Search the Dictionary

Kind; gracious; favorable. -- Be*nig"nant*ly, adv.

A member of a race somewhat resembling the Arabs, but often classed as Hamitic, who were formerly the inhabitants of the whole of North Africa from the Mediterranean southward into the Sahara, and who still occupy a large part of that region; -- called also Kabyles. Also, the language spoken by this people.…

Having good qualities in the highest degree; most good, kind, desirable, suitable, etc.; most excellent; as, the best man; the best road; the best cloth; the best abilities. When he is best, he is a little worse than a man. Shak. Heaven's last, best gift, my ever new delight. Milton.

Preferable in regard to rank, value, use, fitness, acceptableness, safety, or in any other respect. To obey is better than sacrifice. 1 Sam. xv. 22. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Ps. cxviii. 9.

Bible. Also, the book which is made up of writings similarly accepted by the Jews; as, a rabbinical Bible.

One who hides away books, as in a tomb. [R.] Crabb.

Applied to a line which is the sum of two lines commensurable only in power (as the side and diagonal of a square).

.: A girl; a maiden. And by my word! the bonny bird In danger shall not tarry. Campbell. Arabian bird, the phenix. -- Bird of Jove, the eagle. -- Bird of Juno, the peacock. -- Bird louse (Zoöl.), a wingless insect of the group Mallophaga, of which the genera and species are very numerous and mostly parasitic upon bi…

Sodom flamed. Milton. Bituminous coal, a kind of coal which yields, when heated, a considerable amount of volatile bituminous matter. It burns with a yellow smoky flame. -- Bituminous limestone, a mineral of a brown or black color, emitting an unpleasant smell when rubbed. That of Dalmatia is so charged with bitumen t…

An earthy carbonate of iron containing considerable carbonaceous matter; -- valuable as an iron ore.

Deserving of censure; faulty; culpable; reprehensible; censurable; blameworthy. -- Blam"a*ble*ness, n. -- Blam"a*bly (, adv.

Fig.: To whiten; to give a favorable appearance to; to whitewash; to palliate. Blanch over the blackest and most absurd things. Tillotson.

A distemper incident to cattle, in which their livers are affected. Crabb.

Beer kept unbroached until it is sharp. Crabb.

Descent; lineage; especially, honorable birth; the highest royal lineage. Give us a prince of blood, a son of Priam. Shak. I am a gentleman of blood and breeding. Shak.

cies (Ægoceras leucophæus); the blaubok. -- Blue cod (Zoöl.), the buffalo cod. -- Blue crab (Zoöl.), the common edible crab of the Atlantic coast of the United States (Callinectes hastatus). -- Blue curls (Bot.), a common plant (Trichostema dichotomum), resembling pennyroyal, and hence called also bastard pennyroyal…

reach as if by an accident involving more or less stupidity, -- applied to something desirable; as, to blunder on a useful discovery.

A piece of timber sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth as compared with the thickness, -- used for building, etc.

An animal (as a horse or dog) with a short tail. Rag, tag, and bobtail, the rabble.

To cause to start or spring forth; to dislodge, as conies, rabbits, etc.