
3. To take away. [Obs.]
Shall move you to bereave my life. Marlowe.
µ The imp. and past pple. form bereaved is not used in reference to immaterial objects. We say bereaved or bereft by death of a relative, bereft of hope and strength.
Syn. Ð To dispossess; to divest.
BeÏreave¶ment (?), n. The state of being bereaved; deprivation; esp., the loss of a relative by death.
BeÏreav¶er (?), n. One who bereaves.
BeÏreft (?), imp. & p. p. of Bereave.
BeÏret¶ta (?), n. Same as Berretta.
Berg (?), n. [?95. See Barrow hill, and cf. Iceberg.] A large mass or hill, as of ice.
Glittering bergs of ice. Tennyson.
Ber¶gaÏmot (?), n. [F. bergamote, fr. It. bergamotta; prob. a corruption of Turk. beg arm?di a lord's pear.] 1. (Bot.) (a) A tree of the Orange family (Citrus bergamia), having a roundish or pearÏshaped fruit, from the rind of which an essential oil of delicious odor is extracted, much prized as a perfume. Also, the fruit. (b) A variety of mint (Mentha aquatica, var. glabrata).
2. The essence or perfume made from the fruit.
3. A variety of pear. Johnson.
4. A variety of snuff perfumed with bergamot.
The better hand … gives the nose its bergamot. Cowper.
5. A coarse tapestry, manufactured from flock of cotton or hemp, mixed with ox's or goat's hair; Ð said to have been invented at Bergamo, Italy. Encyc. Brit.
Wild bergamot (Bot.), an American herb of the Mint family (Monarda fistulosa).
Ber¶ganÏder (?), n. [Berg, for burrow + gander a male goose ? Cf. G. bergente, Dan. gravgaas.] (Zo”l.) A European duck (Anas tadorna). See Sheldrake.
Ber¶gerÏet (?), n. [OF. bergerete, F. berger a shepherd.] A pastoral song. [Obs.]
Bergh (?), n. [AS. beorg.] A hill. [Obs.]
Berg¶mas·ter (?), n. See Barmaster.
Berg¶meal (?), n. [G. berg mountain + mehl meal.] (Min.) An earthy substance, resembling fine flour. It is composed of the shells of infusoria, and in Lapland and Sweden is sometimes eaten, mixed with flour or ground birch bark, in times of scarcity. This name is also given to a white powdery variety of calcite.
Berg¶mote (?), n. See Barmote.
Ber¶goÏmask (?), n. A rustic dance, so called in ridicule of the people of Bergamo, in Italy, once noted for their clownishness.
Ber¶gylt (?), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Zo”l.) The Norway haddock. See Rosefish.
BeÏrhyme¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Berhymed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Berhyming.] To mention in rhyme or verse; to rhyme about. [Sometimes use depreciatively.] Shak.
ØBe·riÏbe¶ri (?), n. [Singhalese beri weakness.] An acute disease occurring in India, characterized by multiple inflammatory changes in the nerves, producing great muscular debility, a painful rigidity of the limbs, and cachexy.
BeÏrime¶ (?), v. t. To berhyme. [The earlier and etymologically preferable spelling.]
BerkeÏle¶ian (?), a. Of or relating to Bishop Berkeley or his system of idealism; as, Berkeleian philosophy. Ð Berke¶leyÏism , n.
Ber¶lin (?), n. [The capital of Prussia] 1. A fourÏwheeled carriage, having a sheltered seat behind the body and separate from it, invented in the 17th century, at Berlin.
2. Fine worsted for fancyÏwork; zephyr worsted; Ð called also Berlin wool.
Berlin black, a black varnish, drying with almost a dead surface; Ð used for coating the better kinds of ironware. Ure. Ð Berlin blue, Prussian blue. Ure. Ð Berlin green, a complex cyanide of iron, used as a green dye, and similar to Prussian blue. Ð Berlin iron, a very fusible variety of cast iron, from which figures and other delicate articles are manufactured. These are often stained or lacquered in imitation of bronze. Ð Berlin shop, a shop for the sale of worsted embroidery and the materials for such work. Ð Berlin work, worsted embroidery.
Berm Berme } (?), n. [F. berme, of German origin; cf. G. brame, br„me, border, akin to E. brim.] 1. (Fort.) A narrow shelf or path between the bottom of a parapet and the ditch.
2. (Engineering) A ledge at the bottom of a bank or cutting, to catch earth that may roll down the slope, or to strengthen the bank.
BerÏmu¶da grass· (?). (Bot.) A kind of grass (Cynodon Dactylon) esteemed for pasture in the Southern United States. It is a native of Southern Europe, but is now wideÏspread in warm countries; Ð called also scutch grass, and in Bermuda, devil grass.
Ber¶naÏcle (?), n. See Barnacle.
Ber¶na fly· (?). (Zo”l.) A Brazilian dipterous insect of the genus Trypeta, which lays its eggs in the nostrils or in wounds of man and beast, where the larv‘ do great injury.
Ber¶narÏdine (?), a. Of or pertaining to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, or to the Cistercian monks. Ð n. A Cistercian monk.
BerÏnese¶ (?), a. Pertaining to the city o? canton of Bern, in Switzerland, or to its inhabitants. Ð n. sing. & pl. A native or natives of Bern.
Ber¶niÏcle (?), n. [OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac; prob. fr. LL. bernacula for hibernicula, bernicula, fr. Hibernia; the birds coming from Hibernia o? Ireland. Cf. 1st Barnacle.] A bernicle goose. [Written also barnacle.]
Bernicle goose (Zo”l.), a goose (Branta leucopsis), of Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas), which were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related species. See Anatifa and Cirripedia.
BerÏnouse¶ (?), n. Some as Burnoose.
BeÏrob¶ (?), v. t. To rob; to plunder. [Obs.]
ØBer¶oÏe (?), n. [L. Beroe, one of the Oceanid‘ Gr. ?: cf. F. bero‚.] (Zo”l.) A small, oval, transparent jellyfish, belonging to the Ctenophora.
BerÏret¶ta (?), n. [It., fr. LL. birrettum, berretum, a cap, dim. of L. birrus, birrum, a cloak to keep off rain, cf. Gr. ? tawny, red: cf. Sp. birreta, Pg. barrete, and E. Barret.] A square cap worn by ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic Church. A cardinal's berretta is scarlet; that worn by other clerics is black, except that a bishop's is lined with green. [Also spelt beretta, biretta, etc.]
Ber¶ried (?), a. Furnished with berries; consisting of a berry; baccate; as, a berried shrub.
Ber¶ry (?), n.; pl. Berries. [OE. berie, AS. berie, berige; akin to D. bes, G. beere, OS. and OHG. beri, Icel. ber, Sw. b„r, Goth. basi, and perh. Skr. bhas to eat.]
1. Any small fleshy fruit, as the strawberry, mulberry, huckleberry, etc.
2. (Bot.) A small fruit that is pulpy or succulent throughout, having seeds loosely imbedded in the pulp, as the currant, grape, blueberry.
3. The coffee bean.
4. One of the ova or eggs of a fish.
Travis.
In berry, containing ova or spawn.
Ber¶ry, v. i. [imp. & p.p. Berried (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Berrying.] To bear or produce berries.
Ber¶ry, n. [AS. beorh. See Barrow a hill.] A mound; a hillock.
W. Browne.
Ber¶ryÏing, n. A seeking for or gathering of berries, esp. of such as grow wild.
Ber¶serk (?), Ber¶serkÏer (?), } n. [Icel. berserkr.] 1. (Scand. Myth.) One of a class of legendary heroes, who fought frenzied by intoxicating liquors, and naked, regardless of wounds.
Longfellow.
2. One who fights as if frenzied, like a Berserker.
Bers¶tle (?), n. See Bristle. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Berth (?), n. [From the root of bear to produce, like birth nativity. See Birth.] [Also written birth.]
1. (Naut.) (a) Convenient sea room. (b) A room in which a number of the officers or ship's company mess and reside. (c) The place where a ship lies when she is at anchor, or at a wharf.
2. An allotted place; an appointment; situation or employment. ½He has a good berth.¸
Totten.
3. A place in a ship to sleep in; a long box or shelf on the side of a cabin or stateroom, or of a railway car, for sleeping in.
Berth deck, the deck next below the lower gun deck. Ham. Nav. Encyc. Ð To give (the land or any object) a wide berth, to keep at a distance from it.
Berth, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Berthed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Berthing.] 1. To give an anchorage to, or a place to lie at; to place in a berth; as, she was berthed stem to stern with the Adelaide.
2. To allot or furnish berths to, on shipboard; as, to berth a ship's company.
Totten.
Ber¶tha (?), n. [F. berthe, fr. Berthe, a woman's name.] A kind of collar or cape worn by ladies.
Berth¶age (?), n. A place for mooring vessels in a dock or harbor.
Ber¶thiÏerÏite (?), n. [From Berthier, a French naturalist.] (Min.) A double sulphide of antimony and iron, of a dark steelÏgray color.
Berth¶ing (?), n. (Naut.) The planking outside of a vessel, above the sheer strake.
Smyth.
Ber¶tram (?), n. [Corrupted fr. L. pyrethrum, Gr. ? a hot spicy plant, fr. ? fire.] (Bot.) Pellitory of Spain (Anacyclus pyrethrum).

<— p. 139 —>

Ber¶yÏcoid (?), a. [NL. beryx, the name of the typical genus + Ïoid.] (Zo”l.) Of or pertaining to the Berycid‘, a family of marine fishes.
Ber¶yl (?), n. [ F. b‚ryl, OF. beril, L. beryllus, Gr. ?, prob. fr. Skr. vaid?rya. Cf. Brilliant.] (Min.) A mineral of great hardness, and, when transparent, of much beauty. It occurs in hexagonal prisms, commonly of a green or bluish green color, but also yellow, pink, and white. It is a silicate of aluminium and glucinum (beryllium). The aquamarine is a transparent, seaÏgreen variety used as a gem. The emerald is another variety highly prized in jewelry, and distinguished by its deep color, which is probably due to the presence of a little oxide of chromium.
Ber¶ylÏline (?), a. Like a beryl; of a light or bluish green color.
BeÏryl¶liÏum (?), n. [NL.] (Chem.) A metallic element found in the beryl. See Glucinum.
Ber¶ylÏloid (?), n. [Beryl + Ïoid.] (Crystallog.) A solid consisting of a double twelveÏsided pyramid; Ð so called because the planes of this form occur on crystals of beryl.
BeÏsaiel¶, BeÏsaile¶, BeÏsayle¶ (?), n. [OF. beseel, F. bisa‹eul, fr. L. bis twice + LL. avolus, dim. of L. avus grandfather.] 1. A greatÐgrandfather. [Obs.]
2. (Law) A kind of writ which formerly lay where a greatÏgrandfather died seized of lands in fee simple, and on the day of his death a stranger abated or entered and kept the heir out. This is now abolished.
Blackstone.
BeÏsaint¶ (?), v. t. To make a saint of.
BeÏsant¶ (?), n. See Bezant.
BesÐant¶ler (?), n. Same as BezÐantler.
BeÏscat¶ter (?), v. t. 1. To scatter over.
2. To cover sparsely by scattering (something); to strew. ½With flowers bescattered.¸
Spenser.
BeÏscorn¶ (?), v. t. To treat with scorn. ½Then was he bescorned.¸
Chaucer.
BeÏscratch¶ (?), v. t. To tear with the nails; to cover with scratches.
BeÏscrawl¶ (?), v. t. To cover with scrawls; to scribble over.
Milton.
BeÏscreen¶ (?), v. t. To cover with a screen, or as with a screen; to shelter; to conceal.
Shak.
BeÏscrib¶ble (?), v. t. To scribble over. ½Bescribbled with impertinences.¸
Milton.
BeÏscum¶ber (?), BeÏscum¶mer (?), } v. t. [Pref. beÏ + scumber, scummer.] To discharge ordure or dung upon. [Obs.]
B. Jonson.
BeÏsee¶ (?), v. t. & i. [AS. bese¢n; pref. beÏ + ?e¢n to see.] To see; to look; to mind. [Obs.]
Wyclif.
BeÏseech¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Besought (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Beseeching.] [OE. bisechen, biseken (akin to G. besuchen to visit); pref. beÏ + sechen, seken, to seek. See Seek.] 1. To ask or entreat with urgency; to supplicate; to implore.
I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts.
Shak.
But Eve … besought his peace.
Milton.
Syn. Ð To beg; to crave. Ð To Beseech, Entreat, Solicit, Implore, Supplicate. These words agree in marking that sense of want which leads men to beg some favor. To solicit is to make a request, with some degree of earnestness and repetition, of one whom we address as a superior. To entreat implies greater urgency, usually enforced by adducing reasons or arguments. To beseech is still stronger, and belongs rather to the language of poetry and imagination. To implore denotes increased fervor of entreaty, as addressed either to equals or superiors. To supplicate expresses the extreme of entreaty, and usually implies a state of deep humiliation. Thus, a captive supplicates a conqueror to spare his life. Men solicit by virtue of their interest with another; they entreat in the use of reasoning and strong representations; they beseech with importunate earnestness; they implore from a sense of overwhelming distress; they supplicate with a feeling of the most absolute inferiority and dependence.
BeÏseech¶, n. Solicitation; supplication. [Obs. or Poetic]
Shak.
BeÏseech¶er (?), n. One who beseeches.
BeÏseech¶ing, a. Entreating urgently; imploring; as, a beseeching look. Ð BeÏseech¶ingÏly, adv. Ð BeÏseech¶ingÏness, n.
BeÏseech¶ment (?), n. The act of beseeching or entreating earnestly. [R.]
Goodwin.
BeÏseek¶ (?), v. t. To beseech. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
BeÏseem¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Beseemed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Beseeming.] [Pref. beÏ + seem.] Literally: To appear or seem (well, ill, best, etc.) for (one) to do or to have. Hence: To be fit, suitable, or proper for, or worthy of; to become; to befit.
A duty well beseeming the preachers.
Clarendon.
What form of speech or behavior beseemeth us, in our prayers to God ?
Hocker.
BeÏseem¶, v. i. To seem; to appear; to be fitting. [Obs.] ½As beseemed best.¸
Spenser.
BeÏseem¶ing, n. 1. Appearance; look; garb. [Obs.]
I … did company these three in poor beseeming.
Shak.
2. Comeliness.
Baret.
BeÏseem¶ing, a. Becoming; suitable. [Archaic] Ð BeÏseem¶ingÏly, adv. Ð BeÏseem¶ingÏness, n.
BeÏseem¶ly, a. Fit; suitable; becoming. [Archaic]
In beseemly order sitten there.
Shenstone.
BeÏseen¶ (?), a. [Properly the p. p. of besee.]
1. Seen; appearing. [Obs. or Archaic]
2. Decked or adorned; clad. [Archaic]
Chaucer.
3. Accomplished; versed. [Archaic]
Spenser.
BeÏset¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Beset; p. pr. & vb. n. Besetting.] [AS. besettan (akin to OHG. bisazjan, G. besetzen, D. bezetten); pref. beÏ + settan to set. See Set.] 1. To set or stud (anything) with ornaments or prominent objects.
A robe of azure beset with drops of gold.
Spectator.
The garden is so beset with all manner of sweet shrubs that it perfumes the air.
Evelyn.
2. To hem in; to waylay; to surround; to besiege; to blockade. ½Beset with foes.¸
Milton.
Let thy troops beset our gates.
Addison.
3. To set upon on all sides; to perplex; to harass; Ð said of dangers, obstacles, etc. ½Adam, sore beset, replied.¸ Milton. ½Beset with ills.¸ Addison. ½Incommodities which beset old age.¸ Burke.
4. To occupy; to employ; to use up. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Syn. Ð To surround; inclose; environ; hem in; besiege; encircle; encompass; embarrass; urge; press.
BeÏset¶ment (?), n. The act of besetting, or the state of being beset; also, that which besets one, as a sin. ½Fearing a besetment.¸
Kane.
BeÏset¶ter (?), n. One who, or that which, besets.
BeÏset¶ting, a. Habitually attacking, harassing, or pressing upon or about; as, a besetting sin.
BeÏshine¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Beshone; p. pr. & vb. n. Beshining.] To shine upon; to ullumine.
ØBeÏshow¶ (?), n. [Native name.] (Zo”l.) A large food fish (Anoplopoma fimbria) of the north Pacific coast; Ð called also candlefish.
BeÏshrew¶ (?), v. t. To curse; to execrate.
Beshrew me, but I love her heartily.
Shak.
µ Often a very mild form of imprecation; sometimes so far from implying a curse, as to be uttered coaxingly, nay even with some tenderness.
Schmidt.
BeÏshroud¶ (?), v. t. To cover with, or as with, a shroud; to screen.
BeÏshut¶ (?), v. t. To shut up or out. [Obs.]
BeÏside¶ (?), prep. [OE. biside, bisiden, bisides, prep. and adv., beside, besides; pref. beÏ by + side. Cf. Besides, and see Side, n.] 1. At the side of; on one side of. ½Beside him hung his bow.¸
Milton.
2. Aside from; out of the regular course or order of; in a state of deviation from; out of.
[You] have done enough
To put him quite beside his patience.
Shak.
3. Over and above; distinct from; in addition to. [In this use besides is now commoner.]
Wise and learned men beside those whose names are in the Christian records.
Addison.
To be beside one's self, to be out ob one's wits or senses.
Paul, thou art beside thyself.
Acts xxvi. 24.
Syn. Ð Beside, Besides. These words, whether used as prepositions or adverbs, have been considered strictly synonymous, from an early period of our literature, and have been freely interchanged by our best writers. There is, however, a tendency, in present usage, to make the following distinction between them: 1. That beside be used only and always as a preposition, with the original meaning ½by the side of; ¸ as, to sit beside a fountain; or with the closely allied meaning ½aside from¸, ½apart from¸, or ½out of¸; as, this is beside our present purpose; to be beside one's self with joy. The adverbial sense to be wholly transferred to the cognate word. 2. That besides, as a preposition, take the remaining sense ½in addition to¸, as, besides all this; besides the considerations here offered. ½There was a famine in the land besides the first famine.¸ Gen. xxvi. 1. And that it also take the adverbial sense of ½moreover¸, ½beyond¸, etc., which had been divided between the words; as, besides, there are other considerations which belong to this case. The following passages may serve to illustrate this use of the words: Ð
Lovely Thais sits beside thee.
Dryden.
Only be patient till we have appeased
The multitude, beside themselves with fear.
Shak.
It is beside my present business to enlarge on this speculation.
Locke.
Besides this, there are persons in certain situations who are expected to be charitable.
Bp. Porteus.
And, besides, the Moor
May unfold me to him; there stand I in much peril.
Shak.
That man that does not know those things which are of necessity for him to know is but an ignorant man, whatever he may know besides.
Tillotson.
See Moreover.
BeÏsides¶ (?), BeÏside¶ (?), } adv. [OE. Same as beside, prep.; the ending Ïs is an adverbial one, prop. a genitive sign.] 1. On one side. [Obs.]
Chaucer. Shak.
2. More than that; over and above; not included in the number, or in what has been mentioned; moreover; in addition.
The men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides ?
Gen. xix. 12.
To all beside, as much an empty shade,
An Eugene living, as a C‘sar dead.
Pope.
µ These sentences may be considered as elliptical.
BeÏsides (?), prep. Over and above; separate or distinct from; in addition to; other than; else than. See Beside, prep., 3, and Syn. under Beside.
Besides your cheer, you shall have sport.
Shak.
BeÏsiege¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Besieged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Besieging.] [OE. bisegen; pref. beÏ + segen to siege. See Siege.] To beset or surround with armed forces, for the purpose of compelling to surrender; to lay s?ege to; to beleaguer; to beset.
Till Paris was besieged, famished, and lost.
Shak.
Syn. Ð To environ; hem in; invest; encompass.
BeÏsiege¶ment (?), n. The act of besieging, or the state of being besieged.
Golding.
BeÏsie¶ger (?), n. One who besieges; Ð opposed to the besieged.
BeÏsie¶ging (?), a. That besieges; laying siege to. Ð BeÏsie¶gingÏly, adv.
BeÏsit¶ (?), v. t. [Pref. beÏ + sit.] To suit; to fit; to become. [Obs.]
BeÏslab¶ber (?), v. t. To beslobber.
BeÏslave¶ (?), v. t. To enslave. [Obs.]
Bp. Hall.
BeÏslav¶er (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Beslavered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Beslavering.] To defile with slaver; to beslobber.
BeÏslime¶ (?), v. t. To daub with slime; to soil. [Obs.]
B. Jonson.
BeÏslob¶ber (?), v. t. To slobber on; to smear with spittle running from the mouth. Also Fig.: as, to beslobber with praise.
BeÏslub¶ber (?), v. t. To beslobber.
BeÏsmear¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Besmeared (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Besmearing.] To smear with any viscous, glutinous matter; to bedaub; to soil.
Besmeared with precious balm.
Spenser.
BeÏsmear¶er (?), n. One that besmears.
BeÏsmirch¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Besmirched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Besmirching.] To smirch or soil; to disoolor; to obscure. Hence: To dishonor; to sully.
Shak.
BeÏsmoke¶ (?), v. t. 1. To foul with smoke.
2. To harden or dry in smoke.
Johnson.
BeÏsmut¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Besmutted; p. pr. & vb. n. Besmutting.] [Pref. beÏ + smut: cf. AS. besmÆtan, and also OE. besmotren.] To blacken with smut; to foul with soot.
BeÏsnow¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Besnowed (?).] [OE. bisnewen, AS. besnÆwan; pref. beÏ + snÆwan to snow.] 1. To scatter ? snow; to cover thick, as with snow flakes. [R.]
Gower.
2. To cover with snow; to whiten with snow, or as with snow.
BeÏsnuff¶ (?), v. t. To befoul with snuff.
Young.
BeÏsogne¶ (?), n. [F. bisogne.] A worthless fellow; a bezonian. [Obs.]
Be¶som (?), n. [OE. besme, besum, AS. besma; akin to D. bezem, OHG pesamo, G. besen; of uncertain origin.] A brush of twigs for sweeping; a broom; anything which sweeps away or destroys. [Archaic or Fig.]
I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.
Isa. xiv. 23.
The housemaid with her besom.
W. Irving.
Be¶som, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Besomed (?).] To sweep, as with a besom. [Archaic or Poetic]
Cowper.
Rolls back all Greece, and besoms wide the plain.
Barlow.
Be¶somÏer (?), n. One who uses a besom. [Archaic]
BeÏsort¶ (?), v. t. To assort or be congruous with; to fit, or become. [Obs.]
Such men as may besort your age.
Shak.
BeÏsort¶, n. Befitting associates or attendants. [Obs.]
With such accommodation and besort
As levels with her breeding.
Shak.
BeÏsot¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Besotted (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Besotting.] To make sottish; to make dull or stupid; to stupefy; to infatuate.
Fools besotted with their crimes.
Hudibras.
BeÏsot¶ted, a. Made sottish, senseless, or infatuated; characterized by drunken stupidity, or by infatuation; stupefied. ½Besotted devotion.¸ Sir W. Scott. Ð BeÏsot¶tedÏly, adv. Ð BeÏsot¶tedÏness, n.
Milton.
BeÏsot¶tingÏly, adv. In a besotting manner.
BeÏsought¶ (?), p. p. of Beseech.
BeÏspan¶gle (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bespangled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bespangling (?).] To adorn with spangles; to dot or sprinkle with something brilliant or glittering.
The grass … is all bespangled with dewdrops.
Cowper.
BeÏspat¶ter (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bespattered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bespattering.] 1. To soil by spattering; to sprinkle, esp. with dirty water, mud, or anything which will leave foul spots or stains.
2. To asperse with calumny or reproach.
Whom never faction could bespatter.
Swift.
BeÏspawl¶ (?), v. t. To daub, soil, or make foul with spawl or spittle. [Obs.]
Milton.
BeÏspeak¶ (?), v. t. [imp. Bespoke (?), Bespake (Archaic); p. p. Bespoke, Bespoken (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bespeaking.] [OE. bispeken, AS. besprecan, to speak to, accuse; pref. beÏ + sprecan to speak. See Speak.] 1. To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor.
Concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favor.
Sir W. Scott.
2. To show beforehand; to foretell; to indicate.
[They] bespoke dangers … in order to scare the allies.
Swift.
3. To betoken; to show; to indicate by external marks or appearances.
When the abbot of St. Martin was born, he had so little the figure of a man that it bespoke him rather a monster.
Locke.
4. To speak to; to address. [Poetic]
He thus the queen bespoke.
Dryden.
BeÏspeak¶, v. i. To speak. [Obs.]
Milton.
BeÏspeak¶, n. A bespeaking. Among actors, a benefit (when a particular play is bespoken.) ½The night of her bespeak.¸
Dickens.
BeÏspeak¶er (?), n. One who bespeaks.
BeÏspec¶kle (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bespeckled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bespeckling.] To mark with speckles or spots.
Milton.
BeÏspew¶ (?), v. t. To soil or daub with spew; to vomit on.
BeÏspice¶ (?), v. t. To season with spice, or with some spicy drug.
Shak.
BeÏspirt¶ (?), v. t. Same as Bespurt.

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BeÏspit (?), v. t. [imp. Bespit; p. p. Bespit, Bespitten (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bespitting.] To daub or soil with spittle.
Johnson.
BeÏspoke¶ (?), imp. & p.p. of Bespeak.
BeÏspot¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bespotted (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bespotting.] To mark with spots, or as with spots.
BeÏspread¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bespread; p. pr. & vb. n. Bespreading.] To spread or cover over.
The carpet which bespread
His rich pavilion's floor.
Glover.
BeÏsprent¶ (?), p. p. [OE. bespreynt, p. p. of besprengen, bisprengen, to besprinkle, AS. besprengan, akin to D. & G. besprengen; pref. beÏ + sprengan to sprinkle. See Sprinkle.] Sprinkled over; strewed.
His face besprent with liquid crystal shines.
Shenstone.
The floor with tassels of fir was besprent.
Longfellow.
BeÏsprin¶kle (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Besprinkled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Besprinkling (?).] To sprinkle over; to scatter over.
The bed besprinkles, and bedews the ground.
Dryden.
BeÏsprin¶kler (?), n. One who, or that which, besprinkles.
BeÏsprin¶kling (?), n. The act of sprinkling anything; a sprinkling over.
BeÏspurt¶ (?), v. t. To spurt on or over; to asperse. [Obs.]
Milton.
Bes¶seÏmer steel· (?). Steel made directly from cast iron, by burning out a portion of the carbon and other impurities that the latter contains, through the agency of a blast of air which is forced through the molten metal; Ð so called from Sir Henry Bessemer, an English engineer, the inventor of the process.
Best (?), a.; superl. of Good. [AS. besta, best, contr. from betest, betst, betsta; akin to Goth. batists, OHG. pezzisto, G. best, beste, D. best, Icel. beztr, Dan. best, Sw. b„st. This word has no connection in origin with good. See Better.] 1. Having good qualities in the highest degree; most good, kind, desirable, suitable, etc.; most excellent; as, the best man; the best road; the best cloth; the best abilities.
When he is best, he is a little worse than a man.
Shak.
Heaven's last, best gift, my ever new delight.
Milton.
2. Most advanced; most correct or complete; as, the best scholar; the best view of a subject.
3. Most; largest; as, the best part of a week.
Best man, the only or principal groomsman at a wedding ceremony.
Best, n. Utmost; highest endeavor or state; most nearly perfect thing, or being, or action; as, to do one's best; to the best of our ability.
At best, in the utmost degree or extent applicable to the case; under the most favorable circumstances; as, life is at best very short. Ð For best, finally. [Obs.] ½Those constitutions … are now established for best, and not to be mended.¸ Milton. Ð To get the best of, to gain an advantage over, whether fairly or unfairly. Ð To make the best of. (a) To improve to the utmost; to use or dispose of to the greatest advantage. ½Let there be freedom to carry their commodities where they can make the best of them.¸ Bacon. (b) To reduce to the least possible inconvenience; as, to make the best of ill fortune or a bad bargain.
Best, adv.; superl. of Well. 1. In the highest degree; beyond all others. ½Thou serpent ! That name best befits thee.¸
Milton.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small.
Coleridge.
2. To the most advantage; with the most success, case, profit, benefit, or propriety.
Had we best retire? I see a storm.
Milton.
Had I not best go to her?
Thackeray.
3. Most intimately; most thoroughly or correctly; as, what is expedient is best known to himself.
Best, v. t. To get the better of. [Colloq.]
BeÏstad¶ (?), imp. & p. p. of Bestead. Beset; put in peril. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
BeÏstain¶ (?), v. t. To stain.
BeÏstar¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bestarred (?).] To sprinkle with, or as with, stars; to decorate with, or as with, stars; to bestud. ½Bestarred with anemones.¸
W. Black.
BeÏstead¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bestead or Bested, also (Obs.) Bestad. In sense 3 imp. also Besteaded.] [Pref. beÏ + stead a place.] 1. To put in a certain situation or condition; to circumstance; to place. [Only in p. p.]
They shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: … and curse their king and their God.
Is. viii. 21.
Many far worse bestead than ourselves.
Barrow.
2. To put in peril; to beset. [Only in p. p.]
Chaucer.
3. To serve; to assist; to profit; to avail.
Milton.
Bes¶tial (?), a. [F. bestial, L. bestialis, fr. bestia beast. See Beast.] 1. Belonging to a beast, or to the class of beasts.
Among the bestial herds to range.
Milton.
2. Having the qualities of a beast; brutal; below the dignity of reason or humanity; irrational; carnal; beastly; sensual.
Shak.
Syn. Ð Brutish; beastly; brutal; carnal; vile; low; depraved; sensual; filthy.
Bes¶tial, n. A domestic animal; also collectively, cattle; as, other kinds of bestial. [Scot.]
BesÏtial¶iÏty (?), n. [F. bestialit‚.] 1. The state or quality of being bestial.
2. Unnatural connection with a beast.
Bes¶tialÏize (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bestialized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bestializing.] To make bestial, or like a beast; to degrade; to brutalize.
The process of bestializing humanity.
Hare.
Bes¶tialÏly, adv. In a bestial manner.
BeÏstick¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bestuck (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Besticking.] To stick over, as with sharp points pressed in; to mark by infixing points or spots here and there; to pierce.
Truth shall retire
Bestuck with slanderous darts.
Milton.
BeÏstill¶ (?), v. t. To make still.
BeÏstir¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bestirred (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bestirring.] To put into brisk or vigorous action; to move with life and vigor; Ð usually with the reciprocal pronoun.
You have so bestirred your valor.
Shak.
Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.
Milton.
BeÏstorm¶ (?), v. i. & t. To storm.
Young.
BeÏstow¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bestowed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bestowing.] [OE. bestowen; pref. beÏ + stow a place. See Stow.] 1. To lay up in store; to deposit for safe keeping; to stow; to place; to put. ½He bestowed it in a pouch.¸
Sir W. Scott.
See that the women are bestowed in safety.
Byron.
2. To use; to apply; to devote, as time or strength in some occupation.
3. To expend, as money. [Obs.]
4. To give or confer; to impart; Ð with on or upon.
Empire is on us bestowed.
Cowper.
Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor.
1 Cor. xiii. 3.
5. To give in marriage.
I could have bestowed her upon a fine gentleman.
Tatler.
6. To demean; to conduct; to behave; Ð followed by a reflexive pronoun. [Obs.]
How might we see Falstaff bestow himself toÏnight in his true colors, and not ourselves be seen ?
Shak.
Syn. Ð To give; grant; present; confer; accord.
BeÏstow¶al (?), n. The act of bestowing; disposal.
BeÏstow¶er (?), n. One that bestows.
BeÏstow¶ment (?), n. 1. The act of giving or bestowing; a conferring or bestowal.
If we consider this bestowment of gifts in this view.
Chauncy.
2. That which is given or bestowed.
They almost refuse to give due praise and credit to God's own bestowments.
I. Taylor.
BeÏstrad¶dle (?), v. t. To bestride.
BeÏstraught¶ (?), a. [Pref. beÏ + straught; prob. here used for distraught.] Out of one's senses; distracted; mad. [Obs.]
Shak.
BeÏstreak¶ (?), v. t. To streak.
BeÏstrew¶ (?), v. t. [imp. Bestrewed (?); p. p. Bestrewed, Bestrown (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bestrewing.] To strew or scatter over; to besprinkle. [Spelt also bestrow.]
Milton.
BeÏstride¶ (?), v. t. [imp. Bestrode (?), (Obs. or R.) Bestrid (?); p. p. Bestridden (?), Bestrid, Bestrode; p. pr. & vb. n. Bestriding.] [AS. bestrÆdan; pref. beÏ + strÆdan to stride.] 1. To stand or sit with anything between the legs, or with the legs astride; to stand over
That horse that thou so often hast bestrid.
Shak.
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus.
Shak.
2. To step over; to stride over or across; as, to bestride a threshold.
BeÏstrode¶ (?), imp. & p. p. of Bestride.
BeÏstrown¶ (?), p. p. of Bestrew.
BeÏstuck¶ (?), imp. & p. p. Bestick.
BeÏstud¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bestudded; p. pr. & vb. n. Bestudding.] To set or adorn, as with studs or bosses; to set thickly; to stud; as, to bestud with stars.
Milton.
BeÏswike¶ , v. t. [AS. beswÆcan; beÏ + swÆcan to deceive, entice; akin to OS. swÆkan, OHG. swÆhhan, Icel. svÆkja.] To lure; to cheat. [Obs.]
Gower.
Bet (?), n. [Prob. from OE. abet abetting, OF. abet, fr. abeter to excite, incite. See Abet.] That which is laid, staked, or pledged, as between two parties, upon the event of a contest or any contingent issue; the act of giving such a pledge; a wager. ½Having made his bets.¸
Goldsmith.
Bet, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bet, Betted (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Betting.] To stake or pledge upon the event of a contingent issue; to wager.
John a Gaunt loved him well, and betted much money on his head.
Shak.
I'll bet you two to one I'll make him do it.
O. W. Holmes.
Bet, imp. & p. p. of Beat. [Obs.]
Bet, a. & adv. An early form of Better. [Obs.]
To go bet, to go fast; to hurry. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Be¶taÏine (?), n. [From beta, generic name of the beet.] (Chem.) A nitrogenous base, C5H11NO2, produced artificially, and also occurring naturally in beetroot molasses and its residues, from which it is extracted as a white crystalline substance; Ð called also lycine and oxyneurine. It has a sweetish taste.
BeÏtake¶ (?), v. t. [imp. Betook (?); p. p. Betaken (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Betaking.] [Pref. beÏ + take.] 1. To take or seize. [Obs.]
Spenser.
2. To have recourse to; to apply; to resort; to go; Ð with a reflexive pronoun.
They betook themselves to treaty and submission.
Burke.
The rest, in imitation, to like arms
Betook them.
Milton.
Whither shall I betake me, where subsist ?
Milton.
3. To commend or intrust to; to commit to. [Obs.]
BeÏtaught¶ (?), a. [ P. p. of OE. bitechen, AS. bet?can, to assign, deliver. See Teach.] Delivered; committed in trust. [Obs.]
Bete (?), v. t. To better; to mend. See Beete. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
BeÏtee¶la (?), n. [Pg. beatilha.] An East India muslin, formerly used for cravats, veils, etc. [Obs.]
BeÏteem¶ (?), v. t. [Pref. beÏ + an old verb teem to be fitting; cf. D. betamen to beseem, G. ziemen, Goth. gatiman, and E. tame. See Tame, a.] 1. To give ; to bestow; to grant; to accord; to consent. [Obs.]
Spenser. Milton.
2. To allow; to permit; to suffer. [Obs.]
So loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly.
Shak.
Be¶tel (?), n. [Pg., fr. Tamil vettilei, prop. meaning, a mere leaf.] (Bot.) A species of pepper (Piper betle), the leaves of which are chewed, with the areca or betel nut and a little shell lime, by the inhabitants of the East Indies. I is a woody climber with ovate manynerved leaves.
Bet¶elÏguese (?), n. [F. B‚telgeuse, of Arabic origin.] (Astron.) A bright star of the first magnitude, near one shoulder of Orion. [Written also Betelgeux and Betelgeuse.]
Be¶tel nut· (?). The nutlike seed of the areca palm, chewed in the East with betel leaves (whence its name) and shell lime.
ØBˆte¶ noire¶ (?). [Fr., lit. black beast.] Something especially hated or dreaded; a bugbear.
BethÏab¶aÏra wood· (?). (Bot.) A highly elastic wood, used for fishing rods, etc. The tree is unknown, but it is thought to be East Indian.
Beth¶el (?), n. [Heb. b?thÏel house of God.]
1. A place of worship; a hallowed spot.
S. F. Adams.
2. A chapel for dissenters. [Eng.]
3. A house of worship for seamen.
BeÏthink¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bethought (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bethinking.] [AS. be?encan; pref. beÏ + ?encan to think. See Think.] To call to mind; to recall or bring to recollection, reflection, or consideration; to think; to consider; Ð generally followed by a reflexive pronoun, often with of or that before the subject of thought.
I have bethought me of another fault.
Shak.
The rest … may … bethink themselves, and recover.
Milton.
We bethink a means to break it off.
Shak.
Syn. Ð To recollect; remember; reflect.
BeÏthink¶, v. i. To think; to recollect; to consider. ½Bethink ere thou dismiss us.¸
Byron.
Beth¶leÏhem (?), n. [Heb. b?thÏlekhem house of food; b?th house + lekhem food, l¾kham to eat. Formerly the name of a hospital for the insane, in London, which had been the priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem. Cf. Bedlam.] 1. A hospital for lunatics; Ð corrupted into bedlam.
2. (Arch.) In the Ethiopic church, a small building attached to a church edifice, in which the bread for the eucharist is made.
Audsley.
Beth¶leÏhemÏite (?), Beth¶lemÏite (?), } n. 1. An inhabitant of Bethlehem in Judea.
2. An insane person; a madman; a bedlamite.
3. One of an extinct English order of monks.
BeÏthought¶ (?), imp. & p. p. of Bethink.
BeÏthrall¶ (?), v. t. To reduce to thralldom; to inthrall. [Obs.]
Spenser.
BeÏthumb¶ (?), v. t. To handle; to wear or soil by handling; as books.
Poe.
BeÏthump¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bethumped (?), or Bethumpt; p. pr. & vb. n. Bethumping.] To beat or thump soundly.
Shak.
BeÏtide¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Betided (?), Obs. Betid (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Betiding.] [OE. bitiden; pref. biÏ, beÏ + tiden, fr. AS. tÆdan, to happen, fr. tÆd time. See Tide.] To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer.
What will betide the few ?
Milton.
BeÏtide¶, v. i. To come to pass; to happen; to occur.
A salve for any sore that may betide.
Shak.
µ Shakespeare has used it with of. ½What would betide of me ?¸
BeÏtime¶ (?), BeÏtimes¶ (?), } adv. [ Pref. beÏ (for by) + time; that is, by the proper time. The Ïs is an adverbial ending.] 1. In good season or time; before it is late; seasonably; early.
To measure life learn thou betimes.
Milton.
To rise betimes is often harder than to do all the day's work.
Barrow.
2. In a short time; soon; speedily; forth with.
He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes.
Shak.
BeÏti¶tle (?), v. t. To furnish with a title or titles; to entitle. [Obs.]
Carlyle.
BeÏto¶ken (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Betokened (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Betokening.] 1. To signify by some visible object; to show by signs or tokens.
A dewy cloud, and in the cloud a bow …
Betokening peace from God, and covenant new.
Milton.
2. To foreshow by present signs; to indicate something future by that which is seen or known; as, a dark cloud often betokens a storm.
Syn. Ð To presage; portend; indicate; mark; note.
ØB‚·ton¶ (?), n. [F. b‚ton, fr. L. bitumen bitumen.] (Masonry) The French name for concrete; hence, concrete made after the French fashion.
BeÏtongue¶ (?), v. t. To attack with the tongue; to abuse; to insult.
Bet¶oÏny (?), n.; pl. Betonies (?). [OE. betony, betany, F. betoine, fr. L. betonica, vettonica.] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Betonica (Linn.).
µ The purple or wood betony (B. officinalis, Linn.) is common in Europe, being formerly used in medicine, and (according to Loudon) in dyeing wool a yellow color.
BeÏtook¶ (?), imp. of Betake.
BeÏtorn¶ (?), a. Torn in pieces; tattered.
BeÏtoss (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Betossed (?).] To put in violent motion; to agitate; to disturb; to toss. ½My betossed soul.¸
Shak.
BeÏtrap¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Betrapped (?).] 1. To draw into, or catch in, a trap; to in? snare; to circumvent.
Gower.
2. To put trappings on; to clothe; to deck.
After them followed two other chariots covered with red satin, and the horses betrapped with the same.
Stow.

<— p. 141 —>

BeÏtray¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Betrayed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Betraying.] [OE. betraien, bitraien; pref. beÏ + OF. tra‹r to bertray, F. trahir, fr. L. tradere. See Traitor.] 1. To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly; as, an officer betrayed the city.
Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men.
Matt. xvii. 22.
2. To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive; as, to betray a person or a cause.
But when I rise, I shall find my legs betraying me.
Johnson.
3. To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known.
Willing to serve or betray any government for hire.
Macaulay.
4. To disclose or discover, as something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally.
Be swift to hear, but cautious of your tongue, lest you betray your ignorance.
T. Watts.
5. To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen to lead into error or sin.
Genius … often betrays itself into great errors.
T. Watts.
6. To lead astray, as a maiden; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.
7. To show or to indicate; Ð said of what is not obvious at first, or would otherwise be concealed.
All the names in the country betray great antiquity.
Bryant.
BeÏtray¶al (?) n. The act or the result of betraying.
BeÏtray¶er (?), n. One who, or that which, betrays.
BeÏtray¶ment (?), n. Betrayal. [R.]
Udall.
BeÏtrim¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Betrimmed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Betrimming.] To set in order; to adorn; to deck, to embellish; to trim.
Shak.
BeÏtroth¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Betrothed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Betrothing.] [Pref. beÏ + troth, i. e., truth. See Truth.] 1. To contract to any one for a marriage; to engage or promise in order to marriage; to affiance; Ð used esp. of a woman.
He, in the first flower of my freshest age,
Betrothed me unto the only heir.
Spenser.
Ay, and we are betrothed.
Shak.
2. To promise to take (as a future spouse); to plight one's troth to.
What man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her?
Deut. xx. 7.
3. To nominate to a bishopric, in order to consecration.
Ayliffe.
BeÏtroth¶al (?), n. The act of betrothing, or the fact of being betrothed; a mutual promise, engagement, or contract for a future marriage between the persons betrothed; betrothment; affiance. ½The feast of betrothal.¸
Longfellow.
BeÏtroth¶ment (?), n. The act of betrothing, or the state of being betrothed; betrothal.
BeÏtrust¶ (?), v. t. To trust or intrust. [Obs.]
BeÏtrust¶ment (?), n. The act of intrusting, or the thing intrusted. [Obs.]
Chipman.
ØBet¶so (?), n. [It. bezzo.] A small brass Venetian coin. [Obs.]
Bet¶ter (?), a.; compar. of Good. [OE. betere, bettre, and as adv. bet, AS. betera, adj., and bet, adv.; akin to Icel. betri, adj., betr, adv., Goth. batiza, adj., OHG. bezziro, adj., baz, adv., G. besser, adj. and adv., bass, adv., E. boot, and prob. to Skr. bhadra excellent. See Boot advantage, and cf. Best, Batful.] 1. Having good qualities in a greater degree than another; as, a better man; a better physician; a better house; a better air.
Could make the worse appear
The better reason.
Milton.
2. Preferable in regard to rank, value, use, fitness, acceptableness, safety, or in any other respect.
To obey is better than sacrifice.
1 Sam. xv. 22.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
Ps. cxviii. 9.
3. Greater in amount; larger; more.
4. Improved in health; less affected with disease; as, the patient is better.
5. More advanced; more perfect; as, upon better acquaintance; a better knowledge of the subject.
All the better. See under All, adv. Ð Better half, an expression used to designate one's wife.
My dear, my better half (said he),
I find I must now leave thee.
Sir P. Sidney.
Ð To better off, to be in a better condition. Ð Had better. (See under Had) The phrase had better, followed by an infinitive without to, is idiomatic. The earliest form of construction was ½were better¸ with a dative; as, ½Him were better go beside.¸ (Gower.) i. e., It would be better for him, etc. At length the nominative (I, he, they, etc.) supplanted the dative and had took the place of were. Thus we have the construction now used.
By all that's holy, he had better starve
Than but once think this place becomes thee not.
Shak.
Bet¶ter, n. 1. Advantage, superiority, or victory; Ð usually with of; as, to get the better of an enemy.
2. One who has a claim to precedence; a superior, as in merit, social standing, etc.; Ð usually in the plural.
Their betters would hardly be found.
Hooker.
For the better, in the way of improvement; so as to produce improvement. ½If I have altered him anywhere for the better.¸
Dryden.
Bet¶ter, adv.; compar. of Well. 1. In a superior or more excellent manner; with more skill and wisdom, courage, virtue, advantage, or success; as, Henry writes better than John; veterans fight better than recruits.
I could have better spared a better man.
Shak.
2. More correctly or thoroughly.
The better to understand the extent of our knowledge.
Locke.
3. In a higher or greater degree; more; as, to love one better than another.
Never was monarch better feared, and loved.
Shak.
4. More, in reference to value, distance, time, etc.; as, ten miles and better. [Colloq.]
To think better of (any one), to have a more favorable opinion of any one. Ð To think better of (an opinion, resolution, etc.), to reconsider and alter one's decision.
Bet¶ter (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bettered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bettering.] [AS. beterian, betrian, fr. betera better. See Better, a.] 1. To improve or ameliorate; to increase the good qualities of.
Love betters what is best.
Wordsworth.
He thought to better his circumstances.
Thackeray.
2. To improve the condition of, morally, physically, financially, socially, or otherwise.
The constant effort of every man to better himself.
Macaulay.
3. To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel.
The works of nature do always aim at that which can not be bettered.
Hooker.
4. To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of. [Obs.]
Weapons more violent, when next we meet,
May serve to better us and worse our foes.
Milton.
Syn. Ð To improve; meliorate; ameliorate; mend; amend; correct; emend; reform; advance; promote.
Bet¶ter, v. i. To become better; to improve.
Carlyle.
Bet¶ter, n. One who bets or lays a wager.
Bet¶terÏment (?), n. 1. A making better; amendment; improvement.
W. Montagu.
2. (Law) An improvement of an estate which renders it better than mere repairing would do; Ð generally used in the plural. [U. S.]
Bouvier.
Bet¶terÏmost· (?), a. Best. [R.] ½The bettermost classes.¸
Brougham.
Bet¶terÏness, n. 1. The quality of being better or superior; superiority. [R.]
Sir P. Sidney.
2. The difference by which fine gold or silver exceeds in fineness the standard.
ØBet¶tong (?), n. [Native name.] (Zo”l.) A small, leaping Australian marsupial of the genus Bettongia; the jerboa kangaroo.
Bet¶tor (?), n. One who bets; a better.
Addison.
Bet¶ty (?), n. 1. [Supposed to be a cant word, from Betty, for Elizabeth, as such an instrument is also called Bess (i. e., Elizabeth) in the Canting Dictionary of 1725, and Jenny (i. e., Jane).] A short bar used by thieves to wrench doors open. [Written also bettee.]
The powerful betty, or the artful picklock.
Arbuthnot.
2. [Betty, nickname for Elizabeth.] A name of contempt given to a man who interferes with the duties of women in a household, or who occupies himself with womanish matters.
3. A pearÏshaped bottle covered round with straw, in which olive oil is sometimes brought from Italy; Ð called by chemists a Florence flask. [U. S.]
Bartlett.
Bet¶uÏlin (?), n. [L. betula birch tree.] (Chem.) A substance of a resinous nature, obtained from the outer bark of the common European birch (Betula alba), or from the tar prepared therefrom; Ð called also birch camphor.
Watts.
BeÏtum¶ble (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Betumbled (?).] To throw into disorder; to tumble. [R.]
From her betumbled couch she starteth.
Shak.
BeÏtu¶tor (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Betutored (?).] To tutor; to instruct.
Coleridge.
BeÏtween¶ (?), prep. [OE. bytwene, bitweonen, AS. betwe¢nan, betwe¢num; prefix beÏ by + a form fr. AS. tw¾ two, akin to Goth. tweihnai two apiece. See Twain, and cf. Atween, Betwixt.] 1. In the space which separates; betwixt; as, New York is between Boston and Philadelphia.
2. Used in expressing motion from one body or place to another; from one to another of two.
If things should go so between them.
Bacon.
3. Belonging in common to two; shared by both.
Castor and Pollux with only one soul between them.
Locke.
4. Belonging to, or participated in by, two, and involving reciprocal action or affecting their mutual relation; as, opposition between science and religion.
An intestine struggle, open or secret, between authority and liberty.
Hume.
5. With relation to two, as involved in an act or attribute of which another is the agent or subject; as, to judge between or to choose between courses; to distinguish between you and me; to mediate between nations.
6. In intermediate relation to, in respect to time, quantity, or degree; as, between nine and ten o'clock.
Between decks, the space, or in the space, between the decks of a vessel. Ð Between ourselves, Between you and me, Between themselves, in confidence; with the understanding that the matter is not to be communicated to others.
Syn. Ð Between, Among. Between etymologically indicates only two; as, a quarrel between two men or two nations; to be between two fires, etc. It is however extended to more than two in expressing a certain relation.
I … hope that between public business, improving studies, and domestic pleasures, neither melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance.
Johnson.
Among implies a mass or collection of things or persons, and always supposes more than two; as, the prize money was equally divided among the ship's crew.
BeÏtween¶, n. Intermediate time or space; interval. [Poetic & R.]
Shak.
BeÏtwixt¶ (?), prep. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwÆh; pref. beÏ by + a form fr. AS. tw¾ two. See Between.]
1. In the space which separates; between.
From betwixt two aged oaks.
Milton.
2. From one to another of; mutually affecting.
There was some speech of marriage
Betwixt myself and her.
Shak.
Betwixt and between, in a midway position; soÏso; neither one thing nor the other. [Colloq.]
ØBeurÏr‚¶ (?), n. [F., fr. beurre butter.] (Bot.) A beurr‚ (or buttery) pear, one with the me?? soft and melting; Ð used with a distinguishing word; as, Beurr‚ d'Anjou; Beurr‚ Clairgeau.
Bev¶el (?), n. [C. F. biveau, earlier buveau, Sp. baivel; of unknown origin. Cf. Bevile.] 1. Any angle other than a right angle; the angle which one surface makes with another when they are not at right angles; the slant or inclination of such surface; as, to give a bevel to the edge of a table or a stone slab; the bevel of a piece of timber.
2. An instrument consisting of two rules or arms, jointed together at one end, and opening to any angle, for adjusting the surfaces of work to the same or a given inclination; Ð called also a bevel square.
Gwilt.
Bev¶el, a. 1. Having the slant of a bevel; slanting.
2. Hence: Morally distorted; not upright. [Poetic]
I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel.
Shak.
A bevel angle, any angle other than one of 90?. Ð Bevel wheel, a cogwheel whose working face is oblique to the axis.
Knight.
Bev¶el, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Beveled (?) or Bevelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Beveling or Bevelling.] To cut to a bevel angle; to slope the edge or surface of.
Bev¶el, v. i. To deviate or incline from an angle of 90?, as a surface; to slant.
Their houses are very ill built, the walls bevel.
Swift.
Bev¶eled, Bev¶elled (?), a. 1. Formed to a bevel angle; sloping; as, the beveled edge of a table.
2. (Min.) Replaced by two planes inclining equally upon the adjacent planes, as an edge; having its edges replaces by sloping planes, as a cube or other solid.
Bev¶el gear· (?). (Mech.) A kind of gear in which the two wheels working together lie in different planes, and have their teeth cut at right angles to the surfaces of two cones whose apices coincide with the point where the axes of the wheels would meet.
Bev¶elÏment (?), n. (Min.) The replacement of an edge by two similar planes, equally inclined to the including faces or adjacent planes.
Be¶ver (?), n. [OE. bever a drink, drinking time, OF. beivre, boivre, to drink, fr. L. bibere.] A light repast between meals; a lunch. [Obs.]
Beau. & Fl.
Be¶ver, v. i. [imp. & p.p. Bevered (?).] To take a light repast between meals. [Obs.]
Bev¶erÏage (?), n. [OF. bevrage, F. breuvage, fr. beivre to drink, fr. L. bibere. Cf. Bib, v. t., Poison, Potable.] 1. Liquid for drinking; drink; Ð usually applied to drink artificially prepared and of an agreeable flavor; as, an intoxicating beverage.
He knew no beverage but the flowing stream.
Thomson.
2. Specifically, a name applied to various kinds of drink.
3. A treat, or drink money. [Slang]
Bev¶ile (?), n. [See Bevel.] (Her.) A chief broken or opening like a carpenter's bevel.
Encyc. Brit.
Bev¶iled, Bev¶illed (?), a. (Her.) Notched with an angle like that inclosed by a carpenter's bevel; Ð said of a partition line of a shield.
Bev¶y (?), n.; pl. Bevies (?). [Perhaps orig. a drinking company, fr. OF. bev‚e (cf. It. beva) a drink, beverage; then, perh., a company in general, esp. of ladies; and last applied by sportsmen to larks, quails, etc. See Beverage.] 1. A company; an assembly or collection of persons, especially of ladies.
What a bevy of beaten slaves have we here !
Beau. & Fl.
2. A flock of birds, especially quails or larks; also, a herd of roes.
BeÏwail¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bewailed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bewailing.] To express deep sorrow for, as by wailing; to lament; to wail over.
Hath widowed and unchilded many a one,
Which to this hour bewail the injury.
Shak.
Syn. Ð To bemoan; grieve. Ð See Deplore.
BeÏwail¶, v. i. To express grief; to lament.
Shak.
BeÏwail¶aÏble (?), a. Such as may, or ought to, be bewailed; lamentable.
BeÏwail¶er (?), n. One who bewails or laments.
BeÏwail¶ing, a. Wailing over; lamenting. Ð BeÏwail¶ingÏly, adv.
BeÏwail¶ment (?), n. The act of bewailing.
BeÏwake¶ (?), v. t. & i. To keep watch over; to keep awake. [Obs.]
Gower.
BeÏware¶ (?), v. i. [Be, imperative of verb to be + ware. See Ware, Wary.] 1. To be on one's guard; to be cautious; to take care; Ð commonly followed by of or lest before the thing that is to be avoided.
Beware of all, but most beware of man !
Pope.
Beware the awful avalanche.
Longfellow.
2. To have a special regard; to heed. [Obs.]
Behold, I send an Angel before thee. … Beware of him, and obey his voice.
Ex. xxiii. 20, 21.
µ This word is a compound from be and the Old English ware, now wary, which is an adjective. ½Be ye? war of false prophetis.¸ Wyclif, Matt. vii. 15. It is used commonly in the imperative and infinitive modes, and with such auxiliaries (shall, should, must, etc.) as go with the infinitive.

<— p. 142 —>

BeÏware¶ (?), v. t. To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for. [Obs.] ½Priest, beware your beard.¸
Shak.
To wish them beware the son.
Milton.
BeÏwash¶ (?), v. t. To drench or souse with water. ½Let the maids bewash the men.¸
Herrick.
BeÏweep¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bewept (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Beweeping.] [AS. bew?pan; pref. beÏ + weep.] To weep over; to deplore; to bedew with tears. ½His timeless death beweeping.¸
Drayton.
BeÏweep¶, v. i. To weep. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
BeÏwet¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bewet, Bewetted.] To wet or moisten.
Gay.
BeÏwhore¶ (?), v. t. 1. To corrupt with regard to chastity; to make a whore of.
J. Fletcher.
2. To pronounce or characterize as a whore.
Shak.
BeÏwig¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bewigged (?).] To cover (the head) with a wig.
Hawthorne.
BeÏwil¶der (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bewildered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bewildering.] [Pref. beÏ + wilder.] To lead into perplexity or confusion, as for want of a plain path; to perplex with mazes; or in general, to perplex or confuse greatly.
Lost and bewildered in the fruitless search.
Addison.
Syn. Ð To perplex; puzzle; entangle; confuse; confound; mystify; embarrass; lead astray.
BeÏwil¶dered (?), a. Greatly perplexed; as, a bewildered mind.
BeÏwil¶deredÏness (?), n. The state of being bewildered; bewilderment. [R.]
BeÏwil¶derÏing (?), a. Causing bewilderment or great perplexity; as, bewildering difficulties. Ð BeÏwil¶derÏingÏly, adv.
BeÏwil¶derÏment (?), n. 1. The state of being bewildered.
2. A bewildering tangle or confusion.
He … soon lost all traces of it amid bewilderment of tree trunks and underbrush.
Hawthorne.
BeÏwin¶ter (?), v. t. To make wintry. [Obs.]
Bew¶it (?), n. [Cf. OF. buie bond, chain, fr. L. boja neck collar, fetter. Cf. Buoy.] A double slip of leather by which bells are fastened to a hawk's legs.
BeÏwitch¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bewitched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bewitching.] 1. To gain an ascendency over by charms or incantations; to affect (esp. to injure) by witchcraft or sorcery.
See how I am bewitched; behold, mine arm
Is like a blasted sapling withered up.
Shak.
2. To charm; to fascinate; to please to such a degree as to take away the power of resistance; to enchant.
The charms of poetry our souls bewitch.
Dryden.
Syn. Ð To enchant; captivate; charm; entrance.
BeÏwitch¶edÏness (?), n. The state of being bewitched.
Gauden.
BeÏwitch¶er (?), n. One who bewitches.
BeÏwitch¶erÏy (?), n. The power of bewitching or fascinating; bewitchment; charm; fascination.
There is a certain bewitchery or fascination in words.
South.
BeÏwitch¶ing, a. Having power to bewitch or fascinate; enchanting; captivating; charming. Ð BeÏwitch¶ÏingÏly, adv. Ð BeÏwitch¶ingÏness, n.
BeÏwitch¶ment (?), n. 1. The act of bewitching, or the state of being bewitched.
Tylor.
2. The power of bewitching or charming.
Shak.
BeÏwon¶der (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bewondered (?).] 1. To fill with wonder. [Obs.]
2. To wonder at; to admire. [Obs.]
BeÏwrap¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bewrapped (?).] To wrap up; to cover.
Fairfax.
BeÏwray¶ (?), v. t. To soil. See Beray.
BeÏwray¶, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bewrayed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bewraying.] [OE. bewraien, biwreyen; pref. beÏ + AS. wr?gan to accuse, betray; akin to OS. wr?gian, OHG. ruog?n, G. rgen, Icel. r‘gja, Goth. wr?hjan to accuse.] To expose; to reveal; to disclose; to betray. [Obs. or Archaic]
The murder being once done, he is in less fear, and in more hope that the deed shall not be bewrayed or known.
Robynson (More's Utopia.)
Thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Matt. xxvi. 73.
BeÏwray¶er (?), n. One who, or that which, bewrays; a revealer. [Obs. or Archaic]
Addison.
BeÏwray¶ment (?), n. Betrayal. [R.]
BeÏwreck¶ (?), v. t. To wreck. [Obs.]
BeÏwreke¶ (?), v. t. [Pref. beÏ + wreak.] To wreak; to avenge. [Obs.]
Ld. Berners.
BeÏwrought¶ (?), a. [Pref. beÏ + wrought, p. p. of work, v. t. ] Embroidered. [Obs.]
B. Jonson.
Bey (?), n. [See Beg a bey.] A governor of a province or district in the Turkish dominions; also, in some places, a prince or nobleman; a beg; as, the bey of Tunis.
Bey¶lic (?), n. [Turk.] The territory ruled by a bey.
BeÏyond¶ (?), prep. [OE. biyonde, bi?eonde, AS. begeondan, prep. and adv.; pref. beÏ + geond yond, yonder. See Yon, Yonder.] 1. On the further side of; in the same direction as, and further on or away than.
Beyond that flaming hill.
G. Fletcher.
2. At a place or time not yet reached; before.
A thing beyond us, even before our death.
Pope.
3. Past, out of the reach or sphere of; further than; greater than; as, the patient was beyond medical aid; beyond one's strength.
4. In a degree or amount exceeding or surpassing; proceeding to a greater degree than; above, as in dignity, excellence, or quality of any kind. ½Beyond expectation.¸
Barrow.
Beyond any of the great men of my country.
Sir P.Sidney.
Beyond sea. (Law) See under Sea. Ð To go beyond, to exceed in ingenuity, in research, or in anything else; hence, in a bed sense, to deceive or circumvent.
That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter.
1 Thess. iv. 6.
BeÏyond¶ (?), adv. Further away; at a distance; yonder.
Lo, where beyond he lyeth languishing.
Spenser.
BeÏzant¶ (?), n. [See Byzant.] 1. A gold coin of Byzantium or Constantinople, varying in weight and value, usually (those current in England) between a sovereign and a half sovereign. There were also white or silver bezants. [Written also besant, byzant, etc.]
2. (Her.) A circle in or, i. e., gold, representing the gold coin called bezant.
Burke.
3. A decoration of a flat surface, as of a band or belt, representing circular disks lapping one upon another.
Bez·Ðant¶ler (?), n. [L. bis twice (OF. bes) + E. antler.] The second branch of a stag's horn.
Bez¶el (?), n. [From an old form of F. biseau sloping edge, prob. fr. L. bis double. See BiÏ.] The rim which encompasses and fastens a jewel or other object, as the crystal of a watch, in the cavity in which it is set.
B‚Ïzique¶ (?), n. [F. b‚sigue.] A game at cards in which various combinations of cards in the hand, when declared, score points.
Be¶zoar (?), n. [F. b‚zoard, fr. Ar. b¾zahr, b¾dizahr, fr. Per. p¾dÏzahr bezoar; p¾d protecting + zahr poison; cf. Pg. & Sp. bezoar.] A calculous concretion found in the intestines of certain ruminant animals (as the wild goat, the gazelle, and the Peruvian llama) formerly regarded as an unfailing antidote for poison, and a certain remedy for eruptive, pestilential, or putrid diseases. Hence: Any antidote or panacea.
µ Two kinds were particularly esteemed, the Bezoar orientale of India, and the Bezoar occidentale of Peru.
Bezoar antelope. See Antelope. Ð Bezoar goat (Zo”l.), the wild goat (Capra ‘gagrus). Ð Bezoar mineral, an old preparation of oxide of antimony.
Ure.
Bez·oÏar¶dic (?), a. [Cf. F. b‚zoardique, b‚zoartique.] Pertaining to, or compounded with, bezoar. Ð n. A medicine containing bezoar.
Bez·oÏar¶tic (?), Bez·oÏar¶ticÏal (?), } a. [See Bezoardic.] Having the qualities of an antidote, or of bezoar; healing. [Obs.]
BeÏzo¶niÏan (?), n. [ Cf. F. besoin need, want, It bisogno.] A low fellow or scoundrel; a beggar.
Great men oft die by vile bezonians.
Shak.
Bez¶zle (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bezzled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bezzling (?).] [OF. besillier, besiler, to maltreat, pillage; or shortened fr. embezzle. Cf. Embezzle.] To plunder; to waste in riot. [Obs.]
Bez¶zle, v. i. To drink to excess; to revel. [Obs.]
Bhang (?), n. [Per. bang; cf. Skr. bhang¾ hemp.] An astringent and narcotic drug made from the dried leaves and seed capsules of wild hemp (Cannabis Indica), and chewed or smoked in the East as a means of intoxication. See Hasheesh.
ØBhun¶der (?), n. [Native name.] (Zo”l.) An Indian monkey (Macacus Rhesus), protected by the Hindoos as sacred. See Rhesus.
BiÏ (?). [L. bis twice, which i composition drops the Ïs, akin to E. two. See BisÏ, Two, and cf. DiÏ, DisÏ.]
1. In most branches of science biÏ in composition denotes two, twice, or doubly; as, bidentate, twoÏtoothed; biternate, doubly ternate, etc.
2. (Chem.) In the composition of chemical names biÏ denotes two atoms, parts, or equivalents of that constituent to the name of which it is prefixed, to one of the other component, or that such constituent is present in double the ordinary proportion; as, bichromate, bisulphide. BeÏ and diÏ are often used interchangeably.
BiÏac¶id (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + acid.] (Chem.) Having two hydrogen atoms which can be replaced by negative atoms or radicals to form salts; Ð said of bases. See Diacid.
Bi·aÏcu¶miÏnate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + acuminate.] (Bot.) Having points in two directions.
BeÏan¶guÏlar (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + angular.] Having two angles or corners.
BiÏan¶guÏlate (?), BiÏan¶guÏla·ted (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + angulate, angulated.] Biangular.
BiÏan¶guÏlous (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + angulous.] Biangular. [R.]
BiÏan·therÏif¶erÏous (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + antherigerous.] (Bot.) Having two anthers.
Bi·arÏtic¶uÏlate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + articulate.] (Zo”l.) Having, or consisting of, tow joints.
Bi¶as (?), n.; pl. Biases (?). [F. biasis, perh. fr. LL. bifax twoÏfaced; L. bis + facies face. See BiÏ, and cf. Face.] 1. A weight on the side of the ball used in the game of bowls, or a tendency imparted to the ball, which turns it from a straight line.
Being ignorant that there is a concealed bias within the spheroid, which will … swerve away.
Sir W. Scott.
2. A learning of the mind; propensity or prepossession toward an object or view, not leaving the mind indifferent; bent inclination.
Strong love is a bias upon the thoughts.
South.
Morality influences men's lives, and gives a bias to all their actions.
Locke.
3. A wedgeÏshaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (as the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference.
4. A slant; a diagonal; as, to cut cloth on the bias.
Syn. Ð Prepossession; prejudice; partiality; inclination. See Bent.
Bi¶as, a. 1. Inclined to one side; swelled on one side. [Obs.]
Shak.
2. Cut slanting or diagonally, as cloth.
Bi¶as, adv. In a slanting manner; crosswise; obliquely; diagonally; as, to cut cloth bias.
Bi¶as, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Biased (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Biasing.] To incline to one side; to give a particular direction to; to influence; to prejudice; to prepossess.
Me it had not biased in the one direction, nor should it have biased any just critic in the counter direction.
De. Quincey.
Bi·auÏric¶uÏlate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + au riculate.] 1. (Anat.) Having two auricles, as the heart of mammals, birds, and reptiles.
2. (Bot. & Zo”l.) Having two earlike projections at its base, as a leaf.
BiÏax¶al (?), BiÏax¶iÏal (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + axal, axial.] (Opt.) Having two axes; as, biaxial polarization. Brewster. Ð BiÏax¶iÏalÏly, adv.
Bib (?), n. [From Bib, v., because the bib receives the drink that the child slavers from the mouth.] 1. A small piece of cloth worn by children over the breast, to protect the clothes.
2. (Zo”l.) An arctic fish (Gadus luscus), allied to the cod; Ð called also pout and whiting pout.
3. A bibcock.
Bib, Bibbe (?), v. t. [L. bibere. See Beverage, and cf. Imbibe.] To drink; to tipple. [Obs.]
This miller hath … bibbed ale.
Chaucer.
Bib, v. i. To drink; to sip; to tipple.
He was constantly bibbing.
Locke.
BiÏba¶cious (?), a. [L. bibax, bibacis, fr. bibere. See Bib.] Addicted to drinking.
BiÏbac¶iÏty (?), n. The practice or habit of drinking too much; tippling.
Blount.
BiÏba¶sic (?), a. [ Pref. biÏ + basic.] (Chem.) Having to hydrogen atoms which can be replaced by positive or basic atoms or radicals to form salts; Ð said of acids. See Dibasic.
Bibb (?), n. A bibcock. See Bib, n., 3.
Bib¶ber (?), n. One given to drinking alcoholic beverages too freely; a tippler; Ð chiefly used in composition; as, winebibber.
Bib¶bleÐbab¶ble (?), n. [A reduplication of babble.] Idle talk; babble.
Shak.
Bibbs (?), n. pl. (Naut.) Pieces of timber bolted to certain parts of a mast tp support the trestletrees.
Bib¶cock· (?), n. A cock or faucet having a bent down nozzle.
Knight.
BiÏbi¶rine (?), n. (Chem.) See Bebeerine.
Bib¶iÏtoÏry (?), a. Of or pertaining to drinking or tippling.
Bi¶ble (?), n. [F. bible, L. biblia, pl., fr. Gr. ?, pl. of ?, dim. of ?, ?, book, prop. Egyptian papyrus.] 1. A book. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
2. The Book by way of eminence, Ð that is, the book which is made up of the writings accepted by Christians as of divine origin and authority, whether such writings be in the original language, or translated; the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; Ð sometimes in a restricted sense, the Old Testament; as, King James's Bible; Douay Bible; Luther's Bible. Also, the book which is made up of writings similarly accepted by the Jews; as, a rabbinical Bible.
3. A book containing the sacred writings belonging to any religion; as, the Koran is often called the Mohammedan Bible.
Bible Society, an association for securing the multiplication and wide distribution of the Bible. Ð Douay Bible. See Douay Bible. Ð Geneva Bible. See under Geneva.
Bib¶ler (?), n. [See Bib, v. t.] A great drinker; a tippler. [Written also bibbler and bibbeler.]
Bib¶liÏcal (?), a. Pertaining to, or derived from, the Bible; as, biblical learning; biblical authority.
Bib·liÏcal¶iÏty (?), n. The quality of being biblical; a biblical subject. [R.]
Bib¶liÏcalÏly (?), adv. According to the Bible.
Bib¶liÏcism (?), n. [Cf. F. biblicisme.] Learning or literature relating to the Bible. [R.]
Bib¶liÏcist (?), n. One skilled in the knowledge of the Bible; a demonstrator of religious truth by the Scriptures.
Bib¶liÏoÏgraph· (?), n. Bibliographer.
Bib·liÏog¶raÏpher (?), n. [Gr. ?, fr. ? book + ? to write : cf. F. bibliographe.] One who writes, or is versed in, bibliography.
Bib·liÏoÏgraph¶ic (?), Bib·liÏoÏgraph¶icÏal (?), } a. [Cf. F. bibliographique.] Pertaining to bibliography, or the history of books. Ð Bib·liÏoÏgraph¶icÏalÏly, adv.
Bib·liÏog¶raÏphy (?) n.; pl. Bibliographies (?). [Gr. ?: cf. F. bibliographie.] A history or description of books and manuscripts, with notices of the different editions, the times when they were printed, etc.
Bib·liÏol¶aÏter (?), Bib·liÏol¶aÏtrist (?), } n. [See. Bibliolatry.] A worshiper of books; especially, a worshiper of the Bible; a believer in its verbal inspiration.
De Quincey.
Bib·liÏol¶aÏtry (?), n. [Gr. ? book + ? service, worship, ? to serve.] Book worship, esp. of the Bible; Ð applied by Roman Catholic divine? to the exaltation of the authority of the Bible over that of the pope or the church, and by Protestants to an excessive regard to the letter of the Scriptures.
Coleridge. F. W. Newman.
Bib·liÏoÏlog¶icÏal (?), a. Relating to bibliology.
Bib·liÏol¶oÏgy (?), n. [Gr. ? book + Ïlogy.]
1. An account of books; book lore; bibliography.
2. The literature or doctrine of the Bible.
Bib¶liÏoÏman·cy (?), n. [Gr. ? book + Ïmancy: cf. F. bibliomancie.] A kind of divination, performed by selecting passages of Scripture at hazard, and drawing from them indications concerning future events.
Bib·liÏoÏma¶niÏa (?), n. [Gr. ? book + ? madness: cf. F. bibliomanie.] A mania for acquiring books.
Bib·liÏoÏma¶niÏac (?), n. One who has a mania for books. Ð a. Relating to a bibliomaniac.
Bib·liÏoÏmaÏni¶acÏal (?), a. Pertaining to a passion for books; relating to a bibliomaniac.
Bib·liÏoÏpeg¶ic (?), a. [ Gr. ? book + ? to make fast.] Relating to the binding of books. [R.]

<— p. 143 —>

Bib·liÏop¶eÏgist (?), n. A bookbinder.
Bib·liÏop·eÏgis¶tic (?), a. Pertaining to the art of binding books. [R.]
Dibdin.
Bib·liÏop¶eÏgy (?), n. [See Bibliopegic.] The art of binding books. [R.]
Bib¶liÏoÏphile (?), n. [Gr. ? book + ? to love: cf. F. bibliophile.] A lover of books.
Bib·liÏoph¶iÏlism (?), n. Love of books.
Bib·liÏoph¶iÏlist (?), n. A lover of books.
Bib·liÏoÏpho¶biÏa (?), n. [Gr. ? book + ? to fear.] A dread of books. [R.]
Bib¶liÏoÏpole (?), n. [ L. bibliopola, Gr. ?; ? book + ? to sell: cf. F. bibliopole.] One who sells books.
Bib·liÏoÏpol¶ic (?), Bib·liÏop¶oÏlar (?), a. [See Bibliopole.] Of or pertaining to the sale of books. ½Bibliopolic difficulties.¸
Carlyle.
Bib·liÏop¶oÏlism (?), n. The trade or business of selling books.
Bib·liÏop¶oÏlist (?), n. Same as Bibliopole.
Bib·liÏop·oÏlis¶tic (?), a. Of or pertaining to bibliopolism.
Dibdin.
Bib¶liÏoÏtaph (?), Bib·liÏot¶aÏphist (?), } n. [Gr. ? book + ? a burial.] One who hides away books, as in a tomb. [R.]
Crabb.
Bib¶liÏoÏthec (?), n. A librarian.
ØBib·liÏoÏthe¶ca (?), n. [L. See Bibliotheke.] A library.
Bib·liÏoÏthe¶cal (?), a. [ L. bibliothecalis. See Bibliotheke.] Belonging to a library.
Byrom.
Bib·liÏoth¶eÏcaÏry (?), n. [L. bibliothecarius: cf. F. biblioth‚caire.] A librarian. [Obs.]
Evelin.
Bib¶liÏoÏtheke (?), n. [L. bibliotheca, Gr. ?; ? book + ? a case, box, fr. ? to place: cf. F. bibliothŠque.] A library. [Obs.]
Bale.
Bib¶list (?), n. [Cf. F. bibliste. See Bible.]
1. One who makes the Bible the sole rule of faith.
2. A biblical scholar; a biblicist.
I. Taylor.
BiÏbrac¶teÏate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + bracteate.] (Bot.) Furnished with, or having, two bracts.
Bib¶uÏlous (?), a. [L. bibulus, fr. bibere to drink. See Bib, v. t. ] 1. Readily imbibing fluids or moisture; spongy; as, bibulous blotting paper.
2. Inclined to drink; addicted to tippling.
Bib¶uÏlousÏly, adv. In a bibulous manner; with profuse imbibition or absorption.
De Quincey.
BiÏcal¶caÏrate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + calcarate.] Having two spurs, as the wing or leg of a bird.
BiÏcal¶lose (?), BiÏcal¶lous (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + callose, callous.] (Bot.) Having two callosities or hard spots.
Gray.
BiÏcam¶erÏal (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + camera.] Consisting of, or including, two chambers, or legislative branches.
Bentham.
BiÏcap¶suÏlar (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + capsular: cf. F. bicapsulaire.] (Bot.) Having two capsules; as, a bicapsular pericarp.
BiÏcar¶bonÏate (?), n. [Pref. biÏ+ carbonate.] (Chem.) A carbonate in which but half the hydrogen of the acid is replaced by a positive element or radical, thus making the proportion of the acid to the positive or basic portion twice what it is in the normal carbonates; an acid carbonate; Ð sometimes called supercarbonate.
BiÏcar¶buÏret·ed or Ïret·ted (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + carbureted.] (Chem.) Containing two atoms or equivalents of carbon in the molecule. [Obs. or R.]
BiÏcar¶iÏnate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + carinate.] (Biol.) Having two keelÏlike projections, as the upper palea of grasses.
BiÏcau¶dal (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + caudal.] Having, or terminating in, two tails.
BiÏcau¶date (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + caudate.] Twotailed; bicaudal.
Bic¶ched (?), a. [Of unknown origin.] Pecked; pitted; notched. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Bicched bones, pecked, or notched, bones; dice.
Bice, Bise (?), n. [F. bis, akin to It. bigio light gray, tawny.] (Paint.) A pale blue pigment, prepared from the native blue carbonate of copper, or from smalt; Ð called also blue bice.
Green bice is prepared from the blue, by adding yellow orpiment, or by grinding down the green carbonate of copper.
Cooley. Brande & C.
BiÏcen¶teÏnaÏry (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + centenary.] Of or pertaining to two hundred, esp. to two hundred years; as, a bicentenary celebration. Ð n. The two hundredth anniversary, or its celebration.
Bi·cenÏten¶niÏal, a. [Pref. biÏ + centennial.] 1. Consisting of two hundred years.
2. Occurring every two hundred years.
Bi·cenÏten¶niÏal, n. The two hundredth year or anniversary, or its celebration.
BiÏceph¶aÏlous (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + cephalous: cf. F. bic‚phale.] Having two heads.
ØBi¶ceps (?), n. [L., twoÏheaded; bis twice + caput head. See Capital.] (Anat.) A muscle having two heads or origins; Ð applied particularly to a flexor in the arm, and to another in the thigh.
ØBiÏchir¶ (?), n. [Native name.] (Zo”l.) A remarkable ganoid fish (Polypterus bichir) found in the Nile and other African rivers. See Brachioganoidei.
BiÏchlo¶ride (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + chloride.] (Chem.) A compound consisting of two atoms of chlorine with one or more atoms of another element; Ð called also dichloride.
Bichloride of mercury, mercuric chloride; Ð sometimes called corrosive sublimate.
ØBi¶cho (?), n. [Sp.] (Zo”l.) See Jigger.
BiÏchro¶mate (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + chromate.] (Chem.) A salt containing two parts of chromic acid to one of the other ingredients; as, potassfum bichromate; Ð called also dichromate.
BiÏchro¶maÏtize (?), v. t. To combine or treat with a bichromate, esp. with bichromate of potassium; as, bichromatized gelatine.
BiÏcip¶iÏtal (?), a. [L. biceps, bicipitis: cf. F. bicipital. See Biceps.] 1. (Anat.) (a) Having two heads or origins, as a muscle. (b) Pertaining to a biceps muscle; as, bicipital furrows, the depressions on either side of the biceps of the arm.
2. (Bot.) Dividing into two parts at one extremity; having two heads or two supports; as, a bicipital tree.
BiÏcip¶iÏtous (?), a. Having two heads; bicipital. ½Bicipitous serpents.¸
Sir T. Browne.
Bick¶er, n. [See Beaker.] A small wooden vessel made of staves and hoops, like a tub. [Prov. Eng.]
Bick¶er (?), v. i. [imp. & p.p. Bickered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bickering.] [OE. bikeren, perh. fr. Celtic; cf. W. bicra to fight, bicker, bicre conflict, skirmish; perh. akin to E. beak.] 1. To skirmish; to exchange blows; to fight. [Obs.]
Two eagles had a conflict, and bickered together.
Holland.
2. To contend in petulant altercation; to wrangle.
Petty things about which men cark and bicker.
Barrow.
3. To move quickly and unsteadily, or with a pattering noise; to quiver; to be tremulous, like flame.
They [streamlets] bickered through the sunny shade.
Thomson.
Bick¶er, n. 1. A skirmish; an encounter. [Obs.]
2. A fight with stones between two parties of boys. [Scot.]
Jamieson.
3. A wrangle; also, a noise,, as in angry contention.
Bick¶erÏer (?), n. One who bickers.
Bick¶erÏing, n. 1. A skirmishing. ½Frays and bickerings.¸
Milton.
2. Altercation; wrangling.
Bick¶erÏment (?), n. Contention. [Obs.]
Spenser.
Bick¶ern (?), n. [F. bigorne. See Bicorn.] An anvil ending in a beak or point (orig. in two beaks); also, the beak or horn itself.
BiÏcol¶liÏgate (?), a. [L. bis twice + colligatus, p. p. See Colligate, v. t. ] (Zo”l.) Having the anterior toes connected by a basal web.
Bi¶col·or (?), Bi¶col·ored (?), } a. [L. bicolor; bis twice + color color.] Of two colors.
BiÏcon¶cave (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + concave.] Concave on both sides; as, biconcave vertebr‘.
BiÏcon¶juÏgate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + conjugate, a.] (Bot.) Twice paired, as when a petiole forks twice.
Gray.
BiÏcon¶vex (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + convex.] Convex on both sides; as, a biconvex lens.
Bi¶corn (?), Bi¶corned (?), BiÏcor¶nous (?), } a. [L. bicornis; bis twice + cornu horn: cf. F. bicorne. Cf. Bickern.] Having two horns; twoÐhorned; crescentlike.
BiÏcor¶poÏral (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + corporal.] Having two bodies.
BiÏcor¶poÏrate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + corporate.] (Her.) DoubleÐbodied, as a lion having one head and two bodies.
BiÏcos¶tate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + costate.] (Bot.) Having two principal ribs running longitudinally, as a leaf.
BiÏcre¶nate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + crenate.] (Bot.) Twice crenated, as in the case of leaves whose crenatures are themselves crenate.
Bi·cresÏcen¶tic (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + crescent.] Having the form of a double crescent.
BiÏcru¶ral (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + crural.] Having two legs.
Hooker.
BiÏcus¶pid (?), BiÏcus¶pidÏate (?), } a. [See pref. BiÏ, and Cuspidate.] Having two points or prominences; ending in two points; Ð said of teeth, leaves, fruit, etc.
BiÏcus¶pid, n. (Anat.) One of the two doubleÏpointed teeth which intervene between the canines (cuspids) and the molars, on each side of each jaw. See Tooth, n.
BiÏcy¶aÏnide (?), n. See Dicyanide.
Bi¶cyÏcle (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + cycle.] A light vehicle having two wheels one behind the other. It has a saddle seat and is propelled by the rider's feet acting on cranks or levers.
Bi¶cyÏcler (?), n. One who rides a bicycle.
BiÏcyc¶lic (?), a. Relating to bicycles.
Bi¶cyÏcling (?), n. The use of a bicycle; the act or practice of riding a bicycle.
Bi¶cyÏclism (?), n. The art of riding a bicycle.
Bi¶cyÏclist (?), n. A bicycler.
BiÏcyc¶uÏlar (?), a. Relating to bicycling.
Bid (?), v. t. [imp. Bade (?), Bid, (Obs.) Bad; p. p. Bidden (?), Bid; p. pr. & vb. n. Bidding.] [OE. bidden, prop to ask, beg, AS. biddan; akin to OS. biddian, Icel. bi?ja, OHG. bittan, G. bitten, to pray, ask, request, and E. bead, also perh. to Gr. ? to persuade, L. fidere to trust, E. faith, and bide. But this word was early confused with OE. beden, beoden, AS. be¢dan, to offer, command; akin to Icel. bj??a, Goth. biudan (in comp.), OHG. biotan to command, bid, G. bieten, D. bieden, to offer, also to Gr. ? to learn by inquiry, Skr. budh to be awake, to heed, present OSlav. bud?ti to be awake, E. bode, v. The word now has the form of OE. bidden to ask, but the meaning of OE. beden to command, except in ½to bid beads.¸ ?30.]
1. To make an offer of; to propose. Specifically : To offer to pay ( a certain price, as for a thing put up at auction), or to take (a certain price, as for work to be done under a contract).
2. To offer in words; to declare, as a wish, a greeting, a threat, or defiance, etc.; as, to bid one welcome; to bid good morning, farewell, etc.
Neither bid him God speed.
2. John 10.
He bids defiance to the gaping crowd.
Granrille.
3. To proclaim; to declare publicly; to make known. [Mostly obs.] ½Our banns thrice bid !¸
Gay.
4. To order; to direct; to enjoin; to command.
That Power who bids the ocean ebb and flow.
Pope
Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee.
Matt. xiv.28
I was bid to pick up shells.
D. Jerrold.
5. To invite; to call in; to request to come.
As many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Matt. xxii. 9
To bid beads, to pray with beads, as the Roman Catholics; to distinguish each bead by a prayer. [Obs.] Ð To bid defiance to , to defy openly; to brave. Ð To bid fair, to offer a good prospect; to make fair promise; to seem likely.
Syn. Ð To offer; proffer; tender; propose; order; command; direct; charge; enjoin.
Bid (?), imp. & p. p. of Bid.
Bid, n. An offer of a price, especially at auctions; a statement of a sum which one will give for something to be received, or will take for something to be done or furnished; that which is offered.
Bid, v. i. [See Bid, v. t.] 1. To pray. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
2. To make a bid; to state what one will pay or take.
Bid¶ale· (?), n. [Bid + ale.] An invitation of friends to drink ale at some poor man's house, and there to contribute in charity for his relief. [Prov. Eng.]
Bid¶daÏble (?), a. Obedient; docile. [Scot.]
Bid¶den (?), p. p. of Bid.
Bid¶der (?), n. [AS. biddere. ] One who bids or offers a price.
Burke.
Bid¶derÏy ware· (?). [From Beder or Bidar a town in India.] A kind of metallic ware make in India. The material is a composition of Inc, tin, and lead, in which ornaments of gold and silver are inlaid o? damascened. [Spelt also bidry, bidree, bedery, beder.]
Bid¶ding, n. 1. Command; order; a proclamation o? notifying. ½Do thou thy master's bidding.¸
Shak.
2. The act or process of making bids; an offer; a proposal of a price, as at an auction.
Bid¶ding prayer· (?). 1. (R. C. Ch.) The prayer for the souls of benefactors, said before the sermon.
2. (Angl. Ch.) The prayer before the sermon, with petitions for various specified classes of persons.
Bid¶dy (?), n. [Etymology uncertain.] A name used in calling a hen or chicken.
Shak.
Bid¶dy, n. [A familiar form of Bridget.] An Irish serving woman or girl. [Colloq.]
Bide (?), v. i. [imp. & p.p. Bided; p. pr. & vb. n. Biding.] [OE. biden, AS. bÆdan; akin to OHG. bÆtan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bÆ??; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.] 1. To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay.
All knees to thee shall bow of them that bide
In heaven or earth, or under earth, in hell.
Milton.
2. To remain; to continue or be permanent in a place or state; to continue to be.
Shak.
Bide, v. t. 1. To encounter; to remain firm under (a hardship); to endure; to suffer; to undergo.
Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm.
Shak.
2. To wait for; as, I bide my time. See Abide.
Bi¶dent (?), n. [L. bidens, Ïentis, having two prongs; bis twice + dens a tooth.] An instrument or weapon with two prongs.
BiÏden¶tal (?), a. Having two teeth.
Swift.
BiÏden¶tate (?), a. (Bot. & Zo”l.) Having two teeth or two toothlike processes; twoÐtoothed.
BiÏdet¶ (?), n. [F. bidet, perh. fr. Celtic; cr. Gael. bideach very little, diminutive, bidein a diminutive animal, W. bidan a weakly or sorry wretch.]
1. A small horse formerly allowed to each trooper or dragoon for carrying his baggage.
B. Jonson.
2. A kind of bath tub for sitting baths; a sitz bath.
BiÏdig¶iÏtate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + digitate.] Having two fingers or fingerlike projections.
Bid¶ing (?), n. Residence; habitation.
Rowe.
Bield (?), n. A shelter. Same as Beild. [Scot.]
Bield, v. t. To shelter. [Scot.]
BiÏen¶niÏal (?), a. [L. biennalis and biennis, fr. biennium a space of two years; bis twice + annus year. Cf. Annual.] 1. Happening, or taking place, once in two years; as, a biennial election.
2. (Bot.) Continuing for two years, and then perishing, as plants which form roots and leaves the first year, and produce fruit the second.
BiÏen¶niÏal, n. 1. Something which takes place or appears once in two years; esp. a biennial examination.
2. (Bot.) A plant which exists or lasts for two years.
BiÏen¶niÏalÏly, adv. Once in two years.
Bier (?), n. [OE. b‘e, beere, AS. b?r, b?re; akin to D. baar, OHG. b¾ra, G. bahre, Icel barar, D? baare, L. feretrum, Gr. ?, from the same ?? bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barrow.] 1. A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave.
2. (Weaving) A count of forty threads in the warp or chain of woolen cloth.
Knight.

<— p. 144 —>

Bier¶balk· (?), n. [See Bier, and Balk, n.] A church road (e. g., a path across fields) for funerals. [Obs.]
Homilies.
Biest¶ings, Beest¶ings (?), n. pl. [OE. bestynge, AS. b?sting, fr. b?st, beost; akin to D. biest, OHG. biost, G. biest; of unknown origin.] The first milk given by a cow after calving.
B. Jonson.
The thick and curdy milk … commonly called biestings.
Newton. (1574).
BiÏfa¶cial (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + facial.] Having the opposite surfaces alike.
BiÏfa¶riÏous (?), a. [L. bifarius; bis twice + fari to speak. Cf. Gr. ? twofold; ? twice + ? to say.] 1. Twofold; arranged in two rows.
2. (Bot.) Pointing two ways, as leaves that grow only on opposite sides of a branch; in two vertical rows.
BiÏfa¶riÏousÏly, adv. In a bifarious manner.
Bif¶erÏous (?), a. [L. bifer; bis twice + ferre to bear.] Bearing fruit twice a year.
Bif¶fin (?), n. [Cf. Beaufin.] 1. A sort of apple peculiar to Norfolk, Eng. [Sometimes called beaufin; but properly beefin (it is said), from its resemblance to raw beef.]
Wright.
2. A baked apple pressed down into a flat, round cake; a dried apple.
Dickens.
Bi¶fid (?), a. [L. bifidus; bis twice + root of findere to cleave or split: cf. F. bifide.] Cleft to the middle or slightly beyond the middle; opening with a cleft; divided by a linear sinus, with straight margins.
Bif¶iÏdate (?), a. [L. bifidatus.] See Bifid.
BiÏfi¶lar (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + filar.] TwoÏthreaded; involving the use of two threads; as, bifilar suspension; a bifilar balance.
Bifilar micrometer (often called a bifilar), an instrument form measuring minute distances or angles by means of two very minute threads (usually spider lines), one of which, at least, is movable; Ð more commonly called a filar micrometer.
Bi·flaÏbel¶late (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + flabellate.] (Zo”l.) Flabellate on both sides.
Bi·flaÏgel¶late (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + flagellate.] Having two long, narrow, whiplike appendages.
BiÏflo¶rate (?), BiÏflo¶rous (?), } a. [L. bis twice + flos, floris, flower.] (Bot.) Bearing two flowers; twoÏflowered.
Bi¶fold (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + fold.] Twofold; double; of two kinds, degrees, etc.
Shak.
BiÏfo¶liÏate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + foliate.] (Bot.) Having two leaves; twoÏleaved.
BiÏfo¶liÏoÏlate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + foliolate.] (Bot.) Having two leaflets, as some compound leaves.
Bif¶oÏrate (?), a. [L. bis twice + foratus, p. p. of forare to bore or pierce.] (Bot.) Having two perforations.
Bif¶oÏrine (?), n. [L. biforis, biforus, having two doors; bis twice + foris door.] (Bot.) An oval sac or cell, found in the leaves of certain plants of the order Arace‘. It has an opening at each end through which raphides, generated inside, are discharged.
Bi¶forked (?), a. Bifurcate.
Bi¶form (?), a. [L. biformis; bis twice + forma shape: cf. F. biforme.] Having two forms, bodies, or shapes.
Croxall.
Bi¶formed (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + form.] Having two forms.
Johnson.
BiÏform¶iÏty (?), n. A double form.
BiÏforn¶ (?), prep. & adv. Before. [Obs.]
Bif¶oÏrous (?), a. [L. biforis having two doors; bis twice, two + foris door.] See Biforate.
BiÏfront¶ed (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + front.] Having two fronts. ½Bifronted Janus.¸
Massinger.
BiÏfur¶cate (?), BiÏfur¶caÏted (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + furcate.] TwoÏpronged; forked.
BiÏfur¶cate (?), v. i. To divide into two branches.
Bi·furÏca¶tion (?), n. [Cf. F. bifurcation.] A forking, or division into two branches.
BiÏfur¶cous (?), a. [L. bifurcus; bis twice + furca fork.] See Bifurcate, a. [R.]
Coles.
Big (?), a. [compar. Bigger; superl. Biggest.] [Perh. from Celtic; cf. W. beichiog, beichiawg, pregnant, with child, fr. baich burden, Arm. beac'h; or cf. OE. bygly, Icel. biggiligr, (properly) habitable; (then) magnigicent, excellent, fr. OE. biggen, Icel. byggja, to dwell, build, akin to E. be.] 1. Having largeness of size; of much bulk or magnitude; of great size; large. ½He's too big to go in there.¸
Shak.
2. Great with young; pregnant; swelling; ready to give birth or produce; Ð often figuratively.
[Day] big with the fate of Cato and of Rome.
Addison.
3. Having greatness, fullness, importance, inflation, distention, etc., whether in a good or a bad sense; as, a big heart; a big voice; big looks; to look big. As applied to looks, it indicates haughtiness or pride.
God hath not in heaven a bigger argument.
Jer. Taylor.
µ Big is often used in selfÏexplaining compounds; as, bigÏboned; bigÏsounding; bigÏnamed; bigÏvoiced.
To talk big, to talk loudly, arrogantly, or pretentiously.
I talked big to them at first.
De Foe.
Syn. Ð Bulky; large; great; massive; gross.
Big, Bigg, n. [OE. bif, bigge; akin to Icel. bygg, Dan. byg, Sw. bjugg.] (Bot.) Barley, especially the hardy fourÏrowed kind.
½Bear interchanges in local use, now with barley, now with bigg.¸
New English Dict.
Big, Bigg, v. t. [OE. biggen, fr. Icel. byggja to inhabit, to build, b?a (neut.) to dwell (active) to make ready. See Boor, and Bound.] To build. [Scot. & North of Eng. Dial.]
Sir W. Scott.
ØBi¶ga (?), n. [L.] (Antiq.) A twoÏhorse chariot.
Big¶am (?), n. [L. bigamus twice married: cf. F. bigame. See Bigamy.] A bigamist. [Obs.]
Big¶aÏmist (?), n. [Cf. Digamist.] One who is guilty of bigamy.
Ayliffe.
Big¶aÏmous (?), a. Guilty of bigamy; involving bigamy; as, a bigamous marriage.
Big¶aÏmy (?), n. [OE. bigamie, fr. L. bigamus twice married; bis twice + Gr. ? marriage; prob. akin to Skt. j¾mis related, and L. gemini twins, the root meaning to bind, join: cf. F. bigamie. Cf. Digamy.] (Law) The offense of marrying one person when already legally married to another.
Wharton.
µ It is not strictly correct to call this offense bigamy: it more properly denominated polygamy, i. e., having a plurality of wives or husbands at once, and in several statutes in the United States the offense is classed under the head of polygamy.
In the canon law bigamy was the marrying of two virgins successively, or one after the death of the other, or once marrying a widow. This disqualified a man for orders, and for holding ecclesiastical offices. Shakespeare uses the word in the latter sense.
Blackstone. Bouvier.
Base declension and loathed bigamy.
Shak.
Big·arÏreau¶ (?), Big·aÏroon¶ (?), } n. [F. bigarreau, fr. bigarr‚ variegated.] (Bot.) The large whiteÏheart cherry.
Big¶Ðbel·lied (?), a. Having a great belly; as, a bigÏbellied man or flagon; advanced in pregnancy.
BiÏgam¶iÏnate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + geminate.] (Bot.) Having a forked petiole, and a pair of leaflets at the end of each division; biconjugate; twice paired; Ð said of a decompound leaf.
BiÏgen¶tial (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + L. gens, gentis, tribe.] (Zo”l.) Including two tribes or races of men.
Big¶eye· (?), n. (Zo”l.) A fish of the genus Priacanthus, remarkable for the large size of the eye.
Bigg (?), n. & v. See Big, n. & v.
Big¶gen (?), v. t. & i. To make or become big; to enlarge. [Obs. or Dial.]
Steele.
Big¶ger (?), a., compar. of Big.
Big¶gest (?), a., superl. of Big.
Big¶gin (?), n. [F. b‚guin, prob. from the cap worn by the B‚guines. Cf. Beguine, Biggon.] A child's cap; a hood, or something worn on the head.
An old woman's biggin for a nightcap.
Massinger.
Big¶gin, n. A coffeepot with a strainer or perforated metallic vessel for holding the ground coffee, through which boiling water is poured; Ð so called from Mr. Biggin, the inventor.
Big¶gin, Big¶ging, } n. [OE. bigging. See Big, Bigg, v. t.] A building. [Obs.]
Big¶gon (?), Big¶gonÏnet (?), } n. [ F. b‚guin and OF. beguinet, dim of b‚guin. See Biggin a cap.] A cap or hood with pieces covering the ears.
ØBig¶ha (?), n. A measure of land in India, varying from a third of an acre to an acre.
Big¶horn· (?), n. (Zo”l.) The Rocky Mountain sheep (Ovis or Caprovis montana).
Bight (?), n. [OE. bi?t a bending; cf. Sw. & Dan. bugt bend, bay; fr. AS. byht, fr. b?gan. ?88. Cf. Bout, Bought a bend, and see Bow, v.] 1. A corner, bend, or angle; a hollow; as, the bight of a horse's knee; the bight of an elbow.
2. (Geog.) A bend in a coast forming an open bay; as, the Bight of Benin.
3. (Naut.) The double part of a rope when folded, in distinction from the ends; that is, a round, bend, or coil not including the ends; a loop.
BiÏglan¶duÏlar (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + glandular.] Having two glands, as a plant.
Big¶ly (?), adv. [From Big, a.] In a tumid, swelling, blustering manner; haughtily; violently.
He brawleth bigly.
Robynson (More's Utopia.)
Big¶ness, n. The state or quality of being big; largeness; size; bulk.
BigÏno¶niÏa (?), n. [Named from the Abb‚ Bignon.] (Bot.) A large genus of American, mostly tropical, climbing shrubs, having compound leaves and showy somewhat tubular flowers. B. capreolata is the cross vine of the Southern United States. The trumpet creeper was formerly considered to be of this genus.
BigÏno·niÏa¶ceous (?), a. (Bot.) Of pertaining to, or resembling, the family of plants of which the trumpet flower is an example.
Big¶ot (?), n. [F. bigot a bigot or hypocrite, a name once given to the Normans in France. Of unknown origin; possibly akin to Sp. bigote a whisker; hombre de bigote a man of spirit and vigor; cf. It. sÏbigottire to terrify, to appall. Wedgwood and others maintain that bigot is from the same source as Beguine, Beghard.]
1. A hypocrite; esp., a superstitious hypocrite. [Obs.]
2. A person who regards his own faith and views in matters of religion as unquestionably right, and any belief or opinion opposed to or differing from them as unreasonable or wicked. In an extended sense, a person who is intolerant of opinions which conflict with his own, as in politics or morals; one obstinately and blindly devoted to his own church, party, belief, or opinion.
To doubt, where bigots had been content to wonder and believe.
Macaulay.
Big¶ot, a. Bigoted. [Obs.]
In a country more bigot than ours.
Dryden.
Big¶otÏed, a. Obstinately and blindly attached to some creed, opinion practice, or ritual; unreasonably devoted to a system or party, and illiberal toward the opinions of others. ½Bigoted to strife.¸
Byron.
Syn. Ð Prejudiced; intolerant; narrowÏminded.
Big¶otÏedÏly, adv. In the manner of a bigot.
Big¶otÏry (?), n. [Cf. F. bigoterie.] 1. The state of mind of a bigot; obstinate and unreasoning attachment of one's own belief and opinions, with narrow-minded intolerance of beliefs opposed to them.
2. The practice or tenets of a bigot.
Big¶wig· (?), n. [Big, a. + wig.] A person of consequence; as, the bigwigs of society. [Jocose]
In our youth we have heard him spoken of by the bigwigs with extreme condescension.
Dickens.
Big¶Ðwigged· (?), a. characterized by pomposity of manner. [Eng.]
Bi·hyÏdrog¶uÏret (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + hydroguret.] (Chem.) A compound of two atoms of hydrogen with some other substance. [Obs.]
ØBiÏjou¶ (?), n.; pl. Bijoux (?). [F.; of uncertain origin.] A trinket; a jewel; Ð a word applied to anything small and of elegant workmanship.
BiÏjou¶try (?), n. [F. bijouterie. See Bijou.] Small articles of virtu, as jewelry, trinkets, etc.
Bij¶uÏgate (?), a. [L. bis twice + jugatus, p. p. of jugare to join.] (Bot.) Having two pairs, as of leaflets.
Bij¶uÏgous (?), a. [L. bijugus yoked two together; bis twice + jugum yoke, pair.] (Bot.) Bijugate.
Bike (?), n. [Ethymol. unknown.] A nest of wild bees, wasps, or ants; a swarm. [Scot.]
Sir W. Scott.
ØBikh (?), n. [Hind., fr. Skr. visha poison.] (Bot.) The East Indian name of a virulent poison extracted from Aconitum ferox or other species of aconite: also, the plant itself.
BiÏla¶biÏate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + labiate.] (Bot.) Having two lips, as the corols of certain flowers.
Bi·laÏcin¶iÏate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + laciniate.] Doubly fringed.
ØBiÏla¶lo (?), n. A twoÏmasted passenger boat or small vessel, used in the bay of Manila.
BiÏlam¶elÏlate (?), BiÏlam¶elÏla·ted (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + lamellate.] (Bot.) Formed of two plates, as the stigma of the Mimulus; also, having two elevated ridges, as in the lip of certain flowers.
BiÏlam¶iÏnar (?), BiÏlam¶iÏnate (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + laminar, laminate.] Formed of, or having, two lamin‘, or thin plates.
Bi¶land (?), n. A byland. [Obs.]
Holland.
Bil¶anÏder (?), n. [D. bijlander; bij by + land land, country.] (Naut.) A small twoÏmasted merchant vessel, fitted only for coasting, or for use in canals, as in Holland.
Why choose we, then, like bilanders to creep
Along the coast, and land in view to keep?
Dryden.
BiÏlat¶erÏal (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + lateral: cf. F. bilat‚ral.] 1. Having two sides; arranged upon two sides; affecting two sides or two parties.
2. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to the two sides of a central area or organ, or of a central axis; as, bilateral symmetry in animals, where there is a similarity of parts on the right and left sides of the body.
BiÏlat·erÏal¶iÏty (?), n. State of being bilateral.
Bil¶berÏry (?), n.; pl. Bilberries (?). [Cf. Dan. b”lleb‘r bilberry, where b”lle is perh. akin to E. ball.] 1. (Bot.) The European whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus); also, its edible bluish black fruit.
There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry.
Shak.
2. (Bot.) Any similar plant or its fruit; esp., in America, the species Vaccinium myrtilloides, V. c‘spitosum and V. uliginosum.
Bil¶bo (?), n.; pl. Bilboes (?). 1. A rapier; a sword; so named from Bilbao, in Spain.
Shak.
2. pl. A long bar or bolt of iron with sliding shackles, and a lock at the end, to confine the feet of prisoners or offenders, esp. on board of ships.
Methought I lay
Worse than the mutines in the bilboes.
Shak.
ØBil¶boÏquet (?), n. [F.] The toy called cup and ball.
Bil¶cock (?), n. (Zo”l.) The European water rail.
ØBild¶stein (?), n. [G., fr. bild image, likeness + stein stone.] Same as Agalmatolite.
Bile (?), n. [L. bilis: cf. F. bile.] 1. (Physiol.) A yellow, or greenish, viscid fluid, usually alkaline in reaction, secreted by the liver. It passes into the intestines, where it aids in the digestive process. Its characteristic constituents are the bile salts, and coloring matters.
2. Bitterness of feeling; choler; anger; ill humor; as, to stir one's bile.
Prescott.
µ The ancients considered the bile to be the ½humor¸ which caused irascibility.
Bile, n. [OE. byle, bule, bele, AS. b?le, b?l; skin to D. buil, G. beule, and Goth. ufbauljan to puff up. Cf. Boil a tumor, Bulge.] A boil. [Obs. or Archaic]
BiÏlec¶tion (?), n. (Arch.) That portion of a group of moldings which projects beyond the general surface of a panel; a bolection.
Bile¶stone· (?), n. [Bile + stone.] A gallstone, or biliary calculus. See Biliary.
E. Darwin.
Bilge (?), n. [A different orthography of bulge, of same origin as belly. Cf. Belly, Bulge.] 1. The protuberant part of a cask, which is usually in the middle.
2. (Naut.) That part of a ship's hull or bottom which is broadest and most nearly flat, and on which she would rest if aground.
3. Bilge water.
Bilge free (Naut.), stowed in such a way that the bilge is clear of everything; Ð said of a cask. Ð Bilge pump, a pump to draw the bilge water from the gold of a ship. Ð Bilge water (Naut.), water which collects in the bilge or bottom of a ship or other vessel. It is often allowed to remain till it becomes very offensive. Ð Bilge ways, the timbers which support the cradle of a ship upon the ways, and which slide upon the launching ways in launching the vessel.

<— p. 145 —>

Bilge (?), v. i. [imp. & p.p. Bilged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bilging.] 1. (Naut.) To suffer a fracture in the bilge; to spring a leak by a fracture in the bilge.
2. To bulge.
Bilge, v. t. 1. (Naut.) To fracture the bilge of, or stave in the bottom of ( a ship or other vessel).
2. To cause to bulge.
Bil¶gy (?), a. Having the smell of bilge water.
Bil¶laÏry (?), a. [L. bilis bile: cf. F. biliaire.] (Physiol.) Relating or belonging to bile; conveying bile; as, biliary acids; biliary ducts.
Biliary calculus (Med.), a gallstone, or a concretion formed in the gall bladder or its duct.
Bil·iÏa¶tion (?), n. (Physiol.) The production and excretion of bile.
BiÏlif¶erÏous (?), a. Generating bile.
Bil·iÏfus¶cin (?), n. [L. bilis bile + fuscus dark.] (Physiol.) A brownish green pigment found in human gallstones and in old bile. It is a derivative of bilirubin.
ØBiÏlim¶bi (?), ØBiÏlim¶bing (?), } n. [Malay.] The berries of two East Indian species of Averrhoa, of the Oxalide‘ or Sorrel family. They are very acid, and highly esteemed when preserved or picked. The juice is used as a remedy for skin diseases. [Written also blimbi and blimbing.]
Bil¶iÏment (?), n. A woman's ornament; habiliment. [Obs.]
Bi¶lin (?), n. [Cf. F. biline, from L. bilis bile.] (Physiol. Chem.) A name applied to the amorphous or crystalline mass obtained from bile by the action of alcohol and ether. It is composed of a mixture of the sodium salts of the bile acids.
BiÏlin¶eÏar (?), a. (Math.) Of, pertaining to, or included by, two lines; as, bilinear co”rdinates.
BiÏlin¶gual (?), a. [L. bilinguis; bis twice + lingua tongue, language.] Containing, or consisting of, two languages; expressed in two languages; as, a bilingual inscription; a bilingual dictionary. Ð BiÏlin¶gualÏly, adv.
BiÏlin¶gualÏism (?), n. Quality of being bilingual.
The bilingualism of King's English.
Earle.
BiÏlin¶guar (?), a. See Bilingual.
BiÏlin¶guist (?), n. One versed in two languages.
BiÏlin¶guous (?), a. [L. bilinguis.] Having two tongues, or speaking two languages. [Obs.]
Bil¶ious (?), a. [L. biliosus, fr. bilis bile.] 1. Of or pertaining to the bile.
2. Disordered in respect to the bile; troubled with and excess of bile; as, a bilious patient; dependent on, or characterized by, an excess of bile; as, bilious symptoms.
3. Choleric; passionate; ill tempered. ½A bilious old nabob.¸
Macaulay.
Bilious temperament. See Temperament.
Bil¶iousÏness, n. The state of being bilious.
Bil·iÏpra¶sin (?), n. [L. bilis bile + prasinus green.] (Physiol.) A dark green pigment found in small quantity in human gallstones.
Bil·iÏru¶bin (?), n. [L. bilis biel + ruber red.] (Physiol.) A reddish yellow pigment present in human bile, and in that from carnivorous and herbivorous animals; the normal biliary pigment.
BiÏlit¶erÏal (?), a. [L. bis twice + littera letter.] Consisting of two letters; as, a biliteral root of a Sanskrit verb. Sir W. Jones. Ð n. A word, syllable, or root, consisting of two letters.
BiÏlit¶erÏalÏism (?), n. The property or state of being biliteral.
Bil·iÏver¶din (?), n. [L. bilis bile + viridis green. Cf. Verdure.] (Physiol.) A green pigment present in the bile, formed from bilirubin by oxidation.
Bilk (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bilked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bilking.] [Origin unknown. Cf. Balk.] To frustrate or disappoint; to deceive or defraud, by nonfulfillment of engagement; to leave in the lurch; to give the slip to; as, to bilk a creditor.
Thackeray.
Bilk, n. 1. A thwarting an adversary in cribbage by spoiling his score; a balk.
2. A cheat; a trick; a hoax.
Hudibras.
3. Nonsense; vain words.
B. Jonson.
4. A person who tricks a creditor; an untrustworthy, tricky person.
Marryat.
Bill (?), n. [OE. bile, bille, AS. bile beak of a bird, proboscis; cf. Ir. & Gael. bil, bile, mouth, lip, bird's bill. Cf. Bill a weapon.] A beak, as of a bird, or sometimes of a turtle or other animal.
Milton.
Bill, v. i. [imp. & p.p. Billed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Billing.] 1. To strike; to peck. [Obs.]
2. To join bills, as doves; to caress in fondness. ½As pigeons bill.¸
Shak.
To bill and coo, to interchange caresses; Ð said of doves; also of demonstrative lovers.
Thackeray.
Bill, n. The bell, or boom, of the bittern
The bittern's hollow bill was heard.
Wordsworth.
Bill, n. [OE. bil, AS. bill, bil; akin to OS. bil sword, OHG. bill pickax, G. bille. Cf. Bill bea?.] 1. A cutting instrument, with hookÏshaped point, and fitted with a handle; Ð used in pruning, etc.; a billhook. When short, called a hand bill, when long, a hedge bill.
2. A weapon of infantry, in the 14th and 15th centuries. A common form of bill consisted of a broad, heavy, doubleÏedged, hookÏshaped blade, having a short pike at the back and another at the top, and attached to the end of a long staff.
France had no infantry that dared to face the English bows end bills.
Macaulay.
3. One who wields a bill; a billman.
Strype.
4. A pickax, or mattock. [Obs.]
5. (Naut.) The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke.
Bill (?), v. t. To work upon ( as to dig, hoe, hack, or chop anything) with a bill.
Bill, n. [OE. bill, bille, fr. LL. billa (or OF. bille), for L. bulla anything rounded, LL., seal, stamp, letter, edict, roll; cf. F. bille a ball, prob. fr. Ger.; cf. MHG. bickel, D. bikkel, dice. Cf. Bull papal edict, Billet a paper.]
1. (Law) A declaration made in writing, stating some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law.
2. A writing binding the signer or signers to pay a certain sum at a future day or on demand, with or without interest, as may be stated in the document. [Eng.]
µ In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note.
3. A form or draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law.
4. A paper, written or printed, and posted up or given away, to advertise something, as a lecture, a play, or the sale of goods; a placard; a poster; a handbill.
She put up the bill in her parlor window.
Dickens.
5. An account of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge; a statement of a creditor's claim, in gross or by items; as, a grocer's bill.
6. Any paper, containing a statement of particulars; as, a bill of charges or expenditures; a weekly bill of mortality; a bill of fare, etc.
Bill of adventure. See under Adventure. Ð Bill of costs, a statement of the items which form the total amount of the costs of a party to a suit or action. Ð Bill of credit. (a) Within the constitution of the United States, a paper issued by a State, on the mere faith and credit of the State, and designed to circulate as money. No State shall ½emit bills of credit.¸ U. S. Const. Peters. Wharton. Bouvier (b) Among merchants, a letter sent by an agent or other person to a merchant, desiring him to give credit to the bearer for goods or money. Ð Bill of divorce, in the Jewish law, a writing given by the husband to the wife, by which the marriage relation was dissolved. Jer. iii. 8. Ð Bill of entry, a written account of goods entered at the customhouse, whether imported or intended for exportation. Ð Bill of exceptions. See under Exception. Ð Bill of exchange (Com.), a written order or request from one person or house to another, desiring the latter to pay to some person designated a certain sum of money therein generally is, and, to be negotiable, must be, made payable to order or to bearer. So also the order generally expresses a specified time of payment, and that it is drawn for value. The person who draws the bil is called the drawer, the person on whom it is drawn is, before acceptance, called the drawee, Ð after acceptance, the acceptor; the person to whom the money is directed to be paid is called the payee. The person making the order may himself be the payee. The bill itself is frequently called a draft. See Exchange. Chitty. Ð Bill of fare, a written or printed enumeration of the dishes served at a public table, or of the dishes (with prices annexed) which may be ordered at a restaurant, etc. Ð Bill of health, a certificate from the proper authorities as to the state of health of a ship's company at the time of her leaving port. Ð Bill of indictment, a written accusation lawfully presented to a grand jury. If the jury consider the evidence sufficient to support the accusation, they indorse it ½A true bill,¸ or ½Not found,¸ or ½Ignoramus¸, or ½Ignored.¸ Ð Bill of lading, a written account of goods shipped by any person, signed by the agent of the owner of the vessel, or by its master, acknowledging the receipt of the goods, and promising to deliver them safe at the place directed, dangers of the sea excepted. It is usual for the master to sign two, three, or four copies of the bill; one of which he keeps in possession, one is kept by the shipper, and one is sent to the consignee of the goods. Ð Bill of mortality, an official statement of the number of deaths in a place or district within a given time; also, a district required to be covered by such statement; as, a place within the bills of mortality of London. Ð Bill of pains and penalties, a special act of a legislature which inflicts a punishment less than death upon persons supposed to be guilty of treason or felony, without any conviction in the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. Bouvier. Wharton. Ð Bill of parcels, an account given by the seller to the buyer of the several articles purchased, with the price of each. Ð Bill of particulars (Law), a detailed statement of the items of a plaintiff's demand in an action, or of the defendant's setÏoff. Ð Bill of rights, a summary of rights and privileges claimed by a people. Such was the declaration presented by the Lords and Commons of England to the Prince and Princess of Orange in 1688, and enacted in Parliament after they became king and queen. In America, a bill or declaration of rights is prefixed to most of the constitutions of the several States. Ð Bill of sale, a formal instrument for the conveyance or transfer of goods and chattels. Ð Bill of sight, a form of entry at the customhouse, by which goods, respecting which the importer is not possessed of full information, may be provisionally landed for examination. Ð Bill of store, a license granted at the customhouse to merchants, to carry such stores and provisions as are necessary for a voyage, custom free. Wharton. Ð Bills payable (pl.), the outstanding unpaid notes or acceptances made and issued by an individual or firm. Ð Bills receivable (pl.), the unpaid promissory notes or acceptances held by an individual or firm. McElrath. Ð A true bill, a bill of indictment sanctioned by a grand jury.
Bill, v. t. 1. To advertise by a bill or public notice.
2. To charge or enter in a bill; as, to bill goods.
Bil¶lage (?), n. and v. t. & i. Same as Bilge.
Bil¶lard (?), n. (Zo”l.) An English fish, allied to the cod; the coalfish. [Written also billet and billit.]
Bill·bee¶tle (?), or Bill¶bug· (?), n. (Zo”l.) A weevil or curculio of various species, as the corn weevil. See Curculio.
Bill¶board· (?), n. 1. (Naut.) A piece of thick plank, armed with iron plates, and fixed on the bow or fore channels of a vessel, for the bill or fluke of the anchor to rest on.
Totten.
2. A flat surface, as of a panel or of a fence, on which bills are posted; a bulletin board.
Bill¶ book· (?). (Com.) A book in which a person keeps an account of his notes, bills, bills of exchange, etc., thus showing all that he issues and receives.
Bill¶ bro·ker (?). One who negotiates the discount of bills.
Billed (?), a. Furnished with, or having, a bill, as a bird; Ð used in composition; as, broadÏbilled.
Bil¶let (?), n. [F. billet, dim. of an OF. bille bill. See Bill a writing.] 1. A small paper; a note; a short letter. ½I got your melancholy billet.¸
Sterne.
2. A ticket from a public officer directing soldiers at what house to lodge; as, a billet of residence.
Bil¶let, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Billeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Billeting.] [From Billet a ticket.] (Mil.) To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge. Hence: To quarter, or place in lodgings, as soldiers in private houses.
Billeted in so antiquated a mansion.
W. Irving.
Bil¶let, n. [F. billette, bille, log; of unknown origin; a different word from bille ball. Cf. Billiards, Billot.] 1. A small stick of wood, as for firewood.
They shall beat out my brains with billets.
Shak.
2. (Metal.) A short bar of metal, as of gold or iron.
3. (Arch.) An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood either square or round.
4. (Saddlery) (a) A strap which enters a buckle. (b) A loop which receives the end of a buckled strap.
Knight.
5. (Her.) A bearing in the form of an oblong rectangle.
ØBil·letÐdoux¶ (?), n.; pl. BilletsÐdoux (?). [F. billet note + doux sweet, L. dulcis.] A love letter or note.
A lover chanting out a billetÐdoux.
Spectator.
Bil¶letÏhead· (?), n. (Naut.) A round piece of timber at the bow or stern of a whaleboat, around which the harpoon lone is run out when the whale darts off.
Bill¶fish· (?), n. (Zo”l.) A name applied to several distinct fishes: (a) The garfish (Tylosurus, or Belone, longirostris) and allied species. (b) The saury, a slender fish of the Atlantic coast (Scomberesox saurus). (c) The Tetrapturus albidus, a large oceanic species related to the swordfish; the spearfish. (d) The American freshÏwater garpike (Lepidosteus osseus).
Bill¶head· (?), n. A printed form, used by merchants in making out bills or rendering accounts.
Bill¶ hold·er (?). 1. A person who holds a bill or acceptance.
2. A device by means of which bills, etc., are held.
Bill¶hook· (?), n. [Bill + hook.] A thick, heavy knife with a hooked point, used in pruning hedges, etc. When it has a short handle, it is sometimes called a hand bill; when the handle is long, a hedge bill or scimiter.
Bil¶liard (?), a. Of or pertaining to the game of billiards. ½Smooth as is a billiard ball.¸
B. Jonson.
Bil¶liards (?), n. [F. billiard billiards, OF. billart staff, cue form playing, fr. bille log. See Billet a stick.] A game played with ivory balls o a clothÏcovered, rectangular table, bounded by elastic cushions. The player seeks to impel his ball with his cue so that it shall either strike (carom upon) two other balls, or drive another ball into one of the pockets with which the table sometimes is furnished.
Bill¶ing (?), a. & n. Caressing; kissing.
Bil¶lingsÏgate· (?), n. 1. A market near the Billings gate in London, celebrated for fish and foul language.
2. Coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language; vituperation; ribaldry.
Bil¶lion (?), n. [F. billion, arbitrarily formed fr. L. bis twice, in imitation of million a million. See Million.] According to the French and American method of numeration, a thousand millions, or 1,000,000,000; according to the English method, a million millions, or 1,000,000,000,000. See Numeration.
Bill¶man (?), n.; pl. Billmen (?). One who uses, or is armed with, a bill or hooked ax. ½A billman of the guard.¸
Savile.
ØBil·lon¶ (?), n. [F. Cf. Billet a stick.] An alloy of gold and silver with a large proportion of copper or other base metal, used in coinage.
Bil¶lot (?), n. [F. billot, dim. of bille. See Billet a stick.] Bullion in the bar or mass.
Bil¶low (?), n. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. b”lge, Sw. b”lja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.] 1. A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind.
Whom the winds waft where'er the billows roll.
Cowper.
2. A great wave or flood of anything.
Milton.
Bil¶low, v. i. [imp. & p.p. Billowed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Billowing.] To surge; to rise and roll in waves or surges; to undulate. ½The billowing snow.¸
Prior.
Bil¶lowÏy (?), a. Of or pertaining to billows; swelling or swollen into large waves; full of billows or surges; resembling billows.
And whitening down the manyÏtinctured stream,
Descends the billowy foam.
Thomson.
Bill¶post·er (?), Bill¶stick¶er (?), } n. One whose occupation is to post handbills or posters in public places.
Bil¶ly (?), n. 1. A club; esp., a policeman's club.
2. (Wool Manuf.) A slubbing or roving machine.
Bil¶lyÏboy· (?), n. A flatÏbottomed river barge or coasting vessel. [Eng.]
Bil¶ly goat· (?). A male goat. [Colloq.]

<— p. 146 —>

BiÏlo¶bate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + lobate.] Divided into two lobes or segments.
Bi¶lobed (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + lobe.] Bilobate.
Bi·loÏca¶tion (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + location.] Double location; the state or power of being in two places at the same instant; Ð a miraculous power attributed to some of the saints.
Tylor.
BiÏloc¶uÏlar (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + locular: cf. F. biloculaire.] Divided into two cells or compartments; as, a bilocular pericarp.
Gray.
Bil¶sted (?), n. (Bot.) See Sweet gum.
ØBil¶tong (?), n. [S. African.] Lean meat cut into strips and sunÏdried.
H. R. Haggard.
BiÏmac¶uÏlate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + maculate, a.] Having, or marked with, two spots.
ØBim¶aÏna (?), n. pl. [NL. See Bimanous.] (Zo”l.) Animals having two hands; Ð a term applied by Cuvier to man as a special order of Mammalia.
Bim¶aÏnous (?), a. [L. bis twice + manus hand.] (Zo”l.) Having two hands; twoÏhanded.
BiÏmar¶ginÏate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + marginate.] Having a double margin, as certain shells.
BiÏmas¶tism (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + Gr. ? breast.] (Anat.) The condition of having two mamm‘ or teats.
BiÏme¶diÏal (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + medial.] (Geom.) Applied to a line which is the sum of two lines commensurable only in power (as the side and diagonal of a square).
BiÏmem¶bral (?), a. [L. bis twice + membrum member.] (Gram.) Having two members; as, a bimembral sentence.
J. W. Gibbs.
BiÏmen¶sal (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + mensal.] See Bimonthly, a. [Obs. or R.]
BiÏmes¶triÏal (?), a. [L. bimestris; bis twice + mensis month.] Continuing two months. [R.]
Bi·meÏtal¶lic (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + metallic: cf. F. bim‚tallique.] Of or relating to, or using, a double metallic standard (as gold and silver) for a system of coins or currency.
BiÏmet¶alÏlism (?), n. [F. bim‚talisme.] The legalized use of two metals (as gold and silver) in the currency of a country, at a fixed relative value; Ð in opposition to monometallism.
µ The words bim‚tallisme and monom‚tallisme are due to M. Cernuschi [1869].
Littr‚.
BiÏmet¶alÏlist (?), n. An advocate of bimetallism.
BiÏmonth¶ly (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + monthly.] Occurring, done, or coming, once in two months; as, bimonthly visits; bimonthly publications. Ð n. A bimonthly publication.
BiÏmonth¶ly, adv. Once in two months.
BiÏmus¶cuÏlar (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + muscular.] (Zo”l.) Having two adductor muscles, as a bivalve mollusk.
Bin (?), n. [OE. binne, AS. binn manager, crib; perh. akin to D. ben, benne, basket, and to L. benna a kind of carriage ( a Gallic word), W. benn, men, wain, cart.] A box, frame, crib, or inclosed place, used as a receptacle for any commodity; as, a corn bin; a wine bin; a coal bin.
Bin, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Binned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Binning.] To put into a bin; as, to bin wine.
Bin. An old form of Be and Been. [Obs.]
BinÏ. A euphonic form of the prefix BiÏ.
Bi¶nal (?), a. [See Binary.] Twofold; double. [R.] ½Binal revenge, all this.¸
Ford.
Bin·arÏse¶niÏate (?), n. [Pref. binÏ + arseniate.] (Chem.) A salt having two equivalents of arsenic acid to one of the base.
Graham.
Bi¶naÏry (?), a. [L. binarius, fr. bini two by two, two at a time, fr. root of bis twice; akin to E. two: cf. F. binaire.] Compounded or consisting of two things or parts; characterized by two (things).
Binary arithmetic, that in which numbers are expressed according to the binary scale, or in which two figures only, 0 and 1, are used, in lieu of ten; the cipher multiplying everything by two, as in common arithmetic by ten. Thus, 1 is one; 10 is two; 11 is three; 100 is four, etc. Davies & Peck. Ð Binary compound (Chem.), a compound of two elements, or of an element and a compound performing the function of an element, or of two compounds performing the function of elements. Ð Binary logarithms, a system of logarithms devised by Euler for facilitating musical calculations, in which 1 is logarithm of 2, instead of 10, as in the common logarithms, and the modulus 1.442695 instead of .43429448. Ð Binary measure (Mus.), measure divisible by two or four; common time. Ð Binary nomenclature (Nat. Hist.), nomenclature in which the names designate both genus and species. Ð Binary scale (Arith.), a uniform scale of notation whose ratio is two. Ð Binary star (Astron.), a double star whose members have a revolution round their common center of gravity. Ð Binary theory (Chem.), the theory that all chemical compounds consist of two constituents of opposite and unlike qualities.
Bi¶naÏry, n. That which is constituted of two figures, things, or parts; two; duality.
Fotherby.
Bi¶nate (?), a. [L. bini two and two.] (Bot.) Double; growing in pairs or couples.
Gray.
BinÏau¶ral (?), a. [Pref. binÏ + aural.] Of or pertaining to, or used by, both ears.
Bind (?), v. t. [imp. Bound (?); p. p. Bound, formerly Bounden (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Binding.] [AS. bindan, perfect tense band, bundon, p. p. bunden; akin to D. & G. binden, Dan. binde, Sw. & Icel. binda, Goth. bindan, Skr. bandh (for bhandh) to bind, cf. Gr. ? (for ?) cable, and L. offendix. ?90.] 1. To tie, or confine with a cord, band, ligature, chain, etc.; to fetter; to make fast; as, to bind grain in bundles; to bind a prisoner.
2. To confine, restrain, or hold by physical force or influence of any kind; as, attraction binds the planets to the sun; frost binds the earth, or the streams.
He bindeth the floods from overflowing.
Job xxviii. 11.
Whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years.
Luke xiii. 16.
3. To cover, as with a bandage; to bandage or dress; Ð sometimes with up; as, to bind up a wound.
4. To make fast ( a thing) about or upon something, as by tying; to encircle with something; as, to bind a belt about one; to bind a compress upon a part.
5. To prevent or restrain from customary or natural action; as, certain drugs bind the bowels.
6. To protect or strengthen by a band or binding, as the edge of a carpet or garment.
7. To sew or fasten together, and inclose in a cover; as, to bind a book.
8. Fig.: To oblige, restrain, or hold, by authority, law, duty, promise, vow, affection, or other moral tie; as, to bind the conscience; to bind by kindness; bound by affection; commerce binds nations to each other.
Who made our laws to bind us, not himself.
Milton.
9. (Law) (a) To bring (any one) under definite legal obligations; esp. under the obligation of a bond or covenant. Abbott. (b) To place under legal obligation to serve; to indenture; as, to bind an apprentice; Ð sometimes with out; as, bound out to service.
To bind over, to put under bonds to do something, as to appear at court, to keep the peace, etc. Ð To bind to, to contract; as, to bind one's self to a wife. Ð To bind up in, to cause to be wholly engrossed with; to absorb in.
Syn. Ð To fetter; tie; fasten; restrain; restrict; oblige.
Bind (?), v. i. 1. To tie; to confine by any ligature.
They that reap must sheaf and bind.
Shak.
2. To contract; to grow hard or stiff; to cohere or stick together in a mass; as, clay binds by heat.
Mortimer.
3. To be restrained from motion, or from customary or natural action, as by friction.
4. To exert a binding or restraining influence.
Locke.
Bind, n. 1. That which binds or ties.
2. Any twining or climbing plant or stem, esp. a hop vine; a bine.
3. (Metal.) Indurated clay, when much mixed with the oxide of iron.
Kirwan.
4. (Mus.) A ligature or tie for grouping notes.
Bind¶er (?), n. 1. One who binds; as, a binder of sheaves; one whose trade is to bind; as, a binder of books.
2. Anything that binds, as a fillet, cord, rope, or band; a bandage; Ð esp. the principal piece of timber intended to bind together any building.
Bind¶erÏy (?), n. A place where books, or other articles, are bound; a bookbinder's establishment.
Bind¶heimÏite (?), n. [From Bindheim, a German who analyzed it.] (Min.) An amorphous antimonate of lead, produced from the alteration of other ores, as from jamesonite.
Bind¶ing (?), a. That binds; obligatory.
Binding beam (Arch.), the main timber in double flooring. Ð Binding joist (Arch.), the secondary timber in doubleÏframed flooring.
Syn. Ð Obligatory; restraining; restrictive; stringent; astringent; costive; styptic.
Bind¶ing, n. 1. The act or process of one who, or that which, binds.
2. Anything that binds; a bandage; the cover of a book, or the cover with the sewing, etc.; something that secures the edge of cloth from raveling.
3. pl. (Naut.) The transoms, knees, beams, keelson, and other chief timbers used for connecting and strengthening the parts of a vessel.
Bind¶ingÏly, adv. So as to bind.
Bind¶ingÏness, n. The condition or property of being binding; obligatory quality.
Coleridge.
Bind¶weed· (?), n. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Convolvulus; as, greater bindweed (C. Sepium); lesser bindweed (C. arvensis); the white, the blue, the Syrian, bindweed. The black bryony, or Tamus, is called black bindweed, and the Smilax aspera, rough bindweed.
The fragile bindweed bells and bryony rings.
Tennyson.
Bine (?), n. [Bind, cf. Woodbine.] The winding or twining stem of a hop vine or other climbing plant.
BiÏnerv¶ate (?), a. [L. bis twice + nervus sinew, nerve.] 1. (Bot.) TwoÏnerved; Ð applied to leaves which have two longitudinal ribs or nerves.
2. (Zo”l.) Having only two nerves, as the wings of some insects.
Bing (?), n. [Cf. Icel. bingr, Sw. binge, G. beige, beuge. Cf. Prov. E. bink bench, and bench coal the uppermost stratum of coal.] A heap or pile; as, a bing of wood. ½Potato bings.¸ Burns. ½A bing of corn.¸ Surrey. [Obs. or Dial. Eng. & Scot.]
BinÏi¶oÏdide (?), n. Same as Diiodide.
Bink (?), n. A bench. [North of Eng. & Scot.]
Bin¶naÏcle (?), n. [For bittacle, corrupted (perh. by influence of bin) fr. Pg. bitacola binnacle, fr. L. habitaculum dwelling place, fr. habitare to dwell. See Habit, and cf. Bittacle.] (Naut.) A case or box placed near the helmsman, containing the compass of a ship, and a light to show it at night.
Totten.
Bin¶ny (?), n. (Zo”l.) A large species of barbel (Barbus bynni), found in the Nile, and much esteemed for food.
Bin¶oÏcle (?), n. [F. binocle; L. bini two at a time + oculus eye.] (Opt.) A dioptric telescope, fitted with two tubes joining, so as to enable a person to view an object with both eyes at once; a doubleÏbarreled field glass or an opera glass.
BinÏoc¶uÏlar (?), a. [Cf. F. binoculaire. See Binocle.] 1. Having two eyes. ½Most animals are binocular.¸
Derham.
2. Pertaining to both eyes; employing both eyes at once; as, binocular vision.
3. Adapted to the use of both eyes; as, a binocular microscope or telescope.
Brewster.
BinÏoc¶uÏlar (?), n. A binocular glass, whether opera glass, telescope, or microscope.
BinÏoc¶uÏlarÏly, adv. In a binocular manner.
BinÏoc¶uÏlate (?), a. Having two eyes.
BiÏno¶miÏal (?), n. [L. bis twice + nomen name: cf. F. binome, LL. binomius (or fr. biÏ + Gr. ? distribution ?). Cf. Monomial.] (Alg.) An expression consisting of two terms connected by the sign plus (+) or minus (Ð); as, a+b, or 7Ð3.
BiÏno¶miÏal, a. 1. Consisting of two terms; pertaining to binomials; as, a binomial root.
2. (Nat. Hist.) Having two names; Ð used of the system by which every animal and plant receives two names, the one indicating the genus, the other the species, to which it belongs.
Binomial theorem (Alg.), the theorem which expresses the law of formation of any power of a binomial.
BiÏnom¶iÏnal (?), a. [See Binomial.] Of or pertaining to two names; binomial.
BiÏnom¶iÏnous (?), a. Binominal. [Obs.]
BiÏnot¶oÏnous (?), a. [L. bini two at a time + tonus, fr. Gr. ?, tone.] Consisting of two notes; as, a binotonous cry.
Bi¶nous (?), a. Same as Binate.
BinÏox¶aÏlate (?), n. [Pref. binÏ + oxalate.] (Chem.) A salt having two equivalents of oxalic acid to one of the base; an acid oxalate.
BinÏox¶ide (?), n. [Pref. binÏ + oxide.] (Chem.) Same as Dioxide.
ØBin¶tuÏrong (?), n. (Zo”l.) A small Asiatic civet of the genus Arctilis.
BiÏnu¶cleÏar (?), BiÏnu¶cleÏate (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + nuclear, nucleate.] (Biol.) Having two nuclei; as, binucleate cells.
BiÏnu¶cleÏoÏlate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + nucleolus.] (Biol.) Having two nucleoli.
Bi¶oÏblast (?), n. [Gr. ? life + Ïblast.] (Biol.) Same as Bioplast.
BiÏoc¶elÏlate (?), a. [L. bis twice + ocellatus. See Ocellated.] (Zo”l.) Having two ocelli (eyelike spots); Ð said of a wing, etc.
Bi·oÏchem¶isÏtry (?), n. [Gr. ? life + E. chemistry.] (Biol.) The chemistry of living organisms; the chemistry of the processes incidental to ? characteristic of, life.
Bi·oÏdyÏnam¶ics (?), n. [Gr. ? life + E. dynamics.] (Biol.) The doctrine of vital forces or energy.
Bi¶oÏgen (?), n. [Gr. ? life + Ïgen.] (Biol.) Bioplasm.
Bi·oÏgen¶eÏsis (?), BiÏog¶eÏny (?), } n. [Gr. ? life + ?, ?, birth.] (Biol.) (a) A doctrine that the genesis or production of living organisms can take place only through the agency of living germs or parents; Ð opposed to abiogenesis. (b) Life development generally.
Bi·oÏgeÏnet¶ic (?), a. (Biol.) Pertaining to biogenesis.
BiÏog¶eÏnist (?), n. A believer in the theory of biogenesis.
ØBi·ogÏno¶sis (?), n. [Gr. ? life + ? investigation.] (Biol.) The investigation of life.
BiÏog¶raÏpher (?), n. One who writes an account or history of the life of a particular person; a writer of lives, as Plutarch.
Bi¶oÏgraph¶ic (?), Bi·oÏgraph¶icÏal (?), } a. Of or pertaining to biography; containing biography. Ð Bi·oÏgraph¶icÏalÏly, adv.
BiÏog¶raÏphize (?), v. t. To write a history of the life of.
Southey.
BiÏog¶raÏphy (?), n.; pl. Biographies (?). [Gr. ?; ? life + ? to write: cf. F. biographie. See Graphic.] 1. The written history of a person's life.
2. Biographical writings in general.
Bi·oÏlog¶ic (?), Bi·oÏlog¶icÏal (?), } a. Of or relating to biology. Ð Bi·oÏlog¶icÏalÏly, adv.
BiÏol¶oÏgist (?), n. A student of biology; one versed in the science of biology.
BiÏol¶oÏgy (?), n. [Gr. ? life + Ïlogy: cf. F. biologie.] The science of life; that branch of knowledge which treats of living matter as distinct from matter which is not living; the study of living tissue. It has to do with the origin, structure, development, function, and distribution of animals and plants.
ØBiÏol¶yÏsis (?), n. [Gr. ? life + ? a dissolving.] (Biol.) The destruction of life.
Bi·oÏlyt¶ic (?), a. [Gr. ? life + ? to destroy.] Relating to the destruction of life.
Bi·oÏmagÏnet¶ic (?), a. Relating to biomagnetism.
Bi·oÏmag¶netÏism (?), n. [Gr. ? life + E. magnetism.] Animal magnetism.
BiÏom¶eÏtry (?), n. [Gr. ? life + Ïmetry.] Measurement of life; calculation of the probable duration of human life.
Bi¶on (?), n. [Gr. ? living, p. pr. of ? to live.] (Biol.) The physiological individual, characterized by definiteness and independence of function, in distinction from the morphological individual or morphon.
BiÏon¶oÏmy (?), n. [Gr. ? life + ? law.] Physiology. [R.]
Dunglison.
Bi¶oÏphor· Bi¶oÏphore· } (?), n. [Gr. ? life + ? bearing, fr. ? to bear.] (Biol.) One of the smaller vital units of a cell, the bearer of vitality and heredity. See Pangen, in Supplement.
Bi¶oÏplasm (?), n. [Gr. ? life + ? form, mold, fr. ? to mold.] (Biol.) A name suggested by Dr. Beale for the germinal matter supposed to be essential to the functions of all living beings; the material through which every form of life manifests itself; unaltered protoplasm.

<— p. 147 —>

Bi·oÏplas¶mic (?), a. Pertaining to, or consisting of, bioplasm.
Bi¶oÏplast (?), n. [Gr. ? life + ? to form.] (Biol.) A tiny mass of bioplasm, in itself a living unit and having formative power, as a living white blood corpuscle; bioblast.
Bi·oÏplas¶tic (?), a. (Biol.) Bioplasmic.
BiÏor¶gan (?), n. [Gr. ? life + E. organ.] (Biol.) A physiological organ; a living organ; an organ endowed with function; Ð distinguished from idorgan.
Bi·oÏstat¶ics (?), n. [Gr. ? life + ?. See Statics.] (Biol.) The physical phenomena of organized bodies, in opposition to their organic or vital phenomena.
Bi·oÏstaÏtis¶tics (?), n. [Gr. ? life + E. statistics.] (Biol.) Vital statistics.
Bi¶oÏtax·y (?), n. [Gr. ? life + ? arrangement.] (Biol.) The classification of living organisms according to their structural character; taxonomy.
BiÏot¶ic (?), a. [Gr. ? pert. to life.] (Biol.) Relating to life; as, the biotic principle.
Bi¶oÏtite (?), n. [From Biot, a French naturalist.] (Min.) Mica containing iron and magnesia, generally of a black or dark green color; Ð a common constituent of crystalline rocks. See Mica.
BiÏpal¶mate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + palmate.] (Bot.) Palmately branched, with the branches again palmated.
Bi·paÏri¶eÏtal (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + parietal.] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the diameter of the cranium, from one parietal fossa to the other.
Bip¶aÏrous (?), a. [L. bis twice + parere to bring forth.] Bringing forth two at a birth.
BiÏpart¶iÏble (?), a. [Cf. F. bipartible. See Bipartite.] Capable of being divided into two parts.
BiÏpar¶tient (?), a. [L. bis twice + partiens, p. pr. of partire to divide.] Dividing into two parts. Ð n. A number that divides another into two equal parts without a remainder.
BiÏpar¶tile (?), a. Divisible into two parts.
Bip¶arÏtite (?), a. [L. bipartitus, p. p. of bipartire; bis twice + partire. See Partite.] 1. Being in two parts; having two correspondent parts, as a legal contract or writing, one for each party; shared by two; as, a bipartite treaty.
2. Divided into two parts almost to the base, as a leaf; consisting of two parts or subdivisions.
Gray.
Bi·parÏti¶tion (?), n. The act of dividing into two parts, or of making two correspondent parts, or the state of being so divided.
BiÏpec¶tiÏnate (?), BiÏpec¶tiÏna·ted (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + pectinate.] (Biol.) Having two margins toothed like a comb.
Bi¶ped (?), n. [L. bipes; bis twice + pes, pedis, ?oot: cf. F. bipŠde.] A twoÏfooted animal, as man.
Bi¶ped, a. Having two feet; twoÏfooted.
By which the man, when heavenly life was ceased,
Became a helpless, naked, biped beast.
Byrom.
Bip¶eÏdal (?), a. [L. bipedalis: cf. F. bip‚dal. See Biped, n.] 1. Having two feet; biped.
2. Pertaining to a biped.
BiÏpel¶tate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + peltate.] Having a shell or covering like a double shield.
BiÏpen¶nate (?), BiÏpen¶naÏted (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + pennate: cf. L. bipennis. Cf. Bipinnate.] Having two wings. ½Bipennated insects.¸
Derham.
ØBiÏpen¶nis (?), n. [L.] An ax with an edge or blade on each side of the handle.
BiÏpet¶alÏous (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + petalous.] (Bot.) Having two petals.
ØBi·pinÏna¶riÏa (?), n. [NL., fr. L. bis twice + pinna feather.] (Zo”l.) The larva of certain starfishes as developed in the freeÏswimming stage.
BiÏpin¶nate (?), BiÏpin¶naÏted (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + pinnate; cf. F. bipinn‚. Cf. Bipennate.] Twice pinnate.
Bi·pinÏnat¶iÏfid (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + pinnatifid.] (Bot.) Doubly pinnatifid.
A bipinnatifid leaf is a pinnatifid leaf having its segments or divisions also pinnatifid. The primary divisions are pinn‘ and the secondary pinnules.
Bip¶liÏcate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + plicate.] Twice folded together.
Henslow.
BiÏplic¶iÏty (?), n. The state of being twice folded; reduplication. [R.]
Bailey.
BiÏpo¶lar (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + polar. Cf. Dipolar.] Doubly polar; having two poles; as, a bipolar cell or corpuscle.
Bi·poÏlar¶iÏty (?), n. Bipolar quality.
Bi¶pont (?), BiÏpont¶ine (?), a. (Bibliog.) Relating to books printed at Deuxponts, or Bipontium (Zweibrcken), in Bavaria.
BiÏpunc¶tate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + punctate.] Having two punctures, or spots.
BiÏpunc¶tuÏal (?), a. Having two points.
BiÏpu¶pilÏlate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + pupil (of the eye).] (Zo”l.) Having an eyelike spot on the wing, with two dots within it of a different color, as in some butterflies.
Bi·pyÏram¶iÏdal (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + pyramidal.] Consisting of two pyramids placed base to base; having a pyramid at each of the extremities of a prism, as in quartz crystals.
BiÏquad¶rate (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + quadrate.] (Math.) The fourth power, or the square of the square. Thus 4x4=16, the square of 4, and 16x16=256, the biquadrate of 4.
Bi·quadÏrat¶ic (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + quadratic: cf. F. biquadratique.] (Math.) Of or pertaining to the biquadrate, or fourth power.
Biquadratic equation (Alg.), an equation of the fourth degree, or an equation in some term of which the unknown quantity is raised to the fourth power. Ð Biquadratic root of a number, the square root of the square root of that number. Thus the square root of 81 is 9, and the square root of 9 is 3, which is the biquadratic root of 81. Hutton.
Bi·quadÏrat¶ic, n. (Math.) (a) A biquadrate. (b) A biquadratic equation.
BiÏquin¶tile (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + quintile: cf. F. biquintile.] (Astron.) An aspect of the planets when they are distant from each other by twice the fifth part of a great circle Ð that is, twice 72 degrees.
BiÏra¶diÏate (?), BiÏra¶diÏa·ted (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + radiate.] Having two rays; as, a biradiate fin.
BiÏra¶mous (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + ramous.] (Biol.) Having, or consisting of, two branches.
Birch (?), n.; pl. Birches (?). [OE. birche, birk, AS. birce, beorc; akin to Icel. bj”rk, Sw. bj”rk, Dan. birk, D. berk, OHG. piricha, MHG. birche, birke, G. birke, Russ. bereza, Pol. brzoza, Serv. breza, Skr. bh?rja. ?254. Cf. 1st Birk.] 1. A tree of several species, constituting the genus Betula; as, the white or common birch (B. alba) (also called silver birch and lady birch); the dwarf birch (B. glandulosa); the paper or canoe birch (B. papyracea); the yellow birch (B. lutea); the black or cherry birch (B. lenta).
2. The wood or timber of the birch.
3. A birch twig or birch twigs, used for flogging.
µ The twigs of the common European birch (B. alba), being tough and slender, were formerly much used for rods in schools. They were also made into brooms.
The threatening twigs of birch.
Shak.
4. A birchÏbark canoe.
Birch of Jamaica, a species (Bursera gummifera) of turpentine tree. Ð Birch partridge. (Zo”l.) See Ruffed grouse. Ð Birch wine, wine made of the spring sap of the birch. Ð Oil of birch. (a) An oil obtained from the bark of the common European birch (Betula alba), and used in the preparation of genuine ( and sometimes of the imitation) Russia leather, to which it gives its peculiar odor. (b) An oil prepared from the black birch (B. lenta), said to be identical with the oil of wintergreen, for which it is largely sold.
Birch, a. Of or pertaining to the birch; birchen.
Birch, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Birched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Birching.] To whip with a birch rod or twig; to flog.
Birch¶en (?), a. Of or relating to birch.
He passed where Newark's stately tower
Looks out from Yarrow's birchen bower.
Sir W. Scott.
Bird (?), n. [OE. brid, bred, bird, young bird, bird, AS. bridd young bird. ?92.] 1. Orig., a chicken; the young of a fowl; a young eaglet; a nestling; and hence, a feathered flying animal (see 2).
That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird.
Shak.
The brydds [birds] of the aier have nestes.
Tyndale (Matt. viii. 20).
2. (Zo”l.) A warmÏblooded, feathered vertebrate provided with wings. See Aves.
3. Specifically, among sportsmen, a game bird.
4. Fig.: A girl; a maiden.
And by my word! the bonny bird
In danger shall not tarry.
Campbell.
Arabian bird, the phenix. Ð Bird of Jove, the eagle. Ð Bird of Juno, the peacock. Ð Bird louse (Zo”l.), a wingless insect of the group Mallophaga, of which the genera and species are very numerous and mostly parasitic upon birds. Ð Bird mite (Zo”l.), a small mite (genera Dermanyssus, Dermaleichus and allies) parasitic upon birds. The species are numerous. Ð Bird of passage, a migratory bird. Ð Bird spider (Zo”l.), a very large South American spider (Mygale avicularia). It is said sometimes to capture and kill small birds. Ð Bird tick (Zo”l.), a dipterous insect parasitic upon birds (genus Ornithomyia, and allies), usually winged.
Bird (?), v. i. 1. To catch or shoot birds.
2. Hence: To seek for game or plunder; to thieve. [R.]
B. Jonson.
Bird¶bolt· (?), n. A short blunt arrow for killing birds without piercing them. Hence: Anything which smites without penetrating.
Shak.
Bird¶ cage¶, or Bird¶cage· (?), n. A cage for confining birds.
Bird¶call· (?), n. 1. A sound made in imitation of the note or cry of a bird for the purpose of decoying the bird or its mate.
2. An instrument of any kind, as a whistle, used in making the sound of a birdcall.
Bird¶catch·er (?), n. One whose employment it is to catch birds; a fowler.
Bird¶catch·ing, n. The art, act, or occupation or catching birds or wild fowls.
Bird¶ cher·ry (?). (Bot.) A shrub (Prunus Padus ) found in Northern and Central Europe. It bears small black cherries.
Bird¶er (?), n. A birdcatcher.
Bird¶Ðeyed· (?), a. QuickÏsighted; catching a glance as one goes.
Bird¶ fan·ciÏer (?). 1. One who takes pleasure in rearing or collecting rare or curious birds.
2. One who has for sale the various kinds of birds which are kept in cages.
Bird¶ie (?), n. A pretty or dear little bird; Ð a pet name.
Tennyson.
Bird¶iÏkin (?), n. A young bird.
Thackeray.
Bird¶ing, n. Birdcatching or fowling.
Shak.
Birding piece, a fowling piece.
Shak.
Bird¶let, n. A little bird; a nestling.
Bird¶like· (?), a. Resembling a bird.
Bird¶lime· (?), n. [Bird + lime viscous substance.] An extremely adhesive viscid substance, usually made of the middle bark of the holly, by boiling, fermenting, and cleansing it. When a twig is smeared with this substance it will hold small birds which may light upon it. Hence: Anything which insnares.
Not birdlime or Idean pitch produce
A more tenacious mass of clammy juice.
Dryden.
µ Birdlime is also made from mistletoe, elder, etc.
Bird¶lime·, v. t. To smear with birdlime; to catch with birdlime; to insnare.
When the heart is thus birdlimed, then it cleaves to everything it meets with.
Coodwin.
Bird¶ling, n. A little bird; a nestling.
Bird¶man (?), n. A fowler or birdcatcher.
Bird¶ of par¶aÏdise (?). (Zo”l.) The name of several very beautiful birds of the genus Paradisea and allied genera, inhabiting New Guinea and the adjacent islands. The males have brilliant colors, elegant plumes, and often remarkable tail feathers.
µ The Great emerald (Paradisea apoda) and the Lesser emerald (P. minor) furnish many of the plumes used as ornaments by ladies; the Red is P. rubra or sanguinea; the Golden is Parotia aurea or sexsetacea; the King is Cincinnurus regius.
The name is also applied to the lingerÏbilled birds of another related group (Epimachin‘) from the same region. The Twelvewired (Seleucides alba) is one of these. See Paradise bird, and Note under Apod.
Bird¶ pep·per (?). A species of capsicum (Capsicum baccatum), whose small, conical, coralÏred fruit is among the most piquant of all red peppers.
Bird's¶Ðbeak· (?), n. (Arch.) A molding whose section is thought to resemble a beak.
Bird¶seed· (?), n. Canary seed, hemp, millet or other small seeds used for feeding caged birds.
Bird's¶Ðeye· (?), a. 1. Seen from above, as if by a flying bird; embraced at a glance; hence, general? not minute, or entering into details; as, a bird'sÐeye view.
2. Marked with spots resembling bird's eyes; as, bird'sÐeye diaper; bird'sÐeye maple.
Bird's¶Ðeye·, n. (Bot.) A plant with a small bright flower, as the Adonis or pheasant's eye, the mealy primrose (Primula farinosa), and species of Veronica, Geranium, etc.
Bird's¶Ðeye· ma¶ple (?). See under Maple.
Bird's¶Ðfoot· (?), n. (Bot.) A papilionaceous plant, the Ornithopus, having a curved, cylindrical pod tipped with a short, clawlike point.
Bird'sÐfoot trefoil. (Bot.) (a) A genus of plants (Lotus) with clawlike pods. L. corniculatas, with yellow flowers, is very common in Great Britain. (b) the related plant, Trigonella ornithopodioides, is also European.
Bird'sÐmouth· (?), n. (Arch.) An interior a?gle or notch cut across a piece of timber, for the reception of the edge of another, as that in a rafter to be laid on a plate; Ð commonly called crow'sÐfoot in the United States.
Bird's¶ nest·, or Bird'sÐnest (?), n. 1. The nest in which a bird lays eggs and hatches her young.
2. (Cookery) The nest of a small swallow (Collocalia nidifica and several allied species), of China and the neighboring countries, which is mixed with soups.
µ The nests are found in caverns and fissures of

<— p. 148 —>

cliffs on rocky coasts, and are composed in part of alg‘. They are of the size of a goose egg, and in substance resemble isinglass. See Illust. under Edible.
3. (Bot.) An orchideous plant with matted roots, of the genus Neottia (N. nidusÏavis.)
Bird'sÐnest pudding, a pudding containing apples whose cores have been replaces by sugar. Ð Yellow bird's nest, a plant, the Monotropa hypopitys.
Bird'sÐnest·ing (?), n. Hunting for, or taking, birds' nests or their contents.
Bird's¶Ðtongue· (?), n. (Bot.) The knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare).
Bird¶Ðwit·ted (?), a. Flighty; passing rapidly from one subject to another; not having the faculty of attention.
Bacon.
Bi·recÏtan¶guÏlar (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + rectangular.] Containing or having two right angles; as, a birectangular spherical triangle.
Bi¶reme (?), n. [L. biremis; bis twice + remus oar: cf. F. birŠme.] An ancient galley or vessel with two banks or tiers of oars.
BiÏret¶ta (?), n. Same as Berretta.
Bir¶ganÏder (?), n. See Bergander.
Birk (?), n. [See Birch, n.] A birch tree. [Prov. Eng.] ½The silver birk.¸
Tennyson.
Birk, n. (Zo”l.) A small European minnow (Leuciscus phoxinus).
Birk¶en (?), v. t. [From 1st Birk.] To whip with a birch or rod. [Obs.]
Birk¶en, a. Birchen; as, birken groves.
Burns.
Bir¶kie (?), n. A lively or mettlesome fellow. [Jocular, Scot.]
Burns.
Birl (?), v. t. & i. To revolve or cause to revolve; to spin. [Scot.]
Sir W. Scott.
Birl (?), v. t. & i. [AS. byrlian. ?92.] To pour (beer or wine); to ply with drink; to drink; to carouse. [Obs. or Dial.]
Skelton.
Bir¶law (?), n. [See ByÏlaw.] (Law) A law made by husbandmen respecting rural affairs; a rustic or local law or byÏlaw. [Written also byrlaw, birlie, birley.]
BiÏros·trate (?), BiÏros¶traÏted (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + rostrate.] Having a double beak, or two processes resembling beaks.
The capsule is bilocular and birostrated.
Ed. Encyc.
Birr (?), v. i. [imp. & p.p. Birred (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Birring.] [Cf. OE. bur, bir, wind, storm wind, fr. Icel. byrr wind. Perh. imitative.] To make, or move with, a whirring noise, as of wheels in motion.
Birr, n. 1. A whirring sound, as of a spinning wheel.
2. A rush or impetus; force.
Bir¶rus (?), n. [LL., fr. L. birrus a kind of cloak. See Berretta.] A coarse kind of thick woolen cloth, worn by the poor in the Middle Ages; also, a woolen cap or hood worn over the shoulders or over the head.
Birse (?), n. A bristle or bristles. [Scot.]
Birt (?), n. [OE. byrte; cf. F. bertonneau. Cf. Bret, Burt.] (Zo”l.) A fish of the turbot kind; the brill. [Written also burt, bret, or brut.] [Prov. Eng.]
Birth (?), n. [OE. burth, birth, AS. beor?, gebyrd, fr. beran to bear, bring forth; akin to D. geboorate, OHG. burt, giburt, G. geburt, Icel. bur?r, Skr. bhrti bearing, supporting; cf. Ir. & Gael. beirthe born, brought forth. ?92. See 1st Bear, and cf. Berth.] 1. The act or fact of coming into life, or of being born; Ð generally applied to human beings; as, the birth of a son.
2. Lineage; extraction; descent; sometimes, high birth; noble extraction.
Elected without reference to birth, but solely for qualifications.
Prescott.
3. The condition to which a person is born; natural state or position; inherited disposition or tendency.
A foe by birth to Troy's unhappy name.
Dryden.
4. The act of bringing forth; as, she had two children at a birth. ½At her next birth.¸
Milton.
5. That which is born; that which is produced, whether animal or vegetable.
Poets are far rarer births that kings.
B. Jonson.
Others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself.
Addison.
6. Origin; beginning; as, the birth of an empire.
New birth (Theol.), regeneration, or the commencement of a religious life.
Syn. Ð Parentage; extraction; lineage; race; family.
Birth, n. See Berth. [Obs.]
De Foe.
Birth¶day· (?), n. 1. The day in which any person is born; day of origin or commencement.
Those barbarous ages past, succeeded next
The birthday of invention.
Cowper.
2. The day of the month in which a person was born, in whatever succeeding year it may recur; the anniversary of one's birth.
This is my birthday; as this very day
Was Cassius born.
Shak.
Birth¶day·, a. Of or pertaining to the day of birth, or its anniversary; as, birthday gifts or festivities.
Birth¶dom (?), n. [Birth + Ïdom.] The land of one's birth; one's inheritance. [R.]
Shak.
Birth¶ing, n. (Naut.) Anything added to raise the sides of a ship.
Bailey.
Birth¶less, a. Of mean extraction. [R.]
Sir W. Scott.
Birth¶mark· (?), n. Some peculiar mark or blemish on the body at birth.
Most part of this noble lineage carried upon their body for a natural birthmark, … a snake.
Sir T. North.
Birth¶night· (?), n. The night in which a person is born; the anniversary of that night in succeeding years.
The angelic song in Bethlehem field,
On thy birthnight, that sung thee Savior born.
Milton.
Birth¶place· (?), n. The town, city, or country, where a person is born; place of origin or birth, in its more general sense. ½The birthplace of valor.¸
Burns.
Birth¶right· (?), n. Any right, privilege, or possession to which a person is entitled by birth, such as an estate descendible by law to an heir, or civil liberty under a free constitution; esp. the rights or inheritance of the first born.
Lest there be any … profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb. xii. 16.
Birth¶root· (?), n. (Bot.) An herbaceous plant (Trillium erectum), and its astringent rootstock, which is said to have medicinal properties.
Birth¶wort· (?), n. A genus of herbs and shrubs (Aristolochia), reputed to have medicinal properties.
Bis (?), adv. [L. bis twice, for duis, fr. root of duo two. See Two, and cf. BiÏ.] Twice; Ð a word showing that something is, or is to be, repeated; as a passage of music, or an item in accounts.
BisÏ, pref. A form of BiÏ, sometimes used before s, c, or a vowel.
Bi¶sa an¶teÏlope (?). (Zo”l.) See Oryx.
BiÏsac¶cate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + saccate.] (Bot.) Having two little bags, sacs, or pouches.
BisÏcay¶an (?), a. Of or pertaining to Biscay in Spain. Ðn. A native or inhabitant of Biscay.
Bis¶coÏtin (?), n. [F. biscotin. See Biscuit.] A confection made of flour, sugar, marmalade, and eggs; a sweet biscuit.
Bis¶cuit (?), n. [F. biscuit (cf. It. biscotto, Sp. bizcocho, Pg. biscouto), fr. L. bis twice + coctus, p. p. of coquere to cook, bake. See Cook, and cf. Bisque a kind of porcelain.] 1. A kind of unraised bread, of many varieties, plain, sweet, or fancy, formed into flat cakes, and bakes hard; as, ship biscuit.
According to military practice, the bread or biscuit of the Romans was twice prepared in the oven.
Gibbon.
2. A small loaf or cake of bread, raised and shortened, or made light with soda or baking powder. Usually a number are baked in the same pan, forming a sheet or card.
3. Earthen ware or porcelain which has undergone the first baking, before it is subjected to the glazing.
4. (Sculp.) A species of white, unglazed porcelain, in which vases, figures, and groups are formed in miniature.
Meat biscuit, an alimentary preparation consisting of matters extracted from meat by boiling, or of meat ground fine and combined with flour, so as to form biscuits.
BiÏscu¶tate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + scutate.] (Bot.) Resembling two bucklers placed side by side.
ØBise (?), n. [F.] A cold north wind which prevails on the northern coasts of the Mediterranean and in Switzerland, etc.; Ð nearly the same as the mistral.
Bise (?), n. (Paint.) See Bice.
BiÏsect¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bisected; p. pr. & vb. n. Bisecting.] [L. bis twice + secare, sectum, to cut.] 1. To cut or divide into two parts.
2. (Geom.) To divide into two equal parts.
BiÏsec¶tion (?), n. [Cf. F. bissection.] Division into two parts, esp. two equal parts.
BiÏsec¶tor (?), n. One who, or that which, bisects; esp. (Geom.) a straight line which bisects an angle.
BiÏsec¶trix (?), n. The line bisecting the angle between the optic axes of a biaxial crystal.
BiÏseg¶ment (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + segment.] One of tow equal parts of a line, or other magnitude.
BiÏsep¶tate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + septate.] With two partitions or septa.
Gray.
BiÏse¶riÏal (?), BiÏse¶riÏate (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + serial, seriate.] In two rows or series.
BiÏser¶rate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + serrate.]
1. (Bot.) Doubly serrate, or having the serratures serrate, as in some leaves.
2. (Zo”l.) Serrate on both sides, as some antenn‘.
BiÏse¶tose (?), BiÏse¶tous (?), } a. [Pref. biÏ + setose, setous.] Having two bristles.
BiÏsex¶ous (?), a. [L. bis twice + sexus sex: cf. F. bissexe.] Bisexual. [Obs.]
Sir T. Browne.
BiÏsex¶uÏal (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + sexual.] (Biol.) Of both sexes; hermaphrodite; as a flower with stamens and pistil, or an animal having ovaries and testes.
BiÏsex¶uÏous (?), a. Bisexual.
BiÏseye¶ (?), p. p. of Besee. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Evil biseye, ill looking. [Obs.]
Bish (?), n. Same as Bikh.
Bish¶op (?), n. [OE. bischop, biscop, bisceop, AS. bisceop, biscop, L. episcopus overseer, superintendent, bishop, fr. Gr. ?, ? over + ? inspector, fr. root of ?, ?, to look to, perh. akin to L. specere to look at. See Spy, and cf. Episcopal.]
1. A spiritual overseer, superintendent, or director.
Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
1 Pet. ii. 25.
It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion, that in the language of the New Testament the same officer in the church is called indifferently ½bishop¸ ( ? ) and ½elder¸ or ½presbyter.¸
J. B. Lightfoot.
2. In the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Anglican or Protestant Episcopal churches, one ordained to the highest order of the ministry, superior to the priesthood, and generally claiming to be a successor of the Apostles. The bishop is usually the spiritual head or ruler of a diocese, bishopric, or see.
Bishop in partibus [infidelium] (R. C. Ch.), a bishop of a see which does not actually exist; one who has the office of bishop, without especial jurisdiction. Shipley. Ð Titular bishop (R. C. Ch.), a term officially substituted in 1882 for bishop in partibus. Ð Bench of Bishops. See under Bench.
3. In the Methodist Episcopal and some other churches, one of the highest church officers or superintendents.
4. A piece used in the game of chess, bearing a representation of a bishop's miter; Ð formerly called archer.
5. A beverage, being a mixture of wine, oranges or lemons, and sugar.
Swift.
6. An old name for a woman's bustle. [U. S.]
If, by her bishop, or her ½grace¸ alone,
A genuine lady, or a church, is known.
Saxe.
Bish¶op, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bishoped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bishoping.] To admit into the church by confirmation; to confirm; hence, to receive formally to favor.
Bish¶op (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bishoped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bishoping.] [From the name of the scoundrel who first practiced it. Youatt.] (Far.) To make seem younger, by operating on the teeth; as, to bishop an old horse or his teeth.
The plan adopted is to cut off all the nippers with a saw to the proper length, and then with a cutting instrument the operator scoops out an oval cavity in the corner nippers, which is afterwards burnt with a hot iron until it is black.
J. H. Walsh.
Bish¶opÏdom (?), n. Jurisdiction of a bishop; episcopate. ½Divine right of bishopdom.¸
Milton.
Bish¶opÏlike· (?), a. Resembling a bishop; belonging to a bishop.
Fulke.
Bish¶opÏly, a. Bishoplike; episcopal. [Obs.]
Bish¶opÏly, adv. In the manner of a bishop. [Obs.]
Bish¶opÏric (?), n. [AS. bisceoprÆce; bisceop bishop + rÆce dominion. See Ïric.] 1. A diocese; the district over which the jurisdiction of a bishop extends.
2. The office of a spiritual overseer, as of an apostle, bishop, or presbyter.
Acts i. 20.
Bish¶op's cap· (?). (Bot.) A plant of the genus Mitella; miterwort.
Longfellow.
Bish¶op sleeve· (?). A wide sleeve, once worn by women.
Bish¶op's length· (?). A canvas for a portrait measuring 58 by 94 inches. The half bishop measures 45 of 56.
Bish¶opÐstool· (?), n. A bishop's seat or see.
Bish¶op'sÐweed· (?), n. (Bot.) (a) An umbelliferous plant of the genus Ammi. (b) Goutweed (?gopodium podagraria).
Bish¶op'sÐwort· (?), n. (Bot.) Wood betony (Stachys betonica); also, the plant called fennel flower (Nigella Damascena), or devilÏinÏaÏbush.
Bis¶ie (?), v. t. To busy; to employ. [Obs.]
BiÏsil¶iÏcate (?), n. (Min. Chem.) A salt of metasilicic acid; Ð so called because the ratio of the oxygen of the silica to the oxygen of the base is as two to one. The bisilicates include many of the most common and important minerals.
Bisk (?), n. [F. bisque.] Soup or broth made by boiling several sorts of flesh together.
King.
Bisk, n. [F. bisque.] (Tennis) See Bisque.
BiÏsmare¶ (?), BiÏsmer¶ (?), n. [AS. bismer.] Shame; abuse. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Bis¶mer (?), n. 1. A rule steelyard. [Scot.]
2. (Zo”l.) The fifteenÏspined (Gasterosteus spinachia).
ØBisÏmil¶lah (?), interj. [Arabic, in the name of God!] An adjuration or exclamation common among the Mohammedans. [Written also Bizmillah.]
Bis¶mite (?), n. (Min.) Bismuth trioxide, or bismuth ocher.
Bis¶muth (?), n. [Ger. bismuth, wismuth: cf. F. bismuth.] (Chem.) One of the elements; a metal of a reddish white color, crystallizing in rhombohedrons. It is somewhat harder than lead, and rather brittle; masses show broad cleavage surfaces when broken across. It metals at 507? Fahr., being easily fused in the flame of a candle. It is found in a native state, and as a constituent of some minerals. Specific gravity 9.8. Atomic weight 207.5. Symbol Bi.
µ Chemically, bismuth (with arsenic and antimony is intermediate between the metals and nonmetals; it is used in thermoÏelectric piles, and as an alloy with lead and tin in the fusible alloy or metal. Bismuth is the most diamagnetic substance known.
Bismuth glance, bismuth sulphide; bismuthinite. Ð Bismuth ocher, a native bismuth oxide; bismite.
Bis¶muthÏal (?), a. Containing bismuth.
Bis¶muthÏic (?), a. (Chem.) Of or pertaining to bismuth; containing bismuth, when this element has its higher valence; as, bismuthic oxide.
Bis·muthÏif¶erÏous (?), a. [Bismuth + Ïferous.] Containing bismuth.
Bis¶muthÏine (?), Bis¶muthÏinÏite (?), } n. Native bismuth sulphide; Ð sometimes called bismuthite.
Bis¶muthÏous (?), a. Of, or containing, bismuth, when this element has its lower valence.
Bis¶muthÏyl· (?), n. (Min.) Hydrous carbonate of bismuth, an earthy mineral of a dull white or yellowish color. [Written also bismuthite.]
Bi¶son (?), n. [L. bison, Gr. ?, a wild ox; akin to OHG. wisunt, wisant, G. wisent, AS. wesend, Icel. vÆsundr: cf. F. bison.] (Zo”l.) (a) The aurochs or European bison. (b) The American bison buffalo (Bison Americanus), a large, gregarious bovine quadruped with shaggy mane and short black horns, which formerly roamed in herds over most of the temperate portion of North America, but is now restricted to very limited districts in the region of the Rocky Mountains, and is rapidly decreasing in numbers.

<— p. 149 —>

BiÏspi¶nose (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + spinose.] (Zo”l.) Having two spines.
ØBisque (?), n. [A corruption of biscuit.] Unglazed white porcelain.
Bisque, n. [F.] A point taken by the receiver of odds in the game of tennis; also, an extra innings allowed to a weaker player in croquet.
ØBisque, n. [F.] A white soup made of crayfish.
BisÏsex¶tile (?), n. [L. bissextilis annus, fr. bissextus (bis + sextus sixth, fr. sex six) the sixth of the calends of March, or twentyÏfourth day of February, which was reckoned twice every fourth year, by the intercalation of a day.] Leap year; every fourth year, in which a day is added to the month of February on account of the excess of the tropical year (365 d. 5 h. 48 m. 46 s.) above 365 days. But one day added every four years is equivalent to six hours each year, which is 11 m. 14 s. more than the excess of the real year. Hence, it is necessary to suppress the bissextile day at the end of every century which is not divisible by 400, while it is retained at the end of those which are divisible by 400.
BisÏsex¶tile, a. Pertaining to leap year.
Bis¶son (?), a. [OE. bisen, bisne, AS. bisen, prob. for bÆs?ne; bi by + s?ne clear, akin to se¢n to see; clear when near, hence shortÏsighted. See See.] Purblind; blinding. [Obs.] ½Bisson rheum.¸
Shak.
Bis¶ter, Bis¶tre } (?), n. [F. bistre a color made of soot; of unknown origin. Cf., however, LG. biester frowning, dark, ugly.] (Paint.) A dark brown pigment extracted from the soot of wood.
BiÏstip¶uled (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + stipule.] (Bot.) Having two stipules.
Bis¶tort (?), n. [L. bis + tortus, p. p. of torquere to twist: cf. F. bistorte.] (Bot.) An herbaceous plant of the genus Polygonum, section Bistorta; snakeweed; adderwort. Its root is used in medicine as an astringent.
Bis¶touÏry (?), n.; pl. Bistouries (?). [F. bistouri.] A surgical instrument consisting of a slender knife, either straight or curved, generally used by introducing it beneath the part to be divided, and cutting towards the surface.
Bis¶tre (?), n. See Bister.
BiÏsul¶cate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + sulcate.]
1. Having two grooves or furrows.
2. (Zo”l.) Cloven; said of a foot or hoof.
BiÏsul¶cous (?), a. [L. bisulcus; bis twice + sulcus furrow.] Bisulcate.
Sir T. Browne.
BiÏsul¶phate (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + sulphate.] (Chem.) A sulphate in which but half the hydrogen of the acid is replaced by a positive element or radical, thus making the proportion of the acid to the positive or basic portion twice what it is in the normal sulphates; an acid sulphate.
BiÏsul¶phide (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + sulphide.] (Chem.) A sulphide having two atoms of sulphur in the molecule; a disulphide, as in iron pyrites, FeS2; Ð less frequently called bisulphuret.
BiÏsul¶phite (?), n. (Chem.) A salt of sulphurous acid in which the base replaces but half the hydrogen of the acid; an acid sulphite.
BiÏsul¶phuÏret (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + sulphuret.] (Chem.) See Bisulphide.
Bit (?), n. [OE. bitt, bite, AS. bite, bite, fr. bÆtan to bite. See Bite, n. & v., and cf. Bit a morsel.] 1. The part of a bridle, usually of iron, which is inserted in the mouth of a horse, and having appendages to which the reins are fastened.
Shak.
The foamy bridle with the bit of gold.
Chaucer.
2. Fig.: Anything which curbs or restrains.
Bit, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bitted (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bitting.] To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of.
Bit, imp. & p. p. of Bite.
Bit, n. [OE. bite, AS. bita, fr. bÆtan to bite; akin to D. beet, G. bissen bit, morsel, Icel. biti. See Bite, v., and cf. Bit part of a bridle.] 1. A part of anything, such as may be bitten off or taken into the mouth; a morsel; a bite. Hence: A small piece of anything; a little; a mite.
2. Somewhat; something, but not very great.
My young companion was a bit of a poet.
T. Hook.
µ This word is used, also, like jot and whit, to express the smallest degree; as, he is not a bit wiser.
3. A tool for boring, of various forms and sizes, usually turned by means of a brace or bitstock. See Bitstock.
4. The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.
Knight.
5. The cutting iron of a plane.
Knight.
6. In the Southern and Southwestern States, a small silver coin (as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12 1/2 cents; also, the sum of 12 1/2 cents.
Bit my bit, piecemeal.
Pope.
Bit, 3d sing. pr. of Bid, for biddeth. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
BiÏtake¶ (?), v. t. [See Betake, Betaught.] To commend; to commit. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
BiÏtan¶gent (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + tangent.] (Geom.) Possessing the property of touching at two points. Ð n. A line that touches a curve in two points.
BiÏtar¶trate (?), n. (Chem.) A salt of tartaric acid in which the base replaces but half the acid hydrogen; an acid tartrate, as cream of tartar.
Bitch (?), n. [OE. biche, bicche, AS. bicce; cf. Icel. bikkja, G. betze, peize.] 1. The female of the canine kind, as of the dog, wolf, and fox.
2. An opprobrious name for a woman, especially a lewd woman.
Pope.
Bite (?), v. t. [imp. Bit (?); p. p. Bitten (?), Bit; p. pr. & vb. n. Biting.] [OE. biten, AS. bÆtan; akin to D. bijten, OS. bÆtan, OHG. bÆzan, G. beissen, Goth. beitan, Icel. bÆta, Sw. bita, Dan. bide, L. findere to cleave, Skr. bhid to cleave. ?87. Cf. Fissure.]
1. To seize with the teeth, so that they enter or nip the thing seized; to lacerate, crush, or wound with the teeth; as, to bite an apple; to bite a crust; the dog bit a man.
Such smiling rogues as these,
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain.
Shak.
2. To puncture, abrade, or sting with an organ (of some insects) used in taking food.
3. To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth. ½Frosts do bite the meads.¸
Shak.
4. To cheat; to trick; to take in. [Colloq.]
Pope.
5. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the anchor bites the ground.
The last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, … it turned and turned with nothing to bite.
Dickens.
To bite the dust, To bite the ground, to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust. Ð To bite in (Etching), to corrode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid. Ð To bite the thumb at (any one), formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a quarrel; to defy. ½Do you bite your thumb at us ?¸ Shak. Ð To bite the tongue, to keep silence. Shak.
Bite (?), v. i. 1. To seize something forcibly with the teeth; to wound with the teeth; to have the habit of so doing; as, does the dog bite ?
2. To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent; as, it bites like pepper or mustard.
3. To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.
At the last it [wine] biteth like serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Prov. xxiii. 32.
4. To take a bait into the mouth, as a fish does; hence, to take a tempting offer.
5. To take or keep a firm hold; as, the anchor bites.
Bite, n. [OE. bite, bit, bitt, AS. bite bite, fr. bÆtan to bite, akin to Icel. bit, OS. biti, G. biss. See Bite, v., and cf. Bit.] 1. The act of seizing with the teeth or mouth; the act of wounding or separating with the teeth or mouth; a seizure with the teeth or mouth, as of a bait; as, to give anything a hard bite.
I have known a very good fisher angle diligently four or six hours for a river carp, and not have a bite.
Walton.
2. The act of puncturing or abrading with an organ for taking food, as is done by some insects.
3. The wound made by biting; as, the pain of a dog's or snake's bite; the bite of a mosquito.
4. A morsel; as much as is taken at once by biting.
5. The hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted, or the hold which one part of a machine has upon another.
6. A cheat; a trick; a fraud. [Colloq.]
The baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and overreaching.
Humorist.
7. A sharper; one who cheats. [Slang]
Johnson.
8. (Print.) A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.
Bit¶er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, bites; that which bites often, or is inclined to bite, as a dog or fish. ½Great barkers are no biters.¸
Camden.
2. One who cheats; a sharper. [Colloq.]
Spectator.
BiÏter¶nate (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + ternate.] (Bot.)Doubly ternate, as when a petiole has three ternate leaflets. Ð BiÏter¶nateÏly, adv.
Gray.
Bi¶theÏism (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + theism.] Belief in the existence of two gods; dualism.
Bit¶ing (?), a. That bites; sharp; cutting; sarcastic; caustic. ½A biting affliction.¸ ½A biting jest.¸
Shak.
Bit¶ing in¶ (?). (Etching.) The process of corroding or eating into metallic plates, by means of an acid. See Etch.
G. Francis.
Bit¶ingÏly, adv. In a biting manner.
Bit¶less (?), a. Not having a bit or bridle.
Bit¶stock· (?), n. A stock or handle for holding and rotating a bit; a brace.
Bitt (?), n. (Naut.) See Bitts.
Bitt (?), v. t. [See Bitts.] (Naut.) To put round the bitts; as, to bitt the cable, in order to fasten it or to slacken it gradually, which is called veering away.
Totten.
Bit¶taÏcle (?), n. A binnacle. [Obs.]
Bit¶ten (?), p. p. of Bite.
Bit¶ten (?), a. (Bot.) Terminating abruptly, as if bitten off; premorse.
Bit¶ter (?), n. [See Bitts.] (Naut.) AA turn of the cable which is round the bitts.
Bitter end, that part of a cable which is abaft the bitts, and so within board, when the ship rides at anchor.
Bit¶ter (?), a. [AS. biter; akin to Goth. baitrs, Icel. bitr, Dan., Sw., D., & G. bitter, OS. bittar, fr. root of E. bite. See Bite, v. t.] 1. Having a peculiar, acrid, biting taste, like that of wormwood or an infusion of hops; as, a bitter medicine; bitter as aloes.
2. Causing pain or smart; piercing; painful; sharp; severe; as, a bitter cold day.
3. Causing, or fitted to cause, pain or distress to the mind; calamitous; poignant.
It is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.
Jer. ii. 19.
4. Characterized by sharpness, severity, or cruelty; harsh; stern; virulent; as, bitter reproach.
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Col. iii. 19.
5. Mournful; sad; distressing; painful; pitiable.
The Egyptians … made their lives bitter with hard bondage.
Ex. i. 14.
Bitter apple, Bitter cucumber, Bitter gourd. (Bot.) See Colocynth. Ð Bitter cress (Bot.), a plant of the genus Cardamine, esp. C. amara. Ð Bitter earth (Min.), tale earth; calcined magnesia. Ð Bitter principles (Chem.), a class of substances, extracted from vegetable products, having strong bitter taste but with no sharply defined chemical characteristics. Ð Bitter salt, Epsom salts;; magnesium sulphate. Ð Bitter vetch (Bot.), a name given to two European leguminous herbs, Vicia Orobus and Ervum Ervilia. Ð To the bitter end, to the last extremity, however calamitous.
Syn. Ð Acrid; sharp; harsh; pungent; stinging; cutting; severe; acrimonious.
Bit¶ter (?), n. Any substance that is bitter. See Bitters.
Bit¶ter, v. t. To make bitter.
Wolcott.
Bit¶terÏbump· (?), n. (Zo”l.) the butterbump or bittern.
Bit¶terÏful (?), a. Full of bitterness. [Obs.]
Bit¶terÏing, n. A bitter compound used in adulterating beer; bittern.
Bit¶terÏish, a. Somewhat bitter.
Goldsmith.
Bit¶terÏling (?), n. [G.] (Zo”l.) A roachlike European fish (Rhodima amarus).
Bit¶terÏly, adv. In a bitter manner.
Bit¶tern (?), n. [OE. bitoure, betore, bitter, fr. F. butor; of unknown origin.] (Zo”l.) A wading bird of the genus Botaurus, allied to the herons, of various species.
µ The common European bittern is Botaurus stellaris. It makes, during the brooding season, a noise called by Dryden bumping, and by Goldsmith booming. The American bittern is B. lentiginosus, and is also called stakeÏdriver and meadow hen. See StakeÏdriver.
The name is applied to other related birds, as the least bittern (Ardetta exilis), and the sun bittern.
Bit¶tern, n. [From Bitter, a.] 1. The brine which remains in salt works after the salt is concreted, having a bitter taste from the chloride of magnesium which it contains.
2. A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus Indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer.
Cooley.
Bit¶terÏness (?), n. [AS. biternys; biter better + Ïnys = Ïness.] 1. The quality or state of being bitter, sharp, or acrid, in either a literal or figurative sense; implacableness; resentfulness; severity; keenness of reproach or sarcasm; deep distress, grief, or vexation of mind.
The lip that curls with bitterness.
Percival.
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Job vii. 11.
2. A state of extreme impiety or enmity to God.
Thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
Acts viii. 23.
3. Dangerous error, or schism, tending to draw persons to apostasy.
Looking diligently, … lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you.
Heb. xii. 15.
Bit¶terÏnut¶, n. (Bot.) The swamp hickory (Carya amara). Its thinÏshelled nuts are bitter.
Bit¶terÏroot· (?), n. (Bot.) A plant (Lewisia rediviva) allied to the purslane, but with fleshy, farinaceous roots, growing in the mountains of Idaho, Montana, etc. It gives the name to the Bitter Root mountains and river. The Indians call both the plant and the river Sp‘t'lum.
Bit¶ters (?), n. pl. A liquor, generally spirituous in which a bitter herb, leaf, or root is steeped.
Bit¶ter spar¶ (?). A common name of dolomite Ð so called because it contains magnesia, the soluble salts of which are bitter. See Dolomite.
Bit¶terÏsweet· (?), a. Sweet and then bitter or bitter and then sweet; esp. sweet with a bitter after taste; hence (Fig.), pleasant but painful.
Bit¶terÏsweet·, n. 1. Anything which is bittersweet.
2. A kind of apple so called.
Gower.
3. (Bot.) (a) A climbing shrub, with oval coralÏred berries (Solanum dulcamara); woody nightshade. The whole plant is poisonous, and has a taste at first sweetish and then bitter. The branches are the officinal dulcamara. (b) An American woody climber (Celastrus scandens), whose yellow capsules open late in autumn, and disclose the red aril which covers the seeds; Ð also called Roxbury waxwork.
Bit¶terÏweed· (?), n. (Bot.) A species of Ambrosia (A. artemisi‘folia); Roman worm wood.
Gray.
Bit¶terÏwood· (?), n. A West Indian tree (Picr‘na excelsa) from the wood of which the bitter drug Jamaica quassia is obtained.
Bit¶terÏwort· (?), n. (Bot.) The yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea), which has a very bitter taste.
Bit¶tock (?), n. [See Bit a morsel.] A small bit of anything, of indefinite size or quantity; a short distance. [Scot.]
Sir W. Scott.
Bit¶tor Bit¶tour } (?), n. [See Bittern] (Zo”l.) The bittern.
Dryden.
Bitts (?), n. pl. [Cf. F. bitte, Icel. biti, a beam. ?87.] (Naut.) A frame of two strong timbers fixed perpendicularly in the fore part of a ship, on which to fasten the cables as the ship rides at anchor, or in warping. Other bitts are used for belaying (belaying bitts), for sustaining the windlass (carrick bitts, winch bitts, or windlass bitts), to hold the pawls of the windlass (pawl bitts) etc.
BiÏtume¶ (?), n. [F. See Bitumen.] Bitumen. [Poetic]
May.
BiÏtumed¶ (?), a. Smeared with bitumen. [R.] ½The hatches caulked and bitumed.¸
Shak.
BiÏtu¶men (?), n. [L. bitumen: cf. F. bitume. Cf. B‚ton.] 1. Mineral pitch; a black, tarry substance, burning with a bright flame; Jew's pitch. ?

<— p. 150 —>

occurs as an abundant natural product in many places, as on the shores of the Dead and Caspian Seas. It is used in cements, in the construction of pavements, etc. See Asphalt. 2. By extension, any one of the natural hydrocarbons, including the hard, solid, brittle varieties called asphalt, the semisolid maltha and mineral tars, the oily petroleums, and even the light, volatile naphthas. BiÏtu¶miÏnate (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bituminated; p. pr. & vb. n. Bituminating.] [L. bituminatus, p. p. of bituminare to bituminate. See Bitumen.] To treat or impregnate with bitumen; to cement with bitumen. ½Bituminated walls of Babylon.¸ Feltham. BiÏtu·miÏnif¶erÏous (?), a. [Bitumen + Ïferous.] Producing bitumen. Kirwan. BiÏtu·miÏniÏza¶tion (?), n. [Cf. F. bituminisation.] The process of bituminizing. Mantell. BiÏtu¶miÏnize (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bituminized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bituminizing.] [Cf. F. bituminiser.] To prepare, treat, impregnate, or coat with bitumen. BiÏtu¶miÏnous (?), a. [L. bituminosus: cf. F. bitumineux.] Having the qualities of bitumen; compounded with bitumen; containing bitumen. Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flamed. Milton. Bituminous coal, a kind of coal which yields, when heated, a considerable amount of volatile bituminous matter. It burns with a yellow smoky flame. Ð Bituminous limestone, a mineral of a brown or black color, emitting an unpleasant smell when rubbed. That of Dalmatia is so charged with bitumen that it may be cut like soap. Ð Bituminous shale, an argillaceous shale impregnated with bitumen, often accompanying coal. Bi¶uÏret (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + urea.] (Chem.) A white, crystalline, nitrogenous substance, C2O2N3H5, formed by heating urea. It is intermediate between urea and cyanuric acid. Biv¶aÏlenÏcy (?), n. (Chem.) The quality of being bivalent. Biv¶aÏlent (?), a. [L. bis twice + valens, p. pr. See Valence.] (Chem.) Equivalent in combining or displacing power to two atoms of hydrogen; dyad. Bi¶valve (?), n. [F. bivalve; biÏ (L. bis) + valve valve.] 1. (Zo”l.) A mollusk having a shell consisting of two lateral plates or valves joined together by an elastic ligament at the hinge, which is usually strengthened by prominences called teeth. The shell is closed by the contraction of two transverse muscles attached to the inner surface, as in the clam, Ð or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca. 2. (Bot.) A pericarp in which the seed case opens or splits into two parts or valves. Bi¶valve (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + valve.] (Zo”l. & Bot.) Having two shells or valves which open and shut, as the oyster and certain seed vessels. Bi¶valved (?), a. Having two valves, as the oyster and some seed pods; bivalve. BiÏval¶vous (?), a. Bivalvular. BiÏval¶vuÏlar (?), a. Having two valves. BiÏvault¶ed (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + vault.] Having two vaults or arches. BiÏvec¶tor (?), n. [Pref. biÏ + vector.] (Math.) A term made up of the two parts ? + ?1 ?Ð1, where ? and ?1 are vectors. BiÏven¶tral (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + ventral.] (Anat.) Having two bellies or protuberances; as, a biventral, or digastric, muscle, or the biventral lobe of the cerebellum. Biv¶iÏal (?), a. Of or relating to the bivium. Biv¶iÏous (?), a. [L. bivius; bis twice + via way.] Having, or leading, two ways. Bivious theorems and JanusÏfaced doctrines. Sir T. Browne. ØBiv¶iÏum (?), n. [L., a place with two ways. See Bivious.] (Zo”l.) One side of an echinoderm, including a pair of ambulacra, in distinction from the opposite side (trivium), which includes three ambulacra. Biv¶ouac (?), n. [F. bivouac, bivac, prab. fr. G. beiwache, or beiwacht; bei by, near + wachen to watch, wache watch, guard. See By, and Watch.] (Mil.) (a) The watch of a whole army by night, when in danger of surprise or attack. (b) An encampment for the night without tents or covering. Biv¶ouac, v. i. [imp. & p.p. Bivouacked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bivouacking.] (Mil.) (a) To watch at night or be on guard, as a whole army. (b) To encamp for the night without tents or covering. Bi¶week·ly (?), a. [Pref. biÏ + weekly.] Occurring or appearing once every two weeks; fortnightly. Ð n. A publication issued every two weeks. Ð Bi¶week¶ly, adv. BiÏwreye¶ (?), v. t. To bewray; to reveal. [Obs.] Biz¶anÏtine (?). See Byzantine. BiÏzarre¶ (?), a. [F. bizarre odd, fr. Sp. bizarro gallant, brave, liberal, prob. of Basque origin; cf. Basque bizarra beard, whence the meaning manly, brave.] Odd in manner or appearance; fantastic; whimsical; extravagant; grotesque. C. Kingsley. BiÏzet¶ (?), n. [Cf. Bezel.] The upper faceted portion of a brilliantÏcut diamond, which projects from the setting and occupies the zone between the girdle and the table. See Brilliant, n. Blab (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blabbed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blabbing.] [Cf. OE. blaberen, or Dan. blabbre, G. plappern, Gael. blabaran a stammerer; prob. of imitative origin. Cf. also Blubber, v.] To utter or tell unnecessarily, or in a thoughtless manner; to publish (secrets or trifles) without reserve or discretion. Udall. And yonder a vile physician blabbing The case of his patient. Tennyson. Blab, v. i. To talk thoughtlessly or without discretion; to tattle; to tell tales. She must burst or blab. Dryden. Blab, n. [OE. blabbe.] One who blabs; a babbler; a telltale. ½Avoided as a blab.¸ Milton. For who will open himself to a blab or a babbler. Bacon. Blab¶ber (?), n. A tattler; a telltale. Black (?), a. [OE. blak, AS. bl‘c; akin to Icel. blakkr dark, swarthy, Sw. bl„ck ink, Dan. bl‘k, OHG. blach, LG. & D. blaken to burn with a black smoke. Not akin to AS. bl¾c, E. bleak pallid. ?98.] 1. Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark color, the opposite of white; characterized by such a color; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes. O night, with hue so black! Shak. 2. In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in darkness; very dark or gloomy; as, a black night; the heavens black with clouds. I spy a black, suspicious, threatening cloud. Shak. 3. Fig.: Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness; destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked; cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible. ½This day's black fate.¸ ½Black villainy.¸ ½Arise, black vengeance.¸ ½Black day.¸ ½Black despair.¸ Shak. 4. Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen; foreboding; as, to regard one with black looks. µ Black is often used in selfÏexplaining compound words; as, blackÏeyed, blackÏfaced, blackÏhaired, blackÏvisaged. Black act, the English statute 9 George I, which makes it a felony to appear armed in any park or warren, etc., or to hunt or steal deer, etc., with the face blackened or disguised. Subsequent acts inflicting heavy penalties for malicious injuries to cattle and machinery have been called black acts. Ð Black angel (Zo”l.), a fish of the West Indies and Florida (Holacanthus tricolor), with the head and tail yellow, and the middle of the body black. Ð Black antimony (Chem.), the black sulphide of antimony, Sb2S3, used in pyrotechnics, etc. Ð Black bear (Zo”l.), the common American bear (Ursus Americanus). Ð Black beast. See Bˆte noire. Ð Black beetle (Zo”l.), the common large cockroach (Blatta orientalis). Ð Black and blue, the dark color of a bruise in the flesh, which is accompanied with a mixture of blue. ½To pinch the slatterns black and blue.¸ Hudibras. Ð Black bonnet (Zo”l.), the blackÏheaded bunting (Embriza Sch?niclus) of Europe. Ð Black canker, a disease in turnips and other crops, produced by a species of caterpillar. Ð Black cat (Zo”l.), the fisher, a quadruped of North America allied to the sable, but larger. See Fisher. Ð Black cattle, any bovine cattle reared for slaughter, in distinction from dairy cattle. [Eng.] Ð Black cherry. See under Cherry. Ð Black cockatoo (Zo”l.), the palm cockatoo. See Cockatoo. Ð Black copper. Same as Melaconite. Ð Black currant. (Bot.) See Currant. Ð Black diamond. (Min.) See Carbonado. Ð Black draught (Med.), a cathartic medicine, composed of senna and magnesia. Ð Black drop (Med.), vinegar of opium; a narcotic preparation consisting essentially of a solution of opium in vinegar. Ð Black earth, mold; earth of a dark color. Woodward. Ð Black flag, the flag of a pirate, often bearing in white a skull and crossbones; a signal of defiance. Ð Black flea (Zo”l.), a flea beetle (Haltica nemorum) injurious to turnips. Ð Black flux, a mixture of carbonate of potash and charcoal, obtained by deflagrating tartar with half its weight of niter. Brande & C. Ð Black fly. (Zo”l.) (a) In the United States, a small, venomous, twoÏwinged fly of the genus Simuliu? of several ?, exceedingly abundant and troublesome in the northern forests. The larv‘ are aquatic. (b) A black plant louse, as the bean aphis (A. fab‘). Ð Black Forest [a translation of G. Schwarzwald], a forest in Baden and Wrtemburg, in Germany; a part of the ancient Hercynian forest. Ð Black game, or Black grouse. (Zo”l.) See Blackcock, Grouse, and Heath grouse. Ð Black grass (Bot.), a grasslike rush of the species Juncus Gerardi, growing on salt marshes, and making good hay. Ð Black gum (Bot.), an American tree, the tupelo or pepperidge. See Tupelo. Ð Black Hamburg (grape) (Bot.), a sweet and juicy variety of dark purple or ½black¸ grape. Ð Black horse (Zo”l.), a fish of the Mississippi valley (Cycleptus elongatus), of the sucker family; the Missouri sucker. Ð Black lemur (Zo”l.), the Lemurniger of Madagascar; the acoumbo of the natives. Ð Black list, a list of persons who are for some reason thought deserving of censure or punishment; Ð esp. a list of persons stigmatized as insolvent or untrustworthy, made for the protection of tradesmen or employers. See Blacklist, v. t. Ð Black manganese (Chem.), the black oxide of manganese, MnO2. Ð Black Maria, the close wagon in which prisoners are carried to or from jail. Ð Black martin (Zo”l.), the chimney swift. See Swift. Ð Black moss (Bot.), the common soÏcalled long moss of the southern United States. See Tillandsia. Ð Black oak. See under Oak. Ð Black ocher. See Wad. Ð Black pigment, a very fine, light carbonaceous substance, or lampblack, prepared chiefly for the manufacture of printers' ink. It is obtained by burning common coal tar. Ð Black plate, sheet iron before it is tinned. Knight. Ð Black quarter, malignant anthrax with engorgement of a shoulder or quarter, etc., as of an ox. Ð Black rat (Zo”l.), one of the species of rats (Mus rattus), commonly infesting houses. Ð Black rent. See Blackmail, n., 3. Ð Black rust, a disease of wheat, in which a black, moist matter is deposited in the fissures of the grain. Ð Black sheep, one in a family or company who is unlike the rest, and makes trouble. Ð Black silver. (Min.) See under Silver. Ð Black and tan, black mixed or spotted with tan color or reddish brown; Ð used in describing certain breeds of dogs. Ð Black tea. See under Tea. Ð Black tin (Mining), tin ore ( cassiterite), when dressed, stamped and washed, ready for smelting. It is in the form of a black powder, like fine sand. Knight. Ð Black walnut. See under Walnut. Ð Black warrior (Zo”l.), an American hawk (Buteo Harlani). Syn. Ð Dark; murky; pitchy; inky; somber; dusky; gloomy; swart; Cimmerian; ebon; atrocious. Black (?), adv. Sullenly; threateningly; maliciously; so as to produce blackness. Black, n. 1. That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth has a good black. Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night. Shak. 2. A black pigment or dye. 3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain African races. 4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black pl. (Obs.) Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery. Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like show death terrible. Bacon. That was the full time they used to wear blacks for the death of their fathers. Sir T. North. 5. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. The black or sight of the eye. Sir K. Digby. 6. A stain; a spot; a smooch. Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust. Rowley. Black and white, writing or print; as, I must have that statement in black and white. Ð Blue black, a pigment of a blue black color. Ð Ivory black, a fine kind of animal charcoal prepared by calcining ivory or bones. When ground it is the chief ingredient of the ink used in copperplate printing. Ð Berlin black. See under Berlin. Black, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blacked ; p. pr. & vb. n. Blacking.] [See Black, a., and cf. Blacken.] 1. To make black; to blacken; to soil; to sully. They have their teeth blacked, both men and women, for they say a dog hath his teeth white, therefore they will black theirs. Hakluyt. Sins which black thy soul. J. Fletcher. 2. To make black and shining, as boots or a stove, by applying blacking and then polishing with a brush. Black¶aÏmoor (?), n. [Black + Moor.] A negro or negress. Shak. Black¶ art· (?). The art practiced by conjurers and witches; necromancy; conjuration; magic. µ This name was given in the Middle Ages to necromancy, under the idea that the latter term was derived from niger black, instead of ?, a dead person, and ?, divination. Wright. Black¶ÐaÐvised· (?), a. DarkÏvisaged; swart. Black¶ball· (?), n. 1. A composition for blacking shoes, boots, etc.; also, one for taking impressions of engraved work. 2. A ball of black color, esp. one used as a negative in voting; Ð in this sense usually two words. Black¶ball·, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blackballed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blackballing.] 1. To vote against, by putting a black ball into a ballot box; to reject or exclude, as by voting against with black balls; to ostracize. He was blackballed at two clubs in succession. Thackeray. 2. To blacken (leather, shoes, etc.) with blacking. Black¶band· (?), n. (Min.) An earthy carbonate of iron containing considerable carbonaceous matter; Ð valuable as an iron ore. Black¶ bass· (?). (Zo”l.) 1. An edible, freshÏwater fish of the United States, of the genus Micropterus. the smallÏmouthed kind is M. dolomieÆ; the largemouthed is M. salmoides. 2. The sea bass. See Blackfish, 3. Black¶berÏry (?), n. [OE. blakberye, AS. bl‘cerie;ÿbl‘c black + berie berry.] The fruit of several species of bramble (Rubus); also, the plant itself. Rubus fruticosus is the blackberry of England; R. villosus and R. Canadensis are the high blackberry and low blackberry of the United States. There are also other kinds. Black¶bird (?), n. (Zo”l.) In England, a species of thrush (Turdus merula), a singing bird with a fin note; the merle. In America the name is given to several birds, as the Quiscalus versicolor, or crow blackbird; the Agel‘us ph?niceus, or redÏwinged blackbird; the cowbird; the rusty grackle, etc. See Redwing. Black¶board· (?), n. A broad board painted black, or any black surface on which writing, drawing, or the working of mathematical problems can be done with chalk or crayons. It is much used in schools. Black¶ book· (?). 1. One of several books of a political character, published at different times and for different purposes; Ð so called either from the color of the binding, or from the character of the contents.

<— p. 151 —>

2. A book compiled in the twelfth century, containing a description of the court of exchequer of England, an official statement of the revenues of the crown, etc.
3. A book containing details of the enormities practiced in the English monasteries and religious houses, compiled by order of their visitors under Henry VIII., to hasten their dissolution.
4. A book of admiralty law, of the highest authority, compiled in the reign of Edw. III.
Bouvier. Wharton.
5. A book kept for the purpose of registering the names of persons liable to censure or punishment, as in the English universities, or the English armies.
6. Any book which treats of necromancy.
Black¶Ðbrowed· (?), a. Having black eyebrows. Hence: Gloomy; dismal; threatening; forbidding.
Shak. Dryden.
BlackÏbur¶niÏan war¶Ïbler (?). [Named from Mrs. Blackburn, an English lady.] (Zo”l.) A beautiful warbler of the United States (Dendroica Blackburni‘). The male is strongly marked with orange, yellow, and black on the head and neck, and has an orangeÏyellow breast.
Black¶cap· (?), n. 1. (Zo”l.) (a) A small European song bird (Sylvia atricapilla), with a black crown; the mock nightingale. (b) An American titmouse (Parus atricapillus); the chickadee.
2. (Cookery) An apple roasted till black, to be served in a dish of boiled custard.
3. The black raspberry.
Black¶coat· (?), n. A clergyman; Ð familiarly so called, as a soldier is sometimes called a redcoat or a bluecoat.
Black¶cock· (?), n. (Zo”l.) The male of the European black grouse (Tetrao tetrix, Linn.); Ð so called by sportsmen. The female is called gray hen. See Heath grouse.
Black¶ death· (?). A pestilence which ravaged Europe and Asia in the fourteenth century.
Black¶en (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blackened (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blackening.] [See Black, a., and cf. Black, v. t. ] 1. To make or render black.
While the long funerals blacken all the way.
Pope.
2. To make dark; to darken; to cloud. ½Blackened the whole heavens.¸
South.
3. To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens the character.
Syn. Ð To denigrate; defame; vilify; slander; calumniate; traduce; malign; asperse.
Black¶en, v. i. To grow black or dark.
Black¶enÏer (?), n. One who blackens.
Black¶Ðeyed· (?), a. Having black eyes.
Dryden.
Black¶Ðfaced· (?), a. Having a black, dark, or gloomy face or aspect.
Black¶feet· (?), n. pl. (Ethn.) A tribe of North American Indians formerly inhabiting the country from the upper Missouri River to the Saskatchewan, but now much reduced in numbers.
Black¶fin· (?), n. (Zo”l.) See Bluefin.
Black¶fish (?), n. 1. (Zo”l.) A small kind of whale, of the genus Globicephalus, of several species. The most common is G. melas. Also sometimes applied to other whales of larger size.
2. (Zo”l.) The tautog of New England (Tautoga).
3. (Zo”l.) The black sea bass (Centropristis atrarius) of the Atlantic coast. It is excellent food fish; Ð locally called also black Harry.
4. (Zo”l.) A fish of southern Europe (Centrolophus pompilus) of the Mackerel family.
5. (Zo”l.) The female salmon in the spawning season.
µ The name is locally applied to other fishes.
Black¶foot· (?), a. Of or pertaining to the Blackfeet; as, a Blackfoot Indian. Ð n. A Blackfoot Indian.
Black¶ fri·ar (?). (Eccl.) A friar of the Dominican order; Ð called also predicant and preaching friar; in France, Jacobin. Also, sometimes, a Benedictine.
Black¶guard (?), n. [Black + guard.] 1. The scullions and lower menials of a court, or of a nobleman's household, who, in a removal from one residence to another, had charge of the kitchen utensils, and being smutted by them, were jocularly called the ½black guard¸; also, the servants and hangersÏon of an army. [Obs.]
A lousy slave, that … rode with the black guard in the duke's carriage, 'mongst spits and dripping pans.
Webster (1612).
2. The criminals and vagrants or vagabonds of a town or community, collectively. [Obs.]
3. A person of stained or low character, esp. one who uses scurrilous language, or treats others with foul abuse; a scoundrel; a rough.
A man whose manners and sentiments are decidedly below those of his class deserves to be called a blackguard.
Macaulay.
4. A vagrant; a bootblack; a gamin. [Obs.]
Black¶guard·, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blackguarded; p. pr. & vb. n. Blackguarding.] To revile or abuse in scurrilous language.
Southey.
Black¶guard, a. Scurrilous; abusive; low; worthless; vicious; as, blackguard language.
Black¶guardÏism (?), n. The conduct or language of a blackguard; rufflanism.
Black¶guardÏly, adv. & a. In the manner of or resembling a blackguard; abusive; scurrilous; ruffianly.
Black¶head· (?), n. (Zo”l.) The scaup duck.
Black¶heart· (?), n. A heartÏshaped cherry with a very darkÏcolored skin.
Black¶Ðheart·ed, a. Having a wicked, malignant disposition; morally bad.
Black¶ hole· (?). A dungeon or dark cell in a prison; a military lockÏup or guardroom; Ð now commonly with allusion to the cell (the Black Hole) in a fort at Calcutta, into which 146 English prisoners were thrust by the nabob Suraja Dowla on the night of June 20, 17656, and in which 123 of the prisoners died before morning from lack of air.
A discipline of unlimited autocracy, upheld by rods, and ferules, and the black hole.
H. Spencer.
Black¶ing, n. 1. Any preparation for making things black; esp. one for giving a black luster to boots and shoes, or to stoves.
2. The act or process of making black.
Black¶ish, a. Somewhat black.
Black¶Ðjack· , n. 1. (Min.) A name given by English miners to sphalerite, or zinc blende; Ð called also false galena. See Blende.
2. Caramel or burnt sugar, used to color wines, spirits, ground coffee, etc.
3. A large leather vessel for beer, etc. [Obs.]
4. (Bot.) The Quercus nigra, or barren oak.
5. The ensign of a pirate.
Black· lead¶ (?). Plumbago; graphite.It leaves a blackish mark somewhat like lead. See Graphite.
Black·lead¶, v. t. To coat or to polish with black lead.
Black¶leg· (?), n. 1. A notorious gambler. [Colloq.]
2. A disease among calves and sheep, characterized by a settling of gelatinous matter in the legs, and sometimes in the neck. [Eng.]
Black¶ let·ter (?). The old English or Gothic letter, in which the Early English manuscripts were written, and the first English books were printed. It was conspicuous for its blackness. See Type.
Black¶Ðlet·ter, a. 1. Written or printed in black letter; as, a blackÏletter manuscript or book.
2. Given to the study of books in black letter; that is, of old books; out of date.
Kemble, a blackÐletter man!
J. Boaden.
3. Of or pertaining to the days in the calendar not marked with red letters as saints' days. Hence: Unlucky; inauspicious.
Black¶list· (?), v. t. To put in a black list as deserving of suspicion, censure, or punishment; esp. to put in a list of persons stigmatized as insolvent or untrustworthy, Ð as tradesmen and employers do for mutual protection; as, to blacklist a workman who has been discharged. See Black list, under Black, a.
If you blacklist us, we will boycott you.
John Swinton.
Black¶ly, adv. In a black manner; darkly, in color; gloomily; threateningly; atrociously. ½Deeds so blackly grim and horrid.¸
Feltham.
Black¶mail· (?), n. [Black + mail a piece of money.] 1. A certain rate of money, corn, cattle, or other thing, anciently paid, in the north of England and south of Scotland, to certain men who were allied to robbers, or moss troopers, to be by them protected from pillage.
Sir W. Scott.
2. Payment of money exacted by means of intimidation; also, extortion of money from a person by threats of public accusation, exposure, or censure.
3. (Eng. Law) Black rent, or rent paid in corn, flesh, or the lowest coin, a opposed to ½white rent¸, which paid in silver.
To levy blackmail, to extort money by threats, as of injury to one's reputation.
Black¶mail·, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blackmailed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blackmailing.] To extort money from by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, as injury to reputation, distress of mind, etc.; as, to blackmail a merchant by threatening to expose an alleged fraud. [U. S.]
Black¶mail·er (?), n. One who extorts, or endeavors to extort, money, by black mailing.
Black¶mail·ing, n. The act or practice of extorting money by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, as injury to reputation.
Black¶ Mon·day (?). 1. Easter Monday, so called from the severity of that day in 1360, which was so unusual that many of Edward III.'s soldiers, then before Paris, died from the cold.
Stow.
Then it was not for nothing that may nose fell a bleeding on Black Monday last.
Shak.
2. The first Monday after the holidays; Ð so called by English schoolboys.
Halliwell.
Black¶ monk· (?). A Benedictine monk.
Black¶moor (?), n. See Blackamoor.
Black¶Ðmouthed· (?), a. Using foul or scurrilous language; slanderous.
Black¶ness, n. The quality or state of being black; black color; atrociousness or enormity in wickedness.
They're darker now than blackness.
Donne.
Black¶poll· (?), n. [Black + poll head.] (Zo”l.) A warbler of the United States (Dendroica striata).
Black¶ pud¶ding (?). A kind of sausage made of blood, suet, etc., thickened with meal.
And fat black puddings, Ð proper food,
For warriors that delight in blood.
Hudibras.
Black¶ Rod· (?). (a) the usher to the Chapter of the Garter, so called from the black rod which he carries. He is of the king's chamber, and also usher to the House of Lords. [Eng.] (b) An usher in the legislature of British colonies.
Cowell.
Committed to the custody of the Black Rod.
Macaulay.
Black¶root· , n. (Bot.) See Colicroot.
Blacks (?), n. pl. 1. The name of a kind of in used in copperplate printing, prepared from the charred husks of the grape, and residue of the wine press.
2. Soot flying in the air. [Eng.]
3. Black garments, etc. See Black, n., 4.
Black¶salt·er (?), n. One who,makes crude potash, or black salts.
Black¶ salts· (?). Crude potash.
De Colange.
Black¶smith· (?), n. [Black (in allusion to the color of the metal) + smith. Cf. Whitesmith.] 1. A smith who works in iron with a forge, and makes iron utensils, horseshoes, etc.
The blacksmith may forge what he pleases.
Howell.
2. (Zo”l.) A fish of the Pacific coast (Chromis, or Heliastes, punctipinnis), of a blackish color.
Black¶ snake· (?) or Black¶snake, n. (Zo”l.) A snake of a black color, of which two species are common in the United States, the Bascanium constrictor, or racer, sometimes six feet long, and the Scotophis Alleghaniensis, seven or eight feet long.
µ %The name is also applied to various other black serpents, as Natrix atra of Jamaica.
Black¶strap· (?), n. 1. A mixture of spirituous liquor (usually rum) and molasses.
No blackstrap toÏnight; switchel, or ginger pop.
Judd.
2. Bad port wine; any commo wine of the Mediterranean; Ð so called by sailors.
Black¶tail· (?), n. [Black + tail.] 1. (Zo”l.) A fish; the ruff or pope.
2. (Zo”l.) The blackÏtailed deer (Cervus or Cariacus Columbianus) of California and Oregon; also, the mule deer of the Rocky Mountains. See Mule deer.
Black¶thorn· (?), n. (Bot.) (a) A spreading thorny shrub or small tree (Prunus spinosa), with blackish bark, and bearing little black plums, which are called sloes; the sloe. (b) A species of Crat‘gus or hawthorn (C. tomentosa). Both are used for hedges.
Black¶ vom¶it (?). (Med.) A copious vomiting of darkÏcolored matter; or the substance so discharged; Ð one of the most fatal symptoms in yellow fever.
Black¶ wash· (?) or Black¶wash, n. 1. (Med.) A lotion made by mixing calomel and lime water.
2. A wash that blackens, as opposed to whitewash; hence, figuratively, calumny.
To remove as far as he can the modern layers of black wash, and let the man himself, fair or foul, be seen.
C. Kingsley.
Black¶wood (?), n. A name given to several darkÏcolored timbers. The East Indian black wood is from the tree Dalbergia latifolia.
Balfour.
Black¶work· (?), n. Work wrought by blacksmiths; Ð so called in distinction from that wrought by whitesmiths.
Knight.
Blad¶der (?), n. [OE. bladder, bleddre, AS. bl?dre, bl?ddre; akin to Icel. bla?ra, SW. bl„ddra, Dan. bl‘re, D. blaar, OHG. bl¾tara the bladder in the body of animals, G. blatter blister, bustule; all fr. the same root as AS. bl¾wan, E. blow, to puff. See Blow to puff.]
1. (Anat.) A bag or sac in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some fluid; as, the urinary bladder; the gall bladder; Ð applied especially to the urinary bladder, either within the animal, or when taken out and inflated with air.
2. Any vesicle or blister, especially if filled with air, or a thin, watery fluid.
3. (Bot.) A distended, membranaceous pericarp.
4. Anything inflated, empty, or unsound. ½To swim with bladders of philosophy.¸
Rochester.
Bladder nut, or Bladder tree (Bot.), a genus of plants (Staphylea) with bladderlike seed pods. Ð Bladder pod (Bot.), a genus of low herbs (Vesicaria) with inflated seed pods. Ð Bladdor senna (Bot.), a genus of shrubs (Colutea), with membranaceous, inflated pods. Ð Bladder worm (Zo”l.), the larva of any species of tapeworm (T‘nia), found in the flesh or other parts of animals. See Measle, Cysticercus. Ð Bladder wrack (Bot.), the common black rock weed of the seacoast (Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus) Ð called also bladder tangle. See Wrack.
Blad¶der, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bladdered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bladdering.] 1. To swell out like a bladder with air; to inflate. [Obs.]
G. Fletcher.
2. To put up in bladders; as, bladdered lard.
Blad¶derÏwort· (?), n. (Bot.) A genus (Utricularia) of aquatic or marshy plants, which usually bear numerous vesicles in the divisions of the leaves. These serve as traps for minute animals. See Ascidium.
Blad¶derÏy (?), a. Having bladders; also, resembling a bladder.
Blade (?), n. [OE. blade, blad, AS. bl‘d leaf; akin to OS., D., Dan., & Sw. blad, Icel. bla?, OHG. blat, G. blatt, and perh. to L. folium, Gr. ?. The root is prob. the same as that of AS. bl?wan, E. blow, to blossom. See Blow to blossom, and cf. Foil leaf of metal.]
1. Properly, the leaf, or flat part of the leaf, of any plant, especially of gramineous plants. The term is sometimes applied to the spire of grasses.
The crimson dulse … with its waving blade.
Percival.
First the blade, then ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
Mark iv. 28.
2. The cutting part of an instrument; as, the blade of a knife or a sword.
3. The broad part of an oar; also, one of the projecting arms of a screw propeller.
4. The scapula or shoulder blade.
5. pl. (Arch.) The principal rafters of a roof.
Weale.
6. pl. (Com.) The four large shell plates on the sides, and the five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell.
De Colange.
7. A sharpÏwitted, dashing, wild, or reckless, fellow; Ð a word of somewhat indefinite meaning.
He saw a turnkey in a trice
Fetter a troublesome blade.
Coleridge.

<— p. 152 —>

Blade (?), v. t. To furnish with a blade.
Blade, v. i. To put forth or have a blade.
As sweet a plant, as fair a flower, is faded
As ever in the Muses' garden bladed.
P. Fletcher.
Blade¶bone· (?), n. The scapula. See Blade, 4.
Blad¶ed (?), a. 1. Having a blade or blades; as a twoÏbladed knife.
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass.
Shak.
2. Divested of blades; as, bladed corn.
3. (Min.) Composed of long and narrow plates, shaped like the blade of a knife.
Blade¶fish· (?), n. (Zo”l.) A long, thin, marine fish of Europe (Trichiurus lepturus); the ribbon fish.
Blade¶smith· (?), n. A sword cutler. [Obs.]
Blad¶y (?), a. Consisting of blades. [R.] ½Blady grass.¸
Drayton.
Bl‘ (?), a. [See Blue.] Dark blue or bluish gray; leadÏcolored. [Scot.]
Bl‘¶berÏry (?), n. [Bl‘ + berry; akin to Icel bl¾ber, Sw. bl?b„r, D. blaab‘r. Cf. Blueberry.] The bilberry. [North of Eng. & Scot.]
ØBlague (?), n. [F.] Mendacious boasting; falcefood; humbug.
Blain (?), n. [OE. blein, bleyn, AS. bl?gen; akin to Dan. blegn, D. blein; perh. fr. the same root as E. bladder. See Bladder.] 1. An inflammatory swelling or sore; a bulla, pustule, or blister.
Blotches and blains must all his flesh emboss.
Milton.
2. (Far.) A bladder growing on the root of the tongue of a horse, against the windpipe, and stopping the breath.
Blam¶aÏble (?), a. [Cf. F. blƒmable.] Deserving of censure; faulty; culpable; reprehensible; censurable; blameworthy. Ð Blam¶aÏbleÏness, n. Ð Blam¶ÏaÏbly (?), adv.
Blame , v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blamed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blaming.] [OE. blamen, F. blƒr, OF. blasmer, fr. L. blasphemare to blaspheme, LL. also to blame, fr. Gr. ? to speak ill to slander, to blaspheme, fr. ? evil speaking, perh, for ?; ? injury (fr. ? to injure) + ? a saying, fr. ? to say. Cf. Blaspheme, and see Fame.]
1. To censure; to express disapprobation of; to find fault with; to reproach.
We have none to blame gut ourselves.
Tillotson.
2. To bring reproach upon; to blemish. [Obs.]
She … blamed her noble blood.
Spenser.
To blame, to be blamed, or deserving blame; in fault; as, the conductor was to blame for the accident.
You were to blame, I must be plain with you.
Shak.
Blame, n. [OE. blame, fr. F. blƒme, OF. blasme, fr. blƒmer, OF. blasmer, to blame. See Blame, v.] 1. An expression of disapprobation fir something deemed to be wrong; imputation of fault; censure.
Let me bear the blame forever.
Gen. xiiii. 9.
2. That which is deserving of censure or disapprobation; culpability; fault; crime; sin.
Holy and without blame before him in love.
Eph. i. 4.
3. Hurt; injury. [Obs.]
Spenser.
Syn. Ð Censure; reprehension; condemnation; reproach; fault; sin; crime; wrongdoing.
Blame¶ful (?), a. 1. Faulty; meriting blame.
Shak.
2. Attributing blame or fault; implying or conveying censure; faultfinding; censorious.
Chaucer.
Ð Blame¶fulÏly, adv. Ð Blame¶fulÏness, n.
Blame¶less, a. Free from blame; without fault; innocent; guiltless; Ð sometimes followed by of.
A bishop then must be blameless.
1 Tim. iii. 2.
Blameless still of arts that polish to deprave.
Mallet.
We will be blameless of this thine oath.
Josh. ii. 17.
Syn. Ð Irreproachable; sinless; unblemished; inculpable. Ð Blameless, Spotless, Faultless, Stainless. We speak of a thing as blameless when it is free from blame, or the just imputation of fault; as, a blameless life or character. The others are stronger. We speak of a thing as faultless, stainless, or spotless, only when we mean that it is absolutely without fault or blemish; as, a spotless or stainless reputation; a faultless course of conduct. The last three words apply only to the general character, while blameless may be used in reverence to particular points; as, in this transaction he was wholly blameless. We also apply faultless to personal appearance; as, a faultless figure; which can not be done in respect to any of the other words.
Blame¶lessÏly, adv. In a blameless manner.
Blame¶lessÏness, n. The quality or state of being blameless; innocence.
Blam¶er (?), n. One who blames.
Wyclif.
Blame¶wor·thy (?), a. Deserving blame; culpable; reprehensible. Ð Blame¶wor·thiÏness, n.
Blan¶card (?), n. [F., fr. blanc white.] A kind of linen cloth made in Normandy, the thread of which is partly blanches before it is woven.
Blanch (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blanched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blanching.] [OE. blanchen, blaunchen, F. blanchir, fr. blanc white. See Blank, a.]
1. To take the color out of, and make white; to bleach; as, to blanch linen; age has blanched his hair.
2. (Gardening) To bleach by excluding the light, as the stalks or leaves of plants, by earthing them up or tying them together.
3. (Confectionery & Cookery) (a) To make white by removing the skin of, as by scalding; as, to blanch almonds. (b) To whiten, as the surface of meat, by plunging into boiling water and afterwards into cold, so as to harden the surface and retain the juices.
4. To give a white luster to (silver, before stamping, in the process of coining.).
5. To cover (sheet iron) with a coating of tin.
6. Fig.: To whiten; to give a favorable appearance to ; to whitewash; to palliate.
Blanch over the blackest and most absurd things.
Tillotson.
Syn. Ð To Blanch, Whiten. To whiten is the generic term, denoting, to render white; as, to whiten the walls of a room. Usually (though not of necessity) this is supposed to be done by placing some white coloring matter in or upon the surface of the object in question. To blanch is to whiten by the removal of coloring matter; as, to blanch linen. So the cheek is blanched by fear, i. e., by the withdrawal of the blood, which leaves it white.
Blanch (?), v. i. To grow or become white; as, his cheek blanched with fear; the rose blanches in the sun.
[Bones] blanching on the grass.
Tennyson.
Blanch, v. t. [See Blench.] 1. To avoid, as from fear; to evade; to leave unnoticed. [Obs.]
Ifs and ands to qualify the words of treason, whereby every man might express his malice and blanch his danger.
Bacon.
I suppose you will not blanch Paris in your way.
Reliq. Wot.
2. To cause to turn aside or back; as, to blanch a deer.
Blanch, v. i. To use evasion. [Obs.]
Books will speak plain, when counselors blanch.
Bacon.
Blanch, n. (Mining) Ore, not in masses, but mixed with other minerals.
Blanch¶er (?), n. One who, or that which, blanches or whitens; esp., one who anneals and cleanses money; also, a chemical preparation for this purpose.
Blanch¶er, n. One who, or that which, frightens away or turns aside. [Obs.]
And Gynecia, a blancher, which kept the dearest deer from her.
Sir P. Sidney.
And so even now hath he divers blanchers belonging to the market, to let and stop the light of the gospel.
Latimer.
Blanch¶ hold·ing (?). (Scots Law) A mode of tenure by the payment of a small duty in white rent (silver) or otherwise.
BlanchÏim¶eÏter (?), n. [1st blanch + Ïmeter.] An instrument for measuring the bleaching power of chloride of lime and potash; a chlorometer.
Ure.
BlancÏmange¶ (?), n. [F. blancmanger, lit. white food; blanc white + manger to eat.] (Cookery) A preparation for desserts, etc., made from isinglass, sea moss, cornstarch, or other gelatinous or starchy substance, with mild, usually sweetened and flavored, and shaped in a mold.
BlancÏman¶ger (?), n. [F. See Blancmange.] A sort of fricassee with white sauce, variously made of capon, fish, etc. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Bland (?), a. [L. blandus, of unknown origin.]
1. Mild; soft; gentle; smooth and soothing in manner; suave; as, a bland temper; bland persuasion; a bland sycophant. ½Exhilarating vapor bland.¸
Milton.
2. Having soft and soothing qualities; not drastic or irritating; not stimulating; as, a bland oil; a bland diet.
BlanÏda¶tion (?), n. [Cf. L. blanditia, blandities, fr. blandus. See Bland.] Flattery. [Obs.]
BlanÏdil¶oÏquence (?), n. [L. blandiloquentia; blandus mild + loqui to speak.] Mild, flattering speech.
BlanÏdil¶oÏquous (?), BlanÏdiÏlo¶quiÏous (?), } a. FairÏspoken; flattering.
Blan¶dise (?), v. i. [Same word as Blandish.] To blandish any one. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Blan¶dish (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blandished (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blandishing.] [OE. blaundisen, F. blandir, fr. L. blandiri, fr. blandus mild, flattering.] 1. To flatter with kind words or affectionate actions; to caress; to cajole.
2. To make agreeable and enticing.
Mustering all her wiles,
With blandished parleys.
Milton.
Blan¶dishÏer (?), n. One who uses blandishments.
Blan¶dishÏment (?), n. [Cf. OF. blandissement.] The act of blandishing; a word or act expressive of affection or kindness, and tending to win the heart; soft words and artful caresses; cajolery; allurement.
Cowering low with blandishment.
Milton.
Attacked by royal smiles, by female blandishments.
Macaulay.
Bland¶ly (?), adv. In a bland manner; mildly; suavely.
Bland¶ness, n. The state or quality of being bland.
Blank (?), a. [OE. blank, blonc, blaunc, blaunche, fr. F. blanc, fem. blanche, fr. OHG. blanch shining, bright, white, G. blank; akin to E. blink, cf. also AS. blanc white. ?98. See Blink, and cf. 1st Blanch.]
1. Of a white or pale color; without color.
To the blank moon
Her office they prescribed.
Milton.
2. Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in with some special writing; Ð said of checks, official documents, etc.; as, blank paper; a blank check; a blank ballot.
3. Utterly confounded or discomfited.
Adam … astonied stood, and blank.
Milton.
4. Empty; void; without result; fruitless; as, a blank space; a blank day.
5. Lacking characteristics which give variety; as, a blank desert; a blank wall; destitute of interests, affections, hopes, etc.; as, to live a blank existence; destitute of sensations; as, blank unconsciousness.
6. Lacking animation and intelligence, or their associated characteristics, as expression of face, look, etc.; expressionless; vacant. ½Blank and horrorÏstricken faces.¸
C. Kingsley.
The blank … glance of a half returned consciousness.
G. Eliot.
7. Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror.
Blank bar (Law), a plea put in to oblige the plaintiff in an action of trespass to assign the certain place where the trespass was committed; Ð called also common bar. Ð Blank cartridge, a cartridge containing no ball. Ð Blank deed. See Deed. Ð Blank door, or Blank window (Arch.), a depression in a wall of the size of a door or window, either for symmetrical effect, or for the more convenient insertion of a door or window at a future time, should it be needed. Ð Blank indorsement (Law), an indorsement which omits the name of the person in whose favor it is made; it is usually made by simply writing the name of the indorser on the back of the bill. Ð Blank line (Print.), a vacant space of the breadth of a line, on a printed page; a line of quadrats. Ð Blank tire (Mech.), a tire without a flange. Ð Blank tooling. See Blind tooling, under Blind. Ð Blank verse. See under Verse. Ð Blank wall, a wall in which there is no opening; a dead wall.
Blank (?), n. 1. Any void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument; an interval void of consciousness, action, result, etc; a void.
I can not write a paper full, I used to do; and yet I will not forgive a blank of half an inch from you.
Swift.
From this time there ensues a long blank in the history of French legislation.
Hallam.
I was ill. I can't tell how long Ð it was a blank.
G. Eliot.
2. A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated.
In Fortune's lottery lies
A heap of blanks, like this, for one small prize.
Dryden.
3. A paper unwritten; a paper without marks or characters a blank ballot; Ð especially, a paper on which are to be inserted designated items of information, for which spaces are left vacant; a bland form.
The freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank.
Palfrey.
4. A paper containing the substance of a legal instrument, as a deed, release, writ, or execution, with spaces left to be filled with names, date, descriptions, etc.
5. The point aimed at in a target, marked with a white spot; hence, the object to which anything is directed.
Let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye.
Shak.
6. Aim; shot; range. [Obs.]
I have stood … within the blank of his displeasure
For my free speech.
Shak.
7. A kind of base silver money, first coined in England by Henry V., and worth about 8 pence; also, a French coin of the seventeenth century, worth about 4 pence.
Nares.
8. (Mech.) A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts.
9. (Dominoes) A piece or division of a piece, without spots; as, the ½double blank¸; the ½six blank.¸
In blank, with an essential portion to be supplied by another; as, to make out a check in blank.
Blank, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blanked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blanking.] [Cf. 3d Blanch.] 1. To make void; to annul. [Obs.]
Spenser.
2. To blanch; to make blank; to damp the spirits of; to dispirit or confuse. [Obs.]
Each opposite that blanks the face of joy.
Shak.
Blan¶ket (?), n. [F. blanchet, OF. also blanket, a woolen waistcoat or shirt, the blanket of a printing press; prop. white woolen stuff, dim. of blanc white; blanquette a kind of white pear, fr. blanc white. See Blank, a.] 1. A heavy, loosely woven fabric, usually of wool, and having a nap, used in bed clothing; also, a similar fabric used as a robe; or any fabric used as a cover for a horse.
2. (Print.) A piece of rubber, felt, or woolen cloth, used in the tympan to make it soft and elastic.
3. A streak or layer of blubber in whales.
µ The use of blankets formerly as curtains in theaters explains the following figure of Shakespeare.
Nares.
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry, ½Hold, hold!¸
Shak.
Blanket sheet, a newspaper of folio size. Ð A wet blanket, anything which damps, chills, dispirits, or discour?ges.
Blan¶ket, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blanketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Blanketing.] 1. To cover with a blanket.
I'll … blanket my loins.
Shak.
2. To toss in a blanket by way of punishment.
We'll have our men blanket 'em i' the hall.
B. Jonson.
3. To take the wind out of the sails of (another vessel) by sailing to windward of her.
Blanket cattle. See Belted cattle, under Belted.
Blan¶ketÏing, n. 1. Cloth for blankets.
2. The act or punishment of tossing in a blanket.
That affair of the blanketing happened to thee for the fault thou wast guilty of.
Smollett.
Blank¶ly (?), adv. 1. In a blank manner; without expression; vacuously; as, to stare blankly.
G. Eliot.
2. Directly; flatly; point blank.
De Quincey.
Blank¶ness, n. The state of being blank.
ØBlanÏquette¶ (?), n. [F. blanquette, from blanc white.] (Cookery) A white fricassee.
ØBlanÏquil¶lo (?), n. [Sp. blanquillo whitish.] (Zo”l.) A large fish of Florida and the W. Indies (Caulolatilus chrysops). It is red, marked with yellow.
Blare (?), v. i. [imp. & p.p. Blared (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blaring.] [OE. blaren, bloren, to cry, woop; cf. G. pl„rren to bleat, D. blaren to bleat, cry, weep. Prob. an imitative word, but cf. also E. blast. Cf. Blore.] To sound loudly and somewhat harshly. ½The trumpet blared.¸
Tennyson.
Blare, v. t. To cause to sound like the blare of a trumpet; to proclaim loudly.
To blare its own interpretation.
Tennyson.
Blare, n. The harsh noise of a trumpet; a loud and somewhat harsh noise, like the blast of a trumpet; a roar or bellowing.
With blare of bugle, clamor of men.
Tennyson.
His ears are stunned with the thunder's blare.
J. R. Drake.
Blar¶ney (?), n. [Blarney, a village and castle near Cork.] Smooth, wheedling talk; flattery. [Colloq.]
Blarney stone, a stone in Blarney castle, Ireland, said to make those who kiss it proficient in the use of blarney.
Blar¶ney, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blarneyed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blarneying.] To influence by blarney; to wheedle with smooth talk; to make or accomplish by blarney. ½Blarneyed the landlord.¸
Irving.
Had blarneyed his way from Long Island.
S. G. Goodrich.
ØBlaÏs‚¶ (?), a. [F., p. p. of blaser.] Having the sensibilities deadened by excess or frequency of enjoyment; sated or surfeited with pleasure; used u?

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BlasÏpheme¶ (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blasphemed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blaspheming.] [OE. blasfem?n, L. blasphemare, fr. Gr. ?: cf. F. blasph‚mer. See Blame, v.] 1. To speak of, or address, with impious irreverence; to revile impiously (anything sacred); as, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. So Dagon shall be magnified, and God, Besides whom is no god, compared with idols, Disglorified, blasphemed, and had in scorn. Milton. How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge thyself on all those who thus continually blaspheme thy great and allÏglorious name? Dr. W. Beveridge. 2. Figuratively, of persons and things not religiously sacred, but held in high honor: To calumniate; to revile; to abuse. You do blaspheme the good in mocking me. Shak. Those who from our labors heap their board, Blaspheme their feeder and forget their lord. Pope. BlasÏpheme¶, v. i. To utter blasphemy. He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness. Mark iii. 29. BlasÏphem¶er (?), n. One who blasphemes. And each blasphemer quite escape the rod, Because the insult's not on man, but God ? Pope. Blas¶pheÏmous (?), a. [L. blasphemus, Gr. ?.] Speaking or writing blasphemy; uttering or exhibiting anything impiously irreverent; profane; as, a blasphemous person; containing blasphemy; as, a blasphemous book; a blasphemous caricature. ½Blasphemous publications.¸ Porteus. Nor from the Holy One of Heaven Refrained his tongue blasphemous. Milton. µ Formerly this word was accented on the second syllable, as in the above example. Blas¶pheÏmousÏly, adv. In a blasphemous manner. Blas¶pheÏmy (?), n. [L. blasphemia, Gr. ?: cf. OF. blasphemie.] 1. An indignity offered to God in words, writing, or signs; impiously irreverent words or signs addressed to, or used in reference to, God; speaking evil of God; also, the act of claiming the attributes or prerogatives of deity. µ When used generally in statutes or at common law, blasphemy is the use of irreverent words or signs in reference to the Supreme Being in such a way as to produce scandal or provoke violence. 2. Figuratively, of things held in high honor: Calumny; abuse; vilification. Punished for his blasphemy against learning. Bacon. Ïblast (?). [Gr. ? sprout, shoot.] A suffix or terminal formative, used principally in biological terms, and signifying growth, formation; as, bioblast, epiblast, mesoblast, etc. Blast (?), n. [AS. bl?st a puff of wind, a blowing; akin to Icel. bl¾str, OHG. bl¾st, and fr. a verb akin to Icel. bl¾sa to blow, OHG. blƒsan, Goth. bl?san (in comp.); all prob. from the same root as E. blow. See Blow to eject air.] 1. A violent gust of wind. And see where surly Winter passes off, Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts; His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill. Thomson. 2. A forcible stream of air from an orifice, as from a bellows, the mouth, etc. Hence: The continuous blowing to which one charge of ore or metal is subjected in a furnace; as, to melt so many tons of iron at a blast. µ The terms hot blast and cold blast are employed to designate whether the current is heated or not heated before entering the furnace. A blast furnace is said to be in blast while it is in operation, and out of blast when not in use. 3. The exhaust steam from and engine, driving a column of air out of a boiler chimney, and thus creating an intense draught through the fire; also, any draught produced by the blast. 4. The sound made by blowing a wind instrument; strictly, the sound produces at one breath. One blast upon his bugle horn Were worth a thousand men. Sir W. Scott. The blast of triumph o'er thy grave. Bryant. 5. A sudden, pernicious effect, as if by a noxious wind, especially on animals and plants; a blight. By the blast of God they perish. Job iv. 9. Virtue preserved from fell destruction's blast. Shak. 6. The act of rending, or attempting to rend, heavy masses of rock, earth, etc., by the explosion of gunpowder, dynamite, etc.; also, the charge used for this purpose. ½Large blasts are often used.¸ Tomlinson. 7. A flatulent disease of sheep. Blast furnace, a furnace, usually a shaft furnace for smelting ores, into which air is forced by pressure. Ð Blast hole, a hole in the bottom of a pump stock through which water enters. Ð Blast nozzle, a fixed or variable orifice in the delivery end of a blast pipe; Ð called also blast orifice. Ð In full blast, in complete operation; in a state of great activity. See Blast, n., 2. [Colloq.] Blast, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blasted; p. pr. & vb. n. Blasting.] 1. To injure, as by a noxious wind; to cause to wither; to stop or check the growth of, and prevent from fruitÏbearing, by some pernicious influence; to blight; to shrivel. Seven thin ears, and blasted with the east wind. Gen. xii. 6. 2. Hence, to affect with some sudden violence, plague, calamity, or blighting influence, which destroys or causes to fail; to visit with a curse; to curse; to ruin; as, to blast pride, hopes, or character. I'll cross it, though it blast me. Shak. Blasted with excess of light. T. Gray. 3. To confound by a loud blast or din. Trumpeters, With brazen din blast you the city's ear. Shak. 4. To rend open by any explosive agent, as gunpowder, dynamite, etc.; to shatter; as, to blast rocks. Blast, v. i. 1. To be blighted or withered; as, the bud blasted in the blossom. 2. To blow; to blow on a trumpet. [Obs.] Toke his blake trumpe faste And gan to puffen and to blaste. Chaucer. Blast¶ed (?), a. 1. Blighted; withered. Upon this blasted heath. Shak. 2. Confounded; accursed; detestable. Some of her own blasted gypsies. Sir W. Scott. 3. Rent open by an explosive. The blasted quarry thunders, heard remote. Wordsworth. ØBlasÏte¶ma (?), n.; pl. Blastemata (?). [Gr. ? bud, sprout.] (Biol.) The structureless, protoplasmic tissue of the embryo; the primitive basis of an organ yet unformed, from which it grows. BlasÏte¶mal (?), a. (Biol.) Relating to the blastema; rudimentary. Blas·teÏmat¶ic (?), a. (Biol.) Connected with, or proceeding from, the blastema; blastemal. Blast¶er (?), n. One who, or that which, blasts or destroys. Blas¶tide (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout, fr. ? to grow.] (Biol.) A small, clear space in the segments of the ovum, the precursor of the nucleus. Blast¶ing (?), n. 1. A blast; destruction by a blast, or by some pernicious cause. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. Amos iv. 9. 2. The act or process of one who, or that which, blasts; the business of one who blasts. Blast¶ment (?), n. A sudden stroke or injury produced by some destructive cause. [Obs.] Shak. Blas·toÏcar¶pous (?), a. [Gr. ? sprout, germ + ? fruit.] (Bot.) Germinating inside the pericarp, as the mangrove. Brande & C. Blas¶toÏc?le (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout + ? hollow.] (Biol.) The cavity of the blastosphere, or segmentation cavity. Blas¶toÏcyst (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout + E. cyst.] (Biol.) The germinal vesicle. Blas¶toÏderm (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout + E. derm.] (Biol.) The germinal membrane in an ovum, from which the embryo is developed. Blas·toÏderÏmat¶ic (?), Blas·toÏder¶mic (?), } a. Of or pertaining to the blastoderm. Blas·toÏgen¶eÏsis (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout + E. genesis.] (Biol.) Multiplication or increase by gemmation or budding. Blas¶toid (?), n. (Zo”l.) One of the Blastoidea. ØBlasÏtoid¶eÏa (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. ? sprout + Ïoid.] (Zo”l.) One of the divisions of Crinoidea found fossil in paleozoic rocks; pentremites. They are so named on account of their budlike form. Blas¶toÏmere (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout + Ïmere.] (Biol.) One of the segments first formed by the division of the ovum. Balfour. Blas·toph¶oÏral (?), Blas·toÏphor¶ic (?), } a. Relating to the blastophore. Blas¶toÏphore (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout + ? to bear.] (Biol.) That portion of the spermatospore which is not converted into spermatoblasts, but carries them. Blas¶toÏpore (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout + E. pore.] (Biol.) The pore or opening leading into the cavity of invagination, or archenteron. [See Illust. of Invagination.] Balfour. Blas¶toÏsphere (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout + E. sphere.] (Biol.) The hollow globe or sphere formed by the arrangement of the blastomeres on the periphery of an impregnated ovum. [See Illust. of Invagination.] Blas¶toÏstyle (?), n. [Gr. ? sprout, bud + ? a pillar.] (Zo”l.) In certain hydroids, an imperfect zooid, whose special function is to produce medusoid buds. See Hydroidea, and Athecata. Blast¶ pipe· (?). The exhaust pipe of a steam engine, or any pipe delivering steam or air, when so constructed as to cause a blast. ØBlas¶tuÏla (?), n. [NL., dim. of Gr. ? a sprout.] (Biol.) That stage in the development of the ovum in which the outer cells of the morula become more defined and form the blastoderm. Blas¶tule (?), n. (Biol.) Same as Blastula. Blast¶y (?), a. 1. Affected by blasts; gusty. 2. Causing blast or injury. [Obs.] Boyle. Blat (?), v. i. To cry, as a calf or sheep; to bleat; to make a senseless noise; to talk inconsiderately. [Low] Blat, v. t. To utter inconsiderately. [Low] If I have anything on my mind, I have to blat it right out. W. D. Howells. Bla¶tanÏcy (?), n. Blatant quality. Bla¶tant (?), a. [Cf. Bleat.] Bellowing, as a calf; bawling; brawling; clamoring; disagreeably clamorous; sounding loudly and harshly. ½Harsh and blatant tone.¸ R. H. Dana. A monster, which the blatant beast men call. Spenser. Glory, that blatant word, which haunts some military minds like the bray of the trumpet. W. Irving. Bla¶tantÏly, adv. In a blatant manner. Blath¶erÏskite (?), n. A blustering, talkative fellow. [Local slang, U. S.] Barllett. Blat¶ter (?), v. i. [imp. & p.p. Blattered (?).] [L. blaterare to babble: cf. F. blat‚rer to bleat.] To prate; to babble; to rail; to make a senseless noise; to patter. [Archaic] ½The rain blattered.¸ Jeffrey. They procured … preachers to blatter against me, … so that they had place and time to belie me shamefully. Latimer. Blat·terÏa¶tion (?), n. [L. blateratio a babbling.] Blattering. Blat¶terÏer (?), n. One who blatters; a babbler; a noisy, blustering boaster. Blat¶terÏing, n. Senseless babble or boasting. Blat·terÏoon¶ (?), n. [L. blatero, Ïonis.] A senseless babbler or boaster. [Obs.] ½I hate such blatteroons.¸ Howell. ØBlau¶bok (?), n. [D. blauwbok.] (Zo”l.) The blue buck. See Blue buck, under Blue. Blay (?), n. [AS. bl?ge, fr. bl?c, bleak, white; akin to Icel. bleikja, OHG. bleicha, G. bleihe. See Bleak, n. & a.] (Zo”l.) A fish. See Bleak, n. Blaze (?), n. [OE. blase, AS. bl‘se, blase; akin to OHG. blass whitish, G. blass pale, MHG. blas torch, Icel. blys torch; perh. fr. the same root as E. blast. Cf. Blast, Bluch, Blink.] 1. A steam of gas or vapor emitting light and heat in the process of combustion; a bright flame. ½To heaven the blaze uprolled.¸ Croly. 2. Intense, direct light accompanied with heat; as, to seek shelter from the blaze of the sun. O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon ! Milton. 3. A bursting out, or active display of any quality; an outburst; a brilliant display. ½Fierce blaze of riot.¸ ½His blaze of wrath.¸ Shak. For what is glory but the blaze of fame? Milton. 4. [Cf. D. bles; akin to E. blaze light.] A white spot on the forehead of a horse. 5. A spot made on trees by chipping off a piece of the bark, usually as a surveyor's mark. Three blazes in a perpendicular line on the same tree indicating a legislative road, the single blaze a settlement or neighborhood road. Carlton. In a blaze, on fire; burning with a flame; filled with, giving, or reflecting light; excited or exasperated. Ð Like blazes, furiously; rapidly. [Low] ½The horses did along like blazes tear.¸ Poem in Essex dialect. µ In low language in the U. S., blazes is frequently used of something extreme or excessive, especially of something very bad; as, blue as blazes. Neal. Syn. Ð Blaze, Flame. A blaze and a flame are both produced by burning gas. In blaze the idea of light rapidly evolved is prominent, with or without heat; as, the blaze of the sun or of a meteor. Flame includes a stronger notion of heat; as, he perished in the flames. Blaze, v. i. [imp. & p.p. Blazed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blazing.] 1. To shine with flame; to glow with flame; as, the fire blazes. 2. To send forth or reflect glowing or brilliant light; to show a blaze. And far and wide the icy summit blazed. Wordsworth. 3. To be resplendent. Macaulay. To blaze away, to discharge a firearm, or to continue firing; Ð said esp. of a number of persons, as a line of soldiers. Also used (fig.) of speech or action. [Colloq.] Blaze, v. t. 1. To mark (a tree) by chipping off a piece of the bark. I found my way by the blazed trees. Hoffman. 2. To designate by blazing; to mark out, as by blazed trees; as, to blaze a line or path. Champollion died in 1832, having done little more than blaze out the road to be traveled by others. Nott. Blaze, v. t. [OE. blasen to blow; perh. confused with blast and blaze a flame, OE. blase. Cf. Blaze, v. i., and see Blast.] 1. To make public far and wide; to make known; to render conspicuous. On charitable lists he blazed his name. Pollok. To blaze those virtues which the good would hide. Pope. 2. (Her.) To blazon. [Obs.] Peacham. Blaz¶er (?), n. One who spreads reports or blazes matters abroad. ½Blazers of crime.¸ Spenser. Blaz¶ing, a. Burning with a blaze; as, a blazing fire; blazing torches. Sir W. Scott. Blazing star. (a) A comet. [Obs.] (b) A brilliant center of attraction. (c) (Bot.) A name given to several plants; as, to Cham‘lirium luteum of the Lily family; Liatris squarrosa; and Aletris farinosa, called also colicroot and star grass. Bla¶zon (?), n. [OE. blason, blasoun, shield, fr. F. blason coat of arms, OF. shield, from the root of AS. bl‘se blaze, i. e., luster, splendor, MHG. blas torch See Blaze, n.] 1. A shield. [Obs.] 2. An heraldic shield; a coat of arms, or a bearing on a coat of arms; armorial bearings. Their blazon o'er his towers displayed. Sir W. Scott. 3. The art or act of describing or depicting heraldic bearings in the proper language or manner. Peacham. 4. Ostentatious display, either by words or other means; publication; show; description; record. Obtrude the blazon of their exploits upon the company. Collier. Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit, Do give thee fivefold blazon. Shak. Bla¶zon, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blazoned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blazoning (?).] [From blazon, n.; confused with 4th blaze: cf. F. blasonner.] 1. To depict in colors; to display; to exhibit conspicuously; to publish or make public far and wide. Thyself thou blazon'st. Shak. There pride sits blazoned on th' unmeaning brow. Trumbull. To blazon his own worthless name. Cowper. 2. To deck; to embellish; to adorn. She blazons in dread smiles her hideous form. Garth. 3. (Her.) To describe in proper terms (the figures of heraldic devices); also, to delineate (armorial bearings); to emblazon. The coat of , arms, which I am not herald enough to blazon into English. Addison. Bla¶zon, v. i. To shine; to be conspicuous. [R.] Bla¶zonÏer (?), n. One who gives publicity, proclaims, or blazons; esp., one who blazons coats of arms; a herald. Burke.

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Bla¶zonÏment (?), n. The act or blazoning; blazoning; emblazonment.
Bla¶zonÏry , n. 1. Same as Blazon, 3.
The principles of blazonry.
Peacham.
2. A coat of arms; an armorial bearing or bearings.
The blazonry of Argyle.
Lord Dufferin.
3. Artistic representation or display.
Blea (?), n. The part of a tree which lies immediately under the bark; the alburnum or sapwood.
Blea¶berÏry (?), n. (Bot.) See Blaeberry.
Bleach (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bleached (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bleaching.] [OE. blakien, blechen, v. t. & v. i., AS. bl¾cian, bl?can, to grow pale; akin to Icel. bleikja, Sw. bleka, Dan. blege, D. bleeken, G. bleichen, AS. bl¾c pale. See Bleak, a.] To make white, or whiter; to remove the color, or stains, from; to blanch; to whiten.
The destruction of the coloring matters attached to the bodies to be bleached is effected either by the action of the air and light, of chlorine, or of sulphurous acid.
Ure.
Immortal liberty, whose look sublime
Hath bleached the tyrant's cheek in every varying clime.
Smollett.
Bleach, v. i. To grow white or lose color; to whiten.
Bleached (?), a. Whitened; make white.
Let their bleached bones, and blood's unbleaching stain,
Long mark the battlefield with hideous awe.
Byron.
Bleach¶er (?), n. One who whitens, or whose occupation is to whiten, by bleaching.
Bleach¶erÏy (?), n.; pl. Bleacheries (?). A place or an establishment where bleaching is done.
Bleach¶ing, n. The act or process of whitening, by removing color or stains; esp. the process of whitening fabrics by chemical agents.
Ure.
Bleaching powder, a powder for bleaching, consisting of chloride of lime, or some other chemical or chemicals.
Bleak (?), a. [OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS. bl¾c, bl?c, pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek, Dan. bleg, OS. bl?k, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all from the root of AS. blÆcan to shine; akin to OHG. blÆchen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr. ? to burn, shine, Skr. bhr¾j to shine, and E. flame. ?98. Cf. Bleach, Blink, Flame.] 1. Without color; pale; pallid. [Obs.]
When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as one that were laid out dead.
Foxe.
2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds.
Wastes too bleak to rear
The common growth of earth, the foodful ear.
Wordsworth.
At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach.
Longfellow.
3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast.
ÐBleak¶ish, a. Ð Bleak¶ly, adv. Ð Bleak¶ness, n.
Bleak, n. [From Bleak, a., cf. Blay.] (Zo”l.) A small European river fish (Leuciscus alburnus), of the family Cyprinid‘; the blay. [Written also blick.]
µ The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is used in the manufacture of artificial pearls.
Baird.
Bleak¶y (?), a. Bleak. [Obs.]
Dryden.
Blear (?), a. [See Blear, v.] 1. Dim or sore with water or rheum; Ð said of the eyes.
His blear eyes ran in gutters to his chin.
Dryden.
2. Causing or caused by dimness of sight; dim.
Power to cheat the eye with blear illusion.
Milton.
Blear, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Bleared (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blearing.] [OE. bleren; cf. Dan. plire to blink, Sw. plira to twinkle, wink, LG. plieren; perh. from the same root as E. blink. See Blink, and cf. Blur.] To make somewhat sore or watery, as the eyes; to dim, or blur, as the sight. Figuratively: To obscure (mental or moral perception); to blind; to hoodwink.
That tickling rheums
Should ever tease the lungs and blear the sight.
Cowper.
To blear the eye of, to deceive; to impose upon. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Bleared (?), a. Dimmed, as by a watery humor; affected with rheum. Ð Blear¶edÏness (?), n.
Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view
The issue of the exploit.
Shak.
Blear¶eye· (?), n. (Med.) A disease of the eyelids, consisting in chronic inflammation of the margins, with a gummy secretion of sebaceous matter.
Dunglison.
Blear¶Ðeyed· (?), a. 1. Having sore eyes; having the eyes dim with rheum; dimÏsighted.
The blearÏeyed Crispin.
Drant.
2. Lacking in perception or penetration; shortÏsighted; as, a blearÏeyed bigot.
Blear¶eyed·ness, n. The state of being blearÏeyed.
Blear¶y (?), a. Somewhat blear.
Bleat (?), v. i. [imp. & p.p. Bleated; p. pr. & vb. n. Bleating.] [OE. bleten, AS. bl?tan; akin to D. blaten, bleeten, OHG. bl¾zan, pl¾zan; prob. of imitative origin.] To make the noise of, or one like that of, a sheep; to cry like a sheep or calf.
Then suddenly was heard along the main,
To low the ox, to bleat the woolly train.
Pope
The ewe that will not hear her lamb when it baas, will never answer a calf when he bleats.
Shak.
Bleat, n. A plaintive cry of, or like that of, a sheep.
The bleat of fleecy sheep.
Chapman's Homer.
Bleat¶er (?), n. One who bleats; a sheep.
In cold, stiff soils the bleaters oft complain
Of gouty ails.
Dyer.
Bleat¶ing, a. Crying as a sheep does.
Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks from the seaside.
Longfellow.
Bleat¶ing, n. The cry of, or as of, a sheep.
Chapman.
Bleb (?), n. [Prov. E. bleb, bleib, blob, bubble, blister. This word belongs to the root of blub, blubber, blabber, and perh. blow to puff.] A large vesicle or bulla, usually containing a serous fluid; a blister; a bubble, as in water, glass, etc.
Arsenic abounds with air blebs.
Kirwan.
Bleb¶by (?), a. Containing blebs, or characterized by blebs; as, blebby glass.
Bleck, Blek (?), v. t. To blacken; also, to defile. [Obs. or Dial.]
Wyclif.
Bled (?), imp. & p. p. of Bleed.
Blee (?), n. [AS. ble¢, ble¢h.] Complexion; color; hue; likeness; form. [Archaic]
For him which is so bright of blee.
Lament. of Mary Magd.
That boy has a strong blee of his father.
Forby.
Bleed (?), v. i. [imp. & p.p. Bled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bleeding.] [OE. bleden, AS. bl?dan, fr. bl?d blood; akin to Sw. bl”da, Dan. bl”de, D. bloeden, G. bluten. See Blood.] 1. To emit blood; to lose blood; to run with blood, by whatever means; as, the arm bleeds; the wound bled freely; to bleed at the nose.
2. To withdraw blood from the body; to let blood; as, Dr. A. bleeds in fevers.
3. To lose or shed one's blood, as in case of a violent death or severe wounds; to die by violence. ½C‘sar must bleed.¸
Shak.
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed toÏday.
Pope.
4. To issue forth, or drop, as blood from an incision.
For me the balm shall bleed.
Pope.
5. To lose sap, gum, or juice; as, a tree or a vine bleeds when tapped or wounded.
6. To pay or lose money; to have money drawn or extorted; as, to bleed freely for a cause. [Colloq.]
To make the heart bleed, to cause extreme pain, as from sympathy or pity.
Bleed, v. t. 1. To let blood from; to take or draw blood from, as by opening a vein.
2. To lose, as blood; to emit or let drop, as sap.
A decaying pine of stately size, bleeding amber.
H. Miller.
3. To draw money from (one); to induce to pay; as, they bled him freely for this fund. [Colloq.]
Bleed¶er (?), n. (Med.) (a) One who, or that which, draws blood. (b) One in whom slight wounds give rise to profuse or uncontrollable bleeding.
Bleed¶ing, a. Emitting, or appearing to emit, blood or sap, etc.; also, expressing anguish or compassion.
Bleed¶ing, n. A running or issuing of blood, as from the nose or a wound; a hemorrhage; the operation of letting blood, as in surgery; a drawing or running of sap from a tree or plant.
Blem¶ish (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blemished (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blemishing.] [OE. blemissen, blemishen, OF. blemir, blesmir, to strike, injure, soil, F. blˆmir to grow pale, fr. OF. bleme, blesme, pale, wan, F. blˆme, prob. fr. Icel bl¾man the livid color of a wound, fr. bl¾r blue; akin to E. blue. OF. blemir properly signifies to beat one (black and) blue, and to render blue or dirty. See Blue.] 1. To mark with deformity; to injure or impair, as anything which is well formed, or excellent; to mar, or make defective, either the body or mind.
Sin is a soil which blemisheth the beauty of thy soul.
Brathwait.
2. To tarnish, as reputation or character; to defame.
There had nothing passed between us that might blemish reputation.
Oldys.
Blem¶ish, n.; pl. Blemishes (?). Any mark of deformity or injury, whether physical or moral; anything; that diminishes beauty, or renders imperfect that which is otherwise well formed; that which impairs reputation.
He shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish.
Lev. xiv. 10.
The reliefs of an envious man are those little blemishes and imperfections that discover themselves in an illustrious character.
Spectator.
Syn. Ð Spot; speck; flaw; deformity; stain; defect; fault; taint; reproach; dishonor; imputation; disgrace.
Blem¶ishÏless, a. Without blemish; spotless.
A life in all so blemishless.
Feltham.
Blem¶ishÏment (?), n. The state of being blemished; blemish; disgrace; damage; impairment.
For dread of blame and honor's blemishment.
Spenser.
Blench (?), v. i. [imp. & p.p. Blenched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blenching.] [OE. blenchen to blench, elude, deceive, AS. blencan to deceive; akin to Icel. blekkja to impose upon. Prop. a causative of blink to make to wink, to deceive. See Blink, and cf. 3d Blanch.] 1. To shrink; to start back; to draw back, from lack of courage or resolution; to flinch; to quail.
Blench not at thy chosen lot.
Bryant.
This painful, heroic task he undertook, and never blenched from its fulfillment.
Jeffrey.
2. To fly off; to turn aside. [Obs.]
Though sometimes you do blench from this to that.
Shak.
Blench, v. t. 1. To baffle; to disconcert; to turn away; Ð also, to obstruct; to hinder. [Obs.]
Ye should have somewhat blenched him therewith, yet he might and would of likelihood have gone further.
Sir T. More.
2. To draw back from; to deny from fear. [Obs.]
He now blenched what before he affirmed.
Evelyn.
Blench, n. A looking aside or askance. [Obs.]
These blenches gave my heart another youth.
Shak.
Blench, v. i. & t. [See 1st Blanch.] To grow or make pale.
Barbour.
Blench¶er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, scares another; specifically, a person stationed to prevent the escape of the deer, at a hunt. See Blancher. [Obs.]
2. One who blenches, flinches, or shrinks back.
Blench¶ hold·ing. (Law) See Blanch holding.
Blend (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blended or Blent (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blending.] [OE. blenden, blanden, AS. blandan to blend, mix; akin to Goth. blandan to mix, Icel. blanda, Sw. blanda, Dan. blande, OHG. blantan to mis; to unknown origin.] 1. To mix or mingle together; esp. to mingle, combine, or associate so that the separate things mixed, or the line of demarcation, can not be distinguished. Hence: To confuse; to confound.
Blending the grand, the beautiful, the gay.
Percival.
2. To pollute by mixture or association; to spoil or corrupt; to blot; to stain. [Obs.]
Spenser.
Syn. Ð To commingle; combine; fuse; merge; amalgamate; harmonize.
Blend (?), v. i. To mingle; to mix; to unite intimately; to pass or shade insensibly into each other, as colors.
There is a tone of solemn and sacred feeling that blends with our conviviality.
Irving.
Blend, n. A thorough mixture of one thing with another, as color, tint, etc., into another, so that it cannot be known where one ends or the other begins.
Blend, v. t. [AS. blendan, from blind blind. See Blind, a.] To make blind, literally or figuratively; to dazzle; to deceive. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Blende (?), n. [G., fr. blenden to blind, dazzle, deceive, fr. blind blind. So called either in allusion to its dazzling luster; or (Dana) because, though often resembling galena, it yields no lead. Cf. Sphalerite.] (Min.) (a) A mineral, called also sphalerite, and by miners mock lead, false galena, and blackÏjack. It is a zinc sulphide, but often contains some iron. Its color is usually yellow, brown, or black, and its luster resinous. (b) A general term for some minerals, chiefly metallic sulphides which have a somewhat brilliant but nonmetallic luster.
Blend¶er (?), n. One who, or that which, blends; an instrument, as a brush, used in blending.
Blend¶ing, n. 1. The act of mingling.
2. (Paint.) The method of laying on different tints so that they may mingle together while wet, and shade into each other insensibly.
Weale.
Blend¶ous (?), a. Pertaining to, consisting of, or containing, blende.
Blend¶wa·ter (?), n. A distemper incident to cattle, in which their livers are affected.
Crabb.
Blen¶heim span¶iel (?). [So called from Blenheim House, the seat of the duke of Marlborough, in England.] A small variety of spaniel, kept as a pet.
Blenk, v. i. To blink; to shine; to look. [Obs.]
Blen¶niÏoid (?), Blen¶niÏid (?), } a. [Blenny + Ðoid] (Zo”l.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the blennies.
BlenÏnog¶eÏnous (?), a. [Gr. ? mucus + Ïgenous.] Generating mucus.
ØBlen·norÏrhe¶a (?), n. [Gr. ? mucus + ? to flow.] (Med.) (a) An inordinate secretion and discharge of mucus. (b) Gonorrhea.
Dunglison.
Blen¶ny (?), n.; pl. Blennies (?). [L. blennius, blendius, blendea, Gr. ?, fr. ? slime, mucus.] (Zo”l.) A marine fish of the genus Blennius or family Blenniid‘; Ð so called from its coating of mucus. The species are numerous.
Blent (?), imp. & p. p. of Blend to mingle. Mingled; mixed; blended; also, polluted; stained.
Rider and horse, friend, foe, in one red burial blent.
Byron.
Blent, imp. & p. p. of Blend to blind. Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth. [Obs.]
ØBles¶bok (?), n. [D., fr. bles a white spot on the forehead + bok buck.] (Zo”l.) A South African antelope (Alcelaphus albifrons), having a large white spot on the forehead.
Bless (?), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Blessed (?) or Blest; p. pr. & vb. n. Blessing.] [OE. blessien, bletsen, AS. bletsian, bledsian, bloedsian, fr. bl?d blood; prob. originally to consecrate by sprinkling with blood. See Blood.] 1. To make or pronounce holy; to consecrate
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.
Gen. ii. 3.
2. To make happy, blithesome, or joyous; to confer prosperity or happiness upon; to grant divine favor to.
The quality of mercy is … twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
Shak.
It hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee.
1 Chron. xvii. 27 (R. V.)
3. To express a wish or prayer for the happiness of; to invoke a blessing upon; Ð applied to persons.
Bless them which persecute you.
Rom. xii. 14.
4. To invoke or confer beneficial attributes or qualities upon; to invoke or confer a blessing on, Ð as on food.
Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them.
Luke ix. 16.
5. To make the sign of the cross upon; to cross (one's self). [Archaic]
Holinshed.
6. To guard; to keep; to protect. [Obs.]
7. To praise, or glorify; to extol for excellences.
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Ps. ciii. 1.
8. To esteem or account happy; to felicitate.
The nations shall bless themselves in him.
Jer. iv. 3.
9. To wave; to brandish. [Obs.]
And burning blades about their heads do bless.
Spenser.
Round his armed head his trenchant blade he blest.
Fairfax.
µ This is an old sense of the word, supposed by Johnson, Nares, and others, to have been derived from the old rite of blessing a field by directing the hands to all parts of it. ½In drawing [their bow] some fetch such a compass as though they would turn about and bless all the field.¸
Ascham.

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