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To serve; to assist; to profit; to avail. Milton.

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.

A small two-masted 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.

A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle; -- used in pruning, etc.; a billhook. When short, called a hand bill, when long, a hedge bill.

A dioptric telescope, fitted with two tubes joining, so as to enable a person to view an object with both eyes at once; a double- barreled field glass or an opera glass.

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.

Utterly confounded or discomfited. Adam . . . astonied stood, and blank. Milton.

Low spirits; a fit of despondency; melancholy. [Colloq.] Berlin blue, Prussian blue. -- Mineral blue. See under Mineral. -- Prussian blue. See under Prussian.

To blow fitfully with violence and noise, as wind; to be windy and boisterous, as the weather. And ever-threatening storms Of Chaos blustering round. Milton.

A close-fitting outer waist or vest forming the upper part of a woman's dress, or a portion of it. Her bodice half way she unlaced. Prior.

An extra dividend to the shareholders of a joint stock company, out of accumulated profits.

That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present. Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above. James i. 17 (Rev. Ver. ).

Profit; gain; advantage; use. [Obs.] Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot. Shak. To boot, in addition; over and above; besides; as a compensation for the difference of value between things bartered. Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot. Shak. A man's heaviness is refreshed long before he comes to drunkenne…

Unavailing; unprofitable; useless; without advantage or success. Chaucer. I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers. Shak. -- Boot"less*ly, adv. -- Boot"less*ness, n.

A rash or eruption; a sudden or transient fit of sickness.

To fit or furnish with a breech; as, to breech a gun.

Of or pertaining to a bride, or to wedding; nuptial; as, bridal ornaments; a bridal outfit; a bridal chamber.

A chicken or other bird fit for broiling. [Colloq.]

ought; -- usually followed by over or on; as, to brood over misfortunes. Brooding on unprofitable gold. Dryden. Brooding over all these matters, the mother felt like one who has evoked a spirit. Hawthorne. When with downcast eyes we muse and brood. Tennyson.

The tender branches or twigs of trees and shrubs, fit for the food of cattle and other animals; green food. Spenser. Sheep, goats, and oxen, and the nobler steed, On browse, and corn, and flowery meadows feed. Dryden.