Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
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.
Be-hōld’en, p. a. p. 122Obliged; bound in gratitude; indebted. Little are we beholden to your love. Shak.Be-hōld'er, n. p. 122One who beholds; a spectator; one who looks upon or sees.Be-hōld’ing, a. p. 122Obliged; under obligation. [Improperly used for beholden.] So much hath Oxford been beholding to her nephews, or sister’s children. Fuller.Be-hōld'ing, n. p. 122The act of seeing or contemplating. “I am wild in my beholding.” Shak. 2. Obligation. [Obs.] “Love to virtue, and not to any particular beholding.” Carew.Be-hōld'ing-ness, n. p. 122The state of being obliged or beholden. [Obs. and illegitimate.] Sidney.Be-hōn'ey, v. t. p. 122To sweeten with honey. Sherwood.Be-hoof', n. p. 122That which is advantageous; advantage; profit; benefit. No mean recompence it brings to your behoof. Milton.Be-hōōv'a-ble, a. p. 122Supplying need; profitable; advantageous. [Obs.] Udal.Be-hōove', v. t. p. 122To be necessary for; to be fit for; to be meet for, with respect to necessity, duty, or convenience. And thus it behooved Christ to suffer. Luke xxiv. 46.Be-hōove', v. i. p. 122To be necessary, fit, or suitable. [Obs.] Chaucer.Be-hoove', n. p. 122Advantage; behoof. [Obs.] “It shall not be to his behoove.” Gower.Be-hōōve'ful, a. p. 122Advantageous; useful; profitable. Bp. Hall.Be-hōōve'ful-ly, adv. p. 122Usefully; profitably. [Obs., or nearly so.] Spenser.Be-hŏt’ or Be-hōve’, imp. p. 122of behight. [Obs.] Be-hōve’, and its derivatives. See BEHOOVE.Be-howl', v. t. p. 122To howl at. [Obs.] “The wolf behowls the moon.” Shak.Bĕ'ing, p. pr. p. 122from be.Bē'ing, n. p. 122Existence, as opposed to non-existence; existence in fact or in thought. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts xvii. 28. 2. That which exists in any way, whether it be material or…Be'ing, adv. p. 122Since; inasmuch as. [Obs. or vulgar.] And being you have Declined his means, you have increased his malice. Beau. & Fl.Bē it sō. p. 122A phrase of supposition, equivalent to suppose it to be so; or of permission, signifying let it be so. Shak.Be-jāde', v. t. p. 122To tire. [Obs.] Milton.Be-jāpe', v. t. p. 122To laugh at; to deceive. [Obs.] Chaucer.Be-jäun'diçe, v. t. p. 122To infect with jaundice.Be-jē'sū-it, v. t. p. 122To initiate into Jesuitism. Milton.Be-jŭm'ble, v. t. p. 122To throw into confusion.Bē'kah, n. p. 122(Bib.) A half-shekel.Be-kiss', v. t. p. 122To kiss or salute. [Obs.] B. Jonson.Be-knāve', v. t. p. 122To call knave. [Obs.] Pope.Be-knōw', v. t. p. 122To acknowledge. [Obs.] Chaucer.Be-lā'bor, v. t. p. 122To ply diligently; to work carefully upon. If the earth is belabored with culture, it yieldeth corn. Barrow. 2. To beat soundly; to cudgel. Ajax belabors there a harmless ox. Dryden.Bĕl'-ae-eôrd' or Bĕl'-ae-eoyle', n. p. 122A kind or favorable reception or salutation. [Obs.] Spenser.Be-lāçe', v. t. p. 122To fasten, as with a lace or cord. [Obs.] 2. To cover or adorn with lace. [Obs.] Beaumont. 3. To beat with a strap; to chastise. Wright.Be-lām', v. t. p. 122To beat or bang. [Prov. Eng.] Todd.Bēl'a-mōur', n. p. 122A gallant; a consort. [Obs.] Spenser. 2. A flower, but of what kind is unknown. Her snowy brows like budded belamours. Spenser.Bĕl'a-my, n. p. 122A good friend; an intimate. [Obs.] “His dearest belamy.” Spenser.Be-lāte', v. t. p. 122To retard or make too late. [Obs.] Beaumont.Be-lāt'ed-ness, n. p. 122A being too late. Milton.Be-lāud', v. t. p. 122To laud or praise greatly.Be-lāve', v. t. p. 122To lave or wash. [Obs.]Be-law'gīve, v. t. p. 122To give a law to. [Barbarous and obs.] Milton.Be-lāy', v. t. p. 122To lie in wait for with a view to assault; hence, to block up or obstruct. [Obs.] The speedy horse all passages belay. Dryden. 2. To lay on or cover; to adorn. [Obs.] “Belayed with silver lace.”…Be-lāy'ing-pīn, n. p. 122(Naut.) A strong pin in the side of a vessel, or by the mast, round which ropes are wound when they are fastened or belayed.Bĕlch, v. t. p. 122To eject or throw up from the stomach with violence; to eruct. I belched a hurricane of wind. Swift. 2. To eject violently from within; to cast forth. The gates that now stood open wide, belching…Bĕlch, v. i. p. 122To eject wind from the stomach. 2. To issue out with eructation. Dryden.Bĕlch, n. p. 122The act of throwing out from the stomach, or violently from within; eructation. 2. Malt liquor; — vulgarly so called as causing eructation. [Obs.] Dennis.Bĕl'dam or Bĕl'dame, n. p. 122Fair dame or lady. [Obs.] Spenser. 2. Grandmother, corresponding to belsire, grandfather. To show the beldame daughters of her daughter. Shak. 3. An old woman in general, especially an ugly old…Be-lea'guer, v. t. p. 122To surround with an army so as to preclude escape; to besiege; to blockade. The wall of famine in beleaguered towns. Longfellow. Syn.—To block up; besiege; environ; invest; encompass.Be-lēa'guer-er, n. p. 122One who beleaguers. Sherwood.Be-leave', v. t. p. 122To leave. [Obs.] May.Be-lēct'ūre, v. t. p. 122To vex with lectures; to lecture frequently.Be-lee', v. t. p. 122To place on the lee, or in a position not exposed to the wind. Shak.Be-lēm'nite, n. p. 122(Paleon.) A cylindrical, calcareous fossil, about as large as the finger, tapering to a point at the lower extremity, and hollow, with a conical cavity at the other end; the thunderstone. It is the…Be-lēp'er, v. t. p. 122To infect with leprosy. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.Běl-es-prĭt, n. p. 122A fine genius, or man of wit. Men who look up to me as a man of letters and a bel-esprit. W. Irving.Bēl'fry, n. p. 122Among military writers of the middle ages, a movable tower, often several stories high, erected by besiegers for purposes of attack and defense. 2. A bell-tower, usually attached to a church or other…Bel-gārd', n. p. 123A sweet or beautiful look or appearance. [Obs.] Spenser.Bĕl'gī-an, a. p. 123(Geog.) Belonging to Belgium, or the Netherlands.Bĕl'gī-an, n. p. 123(Geog.) A native of Belgium, or the Low Countries.Bēl'gie, a. p. 123Pertaining to the Belgae, who anciently possessed the country between the Rhine, the Seine, and the ocean. How unlike their Belgic sires of old. Goldsmith. 2. Pertaining to Belgium, or its…Bel-grā'vi-an, a. p. 123Belonging to Belgravia (a fashionable quarter of London, around Pimlico), or to fashionable life. Thackeray.Bē'li-al, n. p. 123An evil spirit; a wicked and unprincipled person.