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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



2,142 words match “ATTER”

BRUNT n.
ollision. "And heavy brunt of cannon ball." Hudibras. It is instantly and irrecoverably scattered by our first brunt with some real affair of common life. I. Taylor.
BRUSSELS n.
ad. The worsted, which alone shows on the upper surface in drawn up in loops to form the pattern. -- Brussels ground, a name given to the handmade ground of real Brussels lace. It is very costly because of the extreme fineness of the threads. -- Brussels lace, an expensive kind of lace of several varieties, originall…
BUDGE a.
ether with strings like a purse. It is used for carrying powder from the magazine to the battery, in siege or seacoast service.
BULGE v.
To bilge, as a ship; to founder. And scattered navies bulge on distant shores. Broome.
BULL n.
h bull of Leo's had declared how inflexible the court of Rome was in the point of abuses. Atterbury.
BUNCOMBE; BUNKUM n.
Speech-making for the gratification of constituents, or to gain public applause; flattering talk for a selfish purpose; anything said for mere show. [Cant or Slang, U.S.] All that flourish about right of search was bunkum -- all that brag about hanging your Canada sheriff was bunkum . . . slavery speeches are all bunku…
BURLY a.
utiful, and of inanimate things that were huge and bulky. "Burly sacks." Drayton. In his latter days, with overliberal diet, [he was] somewhat corpulent and burly. Sir T. More. Burly and big, and studious of his ease. Cowper.
BURNING n.
etroleums (naphtha, benzine), or oil of turpentine (camphine), but esp. a mixture of the latter with alcohol. -- Burning glass, a conxex lens of considerable size, used for producing an intense heat by converging the sun's rays to a focus. -- Burning house (Metal.), the furnace in which tin ores are calcined, to subl…
BURSE n.
A kind of bazaar. [Obs.] She says she went to the burse for patterns. Old Play.
BUSINESS n.
Affair; concern; matter; -- used in an indefinite sense, and modified by the connected words. It was a gentle business, and becoming The action of good women. Shak. Bestow Your needful counsel to our business. Shak.
BUTTERNUT n.
) of the Walnut family, and its edible fruit; -- so called from the oil contained in the latter. Sometimes called oil nut and white walnut.
BUTYROMETER n.
An instrument for determining the amount of fatty matter or butter contained in a sample of milk.
BY a.
position, giving the meaning of something aside, secondary, or incidental, or collateral matter, a thing private or avoiding notice; as, by-line, by-place, by-play, by-street. It was formerly more freely used in composition than it is now; as, by-business, by-concernment, by- design, by-interest, etc.…
BY-INTEREST n.
Self-interest; private advantage. Atterbury.
BY-LAW n.
an a general law or constitutional provision, and subsidiary to it; a rule relating to a matter of detail; as, civic societies often adopt a constitution and by-laws for the government of their members. In this sense the word has probably been influenced by by, meaning secondary or aside.
BY-VIEW n.
r selfish view; self-interested aim or purpose. No by-views of his own shall mislead him. Atterbury.
BYE n.
to steal a bye. T. Hughes. By the bye, in passing; by way of digression; apropos to the matter in hand. [Written also by the by.]
BYSTANDER n.
; one who has no concern with the business transacting. He addressed the bystanders and scattered pamphlets among them. Palfrey.
C n.
ch in old Latin represented the sounds of k, and g (in go); its original value being the latter. In Anglo-Saxon words, or Old English before the Norman Conquest, it always has the sound of k. The Latin C was the same letter as the Greek got it from the Phoenicians. The English name of C is from the Latin name ce, and w…
CAB n.
A kind of close carriage with two or four wheels, usually a public vehicle. "A cab came clattering up." Thackeray.
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