Search the Dictionary

A member of a religious order, named from St. Barnabas.

ial division, corresponding nearly to the English hundred, and supposed to have been originally the district of a native chief. There are 252 of these baronies. In Scotland, an extensive freehold. It may be held by a commoner. Brande & C.

A home-made woolen blanket without nap. [Local, New York] Bartlett.

f magnetic or titanic iron, and also bottle- green particles of olivine frequently disseminated.

by honorable service; as, a base estate, one held by services not honorable; held by villenage. Such a tenure is called base, or low, and the tenant, a base tenant. Base fee, formerly, an estate held at the will of the lord; now, a qualified fee. See note under Fee, n., 4. -- Base metal. See under Metal.…

The name given to several aromatic herbs of the Mint family, but chiefly to the common or sweet basil (Ocymum basilicum), and the bush basil, or lesser basil (O. minimum), the leaves of which are used in cookery. The name is also given to several kinds of mountain mint (Pycnanthemum). Basil thyme, a name given to the f…

Originally, the place of a king; but afterward, an apartment provided in the houses of persons of importance, where assemblies were held for dispensing justice; and hence, any large hall used for this purpose.

A large piece of ordnance, so called from its supposed resemblance to the serpent of that name, or from its size. [Obs.]

The pedestal of a column, pillar, or statue. [Obs.] If no basis bear my rising name. Pope.

hed with holes, which are stopped by the fingers, and by keys, as in flutes. It forms the natural bass to the oboe, clarinet, etc.

A "natural" child; a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate child; one born of an illicit union.

tress in Paris, used as a prison, especially for political offenders; hence, a rhetorical name for a prison.

Pertaining to, or having the nature of, a basyle; electro- positive; basic; -- opposed to chlorous. Graham.

An aboriginal American name for the sweet potato (Ipomæa batatas).

atavi, an ancient Germanic tribe; or to (b) as, a Batavian legion. Batavian Republic, the name given to Holland by the French after its conquest in 1795.

A name given to several species of fishes: (a) The Malthe vespertilio of the Atlantic coast. (b) The flying gurnard of the Atlantic (Cephalacanthus spinarella). (c) The California batfish or sting ray (Myliobatis Californicus.)

A city in the west of England, resorted to for its hot springs, which has given its name to various objects. Bath brick, a preparation of calcareous earth, in the form of a brick, used for cleaning knives, polished metal, etc. -- Bath chair, a kind of chair on wheels, as used by invalids at Bath. "People walked out, o…

A name given by Prof. Huxley to a gelatinous substance found in mud dredged from the Atlantic and preserved in alcohol. He supposed that it was free living protoplasm, covering a large part of the ocean bed. It is now known that the substance is of chemical, not of organic, origin.

le; disposition or arrangement of troops (brigades, regiments, battalions, etc.), or of a naval force, for action. A drawing up the armies in battalia. Jer. Taylor.

To grow fat; to grow fat in ease and luxury; to glut one's self. Dryden. The pampered monarch lay battening in ease. Garth. Skeptics, with a taste for carrion, who batten on the hideous facts in history, -- persecutions, inquisitions. Emerson.