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An American Dictionary of the English Language

by Noah Webster

Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)

Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865

Entries
95,912
Pages
1,538
Illustrations
2,133

Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.

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  1. Bĕck, n.p. 119A small brook. “The brooks, the becks, the rills.” Drayton. [I have] watched The beck roll glittering to the noon-tide sun. Southey.
  2. Bĕck, n.p. 119A significant nod, or motion of the head or hand, as a call or command.
  3. Bĕck, v. i.p. 119To nod, or make a sign with the head or hand. Drayt. m.
  4. Bēck, v. t.p. 119To notify or call by a nod, or a motion of the head or hand; to intimate a command to.
  5. Bĕck'et, n.p. 119(Naut.) A contrivance to confine loose ropes, tackles, or spars, as a large hook, a rope with an eye at one end, &c. Totten. 2. A spade for digging turf. [Prov. Eng.] Wright.
  6. Bĕck-hār'man, n.p. 119A constable. [Obs. and low.] B. Jonson.
  7. Bĕck'on, v. i.p. 119To make a sign to another, by nodding, or a motion of the hand or finger, &c., intended as a hint or intimation. Stood and beckoned at the doorway. Longfellow.
  8. Bĕck'on, v. t.p. 119To make a significant sign to; hence, to summon. His distant friends he beckons near. Dryden.
  9. Bĕck'on, n.p. 119A sign made without words; a beck. [Rare.] “At the first beckon.” Bolingbroke.
  10. Be-clĭp', v. t.p. 119To embrace; to surround. [Obs.] Wickliffe.
  11. Be-cloud', v. t.p. 119To cause obscurity or dimness to; to overshadow. “If thou becloud the sunshine of thine eye.” Quarles.
  12. Be-cŏme' (-kŭm'), v. i.p. 119To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state or condition, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter, or a…
  13. Be-cōme', v. t.p. 119To suit or be suitable to; to be congruous with; to befit; to accord with, in character or circumstances; to be worthy of, or proper for; — usually said of things, but sometimes of persons. If I…
  14. Be-côm'ing, a.p. 119Appropriate or fit; congruous; suitable; graceful; befitting. “A low and becoming tone.” Thackeray. Formerly sometimes followed by of. Such discourses as are becoming of them. Dryden.
  15. Be-côm'ing, n.p. 119Something worn as an ornament. [Obs.] Shak.
  16. Be-côm'ing-ly, adv.p. 119After a becoming or proper manner.
  17. Be-côm'ing-ness, n.p. 119The state or quality of being becoming, appropriate, or fit; congruity; fitness. “The becomingness of human nature.” Grew.
  18. Be-crĭp'ple, v. t.p. 119To make a cripple of; to cripple; to lame. [Rare.]
  19. Be-cûrl', v. t.p. 119To curl. [Obs.]
  20. Bĕd, n.p. 119An article of furniture to sleep or take rest on; — usually a sack filled with some soft material, in distinction from the bedstead or framework on which it is placed. 2. Matrimonial connection…
  21. Bĕd, v. t.p. 119To place in a bed. [Obs.] “She was . . . solemnly bedded.” Bacon. 2. To make partaker of the bed. [Obs.] “I’ll . . . never bed her.” Shak. 3. To plant and inclose or cover; to set or lay and inclose…
  22. Bĕd, v. i.p. 119To go to bed; to cohabit. If he be married, and bed with his wife. Wiseman.
  23. Be-dăb’ble, v. t.p. 119To sprinkle or wet with moisture. Shak.
  24. Be-dâff, v. t.p. 119To make a fool of. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  25. Bĕd'a-găt, n.p. 119The sacred books of the Buddhists in Burmah. Malcom.
  26. Be-dăg'gle, v. t.p. 119To soil, as clothes, by drawing the ends in the mud, or spattering them with dirty water. Johnson.
  27. Be-dāre′, v. t.p. 119To dare; to defy. [Obs.] Peele.
  28. Be-dārk', v. t.p. 119To make dark; to darken. [Obs.] Gower.
  29. Be-dăsh', v. t.p. 119To wet by dashing or throwing water or other liquor upon; to bespatter. “Trees bedashed with rain.” Shak.
  30. Be-dăub', v. t.p. 119To daub over; to besmear or soil with any thing thick and dirty. “bedaub fair designs with a foul varnish.” Barrow.
  31. Be-dăz'zle, v. t.p. 119To dazzle or make dim by too strong a light. “Bedazzled with the sun.” Shak.
  32. Be-dăz'zling-ly, adv.p. 119So as to bedazzle.
  33. Bĕd'-bŭg, n.p. 119An offensive bug (Cimex lectularius) which infests beds. Baird.
  34. Běd'-chăir, n.p. 119A chair for the sick, with a movable back, to sustain them while sitting up in bed.
  35. Bĕd'-chăm'ber, n.p. 119A chamber for a bed. Shak.
  36. Bĕd'clōthes, n. pl.p. 119Blankets, sheets, coverlets, &c., for a bed. Shak.
  37. Bĕd'der or Be-dĕt'ter, n.p. 119The nether stone of an oil mill. Chalmers.
  38. Bĕd'ding, n.p. 119A bed and its furniture; the materials of a bed, whether for man or beast. Spenser. 2. (Geol.) The state or position of beds and layers. Dana.
  39. Be-dĕād′, v. t.p. 119To make dead; to kill. [Obs.]
  40. Be-dĕck′, v. t.p. 119To deck, ornament, or adorn; to grace. “Bedecked with boughs, flowers, and garlands.” Pennant.
  41. Bĕd'e-guār, n.p. 119A hairy or spongy substance on rose-bushes, produced by the puncture of certain insects, and once supposed to have valuable medicinal properties. Booth.
  42. Bēde'-house, n.p. 119See BEAD HOUSE.
  43. Bē'del, n.p. 119Same as BEADLE, q. v.
  44. Bē'del-ry, n.p. 119The extent of a bedel's or beadle's office. Blount.
  45. Be-dĕv'il, v. t.p. 119To throw into utter disorder and confusion, as if by the agency of evil spirits. “Bedeviled and used worse than St. Bartholomew.” Sterne. 2. To spoil; to corrupt. Wright.
  46. Be-dew', v. t.p. 119To moisten with dew, or as with dew. Falling tears his face bedew. Dryden.
  47. Be-dew'er, n.p. 119One who, or that which, bedews.
  48. Be-dew'y, a.p. 119Moist with dew. [Obs.] “Night with her bedewy wings.” Brewer.
  49. Bĕd'fel-lōw, n.p. 119One who lies with another in the same bed. Shak.
  50. Bĕd'fēre, n.p. 119
  51. Bĕd'phērep. 119A bedfellow. [Obs.] Chapman.
  52. Be-dight′, v. t.p. 119To deck with ornaments; to adorn; to dress; to set off. [Rare.] Milton.
  53. Be-dīm’, v. t.p. 119p. pr. & vb. n. BEDIMMING.] [be and dim.] To make dim; to obscure or darken. I have bedimmed the noon-tide sun. Shak.
  54. Be-dĭs'mal, v. t.p. 119To make dismal. [Obs.]
  55. Be-dī'zen or Be-diz'en, v. t.p. 119To dress or adorn tawdrily or with false taste. Remnants of tapestried hangings, window curtains, and shreds of pictures, with which he had bedizened his tatters. W. Scott.
  56. Bĕd'lam, n.p. 119A place appropriated to the confinement and care of the insane; a mad-house. Tillotson. 2. An insane person; a lunatic; a madman. “Let us get the bedlam to lead him.” Shak.
  57. Bĕd'lam, a.p. 119Belonging to or fit for a mad-house. “The bedlam, brainsick duchess.” Shak.
  58. Bĕd'lam-ite, n.p. 119An inhabitant of a mad-house; a madman. “Raving bedlamites.” Beattie.
  59. Bĕd'-māk/er, n.p. 119One who makes beds.
  60. Bĕd'-mōld'ing or Bĕd'-mōuld'ing, n.p. 119(Arch.) The moldings of a cornice immediately below the corona. Oxf. Gloss.