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Most advanced; most correct or complete; as, the best scholar; the best view of a subject.

consider; -- generally followed by a reflexive pronoun, often with of or that before the subject of thought. I have bethought me of another fault. Shak. The rest . . . may . . . bethink themselves, and recover. Milton. We bethink a means to break it off. Shak.

More advanced; more perfect; as, upon better acquaintance; a better knowledge of the subject. All the better. See under All, adv. -- Better half, an expression used to designate one's wife. My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee. Sir P. Sidney. -- To be better off, to be in a better condition.…

With relation to two, as involved in an act or attribute of which another is the agent or subject; as, to judge between or to choose between courses; to distinguish between you and me; to mediate between nations.

The quality of being biblical; a biblical subject. [R.]

Flighty; passing rapidly from one subject to another; not having the faculty of attention. Bacon.

Earthen ware or porcelain which has undergone the first baking, before it is subjected to the glazing.

e 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.

ows, the mouth, etc. Hence: The continuous blowing to which one charge of ore or metal is subjected in a furnace; as, to melt so many tons of iron at a blast.

f the blowpipe. -- Blowpipe reaction (Chem.), the characteristic behavior of a substance subjected to a test by means of the blowpipe.

red it, and found the murdered bodies of his former wives. -- Also used adjectively of a subject which it is forbidden to investigate. The Bluebeard chamber of his mind, into which no eye but his own must look. Carlyle.

To subject to the action of heat in a boiling liquid so as to produce some specific effect, as cooking, cleansing, etc.; as, to boil meat; to boil clothes. The stomach cook is for the hall, And boileth meate for them all. Gower.

Dressed or cooked by boiling; subjected to the action of a boiling liquid; as, boiled meat; a boiled dinner; boiled clothes.

A person in a state of slavery; one whose person and liberty are subjected to the authority of a master.

Fig.: The framework of anything. A bone of contention, a subject of contention or dispute. -- A bone to pick, something to investigate, or to busy one's self about; a dispute to be settled (with some one). -- Bone ash, the residue from calcined bones; -- used for making cupels, and for cleaning jewelry. -- Bone blac…

ocial or business relations from him, and to deter others from holding such relations; to subject to a boycott.

To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle. "To break a colt." Spenser. Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute Shak.

Respiration; the act of inhaling and exhaling air. Subject to a difficulty of breathing. Melmoth.

An Englishman; a subject or inhabitant of Great Britain, esp. one in the British military or naval service. [Now used jocosely]

g a large measure of any thing or quality; not limited; not restrained; -- applied to any subject, and retaining the literal idea more or less clearly, the precise meaning depending largely on the substantive. A broad mixture of falsehood. Locke.