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A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.

A plant of the family of grasses, and genus Bambusa, growing in tropical countries.

A fillet, strap, or any narrow ligament with which a thing is encircled, or fastened, or by which a number of things are tied, bound together, or confined; a fetter. Every one's bands were loosed. Acis xvi 26.

A narrow band or fillet; a part of a head-dress. Around the edge of this cap was a stiff bandeau of leather. Sir W. Scott.

rs, or the forelock of human beings; to cut (the hair). His hair banged even with his eyebrows. The Century Mag.

days in which the sailors have no flesh meat served out to them. This use seems to be borrowed from the Banians or Banya race, who eat no flesh.

A bench, as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars. Placed on their banks, the lusty Trojan sweep Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep. Waller.

A narrow window seat; a raised shelf at the back or the top of a buffet or dresser.

An ordinary, like a fess but narrower, occupying only one fifth part of the field.

Beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it. The barbel, so called by reason of his barbs, or wattles in his mouth. Walton.

s incident to hot climates. -- Barbados nuts, the seeds of the Jatropha curcas, a plant growing in South America and elsewhere. The seeds and their acrid oil are used in medicine as a purgative. See Physic nut.

Furnished with a barb or barbs; as, a barbed arrow; barbed wire. Barbed wire, a wire, or a strand of twisted wires, armed with barbs or sharp points. It is used for fences.

Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind. Byron.

Prevented from growing, by having the bark too firm or close.

large American owl (Syrnium nebulosum); -- so called from the transverse bars of a dark brown color on the breast.

l.), a peculiar bear, inhabiting the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown bear of Europe. -- Barren Ground caribou (Zoöl.), a small reindeer (Rangifer Groenlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and Greenland.

A fence or railing to mark the limits of a place, or to keep back a crowd. No sooner were the barriers opened, than he paced into the lists. Sir W. Scott.

Of little, or less than the usual, height; of low growth; as, base shrubs. [Archaic] Shak.

Tending or proceeding away from the base; as, a basifugal growth.

the liver shark, or bone shark. It inhabits the northern seas of Europe and America, and grows to a length of more than forty feet. It is a harmless species.