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A variety of bacterium; a microscopic, rod-shaped vegetable organism.

e movements of which from point to point are determined by throwing dice. Formerly called tables. Backgammon board , a board for playing backgammon, often made in the form of two rectangular trays hinged together, each tray containing two "tables".

A microscopic vegetable organism, belonging to the class Algæ, usually in the form of a jointed rodlike filament, and found in putrefying organic infusions. Bacteria are destitute of chlorophyll, and are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are very widely diffused in nature, and multiply with marvelous rapidity…

ng; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart. "A baffled purpose." De Quincey. A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all. South. Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened nations. Prescott. The mere intricacy of a question should not baffl…

A woman of loose morals; a prostitute. A disreputable, daring, laughing, painted French baggage. Thackeray.

A division for the stalls of an open stable.

A portable oven in which baking is done. [U.S.] A baker's dozen, thirteen. -- Baker foot, a distorted foot. [Obs.] 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.…

urfaces. Knight. -- Balance fish. (Zoöl) See Hammerhead. -- Balance knife, a carving or table knife the handle of which overbalances the blade, and so keeps it from contact with the table. -- Balance of power. (Politics), such an adjustment of power among sovereign states that no one state is in a position to interf…

A portable canopy borne over shrines, etc., in procession. [Written also baldachino, baldaquin, etc.]

f the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. Balk line (Billiards), a line across a billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game.…

us Tetraodon, having the power of distending its body by taking air or water into its dilatable esophagus. See Globefish, and Bur fish.

A continuous tablet, stripe, or series of ornaments, as of carved foliage, of color, or of brickwork, etc.

A sort of table used by printers.

keeping tropical plants, having a bed of tanner's bark (called a bark bed) or other fermentable matter which produces a moist heat.

d other productions of a farm. In the United States a part of the barn is often used for stables. Barn owl (Zoöl.), an owl of Europe and America (Aluco flammeus, or Strix flammea), which frequents barns and other buildings. -- Barn swallow (Zoöl.), the common American swallow (Hirundo horreorum), which attaches its ne…

nd suspended in gimbals from an arm or support on shipboard. -- Mountain barometer, a portable mercurial barometer with tripod support, and long scale, for measuring heights. -- Siphon barometer, a barometer having a tube bent like a hook with the longer leg closed at the top. The height of the mercury in the longer…

Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty. Brilliant but barren reveries. Prescott. Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter. Swift.

The number from which a mathematical table is constructed; as, the base of a system of logarithms.

A sheet of cotton used for filling quilts or comfortables; batting.

A fair for the sale of fancy wares, toys, etc., commonly for a charitable objects. Macaulay.