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A weapon of infantry, in the 14th and 15th centuries. A common form of bill consisted of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, having a short pike at the back and another at the top, and attached to the end of a long staff. France had no infantry that dared to face the English bows end bills. Macaulay.…

only, 0 and 1, are used, in lieu of ten; the cipher multiplying everything by two, as in common arithmetic by ten. Thus, 1 is one; 10 is two; 11 is three; 100 is four, etc. Davies & Peck. -- Binary compound (Chem.), a compound of two elements, or of an element and a compound performing the function of an element, or…

Mica containing iron and magnesia, generally of a black or dark green color; -- a common constituent of crystalline rocks. See Mica.

A tree of several species, constituting the genus Betula; as, the white or common birch (B. alba) (also called silver birch and lady birch); the dwarf birch (B. glandulosa); the paper or canoe birch (B. papyracea); the yellow birch (B. lutea); the black or cherry birch (B. lenta).

genus of plants (Lotus) with clawlike pods. L. corniculatas, with yellow flowers, is very common in Great Britain.

lica to the oxygen of the base is as two to one. The bisilicates include many of the most common and important minerals.

An adjuration or exclamation common among the Mohammedans. [Written also Bizmillah.]

the Southern and Southwestern States, a small silver coin (as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12 1/2 cents; also, the sum of 12 1/2 cents. Bit my bit, piecemeal. Pope.

A common name of dolomite; -- so called because it contains magnesia, the soluble salts of which are bitter. See Dolomite.

A dungeon or dark cell in a prison; a military lock-up or guardroom; -- now commonly with allusion to the cell (the Black Hole) in a fort at Calcutta, into which 146 English prisoners were thrust by the nabob Suraja Dowla on the night of June 20, 17656, and in which 123 of the prisoners died before morning from lack of…

A snake of a black color, of which two species are common in the United States, the Bascanium constrictor, or racer, sometimes six feet long, and the Scotophis Alleghaniensis, seven or eight feet long.

A small kind of whale, of the genus Globicephalus, of several species. The most common is G. melas. Also sometimes applied to other whales of larger size.

e flesh or other parts of animals. See Measle, Cysticercus. -- Bladder wrack (Bot.), the common black rock weed of the seacoast (Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus) -- called also bladder tangle. See Wrack.

of trespass to assign the certain place where the trespass was committed; -- called also common bar. -- Blank cartridge, a cartridge containing no ball. -- Blank deed. See Deed. -- Blank door, or Blank window (Arch.), a depression in a wall of the size of a door or window, either for symmetrical effect, or for the…

Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds. Wastes too bleak to rear The common growth of earth, the foodful ear. Wordsworth. At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach. Longfellow.

The common herring, esp. when of large size, smoked, and half dried; -- called also bloat herring.

in a stock company, sold in a lump. Bartlett. -- Block printing. (a) A mode of printing (common in China and Japan) from engraved boards by means of a sheet of paper laid on the linked surface and rubbed with a brush. S. W. Williams. (b) A method of printing cotton cloth and paper hangings with colors, by pressing the…

Relationship by descent from a common ancestor; consanguinity; kinship. To share the blood of Saxon royalty. Sir W. Scott. A friend of our own blood. Waller. Half blood (Law), relationship through only one parent. -- Whole blood, relationship through both father and mother. In American Law, blood includes both half bl…

e for women, consisting of a short dress, with loose trousers gathered round ankles, and (commonly) a broad-brimmed hat.

A similar instrument, commonly of tin, used by boys for discharging paper wads and other light missiles.