Search the Dictionary

A round, low-crowned felt hat; a wideawake. "The undignified billycocks and pantaloons of the West." B. H. Chamberlain.

Of a white or pale color; without color. To the blank moon Her office they prescribed. Milton.

at; as, to seek shelter from the blaze of the sun. O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon! Milton.

root and red sap, and bearing a pretty, white flower in early spring; -- called also puccoon, redroot, bloodwort, tetterwort, turmeric, and Indian paint. It has acrid emetic properties, and the rootstock is used as a stimulant expectorant. See Sanguinaria.

To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow. He sung how earth blots the moon's gilded wane. Cowley.

A small wheel, made of leather, with rounded edges, used in polishing spoons, etc.

new, the sense can not inform; but if you boil them in water, the new seeds will sprout sooner. Bacon. To boil down, to reduce in bulk by boiling; as, to boil down sap or sirup.

arrow; a dart. Look that the crossbowmen lack not bolts. Sir W. Scott. A fool's bolt is soon shot. Shak.

used in naval bombardments; -- called also mortar vessel. -- Bomb lance, a lance or harpoon with an explosive head, used in whale fishing. -- Volcanic bomb, a mass of lava of a spherical or pear shape. "I noticed volcanic bombs." Darwin.

Originally, a deep-toned instrument of the oboe or bassoon family; thence, a bass reed stop on the organ. The name bombardon is now given to a brass instrument, the lowest of the saxhorns, in tone resembling the ophicleide. Grove.

Swelling words without much meaning; bombastic language; fustian. Bombastry and buffoonery, by nature lofty and light, soar highest of all. Swift.

t in the open air, as an expression of public joy and exultation, or for amusement. Full soon by bonfire and by bell, We learnt our liege was passing well. Gay.

ent; to make a round hole in or through; to pierce; as, to bore a plank. I'll believe as soon this whole earth may be bored. Shak.

substance B(OH)3, easily obtained from its salts, and occurring in solution in the hot lagoons of Tuscany.

A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon. [Obs.] Silkworms finish their bottoms in . . . fifteen days. Mortimer.

the latter part of the Civil War, enlisted in the United States service, and deserted as soon as possible after receiving the bounty. [Collog.] -- Queen Anne's bounty (Eng. Hist.), a provision made in Queen Anne's reign for augmenting poor clerical livings.

The bollow part of a thing; as, the bowl of a spoon.

imp. & p. p. of Breed. Bred out, degenerated. "The strain of man's bred out into baboon and monkey." Shak. -- Bred to arms. See under Arms. -- Well bred. (a) Of a good family; having a good pedigree. "A gentleman well bred and of good name." Shak. [Obs., except as applied to domestic animals.] (b) Well brought up, as…

Trousers; pantaloons. [Colloq.] Breeches buoy, in the life-saving service, a pair of canvas breeches depending from an annular or beltlike life buoy which is usually of cork. This contrivance, inclosing the person to be rescued, is hung by short ropes from a block which runs upon the hawser stretched from the ship to t…

upon abutments or piers. -- Lattice bridge, a bridge formed by lattice girders. -- Pontoon bridge, Ponton bridge. See under Pontoon. -- Skew bridge, a bridge built obliquely from bank to bank, as sometimes required in railway engineering. -- Suspension bridge. See under Suspension. -- Trestle bridge, a bridge for…