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rd (Anguis fragilis), with minute eyes, popularly believed to be blind; the slowworm; -- formerly a name for the adder. Newts and blindworms do no wrong. Shak.

the lower story, thus enabling the defenders to fire downward, and in all directions; -- formerly much used in America and Germany.

ecover game or prey which has escaped wounded from a hunter, and for tracking criminals. Formerly it was used for pursuing runaway slaves. Other varieties of dog are often used for the same purpose and go by the same name. The Cuban bloodhound is said to be a variety of the mastiff.

A sweat accompanied by a discharge of blood; a disease, called sweating sickness, formerly prevalent in England and other countries.

open a certain room in his castle. She entered it, and found the murdered bodies of his former wives. -- Also used adjectively of a subject which it is forbidden to investigate. The Bluebeard chamber of his mind, into which no eye but his own must look. Carlyle.

A knot of worms, or of rags, on a string, used in angling, as for eels; formerly, a worm suitable for bait. Or yellow bobs, turned up before the plow, Are chiefest baits, with cork and lead enow. Lauson.

A small pin, or cylinder, formerly of bone, now most commonly of wood, used in the making of pillow lace. Each thread is wound on a separate bobbin which hangs down holding the thread at a slight tension.

rongly red by oxide of iron, and used to color and adulterate various substances. It was formerly used in medicine. It is composed essentially of hydrous silicates of alumina, or more rarely of magnesia. See Clay, and Terra alba.

A Scotch measure, formerly in use: for wheat and beans it contained four Winchester bushels; for oats, barley, and potatoes, six bushels. A boll of meal is 140 lbs. avoirdupois. Also, a measure for salt of two bushels. [Sometimes spelled bole.]

A piece of heavy ordnance formerly used for throwing stones and other ponderous missiles. It was the earliest kind of cannon. They planted in divers places twelve great bombards, wherewith they threw huge stones into the air, which, falling down into the city, might break down the houses. Knolles.

but no part of the forehead. The shape of the bonnet varies greatly at different times; formerly the front part projected, and spread outward, like the mouth of a funnel.

An instrument of torture for the leg, formerly used to extort confessions, particularly in Scotland. So he was put to the torture, which in Scotland they call the boots; for they put a pair of iron boots close on the leg, and drive wedges between them and the leg. Bp. Burnet.

The service formerly required of a tenant, to carry timber from the woods to the lord's house. Bailey. Mozley & W.

A binary compound of boron with a more positive or basic element or radical; -- formerly called boruret.

and hydrogen, or some other positive element, or radical; -- called also fluoboride, and formerly fluoborate.

A strait or narrow sea between two seas, or a lake and a seas; as, the Bosporus (formerly the Thracian Bosporus) or Strait of Constantinople, between the Black Sea and Sea of Marmora; the Cimmerian Bosporus, between the Black Sea and Sea of Azof. [Written also Bosphorus.]

A hollow vessel, usually of glass or earthenware (but formerly of leather), with a narrow neck or mouth, for holding liquids.

A rude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.

to fifteen inches long, and double-edged near the point; -- used as a hunting knife, and formerly as a weapon in the southwestern part of the United States. It was named from its inventor, Colonel James Bowie. Also, by extension, any large sheath knife.

To act as a boy; -- in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage. I shall see Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness. Shak.