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Same as Backsheesh.

omething wonderful, used to fill out a newspaper column; -- an allusion to the miracle of Balaam's ass speaking. Numb. xxii. 30. [Cant] Balaam basket or box (Print.), the receptacle for rejected articles. Blackw. Mag.

A condiment formed of small fishes or shrimps, pounded up with salt and spices, and then dried. It is much esteemed in China.

the Cetacea, including the right whale and all other whales having the mouth fringed with baleen. See Baleen.

Act of weighing mentally; comparison; estimate. A fair balance of the advantages on either side. Atterbury.

of a watch or chronometer, answering to the pendulum of a clock; -- often called simply a balance.

Such as can be balanced.

The act or result of balancing or adjusting; equipoise; even adjustment of forces. [R.] Darwin.

One who balances, or uses a balance.

The last reef in a fore-and-aft sail, taken to steady the ship.

Bearing or producing acorns.

A fossil balanoid shell.

A peculiar marine worm. See Enteropneusta, and Tornaria.

Resembling an acorn; -- applied to a group of barnacles having shells shaped like acorns. See Acornshell, and Barnacle.

A variety of spinel ruby, of a pale rose red, or inclining to orange. See Spinel.

The bully tree (Minusops globosa); also, its milky juice (balata gum), which when dried constitutes an elastic gum called chicle, or chicle gum.

The pomegranate tree (Punica granatum). The bark of the root, the rind of the fruit, and the flowers are used medicinally.

A protecting ruffle or frill, as of silk or lace, sewed close to the lower edge of a skirt on the inside.

To stammer. [Obs.]

The defect of stammering; also, a kind of incomplete pronunciation.