BAD LANDS n.
Barren regions, especially in the western United States, where horizontal strata (Tertiary deposits) have been often eroded into fantastic forms, and much intersected by canons, and where lack of wood, water, and forage increases the difficulty of traversing the country, whence the name, first given by the Canadian Fre…
BARBADOS; BARBADOES n.
A West Indian island, giving its name to a disease, to a cherry, etc. Barbados cherry (Bot.), a genus of trees of the West Indies (Malpighia) with an agreeably acid fruit resembling a cherry. -- Barbados leg (Med.), a species of elephantiasis incident to hot climates. -- Barbados nuts, the seeds of the Jatropha curca…
BATH n.
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…
BEAN n.
he American species in Bruchus fabæ. -- Florida bean (Bot.), the seed of Mucuna urens, a West Indian plant. The seeds are washed up on the Florida shore, and are often polished and made into ornaments. -- Ignatius bean, or St. Ignatius's bean (Bot.), a species of Strychnos. -- Navy bean, the common dried white bean…
BEAT n.
A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat. [Low] Beat of drum (Mil.), a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc. -- Beat of a watch, or…