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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



2,323 words match “GENUS”

AVENS n.
A plant of the genus Geum, esp. Geum urbanum, or herb bennet.
AVICULA n.
A genus of marine bivalves, having a pearly interior, allied to the pearl oyster; -- so called from a supposed resemblance of the typical species to a bird.
AVIGNON BERRY n.
The fruit of the Rhamnus infectorius, eand of other species of the same genus; -- so called from the city of Avignon, in France. It is used by dyers and painters for coloring yellow. Called also French berry.
AVOCET; AVOSET n.
A grallatorial bird, of the genus Recurvirostra; the scooper. The bill is long and bend upward toward the tip. The American species is R. Americana. [Written also avocette.]
AZALEA n.
A genus of showy flowering shrubs, mostly natives of China or of North America; false honeysuckle. The genus is scarcely distinct from Rhododendron.
BACULITE n.
A cephalopod of the extinct genus Baculites, found fossil in the Cretaceous rocks. It is like an uncoiled ammonite.
BADGER n.
A carnivorous quadruped of the genus Meles or of an allied genus. It is a burrowing animal, with short, thick legs, and long claws on the fore feet. One species (M. vulgaris), called also brock, inhabits the north of Europe and Asia; another species (Taxidea Americana or Labradorica) inhabits the northern parts of Nort…
BAIT n.
A light or hasty luncheon. Bait bug (Zoöl), a crustacean of the genus Hippa found burrowing in sandy beaches. See Anomura.
BALISTOID a.
Like a fish of the genus Balistes; of the family Balistidæ. See Filefish.
BALLOON FISH n.
A fish of the genus Diodon or the genus Tetraodon, having the power of distending its body by taking air or water into its dilatable esophagus. See Globefish, and Bur fish.
BALM n.
An aromatic plant of the genus Melissa.
BAMBOO n.
A plant of the family of grasses, and genus Bambusa, growing in tropical countries.
BAND FISH n.
A small red fish of the genus Cepola; the ribbon fish.
BANDICOOT n.
A ratlike marsupial animal (genus Perameles) of several species, found in Australia and Tasmania.
BANEBERRY n.
A genus (Actæa) of plants, of the order Ranunculaceæ, native in the north temperate zone. The red or white berries are poisonous.
BANNER n.
flag or standard; as, the star-spangled banner. Banner fish (Zoöl.), a large fish of the genus Histiophorus, of the Swordfish family, having a broad bannerlike dorsal fin; the sailfish. One species (H. Americanus) inhabits the North Atlantic.
BANXRING n.
An East Indian insectivorous mammal of the genus Tupaia.
BANYAN n.
A tree of the same genus as the common fig, and called the Indian fig (Ficus Indica), whose branches send shoots to the ground, which take root and become additional trunks, until it may be the tree covers some acres of ground and is able to shelter thousands of men.
BARBADOS; BARBADOES n.
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 curcas, a p…
BARBERRY n.
A shrub of the genus Berberis, common along roadsides and in neglected fields. B. vulgaris is the species best known; its oblong red berries are made into a preserve or sauce, and have been deemed efficacious in fluxes and fevers. The bark dyes a fine yellow, esp. the bark of the root. [Also spelt berberry.]…
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