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An instrument blown with a reed, and resembling a clarinet, but of much greater compass, embracing nearly four octaves.

Fertile; fruitful; productive. [Obs.] A battel soil for grain, for pasture good. Fairfax.

Paste of clay or loam. Holland.

sses the ship at right angles, or in the direction of her beams, and that point of the compass toward which her stern is directed. -- Beam center (Mach.), the fulcrum or pin on which the working beam of an engine vibrates. -- Beam compass, an instrument consisting of a rod or beam, having sliding sockets that carry s…

To be situated, as to the point of compass, with respect to something else; as, the land bears N. by E. To bear against, to approach for attack or seizure; as, a lion bears against his prey. [Obs.] -- To bear away (Naut.), to change the course of a ship, and make her run before the wind. -- To bear back, to retreat. "…

The act, power, or time of producing or giving birth; as, a tree in full bearing; a tree past bearing. [His mother] in travail of his bearing. R. of Gloucester.

To tread, as a path. Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way. Blackmore.

To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter, or a new character. The Lord God . . . breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen. ii. 7. That error…

The past participle of Be. In old authors it is also the pr. tense plural of Be. See 1st Bee. Assembled been a senate grave and stout. Fairfax.

A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; -- called also beetling machine. Knight.

To come to pass; to happen. I have revealed . . . the discord which befell. Milton.

In time past; previously; already. You tell me, mother, what I knew before. Dryden.

To surround as with a band; to encompass.

To encompass; to begird. Milton.

To cause the time of to pass without notice; to relieve the tedium or weariness of; to while away; to divert. Ballads . . . to beguile his incessant wayfaring. W. Irving.

[Obs.] The time is come that I should send it her, if I keep the behest that I have made. Paston.

Backward in time or order of succession; past. Forgetting those things which are behind. Phil. ii. 13.

To issue with spasmodic force or noise. Dryden.

A band that passes under the belly of a horse and holds the saddle or harness in place; a girth.

A narrow passage or strait; as, the Great Belt and the Lesser Belt, leading to the Baltic Sea.