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. The lofty mountains on the north side compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the country. Darwin. We have now come to the backbone of our subject. Earle.

Not advanced in civilization; undeveloped; as, the country or region is in a backward state.

and where lack of wood, water, and forage increases the difficulty of traversing the country, whence the name, first given by the Canadian French, Mauvaises Terres (bad lands).

a bottle on each side To make his balance true. Cowper. The order and balance of the country were destroyed. Buckle. English workmen completely lose their balance. J. S. Mill.

Destitute of dignity or value; paltry; mean. [Obs.]

To condemn to exile, or compel to leave one's country, by authority of the ruling power. "We banish you our territories." Shak.

A supernatural being supposed by the Irish and Scotch peasantry to warn a family of the speedy death of one of its members, by wailing or singing in a mournful voice under the windows of the house.

The act of bantering; joking or jesting; humorous or good- humored raillery; pleasantry. Part banter, part affection. Tennyson.

rian; uncivilized; rude; peopled with barbarians; as, a barbarous people; a barbarous country.

Of or pertaining to bards, or their poetry. "The bardic lays of ancient Greece." G. P. Marsh.

in barns when a theatre is lacking; hence, an inferior actor, or one who plays in the country away from the larger cities. --Barn"storm`ing, n. [Theatrical Cant]

One guilty of barratry.

Tainter with, or constituting, barratry. -- Bar"ra*trous*ly, adv. Kent.

A carpentry obstruction, stockade, or other obstacle made in a passage in order to stop an enemy.

A place or tract of country, protected by fortifications, or by natural advantages, from which the operations of an army proceed, forward movements are made, supplies are furnished, etc.

The entire tract of country drained by a river, or sloping towards a sea or lake.

Pertaining to the country, people, or language of Biscay; Basque [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Pertaining to bathymetry; relating to the measurement of depths, especially of depths in the sea.

and made into ornaments. -- Ignatius bean, or St. Ignatius's bean (Bot.), a species of Strychnos. -- Navy bean, the common dried white bean of commerce; probably so called because an important article of food in the navy. -- Pea bean, a very small and highly esteemed variety of the edible white bean; -- so called f…

aut.), a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress. -- To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways. Addison. -- To beat about the bush, to approach a subject circuitously. -- To beat up and down (Hunting), to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag. -- To beat up…