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Longing eagerly for; eager; greedy. "Avid of gold, yet greedier of renown." Southey.

away; a diversion. [Obs. or Archaic] Impulses to duty, and powerful avocations from sin. South.

A variety of jade. It is used by some savages, particularly the natives of the South Sea Islands, for making axes or hatchets.

The Neapolitan medlar (Cratægus azarolus), a shrub of southern Europe; also, its fruit.

A handsome Asiatic tree (Melia azedarach), common in the southern United States; -- called also, Pride of India, Pride of China, and Bead tree.

A kind of bass, an edible fresh-water fish (Pomoxys annularis) of the southern United States.

ave still found it necessary to back and fortify their laws with rewards and punishments. South. The mate backed the captain manfully. Blackw. Mag.

A secret enemy. [Obs.] South.

ng; not quick of apprehension; dull; inapt; as, a backward child. "The backward learner." South.

"A baffled purpose." De Quincey. A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all. South. Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened nations. Prescott. The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us. Locke. Baffling wind (Naut.), one that frequen…

A piece of pork cut lower down than the sparerib, and destitute of fat. [Eng.] Southey.

A hindrance or disappointment; a check. A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker. South.

A raft or float, used principally on the Pacific coast of South America.

- Balsam of Tolu, a reddish or yellowish brown semisolid or solid balsam, obtained from a South American tree ( Myxoxylon toluiferum.). It is highly fragrant, and is used as a stomachic and expectorant. -- Balsam tree, any tree from which balsam is obtained, esp. the Abies balsamea. -- Canada balsam, Balsam of fir, C…

To challenge or defy to a match. [Colloq. Southern and Western U.S.]

A member of one of the great family of Negroid tribes occupying equatorial and southern Africa. These tribes include, as important divisions, the Kafirs, Damaras, Bechuanas, and many tribes whose names begin with Aba-, Ama-, Ba-, Ma-, Wa-, variants of the Bantu plural personal prefix Aba-, as in Ba-ntu, or Aba-ntu, its…

A southern name for the kingfishes of the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States; -- also improperly called whiting.

to hot climates. -- Barbados nuts, the seeds of the Jatropha curcas, a plant growing in South America and elsewhere. The seeds and their acrid oil are used in medicine as a purgative. See Physic nut.

he bare necessaries of life." Addison. Nor are men prevailed upon by bare of naked truth. South. Under bare poles (Naut.), having no sail set.

A large, dark-colored, South American monkey, of the genus Lagothrix, having a long prehensile tail.