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Any right, privilege, or possession to which a person is entitled by birth, such as an estate descendible by law to an heir, or civil liberty under a free constitution; esp. the rights or inheritance of the first born. Lest there be any . . . profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Heb.…

A kind of unraised bread, of many varieties, plain, sweet, or fancy, formed into flat cakes, and bakes hard; as, ship biscuit. According to military practice, the bread or biscuit of the Romans was twice prepared in the oven. Gibbon.

oxygen of the silica to the oxygen of the base is as two to one. The bisilicates include many of the most common and important minerals.

Fig.: Anything which curbs or restrains.

g), to corrode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid. -- To bite the thumb at (any one), formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a quarrel; to defy. "Do you bite your thumb at us " Shak. -- To bite the tongue, to keep silence. Shak.

Any substance that is bitter. See Bitters.

ous error, or schism, tending to draw persons to apostasy. Looking diligently, . . . lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you. Heb. xii. 15.

Anything which is bittersweet.

A small bit of anything, of indefinite size or quantity; a short distance. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

e, burning with a bright flame; Jew's pitch. It occurs as an abundant natural product in many places, as on the shores of the Dead and Caspian Seas. It is used in cements, in the construction of pavements, etc. See Asphalt.

Any process in which advantage is taken of the fact that prepared bitumen is rendered insoluble by exposure to light, as in photolithography.

e soap. -- Bituminous shale, an argillaceous shale impregnated with bitumen, often accompanying coal.

Any book which treats of necromancy.

Any Friday on which a public disaster has occurred, as: In England, December 6, 1745, when the news of the landing of the Pretender reached London, or May 11, 1866, when a financial panic commenced. In the United States, September 24, 1869, and September 18, 1873, on which financial panics began.

A Spanish anarchistic society, many of the members of which were imprisoned in 1883.

aster Monday, so called from the severity of that day in 1360, which was so unusual that many of Edward III.'s soldiers, then before Paris, died from the cold. Stow. Then it was not for nothing that may nose fell a bleeding on Black Monday last. Shak.

A broad board painted black, or any black surface on which writing, drawing, or the working of mathematical problems can be done with chalk or crayons. It is much used in schools.

Any preparation for making things black; esp. one for giving a black luster to boots and shoes, or to stoves.

Bad port wine; any commo wine of the Mediterranean; -- so called by sailors.

Any vesicle or blister, especially if filled with air, or a thin, watery fluid.