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.
Bi-lin'guous, a. p. 132Having two tongues, or speaking two languages.Bil'ious, a. p. 132Pertaining to the bile; disordered in respect to the bile; as, a bilious patient; dependent on an excess of bile; as, bilious temperament; bilious symptoms. “A bilious old nabob.” Macaulay.Bi-lit'er-al, a. p. 132Consisting of two letters; as, a biliteral root in language. Sir W. Jones.Bilk, v. t. p. 132To frustrate or disappoint; to deceive or defraud, by non-fulfillment of engagement; as, to bilk a creditor.Bilk, n. p. 132A cheat; a trick. [Rare.] Hudibras. 2. Nonsense; vain words. B. Jonson.Bill, n. p. 132The beak of a fowl. “In his bill An olive-leaf he brings.” Milton. 2. The note of a bird. “The bittern’s hollow bill was heard.” Wordsworth.Bill, n. p. 132A cutting instrument, curved forward, or hook-shaped, toward the point, and fitted with a handle, like a hatchet; — used in pruning, &c.; when short called a hand-bill, when long a hedge-bill. 2. A…Bill, n. p. 132(Law.) (a.) A declaration in writing, expressing some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law. (b.) In England, an obligation or…Bill, v. i. p. 133To join bills, as doves; to caress in fondness. “As pigeons bill.” Shak.Bill, v. t. p. 133To advertise by a bill or public notice. [Cant.] L’Estrange.Bill'age, n. p. 133(Naut.) The breadth of a ship's floor when aground.Bill'-boards, n. p. 133(Naut.) Pieces of thick plank, armed with iron plates, and fixed on the fore channels of a ship, for the bill of the anchor to pass over freely. Totten.Bill'-book, n. p. 133(Com.) A book in which a person keeps an account of his notes, bills, bills of exchange, and the like, thus showing all that he issues and receives. Bouvier.Bill'-brō'ker, n. p. 133One who negotiates the discount of bills.Billed, a. p. 133(Ornith.) Furnished with a bill, as a bird;—used in composition.Bil'let, n. p. 133A small paper or note in writing, or a short letter. “I got your melancholy billet.” Sterne. 2. A ticket from a public officer directing soldiers at what house to lodge; as, a billet of residence. 3.…Bil'let, n. p. 133A small stick of wood. They shall beat out my brains with billets. Shak. 2. (Arch.) An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood.Bil'let, v. t. p. 133(Mil.) To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge. Hence, to quarter, or place in lodgings, as soldiers in private houses. “Billeted in so antiquated a mansion.” Irving.Bil'let-doux, n. p. 133A love note or letter. “A lover chanting out a billet-doux.” Spectator.Bil'let-hēad, n. p. 133A piece of timber at the bow or stem of a whale-boat, around which the harpoon-line is run out when the whale darts off.Bill'-fish, n. p. 133(Ichth.) A fish of the North American coast, the Belone truncata.Bill'-hook, n. p. 133A small hatchet with curved edge. Campbell.Bill'iard, a. p. 133Pertaining to the game of billiards; as, a billiard room, table, or ball. “Smooth as is a billiard ball.” B. Jonson.Bil'liards, n. p. 133A game played on a rectangular table, covered with a cloth, with small ivory balls, which the players aim to drive into hazard-nets or pockets at the sides and corners of the tables, by impelling one…Bĭl'lings-gāte, n. p. 133Foul or profane language; ribaldry. There, stripped, fair rhetoric languished on the ground, And shameful billingsgate her robes adorn. Pope.Bĭl'lion, n. p. 133According to the French method of numeration, a thousand millions, or 1,000,000,000; according to the English method, a million of millions, or 1,000,000,000,000. See NUMERATION.Bĭll'man, n. p. 133One who uses a bill or hooked ax;— applied particularly to soldiers. “A billman of the guard.” Saville.Bĭl'lōn, n. p. 133An alloy of gold and silver with a large proportion of copper, used in coinage.Bĭl'lot, n. p. 133Gold or silver in the bar or mass.Bĭl'lōw, n. p. 133A great wave or surge of the sea, occasioned usually by violent wind. Loud billows lash the sounding shore. Pope.Bĭl'lōw, v. i. p. 133To swell; to rise and roll in large waves or surges. “The billowing snow.” Prior.Bĭl'lōw-bēat'en, a. p. 133Tossed by billows.Bĭl'lōwed, a. p. 133Swelled, like a billow.Bĭl'lōw-y, a. p. 133Swelling, or swelled into large waves; wavy; full of billows or surges; turgid. “Billowy deep.” Warton. And whitening down the many-tinctured stream, Descends the billowy foam. Thomson.Bĭll'-stĭck'er, n. p. 133One who posts up bills in public places.Bĭl'ly, n. p. 133A watchman's club. [Cant.]Bī'lōbed or Bī-lō'bate, a. p. 133(Bot.) Divided into two lobes; as, a bilobate leaf. Gray.Bī-lŏc'ū-lar, a. p. 133(Bot.) Divided into two cells, or containing two cells internally; as, a bilocular pericarp. Gray.Bī-măc'ū-late, a. p. 133Having two spots.Bī-mā'nȧ, n. p. 133(Zoöl.) Animals having two hands;—a term applied by Cuvier to the highest order of Mammalia, of which man is the type and sole species.Bī-mā'noŭs, a. p. 133(Zoöl.) Having two hands; as, man is bimanous.Bī-mär'ġi-nate, a. p. 133(Conch.) Having a double margin as far as the tip, as certain shells.Bī-mē'di-al, a. p. 133(Geom.) When two lines commensurable only in power (as the side and diagonal of a square) are added together, and the sum is incommensurable in respect to either, the sum is called by Euclid a…Bī-mĕm'bral, a. p. 133(Gram.) Having two members, as a sentence. J. W. Gibbs.Bī-mĕn'sal or Bī-mĕs'tri-al or Bī-mȯnth'ly, a. p. 133Occurring once in two months.Bī-mŭs'cu-lar, a. p. 133(Compar. Anat.) Having two attaching muscles, and two muscular impressions, as a bivalve mollusk. Kirby.Bĭn, n. p. 133A box or inclosed place, used as a repository of any commodity; as, a corn-bin, a wine-bin, a coal-bin.Bĭn p. 133An old word for be and been.Bī'nal, a. p. 133Twofold; double. [Obs. and rare.] “Binal revenge, all this.” Ford.Bĭn'är-sē'ni-ate, n. p. 133(Chem.) A salt having two equivalents of arsenic acid to one of the base. Graham.Bī'na-ry, a. p. 133Compounded of two. Binary arithmetic, that in which numbers are expressed according to the binary scale, or in which two figures only, 0 and 1, are used, in lieu of two; the cipher multiplying every…Bī'na-ry, n. p. 133The constitution of two. Fotherby.Bī'nate, a. p. 133(Bot.) Being double or in couples; growing in pairs; as, a binate leaf. Gray.Bīnd, v. t. p. 133To tie together, or confine with a cord, band, ligature, chain, &c.; as, to bind grain; to bind a captive; — sometimes with up; as, to bind up a wound. 2. In a more general sense, to confine…Bīnd, v. i. p. 133To contract; to grow hard or stiff; as, clay binds by heat. 2. To be restrained from motion, or from customary or natural action. 3. To be obligatory. Locke.Bīnd, n. p. 133A stalk of hops, so called from its winding round a pole or tree, or being bound to it. 2. (Metal.) Indurated clay, when much mixed with the oxide of iron. Kirwan. 3. (Mus.) A ligature or tie for the…Bīnd'er, n. p. 133A person who binds; one whose trade is to bind, as books. A man, with a binder, may reap an acre of wheat in a day. Mortimer. 2. Any thing that binds, as a fillet, cord, rope, or band; a bandage.Bīnd'er-y, n. p. 133A place where books or other articles are bound. [An Americanism.]Bīnd'ing, a. p. 133Having power to bind or oblige; obligatory; as, the binding force of a moral duty, or of a command. Binding joists (Arch.), the joists of a floor into which the trimmers of staircases, or well-holes…Bīnd'ing, n. p. 133The act of fastening with a band. 2. Any thing that binds; a bandage; the cover of a book, with the sewing and accompanying work; something that secures the edge of cloth from raveling. 3. (Fencing.)…