Search the Dictionary

A genus of herbs (Blitum) with a fleshy calyx. Blitum capitatum is the strawberry blite.

ned as the price, or at the cost, of another's life; -- said of a reward for supporting a capital charge, of money obtained for betraying a fugitive or for committing murder, or of money obtained from the sale of that which will destroy the purchaser.

and remarkable for acuteness of smell. It is employed to recover game or prey which has escaped wounded from a hunter, and for tracking criminals. Formerly it was used for pursuing runaway slaves. Other varieties of dog are often used for the same purpose and go by the same name. The Cuban bloodhound is said to be a va…

dly at another; or to appear both to favor and to oppose. -- To blow off, to let steam escape through a passage provided for the purpose; as, the engine or steamer is blowing off. -- To blow out. (a) To be driven out by the expansive force of a gas or vapor; as, a steam cock or valve sometimes blows out. (b) To talk…

A broad, flat Scottish cap of blue woolen, or one waring such cap; a Scotchman.

ory lacks proof, to have taken its origin from the insistence of a Delaware Revolutionary captain, named Caldwell, that no cock could be truly game unless the mother was a blue hen, whence Blue Hen's Chickens came to be a nickname for the people of Delaware.

unceremonious; blunt; brusque; as, a bluff answer; a bluff manner of talking; a bluff sea captain. "Bluff King Hal." Sir W. Scott. There is indeed a bluff pertinacity which is a proper defense in a moment of surprise. I. Taylor.

A short gun or firearm, with a large bore, capable of holding a number of balls, and intended to do execution without exact aim.

Free from blushes; incapable of blushing; shameless; impudent. Vice now, secure, her blushless front shall raise. Dodsley.

rd of, or enter, as a ship, whether in a hostile or a friendly way. You board an enemy to capture her, and a stranger to receive news or make a communication. Totten.

A Mediterranean fish (Capros aper), of the family Caproidæ; -- so called from the resemblance of the extended lips to a hog's snout.

In Persia, a punishment of capital offenders, by laying them on the back in a covered boat, where they are left to perish.

Steep; abrupt; prominent. Where the bold cape its warning forehead rears. Trumbull.

A genus of fungi having the under side of the pileus or cap composed of a multitude of fine separate tubes. A few are edible, and others very poisonous.

The pod or capsule of a plant, as of flax or cotton; a pericarp of a globular form.

The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital. G. Francis.

A sudden flight, as to escape creditors. This gentleman was so hopelessly involved that he contemplated a bolt to America -- or anywhere. Compton Reade.

The state of being bound; imprisonment; captivity, restraint. "This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds." Acts xxvi.

r restraint; restraint of personal liberty by compulsion; involuntary servitude; slavery; captivity. The King, when he designed you for my guard, Resolved he would not make my bondage hard. Dryden.

A headdress for men and boys; a cap. [Obs.] Milton. Shak.