Search the Dictionary

ossessed the country between the Rhine, the Seine, and the ocean. How unlike their Belgic sires of old. Goldsmith.

Ultimate belief, a first principle incapable of proof; an intuitive truth; an intuition. Sir W. Hamilton.

to roar. As loud as belleth wind in hell. Chaucer. The wild buck bells from ferny brake. Sir W. Scott.

er place, with respect to any object; in a lower room; beneath. Lord Marmion waits below. Sir W. Scott.

Worn in, or suspended from, the belt. Three men with belted brands. Sir W. Scott. Belted cattle, cattle originally from Dutch stock, having a broad band of white round the middle, while the rest of the body is black; -- called also blanketed cattle.

differing from a stool in its greater length. Mossy benches supplied the place of chairs. Sir W. Scott.

ilton. Towards Coventry bend we our course. Shak. Bending her eyes . . . upon her parent. Sir W. Scott.

Named; styled. [Archaic] Sir W. Scott.

disposition to do good; good will; charitableness; love of mankind, accompanied with a desire to promote their happiness. The wakeful benevolence of the gospel. Chalmers.

Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and happiness; disposed to give to good objects; kind; charitable. -- Be*nev"o*lent*ly, adv.

The quality of being benign; goodness; kindness; graciousness. "Benignity of aspect." Sir W. Scott.

as to be resolved, determined, set, etc.; -- said of the mind, character, disposition, desires, etc., and used with on; as, to be bent on going to college; he is bent on mischief.

ibility to pleasure and the recoil from pain are the only motives which influence human desires and actions, and that these are the sufficient explanation of ethical and jural conceptions.

d; characterized by drunken stupidity, or by infatuation; stupefied. "Besotted devotion." Sir W. Scott. -- Be*sot"ted*ly, adv. -- Be*sot"ted*ness, n. Milton.

or a favor. Concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favor. Sir W. Scott.

the agency of a blast of air which is forced through the molten metal; -- so called from Sir Henry Bessemer, an English engineer, the inventor of the process.

Having good qualities in the highest degree; most good, kind, desirable, suitable, etc.; most excellent; as, the best man; the best road; the best cloth; the best abilities. When he is best, he is a little worse than a man. Shak. Heaven's last, best gift, my ever new delight. Milton.

ore; to deposit for safe keeping; to stow; to place; to put. "He bestowed it in a pouch." Sir W. Scott. See that the women are bestowed in safety. Byron.

to designate one's wife. My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee. Sir P. Sidney. -- To be better off, to be in a better condition. -- Had better. (See under Had).

The quality of being better or superior; superiority. [R.] Sir P. Sidney.