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To treat as a lout; to talk abusively to. [Obs.] Camden.

Marked with a band or circle; as, a belted stalk.

A reedlike grass; a stalk of stiff, coarse grass. His spear a bent, both stiff and strong. Drayton.

A bounding in bents, or the stalks of coarse, stiff, withered grass; as, benty fields.

Idle talk; babble. Shak.

To talk thoughtlessly or without discretion; to tattle; to tell tales. She must burst or blab. Dryden.

To bleach by excluding the light, as the stalks or leaves of plants, by earthing them up or tying them together.

Smooth, wheedling talk; flattery. [Colloq.] Blarney stone, a stone in Blarney castle, Ireland, said to make those who kiss it proficient in the use of blarney.

To cry, as a calf or sheep; to bleat; to make a senseless noise; to talk inconsiderately. [Low]

To talk foolishly, or nonsensically. G. Eliot.

A blustering, talkative fellow. [Local slang, U. S.] Barllett.

To talk loudly; to boast; to storm. [Colloq.] You blow behind my back, but dare not say anything to my face. Bartlett. To blow hot and cold Etym: (a saying derived from a fable of , to favor a thing at one time and treat it coldly at another; or to appear both to favor and to oppose. -- To blow off, to let steam escap…

A braggart, or loud talker. [Slang] Bartlett.

rupt; roughly frank; 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.

To talk with noisy violence; to swagger, as a turbulent or boasting person; to act in a noisy, tumultuous way; to play the bully; to storm; to rage. Your ministerial directors blustered like tragic tyrants. Burke.

d of expression generally found in books; formal; labored; pedantic; as, a bookish way of talking; bookish sentences. -- Book"ish*ly, adv. -- Book"ish*ness, n.

Profit; gain; advantage; use. [Obs.] Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot. Shak. To boot, in addition; over and above; besides; as a compensation for the difference of value between things bartered. Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot. Shak. A man's heaviness is refreshed long before he comes to drunkenne…

Empty talk; contemptible nonsense; trash; humbug. [Colloq.]

To boast; to talk big; to bluster. [Obs.]

A leaf, usually smaller than the true leaves of a plant, from the axil of which a flower stalk arises.