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itates tacking in order to make progress. -- To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways. Addison. -- To beat about the bush, to approach a subject circuitously. -- To beat up and down (Hunting), to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag. -- To beat up for recruits, to go dilige…

A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc. Small beer, weak beer; (fig.) insignificant matters. "To suckle fools, and chronicle small beer." Shak.

bing woody vine of the tropics with the habit of a liane; in the Philippines, esp. any of various species of Calamus, the cane or rattan palm.

y rise and fall of the top, draws in air through a valve and expels it through a tube for various purposes, as blowing fires, ventilating mines, or filling the pipes of an organ with wind. Bellows camera, in photography, a form of camera, which can be drawn out like an accordion or bellows. -- Hydrostatic bellows. See…

A province in India, giving its name to various stuffs, animals, etc.

An impure benzene, used in the arts as a solvent, and for various other purposes. See Benzene.

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

Specifically, a name applied to various kinds of drink.

A game at cards in which various combinations of cards in the hand, when declared, score points.

The prayer before the sermon, with petitions for various specified classes of persons.

A weevil or curculio of various species, as the corn weevil. See Curculio.

One who has for sale the various kinds of birds which are kept in cages.

A tool for boring, of various forms and sizes, usually turned by means of a brace or bitstock. See Bitstock.

A wading bird of the genus Botaurus, allied to the herons, of various species.

A sort of fricassee with white sauce, variously made of capon, fish, etc. [Obs.] Chaucer.

perties instead of one or more things mentioned individually, as where a mortgage secures various debts as a group, or subjects a group or class of different pieces of property to one general lien.

Mildew; decay; anything nipping or blasting; -- applied as a general name to various injuries or diseases of plants, causing the whole or a part to wither, whether occasioned by insects, fungi, or atmospheric influences.

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

A spool or reel of various material and construction, with a head at one or both ends, and sometimes with a hole bored through its length by which it may be placed on a spindle or pivot. It is used to hold yarn or thread, as in spinning or warping machines, looms, sewing machines, etc.

etallic vessel, usually of wrought iron plates riveted together, or a composite structure variously formed, in which steam is generated for driving engines, or for heating, cooking, or other purposes.