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ial division, corresponding nearly to the English hundred, and supposed to have been originally the district of a native chief. There are 252 of these baronies. In Scotland, an extensive freehold. It may be held by a commoner. Brande & C.

A building for soldiers, especially when in garrison. Commonly in the pl., originally meaning temporary huts, but now usually applied to a permanent structure or set of buildings. He lodged in a miserable hut or barrack, composed of dry branches and thatched with straw. Gibbon.

Very modest, or modest excess; constitutionally disposed to shrink from public notice; indicating extreme or excessive modesty; shy; as, a bashful person, action, expression.

Originally, the place of a king; but afterward, an apartment provided in the houses of persons of importance, where assemblies were held for dispensing justice; and hence, any large hall used for this purpose.

Originally, cambric or lawn of fine linen; now applied also to cloth of similar texture made of cotton.

in the Middle Ages, the web being gold, and the woof silk, with embroidery : -- made originally at Bagdad. [Spelt also baudkin, baudkyn, bawdekin, and baldakin.] Nares.

A baker; originally, a female baker. [Old Eng. & Scotch]

A prefix, originally the same word as by; joined with verbs, it serves: (a) To intensify the meaning; as, bespatter, bestir. (b) To render an intransitive verb transitive; as, befall (to fall upon); bespeak (to speak for). (c) To make the action of a verb particular or definite; as, beget (to get as offspring); beset (…

a balloon, the braced wooden ring attached to the suspension ropes at the bottom, functionally analogous to the keel of a ship.

c on hive bees. -- Bee martin (Zoöl.), the kingbird (Tyrannus Carolinensis) which occasionally feeds on bees. -- Bee moth (Zoöl.), a moth (Galleria cereana) whose larvæ feed on honeycomb, occasioning great damage in beehives. -- Bee wolf (Zoöl.), the larva of the bee beetle. See Illust. of Bee beetle. -- To have a…

r; to be meet for, with respect to necessity, duty, or convenience; -- mostly used impersonally. And thus it behooved Christ to suffer. Luke xxiv. 46. [Also written behove.]

ed from, the belt. Three men with belted brands. Sir W. Scott. Belted cattle, cattle originally from Dutch stock, having a broad band of white round the middle, while the rest of the body is black; -- called also blanketed cattle.

le ordinaries, containing a third or a fifth part of the field. It crosses the field diagonally from the dexter chief to the sinister base. Bend sinister (Her.), an honorable ordinary drawn from the sinister chief to the dexter base.

Diagonally.

A thin stuff, made of silk and hair, originally brought from Bengal.

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.

d as the type from which the aromatic compounds are derived. This ring formula is provisionally accepted as representing the probable constitution of the benzene molecule, C6H6, and as the type on which its derivatives are formed.

; 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…

To disclose or discover, as something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally. Be swift to hear, but cautious of your tongue, lest you betray your ignorance. T. Watts.

Cut slanting or diagonally, as cloth.