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Actuated by avarice; greedy of gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property.

The equitable and proportionate distribution of loss or expense among all interested. General average, a contribution made, by all parties concerned in a sea adventure, toward a loss occasioned by the voluntary sacrifice of the property of some of the parties in interest for the benefit of all. It is called general ave…

Turned away, esp. as an expression of feeling; also, offended; unpropitious. Who scornful pass it with averted eye. Keble.

The language of the Avesta; -- less properly called Zend.

which a part of the estate of one man is cut off and joined to the estate of another. The property in the part thus separated, or cut off, continues in the original owner. Wharton. Burrill.

A self-evident and necessary truth, or a proposition whose truth is so evident as first sight that no reasoning or demonstration can make it plainer; a proposition which it is necessary to take for granted; as, "The whole is greater than a part;" "A thing can not, at the same time, be and not be."

An apparatus for measuring or determining the proportion of nitrogen; a nitrometer.

nd an offender. -- To back water (Naut.), to reverse the action of the oars, paddles, or propeller, so as to force the boat or ship backward.

In baseball, a fence, prop. at least 90 feet behind the home base, to stop the balls that pass the catcher; also, the catcher himself.

bacon, woolens, furs, etc. See Dermestes. -- To save one's bacon, to save one's self or property from harm or less. [Colloq.]

o succeeded the Bab as the head of the Babists. Baha in 1863 declared himself the supreme prophet of the sect, and became its recognized head. There are upwards of 20,000 Bahais in the United States.

to whom goods are committed in trust, and who has a temporary possession and a qualified property in them, for the purposes of the trust. Blackstone.

A prison or court of justice; -- used in certain proper names; as, the Old Bailey in London; the New Bailey in Manchester. [Eng.] Oxf. Gloss.

] Jer. Taylor. -- Baker's itch, a rash on the back of the hand, caused by the irritating properties of yeast. -- Baker's salt, the subcarbonate of ammonia, sometimes used instead of soda, in making bread.

To equal in number, weight, force, or proportion; to counterpoise, counterbalance, counteract, or neutralize. One expression . . . must check and balance another. Kent.

-shaped scape wheel, which in some watches is acted upon by the axis of the balance wheel proper (in those watches called a balance).

y ornamented, worn over one shoulder, across the breast, and under the opposite arm; less properly, any belt. [Also spelt bawdrick.] A radiant baldric o'er his shoulder tied Sustained the sword that glittered at his side. Pope.

The act of imparting balsamic properties.

Notice of a proposed marriage, proclaimed in church. See Banns (the common spelling in this sense).

one should possess). "Bankrupt in gratitude." Sheridan. Bankrupt law, a law by which the property of a person who is unable or unwilling to pay his debts may be taken and distributed to his creditors, and by which a person who has made a full surrender of his property, and is free from fraud, may be discharged from th…