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g between the legs, or with the legs astride; to stand over That horse that thou so often hast bestrid. Shak. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus. Shak.

t is extracted as a white crystalline substance; -- called also lycine and oxyneurine. It has a sweetish taste.

One who has a claim to precedence; a superior, as in merit, social standing, etc.; -- usually in the plural. Their betters would hardly be found. Hooker. For the better, in the way of improvement; so as to produce improvement. "If I have altered him anywhere for the better." Dryden.

To corrupt with regard to chastity; to make a whore of. J. Fletcher.

hemp (Cannabis Indica), and chewed or smoked in the East as a means of intoxication. See Hasheesh.

One who has a mania for books. -- a.

A light vehicle having two wheels one behind the other. It has a saddle seat and is propelled by the rider's feet acting on cranks or levers.

An oval sac or cell, found in the leaves of certain plants of the order Araceæ. It has an opening at each end through which raphides, generated inside, are discharged.

A declaration made in writing, stating some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law.

ranch. This is the sense of the word as used in the Public Works Department; but the term has also been locally applied to mere back-waters forming stagnant pools and to certain water channels arising from a source.

A thick, heavy knife with a hooked point, used in pruning hedges, etc. When it has a short handle, it is sometimes called a hand bill; when the handle is long, a hedge bill or scimiter.

living matter as distinct from matter which is not living; the study of living tissue. It has to do with the origin, structure, development, function, and distribution of animals and plants.

One who has for sale the various kinds of birds which are kept in cages.

Earthen ware or porcelain which has undergone the first baking, before it is subjected to the glazing.

rtibus [infidelium] (R. C. Ch.), a bishop of a see which does not actually exist; one who has the office of bishop, without especial jurisdiction. Shipley. -- Titular bishop (R. C. Ch.), a term officially substituted in 1882 for bishop in partibus. -- Bench of Bishops. See under Bench.

Of or pertaining to bismuth; containing bismuth, when this element has its higher valence; as, bismuthic oxide.

Of, or containing, bismuth, when this element has its lower valence.

hor bites the ground. The last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, . . . it turned and turned with nothing to bite. Dickens. To bite the dust, To bite the ground, to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust. -- To bite in (Etching), to corrode or eat into…

Doubly ternate, as when a petiole has three ternate leaflets. -- Bi*ter"nate*ly, adv. Gray.

or distress to the mind; calamitous; poignant. It is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God. Jer. ii. 19.