Search the Dictionary

A small image of an infant; a doll. Babies in the eyes, the minute reflection which one sees of one's self in the eyes of another. She clung about his neck, gave him ten kisses, Toyed with his locks, looked babies in his eyes. Heywood.

Like a baby; childish; puerile; simple. -- Ba"by*ish*ly, adv. -- Ba"by*ish*ness, n.

In human beings, the hinder part of the body, extending from the neck to the end of the spine; in other animals, that part of the body which corresponds most nearly to such part of a human being; as, the back of a horse, fish, or lobster.

The column of bones in the back which sustains and gives firmness to the frame; the spine; the vertebral or spinal column.

A building behind the main building. Specifically: A privy; a necessary.

leveling staff in its unchanged position when the leveling instrument has been taken to a new position; a sight directed backwards to a station previously occupied. Cf. Foresight, n., 3.

A stitch made by setting the needle back of the end of the last stitch, and bringing it out in front of the end.

A men living in the forest in or beyond the new settlements, especially on the western frontiers of the older portions of the United States. Fisher Ames.

osite of good; as a bad man; bad conduct; bad habits; bad soil; bad health; bad crop; bad news.

A bag-shaped net for catching fish.

To dip or lade water from; -- often with out to express completeness; as, to bail a boat. By the help of a small bucket and our hats we bailed her out. R. H. Dana, Jr.

n or court of justice; -- used in certain proper names; as, the Old Bailey in London; the New Bailey in Manchester. [Eng.] Oxf. Gloss.

used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, inclosure, or net.

A coarse woolen stuff with a long nap; -- usually dyed in plain colors. A new black baize waistcoat lined with silk. Pepys.

A paragraph describing something wonderful, used to fill out a newspaper column; -- an allusion to the miracle of Balaam's ass speaking. Numb. xxii. 30. [Cant] Balaam basket or box (Print.), the receptacle for rejected articles. Blackw. Mag.

The state of being in equipoise; equilibrium; even adjustment; steadiness. And hung a bottle on each side To make his balance true. Cowper. The order and balance of the country were destroyed. Buckle. English workmen completely lose their balance. J. S. Mill.

One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge.

with hydrogen gas or heated air, so as to rise and float in the atmosphere; especially, one with a car attached for aërial navigation.

mystify; to humbug. [Colloq.] Addison. What oriental tomfoolery is bamboozling you J. H. Newman.

A fillet, strap, or any narrow ligament with which a thing is encircled, or fastened, or by which a number of things are tied, bound together, or confined; a fetter. Every one's bands were loosed. Acis xvi 26.