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shrub of the Magnolia family (Illicium anisatum), and its aromatic seeds; Chinese anise; star anise.

Any flag or standard; as, the star-spangled banner. Banner fish (Zoöl.), a large fish of the genus Histiophorus, of the Swordfish family, having a broad bannerlike dorsal fin; the sailfish. One species (H. Americanus) inhabits the North Atlantic.

Illegitimate by birth; bastard. [Archaic] Why bastard wherefore base Shak.

Illegitimately; in bastardy. [Archaic] Knolles.

An ordinary with its ends cut off, borne sinister as a mark of bastardy, and containing one fourth in breadth of the bend sinister; -- called also bastard bar. See Bend sinister.

catalogue in general. On Fame's eternal beadroll worthy to be field. Spenser. It is quite startling, on going over the beadroll of English worthies, to find how few are directly represented in the male line. Quart. Rev.

To emit beams of light. He beamed, the daystar of the rising age. Trumbull.

bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as, the bed of a river. So sinks the daystar in the ocean bed. Milton.

ing new, as a new form or state of being, or course of action; to take the first step; to start. "Tears began to flow." Dryden. When I begin, I will also make an end. 1 Sam. iii. 12.

Pinched with hunger; starved. "The belly-pinched wolf." Shak.

y birth or operation of law, so as to be entitled to maintenance by the parish or town. Bastards also are settled in the parishes to which the mothers belong. Blackstone.

To set or adorn, as with studs or bosses; to set thickly; to stud; as, to bestud with stars. Milton.

A bright star of the first magnitude, near one shoulder of Orion. [Written also Betelgeux and Betelgeuse.]

To throw into disorder; to tumble. [R.] From her betumbled couch she starteth. Shak.

es. -- Binary scale (Arith.), a uniform scale of notation whose ratio is two. -- Binary star (Astron.), a double star whose members have a revolution round their common center of gravity. -- Binary theory (Chem.), the theory that all chemical compounds consist of two constituents of opposite and unlike qualities.…

The larva of certain starfishes as developed in the free- swimming stage.

ve a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent; as, it bites like pepper or mustard.

An apple roasted till black, to be served in a dish of boiled custard.

A preparation for desserts, etc., made from isinglass, sea moss, cornstarch, or other gelatinous or starchy substance, with mild, usually sweetened and flavored, and shaped in a mold.

In a blank manner; without expression; vacuously; as, to stare blankly. G. Eliot.