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collection or group of dogs exhibited to the public; -- so named because the animals are usually placed on benches or raised platforms.

labor unions, to provide for relief in sickness, old age, and for the expenses of burial. Usually called friendly society in Great Britain.

The crevasse or series of crevasses, usually deep and often broad, frequently occurring near the head of a mountain glacier, about where the névé field joins the valley portion of the glacier.

To put into brisk or vigorous action; to move with life and vigor; -- usually with the reciprocal pronoun. You have so bestirred your valor. Shak. Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. Milton.

Advantage, superiority, or victory; -- usually with of; as, to get the better of an enemy.

Liquid for drinking; drink; -- usually applied to drink artificially prepared and of an agreeable flavor; as, an intoxicating beverage. He knew no beverage but the flowing stream. Thomson.

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.]

instrument form measuring minute distances or angles by means of two very minute threads (usually spider lines), one of which, at least, is movable; -- more commonly called a filar micrometer.

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.

The protuberant part of a cask, which is usually in the middle.

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. -- Bill of mortality, an official statement of t…

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.

rd tick (Zoöl.), a dipterous insect parasitic upon birds (genus Ornithomyia, and allies), usually winged.

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…

ll 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.

o 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. Sh…

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.

wo 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, -- or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca.

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.

A ball of black color, esp. one used as a negative in voting; -- in this sense usually two words.