Search the Dictionary

To drag through, encumber with, or fix in, the mire; to soil by passing through mud or dirt. Bemired and benighted in the dog. Burke.

A pastoral song. [Obs.]

A kind of grass (Cynodon Dactylon) esteemed for pasture in the Southern United States. It is a native of Southern Europe, but is now wide-spread in warm countries; -- called also scutch grass, and in Bermuda, devil grass.

pe and America. It was formerly believed that it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas), which were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related species. See Anatifa and Cirripedia.

n a certain situation or condition; to circumstance; to place. [Only in p. p.] They shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: . . . and curse their king and their God. Is. viii. 21. Many far worse bestead than ourselves. Barrow.

To come to pass; to happen; to occur. A salve for any sore that may betide. Shak.

To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel. The works of nature do always aim at that which can not be bettered. Hooker.

A light repast between meals; a lunch. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

Past, out of the reach or sphere of; further than; greater than; as, the patient was beyond medical aid; beyond one's strength.

The rim which encompasses and fastens a jewel or other object, as the crystal of a watch, in the cavity in which it is set.

A kind of divination, performed by selecting passages of Scripture at hazard, and drawing from them indications concerning future events.

Pertaining to a passion for books; relating to a bibliomaniac.

A two-masted passenger boat or small vessel, used in the bay of Manila.

ellow, or greenish, viscid fluid, usually alkaline in reaction, secreted by the liver. It passes into the intestines, where it aids in the digestive process. Its characteristic constituents are the bile salts, and coloring matters.

Choleric; passionate; ill tempered. "A bilious old nabob." Macaulay. Bilious temperament. See Temperament.

A case or box placed near the helmsman, containing the compass of a ship, and a light to show it at night. Totten.

Of or relating to birch. He passed where Newark's stately tower Looks out from Yarrow's birchen bower. Sir W. Scott.

sus, Dermaleichus and allies) parasitic upon birds. The species are numerous. -- Bird of passage, a migratory bird. -- Bird spider (Zoöl.), a very large South American spider (Mygale avicularia). It is said sometimes to capture and kill small birds. -- Bird tick (Zoöl.), a dipterous insect parasitic upon birds (genu…

Flighty; passing rapidly from one subject to another; not having the faculty of attention. Bacon.

The day in which any person is born; day of origin or commencement. Those barbarous ages past, succeeded next The birthday of invention. Cowper.