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Pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through; -- called also bee blocks. Bee beetle (Zoöl.), a beetle (Trichodes apiarius) parasitic in beehives. -- Bee bird (Zoöl.), a bird that eats the honeybee, as the European flycatcher, and the American kingbird. -- Bee flower…

The womb. [Obs.] Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee. Jer. i. 5.

ows drawn at random from a bag or quiver, the marks on the arrows drawn being supposed to foreshow the future. Encyc. Brit.

mily; relations; household. [Colloq.] Few persons of her ladyship's belongings stopped, before they did her bidding, to ask her reasons. Thackeray.

To overtake with night or darkness, especially before the end of a day's journey or task. Some virgin, sure, . . . benighted in these woods. Milton.

The season when pigeons are said to feed on bents, before peas are ripe. Bare benting times . . . may come. Dryden.

To make destitute; to deprive; to strip; -- with of before the person or thing taken away. Madam, you have bereft me of all words. Shak. Bereft of him who taught me how to sing. Tickell.

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.

To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor. Concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favor. Sir W. Scott.

think; to consider; -- generally followed by a reflexive pronoun, often with of or that before the subject of thought. I have bethought me of another fault. Shak. The rest . . . may . . . bethink themselves, and recover. Milton. We bethink a means to break it off. Shak.

In good season or time; before it is late; seasonably; early. To measure life learn thou betimes. Milton. To rise betimes is often harder than to do all the day's work. Barrow.

To foreshow by present signs; to indicate something future by that which is seen or known; as, a dark cloud often betokens a storm.

To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen to lead into error or sin. Genius . . . often betrays itself into great errors. T. Watts.

To be on one's guard; to be cautious; to take care; -- commonly followed by of or lest before the thing that is to be avoided. Beware of all, but most beware of man ! Pope. Beware the awful avalanche. Longfellow.

At a place or time not yet reached; before. A thing beyond us, even before our death. Pope.

The prayer for the souls of benefactors, said before the sermon.

Before. [Obs.]

. The person who draws the bil is called the drawer, the person on whom it is drawn is, before acceptance, called the drawee, -- after acceptance, the acceptor; the person to whom the money is directed to be paid is called the payee. The person making the order may himself be the payee. The bill itself is frequently ca…

A piece of thick plank, armed with iron plates, and fixed on the bow or fore channels of a vessel, for the bill or fluke of the anchor to rest on. Totten.

A form of Bi-, sometimes used before s, c, or a vowel.