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A small European song bird (Sylvia atricapilla), with a black crown; the mock nightingale.

The male of the European black grouse (Tetrao tetrix, Linn.); - - so called by sportsmen. The female is called gray hen. See Heath grouse.

Payment of money exacted by means of intimidation; also, extortion of money from a person by threats of public accusation, exposure, or censure.

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

A sharp-witted, dashing, wild, or reckless, fellow; -- a word of somewhat indefinite meaning. He saw a turnkey in a trice Fetter a troublesome blade. Coleridge.

One who, or that which, blanches or whitens; esp., one who anneals and cleanses money; also, a chemical preparation for this purpose.

A lamp provided with some arrangement for intensifying combustion by means of a blast.

Ostentatious display, either by words or other means; publication; show; description; record. Obtrude the blazon of their exploits upon the company. Collier. Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit, Do give thee fivefold blazon. Shak.

A small European river fish (Leuciscus alburnus), of the family Cyprinidæ; the blay. [Written also blick.]

To emit blood; to lose blood; to run with blood, by whatever means; as, the arm bleeds; the wound bled freely; to bleed at the nose.

A means of happiness; that which promotes prosperity and welfare; a beneficent gift. Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed. Milton.

ock printing. (a) A mode of printing (common in China and Japan) from engraved boards by means of a sheet of paper laid on the linked surface and rubbed with a brush. S. W. Williams. (b) A method of printing cotton cloth and paper hangings with colors, by pressing them upon an engraved surface coated with coloring matt…

The European bullfinch.

Bloom; a blossoming. [Prov. Eng.] All that blooth means heavy autumn work for him and his hands. T. Hardy.

To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means; as, to blow the fire.

The cleaning of the flues of a boiler from scale, etc., by a blast of steam.

by pressure, as for increasing the draft of a furnace, ventilating a building or shaft, cleansing gram, etc.

A nostril or spiracle in the top of the head of a whale or other cetacean.

A blowgun; a blowtube. Blowpipe analysis (Chem.), analysis by means of the blowpipe. -- Blowpipe reaction (Chem.), the characteristic behavior of a substance subjected to a test by means of the blowpipe.

-- Blue spar (Min.), azure spar; lazulite. See Lazulite. -- Blue thrush (Zoöl.), a European and Asiatic thrush (Petrocossyphus cyaneas). -- Blue verditer. See Verditer. -- Blue vitriol (Chem.), sulphate of copper, a violet blue crystallized salt, used in electric batteries, calico printing, etc. -- Blue water, the…