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A mixture of spirituous liquor (usually rum) and molasses. No blackstrap to-night; switchel, or ginger pop. Judd.

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.

rom isinglass, sea moss, cornstarch, or other gelatinous or starchy substance, with mild, usually sweetened and flavored, and shaped in a mold.

(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. -- Blank line (Print.), a vacant space of the breadth of a line, on a printed page; a line of quadrats. -- Blank tire (Mech.), a tire without a fla…

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.

A flatulent disease of sheep. Blast furnace, a furnace, usually a shaft furnace for smelting ores, into which air is forced by pressure. -- Blast hole, a hole in the bottom of a pump stock through which water enters. -- Blast nozzle, a fixed or variable orifice in the delivery end of a blast pipe; -- called also blas…

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; e…

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.

galena, and black-jack. It is a zinc sulphide, but often contains some iron. Its color is usually yellow, brown, or black, and its luster resinous.

ter fly, a blister beetle. -- Blister plaster, a plaster designed to raise a blister; -- usually made of Spanish flies. -- Blister steel, crude steel formed from wrought iron by cementation; -- so called because of its blistered surface. Called also blistered steel. -- Blood blister. See under Blood.…

A gale of piercingly cold wind, usually accompanied with fine and blinding snow; a furious blast. [U. S.]

Distended beyond the natural or usual size, as by the presence of water, serum, etc.; turgid; swollen; as, a bloated face. Also, puffed up with pride; pompous.

A piece of wood more or less bulky; a solid mass of wood, stone, etc., usually with one or more plane, or approximately plane, faces; as, a block on which a butcher chops his meat; a block by which to mount a horse; children's playing blocks, etc. Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke, And Christmas blocks are burning.…

on from the Catalan forge or from the puddling furnace, deprived of its dross, and shaped usually in the form of an oblong block by shingling.

To burst, shatter, or destroy by an explosion; -- usually with up, down, open, or similar adverb; as, to blow up a building.

In a blunt manner; coarsely; plainly; abruptly; without delicacy, or the usual forms of civility. Sometimes after bluntly giving his opinions, he would quietly lay himself asleep until the end of their deliberations. Jeffrey.

Hence: What is served on a table as food; stated meals; provision; entertainment; -- usually as furnished for pay; as, to work for one's board; the price of board.

A small open vessel, or water craft, usually moved by cars or paddles, but often by a sail.

A cylindrical or spool-shaped coil or insulated wire, usually containing a core of soft iron which becomes magnetic when the wire is traversed by an electrical current. Bobbin and fly frame, a roving machine. -- Bobbin lace, lace made on a pillow with bobbins; pillow lace.

A rope or chain to confine the bowsprit of a ship downward to the stem or cutwater; -- usually in the pl.