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That which is used for steadying anything; ballast.

Anything that heals or that mitigates pain. "Balm for each ill." Mrs. Hemans. Balm cricket (Zoöl.), the European cicada. Tennyson. -- Balm of Gilead (Bot.), a small evergreen African and Asiatic tree of the terebinthine family (Balsamodendron Gileadense). Its leaves yield, when bruised, a strong aromatic scent; and fr…

Anything that heals, soothes, or restores. Was not the people's blessing a balsam to thy blood Tennyson. Balsam apple (Bot.), an East Indian plant ( Momordica balsamina), of the gourd family, with red or orange-yellow cucumber-shaped fruit of the size of a walnut, used as a vulnerary, and in liniments and poultices. -…

A mound, pile, or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding level; hence, anything shaped like a mound or ridge of earth; as, a bank of clouds; a bank of snow. They cast up a bank against the city. 2 Sam. xx. 15.

Anything which obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an obstruction; a barrier. Must I new bars to my own joy create Dryden.

backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else. "Having two barbs or points." Ascham.

Without anything to cover up or conceal one's thoughts or actions; open to view; exposed. Bare in thy guilt, how foul must thou appear ! Milton.

The thing stipulated or purchased; also, anything bought cheap. She was too fond of her most filthy bargain. Shak. Bargain and sale (Law), a species of conveyance, by which the bargainor contracts to convey the lands to the bargainee, and becomes by such contract a trustee for and seized to the use of the bargainee. Th…

Baryta.

See Barytone.

Symbol, Ba. Its oxide called baryta. [Rarely written barytum.]

A small beetle of many species (family Scolytidæ), which in the larval state bores under or in the bark of trees, often doing great damage.

which, when specially prepared and inverted, somewhat resembles a lamb; -- called also Scythian lamb.

A fortification, made in haste, of trees, earth, palisades, wagons, or anything that will obstruct the progress or attack of an enemy. It is usually an obstruction formed in streets to block an enemy's access.

An any obstruction; anything which hinders approach or attack. "Constitutional barriers." Hopkinson.

The bottom of anything, considered as its support, or that on which something rests for support; the foundation; as, the base of a statue. "The base of mighty mountains." Prescott.

The foundation of anything; that on which a thing rests. Dryden.

e of a stagecoach. [Eng.] Goldsmith. Basket fish (Zoöl.), an ophiuran of the genus Astrophyton, having the arms much branched. See Astrophyton. -- Basket hilt, a hilt with a covering wrought like basketwork to protect the hand. Hudibras. Hence, Baskethilted, a. -- Basket work, work consisting of plaited osiers or twi…

See Bascinet. Lord Lytton.

A quantity of anything produced at one operation; a group or collection of persons or things of the same kind; as, a batch of letters; the next batch of business. "A new batch of Lords." Lady M. W. Montagu.