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A fagot of brushwood, or other light combustible matter, for kindling fires; refuse of brushwood. [Obs. or Dial. Eng.]

A state of being obliged to face an antagonist or a difficulty, when escape has become impossible. Embolden'd by despair, he stood at bay. Dryden. The most terrible evils are just kept at bay by incessant efforts. I. Taylor

ootstocks, binds the sand together, and resists the encroachment of the waves. -- Beach wagon, a light open wagon with two or more seats. -- Raised beach, an accumulation of water-worn stones, gravel, sand, and other shore deposits, above the present level of wave action, whether actually raised by elevation of the c…

re the wind. -- To bear back, to retreat. "Bearing back from the blows of their sable antagonist." Sir W. Scott. -- To bear down upon (Naut.), to approach from the windward side; as, the fleet bore down upon the enemy. -- To bear in with (Naut.), to run or tend toward; as, a ship bears in with the land. -- To bear…

rable ordinaries, containing a third or a fifth part of the field. It crosses the field diagonally from the dexter chief to the sinister base. Bend sinister (Her.), an honorable ordinary drawn from the sinister chief to the dexter base.

Diagonally.

A mineral of great hardness, and, when transparent, of much beauty. It occurs in hexagonal prisms, commonly of a green or bluish green color, but also yellow, pink, and white. It is a silicate of aluminium and glucinum (beryllium). The aquamarine is a transparent, sea-green variety used as a gem. The emerald is another…

A slant; a diagonal; as, to cut cloth on the bias.

A small horse formerly allowed to each trooper or dragoon for carrying his baggage. B. Jonson.

Having a great belly; as, a big-bellied man or flagon; advanced in pregnancy.

ed to a line which is the sum of two lines commensurable only in power (as the side and diagonal of a square).

A combination of two short rectangular glass prisms cemented together at their diagonal faces so as to form a cube; -- called also optical cube. It is used in one form of photometer.

urned with nothing to bite. Dickens. To bite the dust, To bite the ground, to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust. -- To bite in (Etching), to corrode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid. -- To bite the thumb at (any one), formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a qu…

Plumbago; graphite.It leaves a blackish mark somewhat like lead. See Graphite.

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 avenge thyself on all those who thus conti…

ir connected by a reach or coupling; also, the compound sled so formed. [U. S.] The long wagon body set on bobsleds. W. D. Howells.

The bed or box of a vehicle, on or in which the load is placed; as, a wagon body; a cart body.

h thoughts of bog, or caverned pit, Of treacherous earth, subsiding where they tread. R. Jago.

A transverse bar above the axle of a wagon, on which the bed or body rests.

manner of a bolt; suddenly; straight; unbendingly. [He] came bolt up against the heavy dragoon. Thackeray. Bolt upright. (a) Perfectly upright; perpendicular; straight up; unbendingly erect. Addison. (b) On the back at full length. [Obs.] Chaucer.