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a continuous murmuring noise, as shallow water running over stones. In every babbling he finds a friend. Wordsworth.

A hound too noisy on finding a good scent.

Finery of a kind to please a child. [Obs.] "Painted babery." Sir P. Sidney.

engagement, or contest; to recede. [Colloq.] Cleon at first . . . was willing to go; but, finding that he [Nicias] was in earnest, he tried to back out. Jowett (Thucyd. )

here was a background of grinding and waiting before Miss Torry could produce this highly finished . . . performance. Mrs. Alexander. A husband somewhere in the background. Thackeray.

Private; indirect; secret; intriguing; as if finding access by the back stairs. A backstairs influence. Burke. Female caprice and backstairs influence. Trevelyan.

ed by sculptors, builders, and workers in wood or stone, to fill holes, cover defects, or finish a surface.

A sheriff's deputy, appointed to make arrests, collect fines, summon juries, etc.

n balance, to put up as a pledge or security. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- To strike a balance, to find out the difference between the debit and credit sides of an account.

is encircled, or fastened, or by which a number of things are tied, bound together, or confined; a fetter. Every one's bands were loosed. Acis xvi 26.

e the guitar, and its body like a tambourine. It has five strings, and is played with the fingers and hands.

e the guitar, and its body like a tambourine. It has five strings, and is played with the fingers and hands.

To make bankrupt; to bring financial ruin upon; to impoverish.

fish of the genus Histiophorus, of the Swordfish family, having a broad bannerlike dorsal fin; the sailfish. One species (H. Americanus) inhabits the North Atlantic.

An indefinite quantity of some substance, so shaped as to be long in proportion to its breadth and thickness; as, a bar of gold or of lead; a bar of soap.

to, or resembling, an uncivilized person or people; barbarous; barbarian; destitute of refinement. "Wild, barbaric music." Sir W. Scott.

preserve or sauce, and have been deemed efficacious in fluxes and fevers. The bark dyes a fine yellow, esp. the bark of the root. [Also spelt berberry.]

That part of a roofing slate, shingle, tile, or metal plate, which is exposed to the weather.

Covered with, or containing, bark. "The barky fingers of the elm." Shak.

subjected to the influence of electric waves. The original form consisted of an extremely fine platinum wire loop attached to terminals and inclosed in a small glass or silver bulb. In a later variety, called the liquid barretter, wire is replace by a column of liquid in a very fine capillary tube.