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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



2,069 words match “TERN”

BADGE n.
A carved ornament on the stern of a vessel, containing a window or the representation of one.
BALANCE n.
es that no one state is in a position to interfere with the independence of the others; international equilibrium; also, the ability ( of a state or a third party within a state) to control the relations between sovereign states or between dominant parties in a state. -- Balance sheet (Bookkeeping), a paper showing th…
BALCONY n.
A projecting gallery once common at the stern of large ships.
BALSAMOUS a.
Having the quality of balsam; containing balsam. "A balsamous substance." Sterne.
BAN n.
An ancient title of the warden of the eastern marches of Hungary; now, a title of the viceroy of Croatia and Slavonia.
BANTER v.
To challenge or defy to a match. [Colloq. Southern and Western U.S.]
BARACA n.
An international, interdenominational organization of Bible classes of young men; -- so named in allusion to the Hebrew word Berachah (Meaning blessing) occurring in 2 Chron. xx. 26 and 1 Chron. xii.
BARATHEA n.
A soft fabric with a kind of basket weave and a diapered pattern.
BARB n.
A southern name for the kingfishes of the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States; -- also improperly called whiting.
BASE n.
Any one of the four bounds which mark the circuit of the infield. Altern base. See under Altern. -- Attic base. (Arch.) See under Attic. -- Base course. (Arch.) (a) The first or lower course of a foundation wall, made of large stones of a mass of concrete; -- called also foundation course. (b) The architectural membe…
BATTLEMENT n.
pl. The whole parapet, consisting of alternate solids and open spaces. At first purely a military feature, afterwards copied on a smaller scale with decorative features, as for churches.
BEADROLL n.
said or counted off on the beads of a chaplet; hence, a catalogue in general. On Fame's eternal beadroll worthy to be field. Spenser. It is quite startling, on going over the beadroll of English worthies, to find how few are directly represented in the male line. Quart. Rev.
BEAM n.
angles, or in the direction of her beams, and that point of the compass toward which her stern is directed. -- Beam center (Mach.), the fulcrum or pin on which the working beam of an engine vibrates. -- Beam compass, an instrument consisting of a rod or beam, having sliding sockets that carry steel or pencil points;…
BEAT v.
To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; -- said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison. A beating wind (Naut.), a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress. -- To beat about, to try to find; to search by va…
BEDEVIL v.
g under diabolical influence; to torment. Bedeviled and used worse than St. Bartholomew. Sterne.
BELEMNITE n.
one, prolonged, on one side, into a delicate concave blade; the thunderstone. It is the internal shell of a cephalopod related to the sepia, and belonging to an extinct family. The belemnites are found in rocks of the Jurassic and Cretaceous ages. -- Bel*em*nit"ic, a.
BELLARMINE n.
A stoneware jug of a pattern originated in the neighborhood of Cologne, Germany, in the 16th century. It has a bearded face or mask supposed to represent Cardinal Bellarmine, a leader in the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation, following the Reformation; -- called also graybeard, longbeard.
BELLOWS n.
An instrument, utensil, or machine, which, by alternate expansion and contraction, or by rise and fall of the top, draws in air through a valve and expels it through a tube for various purposes, as blowing fires, ventilating mines, or filling the pipes of an organ with wind. Bellows camera, in photography, a form of ca…
BELUTE v.
To bespatter, as with mud. [R.] Sterne.
BEMA n.
rt of an early Christian church which was reserved for the higher clergy; the inner or eastern part of the chancel.
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