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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,285 words match “FORMERLY”

BALL n. 2 definitions
A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; -- formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller.
BANDOLEER; BANDOLIER n.
A broad leather belt formerly worn by soldiers over the right shoulder and across the breast under the left arm. Originally it was used for supporting the musket and twelve cases for charges, but later only as a cartridge belt.
BANK BILL n.
In America (and formerly in England), a promissory note of a bank payable to the bearer on demand, and used as currency; a bank note.
BANK NOTE n.
Formerly, a promissory note made by a banker, or banking company, payable to a specified person at a fixed date; a bank bill. See Bank bill, 2. [Obs.]
BAR n.
shot, a double headed shot, consisting of a bar, with a ball or half ball at each end; -- formerly used for destroying the masts or rigging in naval combat. -- Bar sinister (Her.), a term popularly but erroneously used for baton, a mark of illegitimacy. See Baton. -- Bar tracery (Arch.), ornamental stonework resembli…
BARD; BARDE n.
Defensive armor formerly worn by a man at arms.
BARK; BARQUE n.
Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind. Byron.
BARLEY n.
isky. Barley bird (Zoöl.), the siskin. -- Barley sugar, sugar boiled till it is brittle (formerly with a decoction of barley) and candied. -- Barley water, a decoction of barley, used in medicine, as a nutritive and demulcent.
BARLEYCORN n.
Formerly , a measure of length, equal to the average length of a grain of barley; the third part of an inch. John Barleycorn, a humorous personification of barley as the source of malt liquor or whisky.
BARMASTER n.
Formerly, a local judge among miners; now, an officer of the barmote. [Eng.]
BARON n.
on of beef, two sirloins not cut asunder at the backbone. -- Barons of the Cinque Ports, formerly members of the House of Commons, elected by the seven Cinque Ports, two for each port. -- Baron of the exchequer, the judges of the Court of Exchequer, one of the three ancient courts of England, now abolished.…
BARRET n.
A kind of cap formerly worn by soldiers; -- called also barret cap. Also, the flat cap worn by Roman Catholic ecclesiastics.
BASE a.
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.
BASTILE; BASTILLE n.
"The Bastille", formerly a castle or fortress in Paris, used as a prison, especially for political offenders; hence, a rhetorical name for a prison.
BASTON n.
An officer bearing a painted staff, who formerly was in attendance upon the king's court to take into custody persons committed by the court. Mozley & W.
BASUTOS n.
African people of the Bantu stock, divided into many tribes, subject to the English. They formerly practiced cannibalism, but have now adopted many European customs.
BATTELER; BATTLER n.
A student at Oxford who is supplied with provisions from the buttery; formerly, one who paid for nothing but what he called for, answering nearly to a sizar at Cambridge. Wright.
BATTLE-AX; BATTLE-AXE n.
A kind of broadax formerly used as an offensive weapon.
BATZ n.
A small copper coin, with a mixture of silver, formerly current in some parts of Germany and Switzerland. It was worth about four cents.
BEAD PROOF n.
Among distillers, a certain degree of strength in alcoholic liquor, as formerly ascertained by the floating or sinking of glass globules of different specific gravities thrown into it; now ascertained by more accurate meters.
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