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A name given to several species of fishes: (a) The Malthe vespertilio of the Atlantic coast. (b) The flying gurnard of the Atlantic (Cephalacanthus spinarella). (c) The California batfish or sting ray (Myliobatis Californicus.)

A ludicrous descent from the elevated to the low, in writing or speech; anticlimax.

A name given by Prof. Huxley to a gelatinous substance found in mud dredged from the Atlantic and preserved in alcohol. He supposed that it was free living protoplasm, covering a large part of the ocean bed. It is now known that the substance is of chemical, not of organic, origin.

Any species of the genus Ursus, and of the closely allied genera. Bears are plantigrade Carnivora, but they live largely on fruit and insects.

rom the bark of the bebeeru, or green heart of Guiana (Nectandra Rodioei). It is a tonic, antiperiodic, and febrifuge, and is used in medicine as a substitute for quinine. [Written also bibirine.]

d. In a general sense, any thing or place used for sleeping or reclining on or in, as a quantity of hay, straw, leaves, or twigs. And made for him [a horse] a leafy bed. Byron. I wash, wring, brew, bake, . . . make the beds. Shak. In bed he slept not for my urging it. Shak.

A gall produced on rosebushes, esp. on the sweetbrier or eglantine, by a puncture from the ovipositor of a gallfly (Rhodites rosæ). It was once supposed to have medicinal properties.

In a state of anticipation ore preoccupation; in advance; -- often followed by with. Agricola . . . resolves to be beforehand with the danger. Milton. The last cited author has been beforehand with me. Addison.

A canticle (the Latin version of which begins with this word) which may be used in the order for morning prayer in the Church of England. It is taken from an apocryphal addition to the third chapter of Daniel.

ught from Bengal; Bengal stripes. Bengal light, a firework containing niter, sulphur, and antimony, and producing a sustained and vivid colored light, used in making signals and in pyrotechnics; -- called also blue light. -- Bengal stripes, a kind of cotton cloth woven with colored stripes. See Bengal, 3. -- Bengal t…

A white crystalline powder used as an intestinal antiseptic; beta-naphthol benzoate.

Guaiacol benzoate, used as an intestinal antiseptic and as a substitute for creosote in phthisis. It is a colorless crystalline pewder.

A double sulphide of antimony and iron, of a dark steel-gray color.

ious at first, or would otherwise be concealed. All the names in the country betray great antiquity. Bryant.

In intermediate relation to, in respect to time, quantity, or degree; as, between nine and ten o'clock. Between decks, the space, or in the space, between the decks of a vessel. -- Between ourselves, Between you and me, Between themselves, in confidence; with the understanding that the matter is not to be communicated…

Having the slant of a bevel; slanting.

Having power to bewitch or fascinate; enchanting; captivating; charming. -- Be*witch"ing*ly, adv. -- Be*witch"ing*ness, n.

A gold coin of Byzantium or Constantinople, varying in weight and value, usually (those current in England) between a sovereign and a half sovereign. There were also white or silver bezants. [Written also besant, byzant, etc.]

(as the wild goat, the gazelle, and the Peruvian llama) formerly regarded as an unfailing antidote for poison, and a certain remedy for eruptive, pestilential, or putrid diseases. Hence: Any antidote or panacea.

Having the qualities of an antidote, or of bezoar; healing. [Obs.]