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A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, esp. as a call or command. They have troops of soldiers at their beck. Shak.

rved by the French physicist Henri Becquerel, in working with uranium and its compounds. They consist of a mixture of alpha, beta, and gamma rays.

optera, having four wings, the outer pair being stiff cases for covering the others when they are folded up. See Coleoptera. Beetle mite (Zoöl.), one of many species of mites, of the family Oribatidæ, parasitic on beetles. -- Black beetle, the common large black cockroach (Blatta orientalis).

A beef; a beef creature. They would knock down the first beeve they met with. W. Irving.

By way of preparation, or preliminary; previously; aforetime. They may be taught beforehand the skill of speaking. Hooker.

Formerly; aforetime. [They] dwelt in their tents, as beforetime. 2 Kings xiii. 5.

and for something which elsewhere brings a price; as, grapes are so plentiful there that they go a-begging.

To procreate, as a father or sire; to generate; -- commonly said of the father. Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget. Milton.

One of an association of religious laymen living in imitation of the Beguines. They arose in the thirteenth century, were afterward subjected to much persecution, and were suppressed by Innocent X. in

A strong pin in the side of a vessel, or by the mast, round which ropes are wound when they are fastened or belayed.

old woman in general; especially, an ugly old woman; a hag. Around the beldam all erect they hang. Akenside.

relations; household. [Colloq.] Few persons of her ladyship's belongings stopped, before they did her bidding, to ask her reasons. Thackeray.

Unworthy of; unbefitting; beneath. They beheld, with a just loathing and disdain, . . . how below all history the persons and their actions were. Milton. Who thinks no fact below his regard. Hallam.

a belt; to encompass; to surround. A coarse black robe belted round the waist. C. Reade. They belt him round with hearts undaunted. Wordsworth.

of a ship, the thickest and strongest planks in her sides, more generally called wales. They have the beams, knees, and foothooks bolted to them. Also, the frames or ribs that form the ship's body from the keel to the top of the sides; as, the midship bend.

trust estate. The rich men will be offering sacrifice to their Deity whose beneficiaries they are. Jer. Taylor.

To show beforehand; to foretell; to indicate. [They] bespoke dangers . . . in order to scare the allies. Swift.

ose of to the greatest advantage. "Let there be freedom to carry their commodities where they can make the best of them." Bacon. (b) To reduce to the least possible inconvenience; as, to make the best of ill fortune or a bad bargain.

To put in a certain situation or condition; to circumstance; to place. [Only in p. p.] They shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: . . . and curse their king and their God. Is. viii. 21. Many far worse bestead than ourselves. Barrow.

That which is given or bestowed. They almost refuse to give due praise and credit to God's own bestowments. I. Taylor.