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A piece of wood, metal, or other material, long in proportion to its breadth or thickness, used as a lever and for various other purposes, but especially for a hindrance, obstruction, or fastening; as, the bars of a fence or gate; the bar of a door. Thou shalt make bars of shittim wood. Ex. xxvi. 26.…

A West Indian island, giving its name to a disease, to a cherry, etc. Barbados cherry (Bot.), a genus of trees of the West Indies (Malpighia) with an agreeably acid fruit resembling a cherry. -- Barbados leg (Med.), a species of elephantiasis incident to hot climates. -- Barbados nuts, the seeds of the Jatropha curca…

A large fresh-water fish ( Barbus vulgaris) found in many European rivers. Its upper jaw is furnished with four barbels.

s, common along roadsides and in neglected fields. B. vulgaris is the species best known; its oblong red berries are made into a 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.]

llen at the base, and bearded with five bunches of stiff bristles; the puff bird. It inhabits tropical America and Africa.

f the 19th century centering in the village of Barbizon near the forest of Fontainebleau. Its members went straight to nature in disregard of academic tradition, treating their subjects faithfully and with poetic feeling for color, light, and atmosphere. It is exemplified, esp. in landscapes, by Corot, Rousseau, Daubig…

Symbol, Ba. Its oxide called baryta. [Rarely written barytum.]

be and gushes from apertures in hollow horizontal arms, causing the machine to revolve on its axis.

-- Barn swallow (Zoöl.), the common American swallow (Hirundo horreorum), which attaches its nest of mud to the beams and rafters of barns.

It is made in its simplest form by filling a graduated glass tube about 34 inches long with mercury and inverting it in a cup containing mercury. The column of mercury in the tube descends until balanced by the weight of the atmosphere, and its rise or fall under varying conditions is a measure of the change in the atm…

A form of barometer so constructed as to inscribe of itself upon paper a record of the variations of atmospheric pressure.

The practice of exciting and encouraging lawsuits and quarrels. [Also spelt barretry.] Coke. Blackstone.

A fence or railing to mark the limits of a place, or to keep back a crowd. No sooner were the barriers opened, than he paced into the lists. Sir W. Scott.

A diminutive of the bar, having one fourth its width.

The demesne lands of a manor; also, the manor itself. [Eng.] Burton.

The bottom of anything, considered as its support, or that on which something rests for support; the foundation; as, the base of a statue. "The base of mighty mountains." Prescott.

Basic salt (Chem.), a salt formed from a base or hydroxide by the partial replacement of its hydrogen by a negative or acid element or radical.

A fabulous serpent, or dragon. The ancients alleged that its hissing would drive away all other serpents, and that its breath, and even its look, was fatal. See Cockatrice. Make me not sighted like the basilisk. Shak.

One of the largest species of sharks (Cetorhinus maximus), so called from its habit of basking in the sun; the liver shark, or bone shark. It inhabits the northern seas of Europe and America, and grows to a length of more than forty feet. It is a harmless species.

Pertaining to Biscay, its people, or their language.