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A device for producing a current of air; as: (a) A metal plate temporarily placed before the upper part of a grate or open fire. (b) A machine for producing an artificial blast or current of air by pressure, as for increasing the draft of a furnace, ventilating a building or shaft, cleansing gram, etc.…

a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent). -- Blue ointment (Med.), mercurial ointment. -- Blue Peter (British Marine), a blue flag with a white square in the center, used as a signal for sailing, to recall boats, etc. It is a corruption of blue repeater, o…

ed in angling, as for eels; formerly, a worm suitable for bait. Or yellow bobs, turned up before the plow, Are chiefest baits, with cork and lead enow. Lauson.

violence and fury; acting with noisy turbulence; violent; rough; stormy. The waters swell before a boisterous storm. Shak. The brute and boisterous force of violent men. Milton.

erson binds himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators, to pay a certain sum on or before a future day appointed. This is a single bond. But usually a condition is added, that, if the obligor shall do a certain act, appear at a certain place, conform to certain rules, faithfully perform certain duties, or pay a…

To rush with violence and noise, as a ship under a press of sail, before a free wind. She comes booming down before it. Totten.

d. Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot. Shak. A man's heaviness is refreshed long before he comes to drunkenness, for when he arrives thither he hath but changed his heaviness, and taken a crime to boot. Jer. Taylor.

f springs or leaps; as the beast bounded from his den; the herd bounded across the plain. Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds. Pope. And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider. Byron.

sent, homage, or condescension. They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 2 Kings ii. 15.

rough impudently or shamelessly; as, to brazen the matter through. Sabina brazened it out before Mrs. Wygram, but inwardly she was resolved to be a good deal more circumspect. W. Black.

The wood of the oriental Cæsalpinia Sapan; -- so called before the discovery of America.

vessel; the waters themselves; surge; surf. The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. 2 Sam. v. 20 A clear breach implies that the waves roll over the vessel without breaking. -- A clean breach implies that everything on deck is swept away. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

A plate of metal covering the breast as defensive armor. Before his old rusty breastplate could be scoured, and his cracked headpiece mended. Swift.

orce of the discharge. It is withdrawn for the insertion of a cartridge, and closed again before the gun is fired.

egnant. That they breed abundantly in the earth. Gen. viii. 17. The mother had never bred before. Carpenter. Ant. Is your gold and silver ewes and rams Shy. I can not tell. I make it breed as fast. Shak.

fire brigade. Brigade inspector, an officer whose duty is to inspect troops in companies before they are mustered into service. -- Brigade major, an officer who may be attached to a brigade to assist the brigadier in his duties.

(b) To introduce, as a bill in a deliberative assembly. (c) To return or repot to, or lay before, a court or other body; to render; as, to bring in a verdict or a report. (d) To take to an appointed place of deposit or collection; as, to bring in provisions or money for a specified object. (e) To produce, as income. (f…

nfirm or weak, by disease, age, or hardships. The one being who remembered him as he been before his mind was broken. G. Eliot. The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, Sat by his fire, and talked the night away. Goldsmith.

kle to, to bend to; to engage with zeal. To make our sturdy humor buckle thereto. Barrow. Before buckling to my winter's work. J. D. Forbes.

s sometimes applied to a similar statement in other countries. To open the budget, to lay before a legislative body the financial estimates and plans of the executive government.