Search the Dictionary

The second letter of the Greek alphabet, B, b. See B, and cf. etymology of Alphabet. Beta (B, b) is used variously for classifying, as:

In the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Anglican or Protestant Episcopal churches, one ordained to the highest order of the ministry, superior to the priesthood, and generally claiming to be a successor of the Apostles. The bishop is usually the spiritual head or ruler of a diocese, bishopric, or see. Bishop in partibus [inf…

from left to right, and the next from right to left (as fields are plowed), as in early Greek and Hittite.

A book containing the daily public or canonical prayers of the Roman Catholic or of the Greek Church for the seven canonical hours, namely, matins and lauds, the first, third, sixth, and ninth hours, vespers, and compline; -- distinguished from the missal.

A natural stream of water smaller than a river or creek. The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water. Deut. viii. 7. Empires itself, as doth an inland brook Into the main of waters. Shak.

James's translators of the Bible to express the conjunctive and adversative force of the Greek But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; . . . the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him. Luke xii. 45, 46. But if, unless. [Obs.] Chaucer. But this I read, that but…

e surrounding plain; -- applied to peculiar elevations in the Rocky Mountain region. The creek . . . passes by two remarkable buttes of red conglomerate. Ruxton.

dern city of Constantinople. [ Written also Bizantine.] Byzantine church, the Eastern or Greek church, as distinguished from the Western or Roman or Latin church.See under Greek. -- Byzantine empire, the Eastern Roman or Greek empire from A.D. 364 or A.D. 395 to the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, A.D. 1453.…

he Norman Conquest, it always has the sound of k. The Latin C was the same letter as the Greek got it from the Phoenicians. The English name of C is from the Latin name ce, and was derived, probably, through the French. Etymologically C is related to g, h, k, q, s (and other sibilant sounds). Examples of these relation…

The first day of each month in the ancient Roman calendar. [Written also kalends.] The Greek calends, a time that will never come, as the Greeks had no calends.

A monk of the Greek Church; a cenobite, anchoret, or recluse of the rule of St. Basil, especially, one on or near Mt. Athos.

A beautiful gem of a deep red color (with a mixture of scarlet) called by the Greeks anthrax; found in the East Indies. When held up to the sun, it loses its deep tinge, and becomes of the color of burning coal. The name belongs for the most part to ruby sapphire, though it has been also given to red spinel and garnet.…

The Latin and English form of a Greek preposition, used as a prefix to signify down, downward, under, against, contrary or opposed to, wholly, completely; as in cataclysm, catarrh. It sometimes drops the final vowel, as in catoptric; and is sometimes changed to cath, as in cathartic, catholic.

A vault under altar of a Greek church.

An engine somewhat resembling a massive crossbow, used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for throwing stones, arrows, spears, etc.

undecomposable conception; a predicament. The categories or predicaments -- the former a Greek word, the latter its literal translation in the Latin language -- were intended by Aristotle and his followers as an enumeration of all things capable of being named; an enumeration by the summa genera i.e., the most extensiv…

ont an upright bar or pillar, designed to be emblematical of Christ's sufferings. In the Greek Church the chasuble is a large round mantle. [Written also chasible, and chesible.]

An under garment among the ancient Greeks, nearly representing the modern shirt.

A loose and flowing outer garment, worn by the ancient Greeks; a kind of cloak.

ning to, gods or spirits of the underworld; esp., relating to the underworld gods of the Greeks, whose worship is widely considered as more primitive in form than that of the Olympian gods. The characteristics of chthonian worship are propitiatory and magical rites and generalized or euphemistic names of the deities, w…