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-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.Be-lĭ'bel, v. t. p. 123To libel or traduce.Be-lie', v. t. p. 123To give the lie to; to show to be false; to convict of, or charge with, falsehood. Their trembling hearts belie their boastful tongues. Dryden. 2. To give a false representation or account of. Should…Be-lief', n. p. 123Assent to a proposition or affirmation, or the acceptance of a fact as real or certain, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial assurance without positive…Be-lief'ful, a. p. 123Having or exercising belief or faith. [Obs.] Udal.Be-līe'vā-ble, a. p. 123Capable of being believed; credible. Sherwood.Be-līeve′, v. t. p. 123To credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of upon the declaration of another, or upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or…Be-lĭeve’, v. i. p. 123To have a firm persuasion; to have a persuasion approaching to certainty; to exercise belief or faith;—often followed by in or on. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. John xiv. 1. With the heart…Be-lĭēv'er, n. p. 123One who believes; one who gives credit to other evidence than that of personal knowledge. “To stagger the faith of the least scrupulous believer.” Prescott. 2. (Theol.) One who gives credit to the…Be-liev'ing-ly, adv. p. 123In a believing manner.Be-light', v. t. p. 123To illuminate. [Obs.] Cowley.Be-like', adv. p. 123It is likely; probably; perhaps. If he came in for a reckoning, belike it was for a better treat than mine. W. Scott.Be-like'ly, adv. p. 123Probably. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.Be-lime’, v. t. p. 123To besmear or insnare with lime. Bp. Hall.Be-lit'tle, v. t. p. 123To make little or less in a moral sense; to lower in character. [Rare in America. Not used in England.] Jefferson.**Be-līve'**, adv. p. 123Forthwith; speedily; quickly. [Obs.] Spencer.Bĕlk, v. t. p. 123To throw up; to vomit. [Obs.] Marsden.Bell, n. p. 123A hollow metallic vessel which gives forth a clear, musical, ringing sound on being struck. In its most common form, it is expanded at the lower part, is furnished at the top with an ear for the…Bĕll, v. i. p. 123To bellow. As ravens, screech-owls, bulls, and bears, We'll bellow and bawl our parts. Webster, 1623. The belling of scattered deer, as they go bouncing and mincing daintily across the openings here…Bĕll, v. i. p. 123To grow in the form of bells, as buds or flowers. Mortimer. 2. To call or bellow, as the deer in rutting time. The wild buck bells from ferny brake. W. Scott.Bĕl/la-dŏn/nă, n. p. 123(Bot.) (a.) A species of the genus Atropa, formerly employed as a cosmetic; deadly night-shade. (b.) A species of Amaryllis (A. belladonna); the belladonna lily. London.Bĕll'-bĭrd, n. p. 123(Ornith.) (a.) The Procnias carunculata of Brazil. (b.) The Myzantha melanophrys of Australia. The notes of both these birds resemble the sound of bells. Edwards. Baird.Bĕll'-crānk, n. p. 123The crank used to ring a bell; a rectangular lever by which the direction of motion is changed through an angle of ninety degrees. Francis.Bĕlle, n. p. 123A young lady of superior beauty and much admired. Say, what strange motive, goddess, could compel A well-bred lord to assault a gentle belle?Bĕlled, a. p. 123Hung with bells.Belles-let'tres, n. pl. p. 123Polite or elegant literature; including especially rhetoric, poetry, history, philology, and criticism, with the languages in which the standard works in these departments are written; the humanities.Bĕll'-flow'er, n. p. 123(Bot.) A plant of the genus Campanula;—so named from the shape of the corol or flower, which resembles a little bell.Bĕll'-found'er, n. p. 123A man whose occupation is to found or cast bells.Bĕll'-found'er-y or Bĕll'-found'ry, n. p. 123A place where bells are founded or cast.Bĕll'-hăng'er, n. p. 123A man who hangs or puts up bells.Bĕl'li-bōne, n. p. 123A woman excelling both in beauty and goodness. [Obs.] Spenser.Bĕl'lic or Bĕl'lic-al, a. p. 123Of, or pertaining to, war; warlike. [Obs.] “Bellic Cesar?” Feltham.