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In the game of backgammon, to beat by ending the game before the loser is clear of his first "table".

A large stick of wood, forming the of a fire on the hearth. [U.S.] There was first a backlog, from fifteen to four and twenty inches in diameter and five feet long, imbedded in the ashes. S. G. Goodrich.

d, water, and forage increases the difficulty of traversing the country, whence the name, first given by the Canadian French, Mauvaises Terres (bad lands).

ears momentarily like a row of bright spots resembling a string of beads. The phenomenon (first fully described by Francis Baily, 1774 -- 1844) is thought to be an effect of irradiation, and of inequalities of the moon's edge.

ed for the automatic regulation of the temperature of rooms warmed artificially, and as a fire alarm. -- Balance of torsion. See Torsion Balance. -- Balance of trade (Pol. Econ.), an equilibrium between the money values of the exports and imports of a country; or more commonly, the amount required on one side or the…

id spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rifball; -- often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets.

Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid.

In France, a second ballot taken after an indecisive first ballot to decide between two or several candidates.

Incapable of being penetrated by balls from firearms.

trees, Populus balsamifera, variety candicans (balsam poplar), and Abies balsamea (balsam fir).

of the size of a walnut, used as a vulnerary, and in liniments and poultices. -- Balsam fir (Bot.), the American coniferous tree, Abies balsamea, from which the useful Canada balsam is derived. -- Balsam of copaiba. See Copaiba. -- Balsam of Mecca, balm of Gilead. -- Balsam of Peru, a reddish brown, syrupy balsam,…

To pass by the banks of. [Obs.] Shak. To bank a fire, To bank up a fire, to cover the coals or embers with ashes or cinders, thus keeping the fire low but alive.

siness of a bank or of a banker. Banking house, an establishment or office in which, or a firm by whom, banking is done.

sed way or foot bank, running along the inside of a parapet, on which musketeers stand to fire upon the enemy.

pying 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, itself a combination of this prefix with the syllable -ntu, a…

t like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc. But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire. Milton.

The first word in certain mnemonic lines which represent the various forms of the syllogism. It indicates a syllogism whose three propositions are universal affirmatives. Whately.

h contrary to the pure idioms of a particular language. See Solecism. The Greeks were the first that branded a foreign term in any of their writers with the odious name of barbarism. G. Campbell.

A mound of earth or a platform in a fortification, on which guns are mounted to fire over the parapet. En barbette, In barbette, said of guns when they are elevated so as to fire over the top of a parapet, and not through embrasures. -- Barbette gun, or Barbette battery, a single gun, or a number of guns, mounted in b…

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