Search the Dictionary

A Mediterranean food fish; the bogue.

week day after Christmas, a legal holiday on which Christmas boxes are given to postmen, errand boys, employees, etc. The night of this day is boxing night. [Eng.]

Any plant of the genus Rubus, including the raspberry and blackberry. Hence: Any rough, prickly shrub. The thorny brambles, and embracing bushes. Shak.

two pieces of bent iron, which bear the bit, the cross chains, and the curb. -- Branch herring. See Alewife. -- Root and branch , totally, wholly.

lso, any harsh, grating, or discordant sound. The bray and roar of multitudinous London. Jerrold.

To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey. Go, release them, Ariel; My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore. Shak.

all arms and certain special guns, as automatic and machine guns; --used frequently in referring to the method by which the movable barrels of breech- loading shotguns are locked, unlocked, or rotated to loading position.

Taking or conferring rank by brevet; as, a brevet colonel; a brevet commission.

A good fellow; a merry person; as, you 're a brick. [Slang] "He 's a dear little brick." Thackeray. To have a brick in one's hat, to be drunk. [Slang]

set with bristles, or with hairs resembling bristles; rough. The leaves of the black mulberry are somewhat bristly. Bacon.

The young of the common herring; also, a small species of herring; the sprat.

To be or become overripe, as wheat, barley, or hops. [Prov. Eng.]

In a broken, interrupted manner; in a broken state; in broken language. The pagans worship God . . . as it were brokenly and by piecemeal. Cudworth.

plants of which the genera Tillandsia and Billbergia are examples. The pineapple, though terrestrial, is also of this family.

aper, esp. coarse wrapping paper, made of unbleached materials. -- Brown spar (Min.), a ferruginous variety of dolomite, in part identical with ankerite. -- Brown stone. See Brownstone. -- Brown stout, a strong kind of proter or malt liquor. -- Brown study, a state of mental abstraction or serious reverie. W. Irvin…

Wet and dirty; begrimed. [Obs. or Dial.] Herrick.

y animal not human; esp. a quadruped; a beast. Brutes may be considered as either aëral, terrestrial, aquatic, or amphibious. Locke.

The buffalo fish. See Buffalo fish, below. Buffalo berry (Bot.), a shrub of the Upper Missouri (Sherherdia argentea) with acid edible red berries. -- Buffalo bird (Zoöl.), an African bird of the genus Buphaga, of two species. These birds perch upon buffaloes and cattle, in search of parasites. -- Buffalo bug, the car…

ng others by low tricks, antic gestures, etc.; a droll; a mimic; a harlequin; a clown; a merry-andrew.

A bugbear; anything which terrifies. [Obs.] Sir, spare your threats: The bug which you would fright me with I seek. Shak.