Barbet – Bass

Barbet

B'ARBET, noun A name given by some French writers to a peculiar species of those worms which feed on the puceron or aphis. [See Aphis.]

2. The Bucco, a genus of birds found in the warm climates of both continents.

3. A dog, so called from his long hair.

Bard

B'ARD, noun

1. A poet and a singer among the ancient Celts; one whose occupation was to compose and sing verses, in honor of the heroic achievements of princes and brave men. The bards used an instrument of music like a lyre or guitar, and not only praised the brave, but reproached the cowardly.

2. In modern usage, a poet.

B'ARD, noun The trappings of a horse.

Barded

B'ARDED, adjective In heraldry, a caparisoned.

Bardesanists

BARDES'ANISTS, noun A sect of heretics, who sprung from Bardesanes, of Edessa, in Mesopotamia, in the 2d century, who taught that the actions of men depend on fate, to which God himself is subject. His followers went farther, and denied the incarnation of Christ and the resurrection.

Bardic

B'ARDIC, adjective Pertaining to bards, or to their poetry.

Bardish

B'ARDISH, adjective Pertaining to bards; written by a bard.

Bardism

B'ARDISM, noun The science of bards; the learning and maxims of bards.

Bare

BARE, adjective [This word is from opening, separating, stripping.]

1. Naked, without covering; as, the arm is bare; the trees are bare

2. With the head uncovered, from respect.

3. Plain; simple; unadorned; without the polish of refined manners.

4. Laid open to view; detected; no longer concealed.

5. Poor; destitute; indigent; empty; unfurnished.

I have made Esau bare Jer.xlix.

6. Alone; unaccompanied.

7. Thread-bare; much worn.

8. Wanting clothes; or ill supplied with garments.

Under bare poles, at sea, signifies having no sail set.

It is often followed by of; as, the country is bare of money.

BARE, verb transitive [See bare adj.]

To strip off the covering; to make naked; as, to bare the breast.

BARE, the old preterit of bear, now bore.

Barebone

BA'REBONE, noun [See Bone.] A very lean person.

Bareboned

BA'REBONED, adjective Lean, so that the bones appear, or rather so that the bones show their forms.

Bared

BA'RED, participle passive Made bare; made naked.

Barefaced

BA'REFACED, participle passive [See Face.]

1. With the face uncovered; not masked.

2. Undisguised; unreserved; without concealment; hence shameless; impudent; audacious; as a barefaced falsehood.

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Barefacedly

BA'REFACEDLY, adverb Without disguise or reserve; openly; impudently.

Barefacedness

BA'REFACEDNESS, noun Effrontery; assurance; audaciousness.

Barefoot

BA'REFOOT, adjective [See Foot.]

With the feet bare; without shoes and stockings. 2 Samuel 15:30. Isaiah 20:2.

BA'REFOOT, adjective or adverb With the feet bare; as, to dance barefoot

Barefooted

BA'REFOOTED, adjective Having the feet bare.

Baregnawn

BA'REGNAWN, adjective [See Gnaw.] Eaten bare.

Bareheaded

BA'REHEADED, [See Head.] Having the head uncovered, either from respect or other cause.

Bareheadedness

BAREHEADEDNESS, noun State of being bareheaded.

Barelegged

BA'RELEGGED, adjective Having the legs bare.

Barely

BA'RELY, adverb Nakedly; poorly; indigently; without decoration; merely; only; without any thing more; as a price barely in title.

Barenecked

BA'RENECKED, adjective Having the neck uncovered; exposed.

Bareness

BA'RENESS, noun Nakedness; leanness; poverty; indigence; defect of clothes, or the usual covering.

Barepicked

BA'REPICKED, adjective Picked to the bone.

Bareribbed

BA'RERIBBED, adjective Lean.

Bargain

B'ARGAIN, noun An agreement between parties concerning the sale of property; or a contract by which one party binds himself to transfer the right to some property, for a consideration, and the other party binds himself to receive the property and pay the consideration.

2. Stipulation: interested dealing.

3. Purchase or the thing purchased.

4. In popular language, final event; upshot.

We must make the best of a bad bargain

To sell bargains, is a vulgar phrase.

To strike a bargain is to ratify an agreement, originally by striking, or shaking hands. The Latin ferire foedus, may represent a like ceremony, unless it refers to the practice of killing a victim, at the solemn ratification of oaths.

Bargain and sale, in law, a species of conveyance, by which the bargainer contracts to convey the lands to the bargainee, and becomes by such contract a trustee for and seised to the use of the bargainee. The statute then completes the purchase; that is, the

bargain vests the use, and the statute vests the possession.

B'ARGAIN, verb intransitive To make a contract or conclusive agreement, for the transfer of property; often with for before the thing purchased; as, to bargain for a house. A bargained with B for his farm.

B'ARGAIN, verb transitive To sell; to transfer for a consideration; as, A bargained away his farm; a popular use of the word.

Bargainee

BARGAINEE', noun The party in a contract who receives or agrees to receive the property sold.

Bargainer

B'ARGAINER, noun The party in a contract who stipulates to sell and convey property to another.

Barge

B'ARGE, noun barj. [Barge, and bark or barque, a ship, are radically one word.]

1. A pleasure boat; a vessel or boat of state, furnished with elegant apartments, canopies and cushions, equipped with a band of rowers, and decorated with flags and streamers; used by officers and magistrates.

2. A flat-bottomed vessel of burthen, for loading and unloading ships.

Barge-Couples

B'ARGE-COUPLES, noun In architecture, a beam mortised into another, to strengthen the building.

Barge-Course

B'ARGE-COURSE, noun In bricklaying, a part of the tiling which projects beyond the principal rafters, in building where there is a gable, or kirkinhead.

Bargeman

B'ARGEMAN, noun The man who manages a barge.

Bargemaster

B'ARGEMASTER, noun The proprietor of a barge, conveying goods for hire.

Barger

B'ARGER, noun The manager of a barge.

Barilla

BARIL'LA, noun A plant cultivated in Spain for its ashes, from which the purest kind of mineral alkali is obtained; used in making glass and soap, and in bleaching linen. The plant is cut and laid in heaps, and burnt, the salts running into a hole in the ground where they form a vitrified lump.

2. The alkali procured from this plant.

Baritone

BAR'ITONE, [See Barytone.]

Barium

BAR'IUM, noun The metallic basis of baryte or baryta, which is an oxyd of barium

Bark

B'ARK, noun [Probably from stripping, separating.]

1. The rind or exterior covering of a tree, corresponding to the skin of an animal. This is composed of the cuticle or epidermis, the outer bark or cortex, and the inner bark or liber. The rough broken matter on bark is, by the common people of New England, called ross.

2. By way of distinction. Peruvian bark

B'ARK, verb transitive To peel; to strip off bark Also to cover or inclose with bark

B'ARK

Bark-Bared

B'ARK-BARED, adjective Stripped of the bark.

Bark-Bound

B'ARK-BOUND, adjective Having the bark too firm or close, as with trees. This disease is cured by slitting the bark.

Bark-Galled

B'ARK-GALLED, adjective Having the bark galled, as with thorns. This defect is cured by binding on clay.

Barked

B'ARKED, participle passive Stripped of the bark; peeled; also covered with bark.

Barker

B'ARKER, noun One who barks, or clamors unreasonably; one who strips trees of their bark.

Barking

B'ARKING, participle present tense Stripping off bark; making the noise of dogs; clamoring; covering with bark.

Barky

B'ARKY, adjective Consisting of bark; containing bark.

Barley

B'ARLEY, noun [Latin far; Heb. bar, corn.] A species of valuable grain, used especially for making malt, from which are distilled liquors of extensive use, as beer, ale and porter. It is of the genus hordeum, consisting of several species. Those principally cultivated in England, are the common spring barley the long eared barley the winter or square barley by some called big, and the sprat or battledore barley This grain is used in medicine, as possessing emollient, diluent, and expectorant qualities.

Barley-Brake

B'ARLEY-BRAKE, noun A rural play; a trial of swiftness.

Barley-Broth

B'ARLEY-BROTH, noun A low word for strong beer.

Barley-Corn

B'ARLEY-CORN, noun [See Corn.] A grain of barley; ; the third part of an inch in length; hence originated our measure of length.

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Barley-Mow

B'ARLEY-MOW, noun A mow of barley, or the place where barley is deposited.

Barley-Sugar

B'ARLEY-SUGAR, noun Sugar boiled till it is brittle, formerly with a decoction of barley.

Barley-Water

B'ARLEY-WATER, noun A decoction of barley, which is reputed soft and lubricating, and much used in medicine.

French barley and pearl barley are used for making decoctions. These are made by separating the grain from its coat. The pearl barley is reduced to the size of a small shot.

Barm

B'ARM, noun [L, fermentum, from ferveo; or beer-rahm, beer cream.]

Yeast; the scum rising upon beer, or other malt liquors, when fermenting, and used as leaven in bread to make it swell, causing it to be softer, lighter, and more delicate. It may be used in liquors to make them ferment or work.

Barmy

B'ARMY, adjective Containing barm, or yeast.

B'ARN, noun A covered building for securing grain, hay, flax, and other productions of the earth. In the northern states of America, the farmers generally use barns for stabling their horses and cattle; so that among them, a barn is both a cornhouse or grange, and a stable.

Barn

BARN, noun [Eng.born.] A child. [Little used in English.]

Barnacle

B'ARNACLE, noun [Latin perna, a shell-fish.]

1. A shell which is often found on the bottoms of ships, rocks and timber, below the surface of the sea.

2. A species of goose, found in the northern seas, but visiting more southern climates in winter. The forehead and cheeks are white, but the upper part of the body and neck is black. Formerly, a strange notion prevailed, that these birds grew out of wood, or rather out of the barnacles attached to wood in the sea. Hence the name. It is written also Bernacle.

3. In the plural, an instrument consisting of two branches jointed at one end with a hinge, to put upon a horse's nose, to confine him, for shoeing, bleeding, or dressing.

Barolite

BAR'OLITE, noun [Gr.weight, and a stone.] Carbonate of baryte. Its color is usually a light yellowish gray; sometimes whitish, or with a tinge of green. It is strongly translucent. It usually occurs in small masses, which have a fibrous structure; sometimes in distinct crystals.

This mineral is called also Witherite, from Dr. Withering, the discoverer.

Barom

BAROM, 'ETER, noun [Gr.weight, and measure.]

Barometrical

BAROMET'RICAL, adjective Pertaining or relating to the barometer; made by a barometer; as barometrical experiments.

Barometrically

BAROMET'RICALLY, adverb By means of a barometer.

Baron

BAR'ON, noun [Latin vir, is doubtless the Shemitic, a man, so named from strength.]

1. In Great Britain, a title or degree of nobility; a lord; a peer; one who holds the rank of nobility next below that of a viscount, and above that of a knight or baronet. Originally, the barons, being the feudatories of princes, were the proprietors of land held by honorable service. Hence, in ancient records, the word barons comprehends all the nobility. All such in England had, in early times, a right to sit in parliament. As a baron was the proprietor of a manor, and each manor had its court-baron; hence the barons claimed, and to this day enjoy, the right of judging in the last resort; a right pertaining to the house of lords, or peers, as the representatives of the ancient barons, land-holders, manor-holders.

Anciently, barons were greater, or such as held their lands of the king in capite; or lesser, such as held their lands of the greater barons by military service in capite.

The title of baron is no longer attached to the possession of a manor, but given by the king's letters patent, or writ of summons to parliament; that is, the dignity is personal, and not territorial.

The radical word, vir, fir, a man, is Celtic, as well as Teutonic; but the word baron was not known in the British isles, till introduced from the continent under the Norman princes.

2. baron is a title of certain officers, as barons of the exchequer, who are the four judges who try cases between the king and his subjects, relating to the revenue. Barons of the Cinque Ports are members of the House of Commons, elected by the seven Cinque Ports, two for each port. These ports are Dover, Sandwich, Rommey, Hastings, Hythe, Winchelsea, and Rye.

3. In law, a husband; as baron and feme, husband and wife.

Baronage

BAR'ONAGE, noun The whole body of barons or peers.

2. The dignity of a baron.

3. The land which gives title to a baron.

Baroness

BAR'ONESS, noun A baron's wife or lady.

Baronet

BAR'ONET, noun A dignity or degree of honor, next below a baron, and above a knight; ; having precedency of all knights except those of the garter, and being the only knighthood that is hereditary. The order was founded by James I. in 1611, and is given by patent.

Baronial

BARO'NIAL, a Pertaining to a baron.

Barony

BAR'ONY, noun The lordship, honor, or fee of a baron, whether spiritual or temporal. This lordship is held in chief of the king, and gives title to the possessor, or baron.

Baroscope

BAR'OSCOPE, noun [Gr.weight, and to view.] An instrument to show the weight of the atmosphere; superseded by the Barometer.

Baroscopic

BAROS'COP'IC, adjective Pertaining to or determined by the baroscope.

Baroselenite

BAROSEL'ENITE, noun [Gr.weight, or heavy, and selenite.]

A mineral; sulphate of baryte; heavy spar.

Barque

BARQUE, noun A small ship; but appropriately, a ship which carries three masts without a mizen top sail. The English mariners, in the coal trade, apply this name to a broadsterned ship without a figure-head.

Water-barks, in Holland, are small vessels, for conveying fresh water from place to place, the hold of which is filled with water.

B'ARK, verb intransitive

1. To make the noise of dogs, when they threaten or pursue.

2. To clamor at; to pursue with unreasonable clamor or reproach. It is followed by at.

To bark at sleeping fame.

Barra

BAR'RA, noun In Portugal and Spain, a long measure for cloths. In Valencia, 13 barras make 12 6/7 yards English; in Castile, 7 are equal to 6 4/7 yards; in Arragon, 3 make 2 4/7 yards.

Barracada

BARRACA'DA, noun A fish, about fifteen inches in length, of a dusky color on the back, and a white belly, with small black spots.

Barracan

BAR'RACAN, noun A thick, strong stuff, something like camelot; used for clokes, surtouts, and other outer garments.

Barrack

BAR'RACK, noun A hut or house for soldiers, especially in garrison. In Spain, a hut or cabin for fishermen.

Barrack-Master

BAR'RACK-MASTER, noun The officer who superintends the barracks of soldiers.

Barracuda

BARRACU'DA, noun A species of fish of the pike kind, found in the seas about the Bahamas and W.Indies, of ten feet in length. The color is deep brown, and the fish is very voracious. The flesh is disagreeable and sometimes poisonous.

Barrator

BAR'RATOR, noun [Latin ferto; Eng.barter. See Barter.]

1. One who frequently excites suits at law; a common mover and maintainer of suits and controversies; an encourager of litigation.

2. The master of a ship, who commits any fraud, in the management of the ship, or in relation to his duties as master, by which the owner or insurers are injured.

Barratrous

BARRATROUS, adjective Tainted with barratry.

Barratrously

BARRATROUSLY, adverb In a barratrous manner.

Barratry

BAR'RATRY, noun The practice of exciting and encouraging lawsuits and quarrels.

2. In commerce, any species of cheating or fraud, in a shipmaster, by which the owners or insurers are injured; as by running away with the ship, sinking or deserting her, by wilful deviation, or by embezzling the cargo.

Barre

BAR'RE, noun Weights used in the E.Indies. The great bahar, for weighing pepper, cloves, nutmegs, etc., is 524 lb.9 oz. avoirdupoise. The little bahar, for weighing quicksilver, vermilion, ivory, silk, etc., is 437 lbs. 9 oz.

Barred

B'ARRED, participle passive Fastened with a bar; hindered; restrained; excluded; forbid; striped; checkered.

Barrel

BAR'REL, noun

1. A vessel or cask, of more length than breadth, round and bulging in the middle, made of staves and heading, and bound with hoops.

2. The quantity which a barrel contains. Of wine measure, the English barrel contains 31 l/2 gallons, of beer measure, 36 gallons; of ale, 32 gallons; and of beer-vinegar, 34 gallons.

Of weight, a barrel of Essex butter is 106 pounds; of Suffolk butter, 256, a barrel of herring should contain 32 gallons wine measure, and hold 1000 herrings; a barrel of salmon should contain 42 gallons; a barrel of soap should weigh 256 lbs.

In America, the contents of a barrel are regulated by statutes.

In Connecticut, the barrel for liquors must contain 31 l/2 gallons, each gallon to contain 231 cubic inches. In New York, a barrel of flour by statute must contain either 196 lb. or 228 lb.net weight. The barrel of beef and pork in New York and Connecticut, is 200 lbs. In general, the contents of barrels, as defined by statute, in this country, must be from 28 to 31 1/2 gallons.

3. Any thing hollow and long, as the barrel of a gun; a tube.

4. A cylinder; as the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled, and round which is wound the chain.

5. A cavity behind the tympanum of the ear is called the barrel of the ear. It is four or five lines deep, and five or six wide, and covered with a fine membrane. It is more usually called the cavity of the tympanum.

BAR'REL, verb transitive To put in a barrel; to pack in a barrel with salt for preservation, as to barrel beef, pork or fish.

Barrel-Bellied

BAR'REL-BELLIED, adjective [See Belly.] Having a large belly.

Barreled

BAR'RELED, participle passive

1. Put or packed in a barrel.

2. In composition, having a barrel or tube; as a double-barreled gun.

Barrelling

BAR'RELLING, participle present tense Putting or packing in a barrel.

Barren

BAR'REN, adjective [from the same root as bare.]

1. Not producing young, or offspring; applied to animals.

2. Not producing plants; unfruitful; steril; not fertile; or producing little; unproductive; applied to the earth.

3. Not producing the usual fruit; applied to tree, etc.

4. Not copious; scanty; as a scheme barren of hints.

5. Not containing useful or entertaining ideas; as a barren treatise.

6. Unmeaning; uninventive; dull; as barren spectators.

7. Unproductive; not inventive; as a barren mind.

BAR'REN, noun In the States west of the Allegheny, a word used to denote a tract of land, rising a few feet above the level of a plain, and producing trees and grass. The soil of these barrens is not barren as the name imports, but often very fertile. It is usually alluvial, to a depth sometimes of several feet.

2. Any unproductive tract of land; as the pine barrens of South Carolina.

Barrenly

BAR'RENLY, adverb Unfruitfully.

Barrenness

BAR'RENNESS, adverb The quality of not producing its kind; want of the power of conception; applied to animals.

2. Unfruitfulness; sterility, infertility. The quality of not producing at all, or in small quantities; as the barrenness of soil.

3. Want of invention; want of the power of producing any thing new; applied to the mind.

4. Want of matter; scantiness; as the barrenness of a cause.

5. Defect of emotion, sensibility or fervency; as the barrenness of devotion.

Barrenwort

BAR'RENWORT, noun [See Wort.] A plant, constituting the genus Epimedium, of which the alpinum is the only species; a low herbaceous plant, with a creeping root, having many stalks, each of which has three flowers.

Barrful

B'ARRFUL, adjective Full of obstructions.

Barricade

BARRICA'DE, noun

1. A fortification made in haste, of trees, earth, palisades, wagons, or any thing that will obstruct the progress of an enemy, or serve for defense or security, against his shot.

2. Any bar or obstruction; that which defends.

3. In naval architecture, a strong wooden rail, supported by stanchions, extending across the foremost part of the quarter deck, in ships of war, and filled with rope, mats, pieces of old cable, and full hammocks, to prevent the effect of small shot in time of action.

BARRICA'DE, verb transitive To stop up a passage; to obstruct.

2. To fortify with any slight work that prevents the approach of an enemy.

Barricado

BARRICA'DO. The same as barricade.

Barrier

BAR'RIER. [See bar]

1. In fortification, a kind of fence made in a passage or retrenchment, composed of great stakes, with transums or overthwart rafters, to stop an enemy.

2. A wall for defense.

3. A fortress or fortified town on the frontier of a country.

4. Any obstruction; any thing which confines, or which hinders approach, or attack; as constitutional barriers.

5. A bar to mark the limits of a place; any limit, or boundary; a line of separation.

Barring

B'ARRING, participle present tense Making fast with a bar; obstructing; excluding; preventing; prohibiting; crossing with stripes.

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Barrister

BAR'RISTER, noun [from bar.] A counselor, learned in the laws, qualified and admitted to please at the bar, and to take upon him the defense of clients; answering to the advocate or licentiate of other countries. Anciently, barristers were called, in England, apprentices of the law. Outer barristers are pleaders without the bar, to distinguish them from inner barristers, benchers or readers, who have been sometime admitted to please within the bar, as the king's counsel are.

Barrow

BAR'ROW, noun

1. A light small carriage. A hand-barrow is a frame covered in the middle with boards, and borne by and between two men.

A wheel-barrow, is a frame with a box, supported by one wheel, and rolled by a single man.

2. A wicker case, in salt works, where the salt is put to drain.

BAR'ROW, noun

1. In England, a hog; and according to Ash, obsolete. Barrow-grease is hog's lard.

2. In America, a male hog castrated; a word in common use.

BAR'ROW, noun In the names of places, barrow is used to signify a wood or grove.

BAR'ROW, noun A hillock or mound of earth, intended as a repository of the dead. Such barrows are found in England, in the North of the European continent, and in America. They sometimes were formed of stones, and in England called cairns. The barrow answers to the tumulus of the Latins. [See Tomb.]

Barse

B'ARSE, noun An English name for the common perch.

Barshot

B'ARSHOT, noun [See Bar and Shoot.] Double headed shot, consisting of a bar, with a half ball or round head at each end; used for destroying the masts and rigging in naval combat.

Barter

B'ARTER, verb intransitive [Latin vario, vertol Class Br.] To traffick or trade, by exchanging one commodity for another, in distinction from a sale and purchase, in which money is paid for the commodities transferred.

B'ARTER, verb transitive To give one thing for another in commerce. It is sometimes followed by away; as, to barter away goods or honor.

B'ARTER, noun The act or practice of trafficking by exchange of commodities; sometimes, perhaps, the thing given in exchange.

Bartered

B'ARTERED, pp. Given in exchange.

Barterer

B'ARTERER, noun One who trafficks by exchange of commodities.

Bartering

B'ARTERING, participle present tense Trafficking or trading by an exchange of commodities.

Bartery

B'ARTERY, noun Exchange of commodities in trade. [Not used.]

Barton

B'ARTON, noun The demain lands of a manor; the manor itself; and sometimes the out-houses.

Bartram

B'ARTRAM, noun [Latin pyrethrum.] A plant; pellitory.

Barystrontianite

BARYSTRON'TIANITE, noun [Gr.heavy and strontian.] A mineral, called also stromnite, from Stromness, in Orkney. It has been found in masses of a grayish white color internally, but externally of a yellowish white.

Baryta

BARY'TA

BAR'YTE, noun [Gr.heavy; weight.] Ponderous earth; so called from its great weight, it being the heaviest of the earths. Spec.grav. about 4. Recent discoveries have shown that baryte is an oxyd, the basis of which is a metallic substance called barium. It is generally found in combination with the sulphuric and carbonic acids, forming the sulphate and carbonate of baryte, the former of which is called heavy spar.

Baryte

BAR'YTE, n. [Gr.heavy; weight.] Ponderous earth; so called from its great weight, it being the heaviest of the earths. Spec.grav. about 4. Recent discoveries have shown that baryte is an oxyd, the basis of which is a metallic substance called barium. It is generally found in combination with the sulphuric and carbonic acids, forming the sulphate and carbonate of baryte, the former of which is called heavy spar.

Barytic

BARY'TIC, adjective Pertaining to baryte; formed of baryte, or containing it.

Baryto-Calcite

BARYTO-CAL'CITE, noun [baryte and calx. See Calx.]

A mixture of carbonate of lime with sulphate of baryte, of a dark or light gray color, of various forms.

Barytone

BARY'TONE, adjective [Gr. heavy, and tone.] Pertaining to or noting a grave deep sound, or male voice.

BAR'YTONE, noun In music, a male voice, the compass of which partakes of the common base and the tenor, but which does not descend so low as the one, nor rise as high as the other.

2. In Greek Grammar, a verb which has no accent marked on the last syllable, the grave accent being understood.

Basal

BA'SAL, adjective Pertaining to the base; constituting the base.

Basalt

BASALT', noun bazalt'. [Pliny informs us that the Egyptians found in Ethiopia, a species of marble, called basaltes, of an iron color and hardness, whence it received its name. Nat.Hist.Lib.36.Ca.7. But according to Da Costa, that stone was not the same which now bears the name of basalt Hist. of Fossils.p.263. If named from its color, it may be allied to the Fr. basane, tawny. Lunier refers it to the Ethiopic basal, iron, a word I cannot find.]

A dark, grayish black mineral or stone, sometimes bluish or brownish black, and when withered, the surface is grayish or reddish brown. It is amorphous, columnar, tabular or globular. The columnar form is straight or curved, perpendicular or inclined, sometimes nearly horizontal; the diameter of the columns from three inches to three feet, sometimes with transverse semi-spherical joints, in which the convex part of one is inserted in the concavity of another. The forms of the columns generally are pentagonal, hexagonal, or octagonal. It is sometimes found also in rounded masses, either spherical, or compressed and lenticular. These rounded masses are sometimes composed of concentric layers, with a nucleus, and sometimes of prisms radiating from a center. It is heavy and hard. The pillars of the Giant's causey in Ireland, composed of this stone and exposed to the roughest sea for ages, have their angles as perfect as those at a distance from the waves. The English miners call it cockle; the German, shorl, or shoerl. It is called by Kirwan, Figurate Trap, from its prismatic forms.

Basaltic

BASALT'IC, adjective Pertaining to basalt; formed of or containing basalt.

Basaltiform

BASALT'IFORM, adjective In the form of basalt; columnar.

Basaltine

BASALT'INE, noun Basaltic Hornblend; a variety of common hornblend, so called from its being often found in Basalt. It is also found in lavas and volcanic scoriae. It is generally in distinct crystals, and its color is a pure black, or slightly tinged with green. It is more foliated than the other varieties, and has been mistaken for mica.

2. A column of basalt.

Basanite

BAS'ANITE, noun [Gr. the trier. Plin.Lib.36. Ca.22. See Basalt.]

Lydian stone, or black jasper; a variety of siliceous or flinty slate. Its color is a grayish or bluish black, interspersed with veins of quartz. It is employed to test the purity of gold.

Base

BASE, adjective

1. Low in place. obsolete

2. Mean; vile; worthless; that is, low in value or estimation; used of things.

3. Of low station; of mean account; without rank, dignity or estimation among men; used of persons.

The base shall behave proudly against the honorable. Isaiah 3:5.

4. Of mean spirit; disingenuous; illiberal; low; without dignity of sentiment; as a base and abject multitude.

5. Of little comparative value; applied to metals, and perhaps to all metals, except gold and silver.

6. Deep; grave; applied to sounds; as the base sounds of a viol.

7. Of illegitimate birth; born out of wedlock.

8. Not held by honorable tenure. A base estate is an estate held by services not honorable, not in capite, or by villenage. Such a tenure is called base or low, and the tenant, a base tenant. So writers on the laws of England use the terms, a base fee, a base court.

Such a tenure is called base or low, and the tenant, a base tenant. So writers on the laws of England use the terms, a base fee, a base court.

BASE, noun [Latin basis; that which is set, the foundation or bottom.]

1. The bottom of any thing, considered as its support or the part of a thing on which it stands or rests; as the base of a column, the pedestal of a statue, the foundation of a house, etc.

In architecture, the base of a pillar properly is that part which is between the top of a pedestal and the bottom of the shaft; but when there is no pedestal, it is the part between the bottom of the column and the plinth. Usually it consists of certain spires or circles. The pedestal also has its base

2. In fortification, the exterior side of the polygon, or that imaginary line which is drawn from the flanked angle of a bastion to the angle opposite to it.

3. In gunnery, the least sort of ordnance, the diameter of whose bore is l 1/4 inch.

4. The part of any ornament which hangs down, as housings.

5. The broad part of any thing, as the bottom of a cone.

6. In old authors, stockings; armor for the legs.

7. The place from which racers or tilters start; the bottom of the field; the carcer or starting post.

8. The lowest or gravest part in music; improperly written bass.

9. A rustic play, called also bays, or prison bars.

10. In geometry, the lowest side of the perimeter of a figure. Any side of a triangle may be called its base but this term most properly belongs to the side which is parallel to the horizon. In rectangled triangles, the base properly, is the side opposite to the right angle. The base of a solid figure is that on which it stands. The base of a conic section is a right line in the hyperbola and parabola, arising from the common intersection of the secant plane and the base of the cone.

11. In chimistry, any body which is dissolved by another body, which it receives and fixes. Thus any alkaline, earthy or metallic substance, combining with an acid, forms a compound or neutral salt, of which it is the base Such salts are called salts with alkaline, earthy or metallic bases.

12. Thorough base in music, is the part performed with base viols or theorbos, while the voices sing and other instruments perform their parts, or during the intervals when the other parts stop. It is distinguished by figures over the notes.

Counter base is a second or double base when there are several in the same concert.

BASE, verb transitive To embase; to reduce the value by the admixture of meaner metals. [Little used.]

2. To found; to lay the base or foundation.

To base and build the commonwealth of man.

Base-Born

BA'SE-BORN, adjective [base and born.] Born out of wedlock.

2. Born of low parentage.

3. Vile; mean.

Base-Court

BA'SE-COURT, noun [See Court.]

The back yard, opposed to the chief court in front of a house; the farm yard.

Base-Minded

BA'SE-MINDED, adjective Of a low spirit or mind; mean.

Base-Mindedness

BA'SE-MINDEDNESS, noun Meanness of spirit.

Base-String

BA'SE-STRING, noun The lowest note.

Base-Viol

BA'SE-VIOL, noun [See Viol.] A musical instrument, used for playing the base or gravest part.

Based

BA'SED, participle passive Reduced in value; founded.

Baseless

BA'SELESS, adjective Without a base; having no foundation, or support.

The baseless fabric of a vision.

The fame how poor that swells our baseless pride.

Basely

BA'SELY, adverb In a base manner; meanly; dishonorable.

2. Illegitimately; in bastardy.

Basement

BA'SEMENT, noun In architecture, the ground floor, on which the order or columns which decorate the principal story, are placed.

Baseness

BA'SENESS, noun Meanness; vileness; worthlessness.

2. Vileness of metal; the quality of being of little comparative value.

3. Bastardy; illegitimacy of birth.

4. Deepness of sound.

Basenet

BA'SENET, noun A helmet.

Bash

BASH, verb intransitive [Heb.bosh, to be cast down, or confounded. See Abash.]

To be ashamed; to be confounded with shame.

Bashaw

BASHAW', noun [This word is often written most absurdly pasha, both by the English and Americans. It should be written and pronounced pashaw.]

1. A title of honor in the Turkish dominions; appropriately, the title of the prime vizer, but given to viceroys or governors of provinces, and to generals and other men of distinction. The Turkish bashaws exercise an oppressive authority in their provinces. Hence,

2. A proud, tyrannical, overbearing man.

Bashful

BASH'FUL, adjective [See Bash and Abash.]

1. Properly, having a downcast look; hence very modest.

2. Modest to excess; sheepish.

3. Exciting shame.

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Bashfully

BASH'FULLY, adverb Very modestly; in a timorous manner.

Bashfulness

BASH'FULNESS, noun Excessive or extreme modesty; a quality of mind often visible in external appearance, as in blushing, a downcast look , confusion. etc.

2. Vicious or rustic shame.

Bashless

BASH'LESS, a Shameless; unblushing.

Basil

BAS'IL, noun s as z. The slope or angle of a tool or instrument as of a chisel or plane; usually of 12 degrees, but for hard wood, 18 degrees.

BAS'IL, verb transitive To grind or form the edge of a tool to an angle.

BAS'IL, noun s as z.

1. A plant of the genus Ocymum, of which there are many species, all natives of warm climates. They are fragrant aromatic plants, and one species, the sweet basil is much used in cookery, especially in France.

BAS'IL, noun The skin of a sheep tanned; written also basan.

Basil-Weed

BAS'IL-WEED, noun Wild basil, a plant of the genus Clinopodium.

Basilar

BAS'ILAR

BAS'ILARY, adjective s as z. [See Basilic.]

Chief; an anatomical term applied to several bones, and to an artery of the brain.

Basilian monks, monks of the order of St. Basil, who founded the order in Pontus. The order still exists, but has less power and celebrity than formerly.

Basilary

BAS'ILARY, a. s as z. [See Basilic.]

Chief; an anatomical term applied to several bones, and to an artery of the brain.

Basilian monks, monks of the order of St. Basil, who founded the order in Pontus. The order still exists, but has less power and celebrity than formerly.

Basilic

BAS'ILIC, noun s as z. [Latin basilica; Gr. a king.]

Anciently, a public hall or court of judicature, where princes and magistrates sat to administer justice. It was a large hall, with aisles, porticoes, tribunes, and tribunals. The bankers also had a part allotted for their residence. These edifices, at first, were the palaces of princes, afterwards courts of justice, and finally converted into churches. Hence basilic now signifies a church, chapel, cathedral, or royal palace.

BAS'ILIC, noun [See Basil.] The middle vein of the arm, or the interior branch of the axillary vein, so called by way of eminence.

BAS'ILIC

Basilical

BASIL'ICAL, adjective Belonging to the middle vein of the arm.

2. Noting a particular nut, the walnut, basilica nux.

BASILICAL, adjective s as z. In the manner of a public edifice or cathedral.

Basilicon

BASIL'ICON, noun s as z. [Gr.royal.]

An ointment. This name is given to several compositions in ancient medical writers. At present it is confined to three officinal ointments, distinguished into black, yellow and green basilicon

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Basilisk

BAS'ILISK, noun s as z. [Latin basiliscus.]

1. A fabulous serpent, called a cockatrice, and said to be produced from a cock's egg brooded by a serpent. The ancients alledged that its hissing would drive away all other serpents, and that its breath and even its look was fatal. Some writers suppose that a real serpent exists under this name.

2. In military affairs, a large piece of ordnance, so called from its supposed resemblance to the serpent of that name, or from its size. This cannon carried a ball of 200 pounds weight, but is not now used. Modern writers give this name to cannon of a smaller size, which the Dutch make 15 feet long, and the French 10, carrying a 48 pound ball.

Basin

BA'SIN, noun basn.

1. A hollow vessel or dish, to hold water for washing, and for various other uses.

2. In hydraulics, any reservoir of water.

3. That which resembles a basin in containing water, as a pond, a dock for ships, a hollow place for liquids, or an inclosed part of water, forming a broad space within a strait or narrow entrance; a little bay.

4. Among glass grinders, a concave piece of metal by which convex glasses are formed.

5. Among hatters, a large shell or case, usually of iron, placed over a furnace, in which the hat is molded into due shape.

6. In anatomy, a round cavity between the anterior ventricles of the brain.

7. The scale of a balance, when hollow and round.

8. In Jewish antiquities, the laver of the tabernacle.

Basis

BA'SIS, noun plural bases. [Latin and Gr.; the same as base, which see.]

1. The foundation of any thing; that on which a thing stands or lies; the bottom or foot of the thing itself, or that on which it rests. See a full explanation under base.

2. The ground work or first principle; that which supports.

3. Foundation; support.

The basis of public credit is good faith.

The basis of all excellence is truth.

4. basis in chimistry. See Base. No. 12.

Bask

B'ASK, verb intransitive [The origin of this word is not obvious.]

To lie in warmth; to be exposed to genial heat; to be at ease and thriving under benign influences; as, to bask in the blaze of day; to bask in the sunshine of royal favor. The word includes the idea of some continuance of exposure.

B'ASK, verb transitive To warm by continued exposure to heat; to warm with genial heat.

Basked

B'ASKED, participle passive Exposed to warmth, or genial heat.

Basket

B'ASKET, noun

1. A domestic vessel made of twigs, rushes, splinters or other flexible things interwoven. The forms and sizes of baskets are very various, as well as the uses to which they are applied; as corn-baskets, clothes-baskets, fruit-baskets, and work-baskets.

2. The contents of a basket; as much as a basket will contain; as, a basket of medlars is two bushels. But in general, this quantity is indefinite.

In military affairs, baskets of earth sometimes are used on the parapet of a trench, between which the soldiers fire. They serve for defense against small shot.

B'ASKET, verb transitive To put in a basket

Basket-Fish

B'ASKET-FISH, noun A species of sea-star, or star-fish, of the genus Asterias, and otherwise called the Magellanic star-fish. It has five rays issuing from an angular body, and dividing into innumerable branches. These when extended form a circle of three feet diameter. [See Asterias.]

Basket-Hilt

B'ASKET-HILT, noun [See Hilt.] A hilt which covers the hand, and defends it from injury, as of a sword.

Basket-Hilted

B'ASKET-HILTED, adjective Having a hilt of basket-work.

Basket-Salt

B'ASKET-SALT, noun Salt made from salt-springs, which is purer, whiter and finer, than common brine salt.

Basket-Woman

B'ASKET-WOMAN, noun A woman who carries a basket, to and from market.

Basking

B'ASKING, participle present tense Exposing or lying exposed to the continued action of heat or genial warmth.

Basking-Shark

B'ASKING-SHARK, noun The sun-fish of the Irish; a species of squalus or shark. This fish is from three to twelve yards in length, or even longer. The upper jaw is much longer than the lower one; the tail is large and the upper part much longer than the lower; the skin is rough, of a deep leaden color on the back, and white on the belly. The fish weighs more than a thousand pounds, and affords a great quantity of oil, which is used for lamps, and to cure bruises, burns, and rheumatic complaints. It is viviparous, and frequents the northern seas. [See Squalus.]

Basquish

B'ASQUISH, adjective baskish. Pertaining to the people or language of Biscay.

Bass

B'ASS, noun [It has no plural.] The name of several species of fish. In England, this name is given to a species of perch, called by some the sea-wolf, from its voracity, and resembling, in a degree, the trout in shape, but having a larger head. It weighs about fifteen pounds. In the northern states of America, this name is given to a striped fish which grows to the weight of 25 or 30 pounds, and which enters the rivers; the perca ocellata.

A species of striped fish, of a darker color, with a large head, is called sea-bass, as it is never found in fresh water. This fish grows to two or three pounds weight. Both species are well tasted, but the proper bass is a very white and delicious food.

B'ASS, noun The linden, lime or tiel tree; called also bass-wood. [See Bast.]

2. [pron.bas.] A mat to kneel on in churches.

BASS, noun In music, the base; the deepest or gravest part of a tune. This word is thus written in imitation of the Italian basso, which is the Eng. base, low; yet with the pronunciation of base and plural bases, a gross error that ought to be corrected; as the word used in pronunciation is the English word base.

BASS, verb transitive To sound in a deep tone.