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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,494 words match “PROPER”

BLANKET MORTGAGE; BLANKET POLICY n.
One that covers a group or class of things or properties instead of one or more things mentioned individually, as where a mortgage secures various debts as a group, or subjects a group or class of different pieces of property to one general lien.
BLAZON n. 2 definitions
The art or act of describing or depicting heraldic bearings in the proper language or manner. Peacham.
BLOODROOT n.
puccoon, redroot, bloodwort, tetterwort, turmeric, and Indian paint. It has acrid emetic properties, and the rootstock is used as a stimulant expectorant. See Sanguinaria.
BLUFF a.
a captain. "Bluff King Hal." Sir W. Scott. There is indeed a bluff pertinacity which is a proper defense in a moment of surprise. I. Taylor.
BOLD a.
In a bad sense, too forward; taking undue liberties; over assuming or confident; lacking proper modesty or restraint; rude; impudent. Thou art too wild, too rude and bold of voice. Shak.
BONESET n.
A medicinal plant, the thoroughwort (Eupatorium perfoliatum). Its properties are diaphoretic and tonic.
BONING n.
a line or surface by sighting along the tops of two or more straight edges, or a range of properly spaced poles. See 3d Bone, v. t.
BORE n.
Less properly, a very high and rapid tidal flow, when not so abrupt, such as occurs at the Bay of Fundy and in the British Channel.
BORON n.
ic form, and in colorless quadratic crystals similar to the diamond in hardness and other properties. It occurs in nature also in boracite, datolite, tourmaline, and some other minerals. Atomic weight 10.9. Symbol B.
BOTCH n.
r; a clumsy performance; a piece of work, or a place in work, marred in the doing, or not properly finished; a bungle. To leave no rubs nor botches in the work. Shak.
BOWSSEN v.
To drench; to soak; especially, to immerse (in water believed to have curative properties). [Obs.] There were many bowssening places, for curing of mad men. . . . If there appeared small amendment he was bowssened again and again. Carew.
BRAKE n.
almost all countries. It has solitary stems dividing into three principal branches. Less properly: Any fern.
BRASILIN; BRASILEIN n.
to the air, being oxidized to bra*sil"e*in, C16H12O5, to which brazilwood owes its dyeing properties.
BRIEF n.
A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose. [Eng.] Apostolical brief, a letter of the pope written on fine parchment in modern characters, subscribed by the secretary of briefs, dated "a die Nativitatis," i. e., "fr…
BRITISH a.
formed by heating dry starch at a temperature of about 600° Fahr. It corresponds, in its properties, to dextrin, and is used, in solution, as a substitute for gum in stiffering goods. -- British lion, the national emblem of Great Britain. -- British seas, the four seas which surround Great Britain.
BUGLEWEED n.
Mint family and genus Lycopus; esp. L. Virginicus, which has mild narcotic and astringent properties, and is sometimes used as a remedy for hemorrhage.
BULLISH a.
king of the nature of a bull, or a blunder. Let me inform you, a toothless satire is as improper as a toothed sleek stone, and as bullish. Milton.
BUNCH n.
A collection, cluster, or tuft, properly of things of the same kind, growing or fastened together; as, a bunch of grapes; a bunch of keys.
BUOYANCY n.
The property of floating on the surface of a liquid, or in a fluid, as in the atmosphere; specific lightness, which is inversely as the weight compared with that of an equal volume of water.
BURN v. 2 definitions
To injure by fire or heat; to change destructively some property or properties of, by undue exposure to fire or heat; to scorch; to scald; to blister; to singe; to char; to sear; as, to burn steel in forging; to burn one's face in the sun; the sun burns the grass.
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