Search the Dictionary

In the manner of a bastard; spuriously. [Obs.] Shak. Donne.

t plays obliquely. -- Battery gun, a gun capable of firing a number, of shots simultaneously or successively without stopping to load. -- Battery wagon, a wagon employed to transport the tools and materials for repair of the carriages, etc., of the battery. -- In battery, projecting, as a gun, into an embrasure or o…

To keep repeating needlessly; to iterate. Sir T. Herbert.

An unidentified substance mentioned in the Bible (Gen. ii. 12, and Num. xi. 7), variously taken to be a gum, a precious stone, or pearls, or perhaps a kind of amber found in Arabia.

put the helm up (or to windward) and so put the ship before the wind; to bear away. Hamersly. -- To bear upon (Mil.), to be pointed or situated so as to affect; to be pointed directly against, or so as to hit (the object); as, to bring or plant guns so as to bear upon a fort or a ship; the artillery bore upon the cen…

To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blaows; to knock vigorously or loudly. The men of the city . . . beat at the door. Judges. xix. 22.

Preceding in time; earlier than; previously to; anterior to the time when; -- sometimes with the additional idea of purpose; in order that. Before Abraham was, I am. John viii. 58. Before this treatise can become of use, two points are necessary. Swift.

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

pical America, many species of which are grown as ornamental plants. The leaves are curiously one- sided, and often exhibit brilliant colors.

Erroneously: A pulpit.

To make rattle; to scold vociferously; to cry down. [Obs.] Shak.

the Greek alphabet, B, b. See B, and cf. etymology of Alphabet. Beta (B, b) is used variously for classifying, as:

the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly; as, an officer betrayed the city. Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men. Matt. xvii. 22.

To talk thoughtlessly or without discretion; to tattle; to tell tales. She must burst or blab. Dryden.

smal, 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.

In a black manner; darkly, in color; gloomily; threateningly; atrociously. "Deeds so blackly grim and horrid." Feltham.

A sort of fricassee with white sauce, variously made of capon, fish, etc. [Obs.] Chaucer.

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

To speak of, or address, with impious irreverence; to revile impiously (anything sacred); as, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. So Dagon shall be magnified, and God, Besides whom is no god, compared with idols, Disglorified, blasphemed, and had in scorn. Milton. How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and aven…

Speaking or writing blasphemy; uttering or exhibiting anything impiously irreverent; profane; as, a blasphemous person; containing blasphemy; as, a blasphemous book; a blasphemous caricature. "Blasphemous publications." Porteus. Nor from the Holy One of Heaven Refrained his tongue blasphemous. Milton.…