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Expressing wishes for good; as, a benedictory prayer. Thackeray.

t, as with a stick; figuratively, to assail or criticise in conversation, or in writing. Thackeray.

enefit, or propriety. Had we best retire I see a storm. Milton. Had I not best go to her Thackeray.

ities of. Love betters what is best. Wordsworth. He thought to better his circumstances. Thackeray.

A long bar or bolt of iron with sliding shackles, and a lock at the end, to confine the feet of prisoners or offenders, esp. on board of ships. Methought I lay Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Shak.

lment of engagement; to leave in the lurch; to give the slip to; as, to bilk a creditor. Thackeray.

o bill and coo, to interchange caresses; -- said of doves; also of demonstrative lovers. Thackeray.

A young bird. Thackeray.

g against with black balls; to ostracize. He was blackballed at two clubs in succession. Thackeray.

tween fourteen and five and thirty Shak. It was the morning costume of a dandy or blood. Thackeray.

nfamous; contemptible; -- variously used for mere emphasis or as a low epithet. [Vulgar] Thackeray.

e freshness; a flush; a glow. A new, fresh, brilliant world, with all the bloom upon it. Thackeray.

A kind of half boot, named from the Prussian general Blücher. Thackeray.

an abbreviation of bluestocking. [Colloq.] The ladies were very blue and well informed. Thackeray. Blue asbestus. See Crocidolite. -- Blue black, of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost black. -- Blue blood. See under Blood. -- Blue buck (Zoöl.), a small South African antelope (Cephalophus pygmæus); also appl…

to and fro, or up and down; to play loosely against anything. "Bobbing and courtesying." Thackeray.

Wearing a bodice. Thackeray.

ir. To sit, ride, or travel bodkin, to sit closely wedged between two persons. [Colloq.] Thackeray.

An iron to fasten the legs of a prisoner; a shackle; a fetter. [Obs.] Away with him to prison! lay bolts enough upon him. Shak.

or by which anything is fastened or bound, as a cord, chain, etc.; a band; a ligament; a shackle or a manacle. Gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder, I gained my freedom. Shak.

en put into the boot, a wedge is driven. The pretty boots trimly stretched on boottrees. Thackeray.