Search the Dictionary

A member of a race somewhat resembling the Arabs, but often classed as Hamitic, who were formerly the inhabitants of the whole of North Africa from the Mediterranean southward into the Sahara, and who still occupy a large part of that region; -- called also Kabyles. Also, the language spoken by this people.…

Bernicle goose (Zoöl.), a goose (Branta leucopsis), of Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas), which were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related species. See Anatifa and Cirripedia.…

A kind of writ which formerly lay where a great-grandfather died seized of lands in fee simple, and on the day of his death a stranger abated or entered and kept the heir out. This is now abolished. Blackstone.

An East India muslin, formerly used for cravats, veils, etc. [Obs.]

Formed to a bevel angle; sloping; as, the beveled edge of a table.

tines of certain ruminant animals (as the wild goat, the gazelle, and the Peruvian llama) formerly regarded as an unfailing antidote for poison, and a certain remedy for eruptive, pestilential, or putrid diseases. Hence: Any antidote or panacea.

A kind of divination, performed by selecting passages of Scripture at hazard, and drawing from them indications concerning future events.

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

s. B. capreolata is the cross vine of the Southern United States. The trumpet creeper was formerly considered to be of this genus.

Formed of two plates, as the stigma of the Mimulus; also, having two elevated ridges, as in the lip of certain flowers.

Formed of, or having, two laminæ, or thin plates.

; as, biliary acids; biliary ducts. Biliary calculus (Med.), a gallstone, or a concretion formed in the gall bladder or its duct.

A green pigment present in the bile, formed from bilirubin by oxidation.

Pertaining to, or formed from, two molecules; as, a bimolecular reaction (a reaction between two molecules).

A kind of unraised bread, of many varieties, plain, sweet, or fancy, formed into flat cakes, and bakes hard; as, ship biscuit. According to military practice, the bread or biscuit of the Romans was twice prepared in the oven. Gibbon.

A piece used in the game of chess, bearing a representation of a bishop's miter; -- formerly called archer.

anus), a large, gregarious bovine quadruped with shaggy mane and short black horns, which formerly roamed in herds over most of the temperate portion of North America, but is now restricted to very limited districts in the region of the Rocky Mountains, and is rapidly decreasing in numbers.

In the Southern and Southwestern States, a small silver coin (as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12 1/2 cents; also, the sum of 12 1/2 cents. Bit my bit, piecemeal. Pope.

rode 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 quarrel; to defy. "Do you bite your thumb at us " Shak. -- To bite the tongue, to keep silence. Shak.

A white, crystalline, nitrogenous substance, C2O2N3H5, formed by heating urea. It is intermediate between urea and cyanuric acid.