Search the Dictionary

Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,027 words match “ORIGIN”

BOGUS a.
Spurious; fictitious; sham; -- a cant term originally applied to counterfeit coin, and hence denoting anything counterfeit. [Colloq. U. S.]
BOHEMIAN n.
A restless vagabond; -- originally, an idle stroller or gypsy (as in France) thought to have come from Bohemia; in later times often applied to an adventurer in art or literature, of irregular, unconventional habits, questionable tastes, or free morals. [Modern]
BOIL n.
to a head. -- Delhi boil (Med.), a peculiar affection of the skin, probably parasitic in origin, prevailing in India (as among the British troops) and especially at Delhi.
BOMBARDO; BOMBARDON n.
Originally, a deep-toned instrument of the oboe or bassoon family; thence, a bass reed stop on the organ. The name bombardon is now given to a brass instrument, the lowest of the saxhorns, in tone resembling the ophicleide. Grove.
BOMBAST n.
Originally, cotton, or cotton wool. [Obs.] A candle with a wick of bombast. Lupton.
BONNAZ n.
A kind of embroidery made with a complicated sewing machine, said to have been originally invented by a Frenchman of the name of Bonnaz. The work is done either in freehand or by following a perforated design.
BORAX n.
ertain mineral springs, and is made from the boric acid of hot springs in Tuscany. It was originally obtained from a lake in Thibet, and was sent to Europe under the name of tincal. Borax is a pyroborate or tetraborate of sodium, Na2B4O7.10H2O. Borax bead. (Chem.) See Bead, n., 3.
BORDER v.
To confine within bounds; to limit. [Obs.] That nature, which contemns its origin, Can not be bordered certain in itself. Shak.
BOTTOM n.
s at the bottom a good man." J. F. Cooper. -- To be at the bottom of, to be the cause or originator of; to be the source of. [Usually in an opprobrious sense.] J. H. Newman. He was at the bottom of many excellent counsels. Addison. -- To go to the bottom, to sink; esp. to be wrecked. -- To touch bottom, to reach the…
BOULEVARD n.
Originally, a bulwark or rampart of fortification or fortified town.
BREED v.
To engender; to cause; to occasion; to originate; to produce; as, to breed a storm; to breed disease. Lest the place And my quaint habits breed astonishment. Milton.
BREEDBATE n.
One who breeds or originates quarrels. [Obs.] "No telltale nor no breedbate." Shak.
BRING v.
ear from condemnation; to cause to escape. -- To bring on. (a) To cause to begin. (b) To originate or cause to exist; as, to bring on a disease. -- To bring one on one's way, to accompany, guide, or attend one. -- To bring out, to expose; to detect; to bring to light from concealment. -- To bring over. (a) To fetch…
BRISTOL n.
ed surface. -- Bristol brick, a brick of siliceous matter used for polishing cultery; -- originally manufactured at Bristol. -- Bristol stone, rock crystal, or brilliant crystals of quartz, found in the mountain limestone near Bristol, and used in making ornaments, vases, etc. When polished, it is called Bristol diam…
BRITISH a.
Of or pertaining to Great Britain or to its inhabitants; -- sometimes restrict to the original inhabitants. British gum, a brownish substance, very soluble in cold water, formed by heating dry starch at a temperature of about 600° Fahr. It corresponds, in its properties, to dextrin, and is used, in solution, as a subst…
BROOM n.
s of broom corn, bound together or attached to a long wooden handle; -- so called because originally made of the twigs of the broom. Butcher's broom, a plant (Ruscus aculeatus) of the Smilax family, used by butchers for brooms to sweep their blocks; -- called also knee holly. See Cladophyll. -- Dyer's broom, a species…
BRUSSELS n.
neness of the threads. -- Brussels lace, an expensive kind of lace of several varieties, originally made in Brussels; as, Brussels point, Brussels ground, Brussels wire ground. -- Brussels net, an imitation of Brussels ground, made by machinery. -- Brussels point. See Point lace. -- Brussels sprouts (Bot.), a plant…
BUDDHISM n.
The religion based upon the doctrine originally taught by the Hindoo sage Gautama Siddartha, surnamed Buddha, "the awakened or enlightened," in the sixth century b.c., and adopted as a religion by the greater part of the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Asia and the Indian Islands. Buddha's teaching is believed to ha…
BUFF a.
material, worn by soldiers in the 17th century as a defensive covering. -- Buff jerkin, originally, a leather waistcoat; afterward, one of cloth of a buff color. [Obs.] Nares. -- Buff stick (Mech.), a strip of wood covered with buff leather, used in polishing.
BUFFALO n.
A species of the genus Bos or Bubalus (B. bubalus), originally from India, but now found in most of the warmer countries of the eastern continent. It is larger and less docile than the common ox, and is fond of marshy places and rivers.
← Previous Page 8 of 52 Next →