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A carnivorous quadruped of the genus Meles or of an allied genus. It is a burrowing animal, with short, thick legs, and long claws on the fore feet. One species (M. vulgaris), called also brock, inhabits the north of Europe and Asia; another species (Taxidea Americana or Labradorica) inhabits the northern parts of Nort…

ggage. The baronet's baggage on the roof of the coach. Thackeray. We saw our baggage following below. Johnson.

A light or hasty luncheon. Bait bug (Zoöl), a crustacean of the genus Hippa found burrowing in sandy beaches. See Anomura.

tates or between dominant parties in a state. -- Balance sheet (Bookkeeping), a paper showing the balances of the open accounts of a business, the debit and credit balances footing up equally, if the system of accounts be complete and the balances correctly taken. -- Balance thermometer, a thermometer mounted as a ba…

In Diptera, the rudimentary posterior wing.

A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.

A plant of the family of grasses, and genus Bambusa, growing in tropical countries.

incident to hot climates. -- Barbados nuts, the seeds of the Jatropha curcas, a plant growing in South America and elsewhere. The seeds and their acrid oil are used in medicine as a purgative. See Physic nut.

Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind. Byron.

Prevented from growing, by having the bark too firm or close.

eer, or other malt liquors, when fermenting, and used as leaven in making bread and in brewing; yeast. Shak.

A tracing, usually made by the barograph, showing graphically the variations of atmospheric pressure for a given time.

Any instrument showing the changes in the weight of the atmosphere; also, less appropriately, any instrument that indicates - or foreshadows changes of the weather, as a deep vial of liquid holding in suspension some substance which rises and falls with atmospheric changes.

basket-like case of silk and twigs, which it afterwards hangs up to shelter the pupa and wingless adult females.

er or a smaller size than the body; e.g., a nonpareil face on a brevier body. -- Bastard wing (Zoöl.), three to five quill feathers on a small joint corresponding to the thumb in some mam malia; the alula.

One of the Cheiroptera, an order of flying mammals, in which the wings are formed by a membrane stretched between the elongated fingers, legs, and tail. The common bats are small and insectivorous. See Cheiroptera and Vampire. Bat tick (Zoöl.), a wingless, dipterous insect of the genus Nycteribia, parasitic on bats.…

of troops (brigades, regiments, battalions, etc.), or of a naval force, for action. A drawing up the armies in battalia. Jer. Taylor.

Belonging to, or resembling, a bat. "Batty wings." Shak.

, readings on Baumés scale may be approximately reduced to specific gravities by the following formulæ (x in each case being the reading on Baumé's scale) : (a) for liquids heavier than water, sp. gr. = 144 ÷ (144 - x);

nd leaping like fleas. -- Beach grass (Bot.), a coarse grass (Ammophila arundinacea), growing on the sandy shores of lakes and seas, which, by its interlaced running rootstocks, binds the sand together, and resists the encroachment of the waves. -- Beach wagon, a light open wagon with two or more seats. -- Raised be…