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Of or pertaining to Bengal. -- n. sing. & pl. A native or natives of Bengal.

Kind; gracious; favorable. -- Be*nig"nant*ly, adv.

The name of two plants (Sesamum orientale and S. indicum), originally Asiatic; -- also called oil plant. From their seeds an oil is expressed, called benne oil, used mostly for making soap. In the southern United States the seeds are used in candy.

The common yellow-flowered avens of Europe (Geum urbanum); herb bennet. The name is sometimes given to other plants, as the hemlock, valerian, etc.

A leaning or bias; proclivity; tendency of mind; inclination; disposition; purpose; aim. Shak. With a native bent did good pursue. Dryden.

A volatile, very inflammable liquid, C6H6, contained in the naphtha produced by the destructive distillation of coal, from which it is separated by fractional distillation. The name is sometimes applied also to the impure commercial product or benzole, and also, but rarely, to a similar mixed product of petroleum. Benz…

led also petroleum spirit, petroleum benzine. Varieties or similar products are gasoline, naphtha, rhigolene, ligroin, etc.

A white crystalline powder used as an intestinal antiseptic; beta-naphthol benzoate.

den is sometimes eaten, mixed with flour or ground birch bark, in times of scarcity. This name is also given to a white powdery variety of calcite.

A narrow shelf or path between the bottom of a parapet and the ditch.

d of grass (Cynodon Dactylon) esteemed for pasture in the Southern United States. It is a native of Southern Europe, but is now wide-spread in warm countries; -- called also scutch grass, and in Bermuda, devil grass.

A native or natives of Bern.

A bernicle goose. [Written also barnacle.] Bernicle goose (Zoöl.), a goose (Branta leucopsis), of Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas), which were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related s…

One of a class of legendary heroes, who fought frenzied by intoxicating liquors, and naked, regardless of wounds. Longfellow.

a railway car, for sleeping in. Berth deck, the deck next below the lower gun deck. Ham. Nav. Encyc. -- To give (the land or any object) a wide berth, to keep at a distance from it.

To tear with the nails; to cover with scratches.

r or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor. Concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favor. Sir W. Scott.

; under the most favorable circumstances; as, life is at best very short. -- For best, finally. [Obs.] "Those constitutions . . . are now established for best, and not to be mended." Milton. -- To get the best of, to gain an advantage over, whether fairly or unfairly. -- To make the best of. (a) To improve to the ut…

and over That horse that thou so often hast bestrid. Shak. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus. Shak.

A nitrogenous base, C5H11NO2, produced artificially, and also occurring naturally in beetroot molasses and its residues, from which it is extracted as a white crystalline substance; -- called also lycine and oxyneurine. It has a sweetish taste.