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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,960 words match “FRA”

BIPRISM n.
A prism whose refracting angle is very nearly 180 degrees.
BISSELL TRUCK n.
g stock, consisting of two ordinary axle boxes sliding in guides attached to a triangular frame; -- called also pony truck.
BITE n.
A cheat; a trick; a fraud. [Colloq.] The baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and overreaching. Humorist.
BITING IN n.
he process of corroding or eating into metallic plates, by means of an acid. See Etch. G. Francis.
BITTERN n.
A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus Indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer. Cooley.
BITTS n.
A frame of two strong timbers fixed perpendicularly in the fore part of a ship, on which to fasten the cables as the ship rides at anchor, or in warping. Other bitts are used for belaying (belaying bitts), for sustaining the windlass (carrick bitts, winch bitts, or windlass bitts), to hold the pawls of the windlass (pa…
BLACK FRIAR n.
A friar of the Dominican order; -- called also predicant and preaching friar; in France, Jacobin. Also, sometimes, a Benedictine.
BLACKMAIL v.
, distress of mind, etc.; as, to blackmail a merchant by threatening to expose an alleged fraud. [U. S.]
BLASPHEMOUS a.
hemous caricature. "Blasphemous publications." Porteus. Nor from the Holy One of Heaven Refrained his tongue blasphemous. Milton.
BLESSED a.
Imparting happiness or bliss; fraught with happiness; blissful; joyful. "Then was a blessed time." "So blessed a disposition." Shak.
BLETONISM n.
ceiving subterraneous springs and currents by sensation; -- so called from one Bleton, of France.
BLINDAGE n.
rotection for an advanced trench or approach, formed of fascines and earth supported by a framework.
BLINDWORM n.
A small, burrowing, snakelike, limbless lizard (Anguis fragilis), with minute eyes, popularly believed to be blind; the slowworm; -- formerly a name for the adder. Newts and blindworms do no wrong. Shak.
BLISTER v.
To raise a blister or blisters upon. My hands were blistered. Franklin.
BLOCK n.
A grooved pulley or sheave incased in a frame or shell which is provided with a hook, eye, or strap, by which it may be attached to an object. It is used to change the direction of motion, as in raising a heavy object that can not be conveniently reached, and also, when two or more such sheaves are compounded, to chang…
BLOODY a.
aving a cruel, savage disposition; murderous; cruel. Some bloody passion shakes your very frame. Shak.
BLOUSE n.
A light, loose over-garment, like a smock frock, worn especially by workingmen in France; also, a loose coat of any material, as the undress uniform coat of the United States army.
BLUE n.
One of the seven colors into which the rays of light divide themselves, when refracted through a glass prism; the color of the clear sky, or a color resembling that, whether lighter or darker; a pigment having such color. Sometimes, poetically, the sky.
BLUFF a.
Abrupt; roughly frank; unceremonious; blunt; brusque; as, a bluff answer; a bluff manner of talking; a bluff sea captain. "Bluff King Hal." Sir W. Scott. There is indeed a bluff pertinacity which is a proper defense in a moment of surprise. I. Taylor.
BLUSH n.
e first appearance or view. "At the first blush, we thought they had been ships come from France." Hakluyt.
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