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An ironical or satirical composition intended to excite laughter, or to ridicule anything. The dull burlesque appeared with impudence, And pleased by novelty in spite of sense. Dryden.

stately or beautiful, and of inanimate things that were huge and bulky. "Burly sacks." Drayton. In his latter days, with overliberal diet, [he was] somewhat corpulent and burly. Sir T. More. Burly and big, and studious of his ease. Cowper.

One who, or that which, burns or sets fire to anything.

her. Burke. Burrowing owl (Zoöl.), a small owl of the western part of North America (Speotyto cunicularia), which lives in holes, often in company with the prairie dog.

The tail, or brush, of a fox. To beat about the bush, to approach anything in a round-about manner, instead of coming directly to it; -- a metaphor taken from hunting. -- Bush bean (Bot.), a variety of bean which is low and requires no support (Phaseolus vulgaris, variety nanus). See Bean, 1. -- Bush buck, or Bush go…

abut. [Written also but.] And Barnsdale there doth butt on Don's well-watered ground. Drayton.

The thicker end of anything. See But.

Anything which supports or strengthens. "The ground pillar and buttress of the good old cause of nonconformity." South. Flying buttress. See Flying buttress.

ready to obey; obedient; tractable; docile; meek; humble. [Obs.] So wild a beast, so tame ytaught to be, And buxom to his bands, is joy to see. Spenser. I submit myself unto this holy church of Christ, to be ever buxom and obedient to the ordinance of it. Foxe.

promise, in fact or in law, to make payment at a future day. -- To buy the refusal (of anything), to give a consideration for the right of purchasing, at a fixed price, at a future time.

he foot, and issue from between the valves of certain bivalve mollusks, as the Pinna and Mytilus, by which they attach themselves to rocks, etc.

To inclose [R.] Hewyt.

A rhythmical modulation of the voice or of any sound; as, music of bells in cadence sweet. Blustering winds, which all night long Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull Seafaring men o'erwatched. Milton. The accents . . . were in passion's tenderest cadence. Sir W. Scott.

ssure, as in caissons, diving bells, etc. It is characterized by neuralgic pains and paralytic symptoms. It is variously explained, most probably as due to congestion of internal organs with subsequent stasis of the blood.

or young man; any silly person; a dolt. [Colloq.] Some silly, doting, brainless calf. Drayton.

ime of Charies II. Cameron and others refused to accept the "indulgence" offered the Presbyterian clergy, insisted on the Solemn league and Covenant, and in 1680 declared Charles II deposed for tyranny, breach of faith, etc. Cameron was killed at the battle of Airdmoss, but his followers became a denomination (afterwar…

The pasque flower. Drayton.

ks, down thrilling from the skies, Make sundry canceliers are they the fowl can reach. Drayton.

Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroy. The cankers of envy and faction. Temple.

A beetle (Lytta, or Cantharis, vesicatoria), having an elongated cylindrical body of a brilliant green color, and a nauseous odor; the blister fly or blister beetle, of the apothecary; -- also called Spanish fly. Many other species of Lytta, used for the same purpose, take the same name. See Blister beetle, under Blist…