ASCEND v.
rior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects, from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient times, from one note to another more acute, etc.; as, our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to our first progenitor.
BABISM; BABIISM n.
The doctrine of a modern religious pantheistical sect in Persia, which was founded, about 1844, by Mirza Ali Mohammed ibn Rabhik (1820 -- 1850), who assumed the title of Bab-ed-Din (Per., Gate of the Faith). Babism is a mixture of Mohammedan, Christian, Jewish, and Parsi elements. This doctrine forbids concubinage and…
BARON n.
ee of nobility; originally, the possessor of a fief, who had feudal tenants under him; in modern times, in France and Germany, a nobleman next in rank below a count; in England, a nobleman of the lowest grade in the House of Lords, being next below a viscount.
BOHEMIAN a. 2 definitions
cial gypsy or "Bohemian" (see Bohemian, n., 3); vagabond; unconventional; free and easy. [Modern] Hers was a pleasant Bohemian life till she was five and thirty. Blackw. Mag. Artists have abandoned their Bohemian manners and customs nowadays. W. Black. Bohemian chatterer, or Bohemian waxwing (Zoöl.), a small bird of Eu…
BRIEF n.
vate purpose. [Eng.] Apostolical brief, a letter of the pope written on fine parchment in modern characters, subscribed by the secretary of briefs, dated "a die Nativitatis," i. e., "from the day of the Nativity," and sealed with the ring of the fisherman. It differs from a bull, in its parchment, written character, da…
BYZANTINE a.
r inhabitant of Byzantium, now Constantinople; sometimes, applied to an inhabitant of the modern city of Constantinople. [ Written also Bizantine.] Byzantine church, the Eastern or Greek church, as distinguished from the Western or Roman or Latin church.See under Greek. -- Byzantine empire, the Eastern Roman or Greek…