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t word of the Elizabethan writers, probably in ridicule of some person who pretended to a knowledge of Latin which he did not possess. Baccare! you are marvelous forward. Shak.

to walken inne by daylight. Chaucer. Behind one's back, when one is absent; without one's knowledge; as, to ridicule a person behind his back. -- Full back, Half back, Quarter back (Football), players stationed behind those in the front line. -- To be or lie on one's back, to be helpless. -- To put, or get, one's ba…

The application of a knowledge of bacteria for their detection and identification, as in the examination of polluted water.

o trace or lay the foundation of; to make or place a beginning of. The apostle begins our knowledge in the creatures, which leads us to the knowledge of God. Locke.

Left a distance by, in progress of improvement Hence: Inferior to in dignity, rank, knowledge, or excellence, or in any achievement. I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. 2 Cor. xi. 5.

To confess; to acknowledge. [Obs.] Chaucer.

e acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses. Belief admits of all de…

y reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by circumstances other than personal knowledge; to regard or accept as true; to place confidence in; to think; to consider; as, to believe a person, a statement, or a doctrine. Our conqueror (whom I now Of force believe almighty). Milton. King Agrippa, believest thou…

More advanced; more perfect; as, upon better acquaintance; a better knowledge of the subject. All the better. See under All, adv. -- Better half, an expression used to designate one's wife. My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee. Sir P. Sidney. -- To be better off, to be in a better condition.…

One skilled in the knowledge of the Bible; a demonstrator of religious truth by the Scriptures.

The science of life; that branch of knowledge which treats of living matter as distinct from matter which is not living; the study of living tissue. It has to do with the origin, structure, development, function, and distribution of animals and plants.

Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own. By his imperious mistress blindly led. Dryden.

ish; to disclose. Through the court his courtesy was blown. Dryden. His language does his knowledge blow. Whiting.

erial form; physical; corporeal; consisting of matter. You are a mere spirit, and have no knowledge of the bodily part of us. Tatler.

Versed in books; having knowledge derived from books. [Often in a disparaging sense.] Whate'er these book-learned blockheads say, Solon's the veriest fool in all the play. Dryden.

One skilled in botany; one versed in the knowledge of plants.

body or system; a distinct article; a section or subdivision; a department. "Branches of knowledge." Prescott. It is a branch and parcel of mine oath. Shak.

Deportment or behavior in the external offices and decorums of social life; manners; knowledge of, or training in, the ceremonies, or polite observances of society. Delicacy of breeding, or that polite deference and respect which civility obliges us either to express or counterfeit towards the persons with whom we conv…

It seldom happens that men of a studious turn acquire any degree of reputation for their knowledge of business. Bp. Popteus.

A professor of canon law; one skilled in the knowledge and practice of ecclesiastical law. South.