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A small copper coin, with a mixture of silver, formerly current in some parts of Germany and Switzerland. It was worth about four cents.

Among distillers, a certain degree of strength in alcoholic liquor, as formerly ascertained by the floating or sinking of glass globules of different specific gravities thrown into it; now ascertained by more accurate meters.

Barley; the six-rowed barley or the four-rowed barley, commonly the former (Hord. vulgare). [Obs. except in North of Eng. and Scot.]

A hat, formerly made of the fur of the beaver, but now usually of silk. A brown beaver slouched over his eyes. Prescott.

A long screw formerly used to fasten a bedpost to one of the adjacent side pieces.

Formerly; aforetime. [They] dwelt in their tents, as beforetime. 2 Kings xiii. 5.

A man who rings a bell, especially to give notice of anything in the streets. Formerly, also, a night watchman who called the hours. Milton.

of benzoic acid, of the oil of bitter almonds, and of an extensive series of compounds. [Formerly written also benzule.]

A member of a race somewhat resembling the Arabs, but often classed as Hamitic, who were formerly the inhabitants of the whole of North Africa from the Mediterranean southward into the Sahara, and who still occupy a large part of that region; -- called also Kabyles. Also, the language spoken by this people.…

Bernicle goose (Zoöl.), a goose (Branta leucopsis), of Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas), which were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related species. See Anatifa and Cirripedia.…

A kind of writ which formerly lay where a great-grandfather died seized of lands in fee simple, and on the day of his death a stranger abated or entered and kept the heir out. This is now abolished. Blackstone.

An East India muslin, formerly used for cravats, veils, etc. [Obs.]

ines of certain ruminant animals (as the wild goat, the gazelle, and the Peruvian llama) formerly regarded as an unfailing antidote for poison, and a certain remedy for eruptive, pestilential, or putrid diseases. Hence: Any antidote or panacea.

A small horse formerly allowed to each trooper or dragoon for carrying his baggage. B. Jonson.

. B. capreolata is the cross vine of the Southern United States. The trumpet creeper was formerly considered to be of this genus.

A piece used in the game of chess, bearing a representation of a bishop's miter; -- formerly called archer.

nus), a large, gregarious bovine quadruped with shaggy mane and short black horns, which formerly roamed in herds over most of the temperate portion of North America, but is now restricted to very limited districts in the region of the Rocky Mountains, and is rapidly decreasing in numbers.

In the Southern and Southwestern States, a small silver coin (as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12 1/2 cents; also, the sum of 12 1/2 cents. Bit my bit, piecemeal. Pope.

ode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid. -- To bite the thumb at (any one), formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a quarrel; to defy. "Do you bite your thumb at us " Shak. -- To bite the tongue, to keep silence. Shak.

A tribe of North American Indians formerly inhabiting the country from the upper Missouri River to the Saskatchewan, but now much reduced in numbers.