BANTU n.
A member of one of the great family of Negroid tribes occupying equatorial and southern Africa. These tribes include, as important divisions, the Kafirs, Damaras, Bechuanas, and many tribes whose names begin with Aba-, Ama-, Ba-, Ma-, Wa-, variants of the Bantu plural personal prefix Aba-, as in Ba-ntu, or Aba-ntu, its…
BATTERY n.
uding the gunners, guns, horses, and all equipments. In the United States, a battery of flying artillery consists usually of six guns. Barbette battery. See Barbette. -- Battery d'enfilade, or Enfilading battery, one that sweeps the whole length of a line of troops or part of a work. -- Battery en écharpe, one that p…
BEATIFICATION n.
The act of beatifying, or the state of being beatified; esp., in the R. C. Church, the act or process of ascertaining and declaring that a deceased person is one of "the blessed," or has attained the second degree of sanctity, -- usually a stage in the process of canonization. "The beatification of his spirit." Jer. Ta…