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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,689 words match “FIG”

BIOPHOTOPHONE n.
An instrument combining a cinematograph and a phonograph so that the moving figures on the screen are accompanied by the appropriate sounds.
BIRD n.
Fig.: A girl; a maiden. And by my word! the bonny bird In danger shall not tarry. Campbell. Arabian bird, the phenix. -- Bird of Jove, the eagle. -- Bird of Juno, the peacock. -- Bird louse (Zoöl.), a wingless insect of the group Mallophaga, of which the genera and species are very numerous and mostly parasitic upon…
BISCUIT n.
A species of white, unglazed porcelain, in which vases, figures, and groups are formed in miniature. Meat biscuit, an alimentary preparation consisting of matters extracted from meat by boiling, or of meat ground fine and combined with flour, so as to form biscuits.
BIT n.
Fig.: Anything which curbs or restrains.
BITE v.
To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth. "Frosts do bite the meads." Shak.
BITTERNESS n.
The quality or state of being bitter, sharp, or acrid, in either a literal or figurative sense; implacableness; resentfulness; severity; keenness of reproach or sarcasm; deep distress, grief, or vexation of mind. The lip that curls with bitterness. Percival. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Job vii. 11.…
BITTERSWEET a.
et and then bitter or bitter and then sweet; esp. sweet with a bitter after taste; hence (Fig.), pleasant but painful.
BLACK a.
Fig.: Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness; destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked; cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible. "This day's black fate." "Black villainy." "Arise, black vengeance." "Black day." "Black despair." Shak.
BLACK FLAGS n.
ion, but later increased by bands of pirates and adventurers. It took a prominent part in fighting the French during their hostilities with Anam, 1873-85.
BLACK WASH; BLACKWASH n.
A wash that blackens, as opposed to whitewash; hence, figuratively, calumny. To remove as far as he can the modern layers of black wash, and let the man himself, fair or foul, be seen. C. Kingsley.
BLANCH v.
Fig.: To whiten; to give a favorable appearance to; to whitewash; to palliate. Blanch over the blackest and most absurd things. Tillotson.
BLASPHEME v.
Figuratively, of persons and things not religiously sacred, but held in high honor: To calumniate; to revile; to abuse. You do blaspheme the good in mocking me. Shak. Those who from our labors heap their board, Blaspheme their feeder and forget their lord. Pope.
BLASPHEMY n.
Figuratively, of things held in high honor: Calumny; abuse; vilification. Punished for his blasphemy against learning. Bacon.
BLAZE v.
o continue firing; -- said esp. of a number of persons, as a line of soldiers. Also used (fig.) of speech or action. [Colloq.]
BLAZON v.
To describe in proper terms (the figures of heraldic devices); also, to delineate (armorial bearings); to emblazon. The coat of , arms, which I am not herald enough to blazon into English. Addison.
BLEAR v.
To make somewhat sore or watery, as the eyes; to dim, or blur, as the sight. Figuratively: To obscure (mental or moral perception); to blind; to hoodwink. That tickling rheums Should ever tease the lungs and blear the sight. Cowper. To blear the eye of, to deceive; to impose upon. [Obs.] Chaucer.
BLEND v.
To make blind, literally or figuratively; to dazzle; to deceive. [Obs.] Chaucer.
BLINDNESS n.
State or condition of being blind, literally or figuratively. Darwin. Color blindness, inability to distinguish certain color. See Daltonism.
BLOT v.
to cancel; to efface; -- generally with out; as, to blot out a word or a sentence. Often figuratively; as, to blot out offenses. One act like this blots out a thousand crimes. Dryden.
BLOTCH n.
A blot or spot, as of color or of ink; especially a large or irregular spot. Also Fig.; as, a moral blotch. Spots and blotches . . . some red, others yellow. Harvey.
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