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To make a loud, heavy, or hollow noise, as the bittern; to boom. As a bittern bumps within a reed. Dryden.

The European bittern. Johnson.

A sort of salt, finely granulated, formed out of the bittern or leach brine.

to allay; to qualify; to moderate; to soften. [Obs.] The antidotes . . . have allayed its bitterness and contempered its malignancy. Johnson.

quital. [Obs.] Surely, the present pleasure of a sinful act is a poor countervail for the bitterness of the review. South.

To free from bitterness.

ll successive quantities; in repeated portions. "Made to taste drop by drop more than the bitterness of death." Burke. -- Drop curtain. See Drop, n.,

To taint or impregnate with bitterness, malice, or hatred; to imbue as with venom; to imbitter. The envenomed tongue of calumny. Smollett. On the question of slavery opinion has of late years been peculiarly envenomed. Sir G. C. Lewis.

lgate rendering of the Hebrew word qipod, which in the "Authorized Version" is translated bittern, and in the Revised Version, porcupine. I will make it [Babylon] a possession for the ericius and pools of waters. Is. xiv. 23 (Douay version).

Anything extremely bitter; bitterness; rancor. He hath . . . compassed me with gall and travail. Lam. iii. 5. Comedy diverted without gall. Dryden.

etness in the taste somewhat resembling that of licorice, combined with a slight aromatic bitterness.

wings and tail are handsomely barred with brown, black, and gray. It is allied to the sun bittern.

The American bittern. See Stake-driver. (b) The American coot (Fulica). (c) The clapper rail. -- Meadow lark (Zoöl.), any species of Sturnella, a genus of American birds allied to the starlings. The common species (S. magna) has a yellow breast with a black crescent. -- Meadow mouse (Zoöl.), any mouse of the genus Ar…

. Mire crow (Zoöl.), the pewit, or laughing gull. [Prov. Eng.] -- Mire drum, the European bittern. [Prov. Eng.]

To belong; to pertain. [Obs.] A somewhat languid relish, retaining to bitterness. Boyle.

Fig.: Bitterness; disappointment; grief; regret. Goat's rue. See under Goat. -- Rue anemone, a pretty springtime flower (Thalictrum anemonides) common in the United States. -- Wall rue, a little fern (Asplenium Ruta-muraria) common on walls in Europe.

The common American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus); -- so called because one of its notes resembles the sound made in driving a stake into the mud. Called also meadow hen, and Indian hen.

layan bear. -- Sun beetle (Zoöl.), any small lustrous beetle of the genus Amara. -- Sun bittern (Zoöl.), a singular South American bird (Eurypyga helias), in some respects related both to the rails and herons. It is beautifully variegated with white, brown, and black. Called also sunbird, and tiger bittern. -- Sun f…

The sun bittern.

scott. Thunder pumper. (Zoöl.) (a) The croaker (Haploidontus grunniens). (b) The American bittern or stake-driver. -- Thunder rod, a lightning rod. [R.] -- Thunder snake. (Zoöl.) (a) The chicken, or milk, snake. (b) A small reddish ground snake (Carphophis, or Celuta, amoena) native to the Eastern United States; -- ca…