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The second letter of the Greek alphabet, B, b. See B, and cf. etymology of Alphabet. Beta (B, b) is used variously for classifying, as:

Penetrating rays readily deflected by a magnetic or electric field, emitted by radioactive substances, as radium. They consist of negatively charged particles or electrons, apparently the same in kind as those of the cathode rays, but having much higher velocities (about 35,000 to 180,000 miles per second).…

Excessive or extended use of the b sound in speech, due to conversion of other sounds into it, as through inability to distinguish them from b, or because of difficulty in pronouncing them.

A nitrogenous base, C5H11NO2, produced artificially, and also occurring naturally in beetroot molasses and its residues, from which it is extracted as a white crystalline substance; -- called also lycine and oxyneurine. It has a sweetish taste.

mission. Burke. The rest, in imitation, to like arms Betook them. Milton. Whither shall I betake me, where subsist Milton.

Delivered; committed in trust. [Obs.]

A learner of the alphabet; an abecedarian. Abp. Sancroft.

To render obtuse; to dull; to blunt; to stupefy; as, to hebetate the intellectual faculties. Southey

The act of making blunt, dull, or stupid.

One who discusses any subject at pleasure.

Of or pertaining to Thibet. -- n.

Reflexively: To prepare one's self; to apply one's skill or energies (to some object); to betake. These men addressed themselves to the task. Macaulay.

To betake; to address; to refer; -- used reflexively. I applied myself to him for help. Johnson.

n seofon, Ger. sieben, Lat. septem, Gr.ptan. The form of letter B is Roman, from Greek B (Beta), of Semitic origin. The small b was formed by gradual change from the capital B.

Becquerel, in working with uranium and its compounds. They consist of a mixture of alpha, beta, and gamma rays.

A biennial plant of the genus Beta, which produces an edible root the first year and seed the second year.

The common beet (Beta vulgaris).

A white crystalline powder used as an intestinal antiseptic; beta-naphthol benzoate.

of Betake.

To betake; to remove; -- in a reflexive use. Get thee out from this land. Gen. xxxi. 13. He . . . got himself . . . to the strong town of Mega. Knolles.