Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Bläck'-sïl'ver, n. p. 138A mineral, called also brittle silver ore, consisting of silver, antimony, and sulphur.Blăck'smith, n. p. 138A smith who works in iron, and makes iron utensils; an iron-smith.Blăck'-snāke, n. p. 138A serpent of a black color; two species are found in America. The Coluber constrictor is sometimes six feet long, and the C. Alleghaniensis seven or eight feet long.Bläck'-sträp, n. p. 138A mixture of spirituous liquor and molasses. Molly, dear, no blackstrap to-night; switchel, or ginger-pop. Judd. 2. A name given by the English sailors to the common wines of the Mediterranean.…Bläck'tāil, n. p. 138(Ichth.) A kind of perch, called also a ruff or pope; the Acerina cornua.Bläck'thôrn, n. p. 138(Bot.) (a.) A species of Prunus, called sloe (P. spinosa). It grows ten or twelve feet high, very branchy, armed with sharp, strong spines, and bearing small, black cherries. (b.) A species of…Blăck'tin, n. p. 138Tin ore, when dressed, stamped, and washed, ready for melting. It is the ore comminuted by beating into a black powder, like fine sand.Blăck'-trĕssed, a. p. 138Having black tresses. W. Scott.Blăck'-vĭs'aged, a. p. 138Having a dark visage or appearance. Marston.Bläck'-vôm'it, n. p. 138A copious vomiting of dark-colored matter; or the substance so discharged; one of the most fatal symptoms in yellow fever.Blăck'-wal/nut, n. p. 138A well-known American tree (Juglans nigra), the wood of which is of a dark color, forming a beautiful material for cabinet-work.Blăck'-wash, n. p. 138A lotion made by mingling calomel and lime-water. 2. Any thing that blackens, as opposed to white-wash. To remove as far as he can the modern layers of black-wash, and let the man himself, fair or…Blăck'wă/ter, n. p. 138A disease of sheep. Farm. Encyc.Blăck'witch, n. p. 138(Bot.) A noxious weed, the marsh couch-grass (Agrostis alba).Blăck'-work, n. p. 138Iron wrought by blacksmiths; so called in distinction from that wrought by whitesmiths.Bläd'der, n. p. 138(Anat.) A bag or sac in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some secreted fluid; as, the urinary bladder, the gall bladder;—applied especially to the urinary bladder, either within the animal…Bläd'der, v. t. p. 138To swell or puff up, as a bladder with air. A hollow globe of glass, that long before She full of emptiness had bladdered. Fletcher. 2. To put up in bladders; as, bladdered lard.Bläd'der-nŭt or Bläd'der-tree, n. p. 138(Bot.) A genus of plants, with the generic name Staphylea. London.Bläd'der-pŏd, n. p. 138(Bot.) A plant of the genus Vesicaria.Bläd'der-sĕn'na, n. p. 138(Bot.) A genus of plants with membranous, inflated pods; Colutea.Bläd'der-wort, n. p. 138(Bot.) A family of marshy, herbaceous plants, of the genus Utricularia. Baird.Bläd'der-wräck, n. p. 138(Bot.) The common leathery sea-weed (Fucus vesiculosus). Wright.Bläd'der-y, a. p. 138Resembling a bladder; containing bladders.Blāde, n. p. 138Properly, the leaf, or flat part of the leaf, of any plant, especially of gramineous plants;—the term is sometimes applied to the spire of grasses. “The crimson dulse . . . with its waving blade of…Blāde, v. t. p. 138To furnish with a blade.Blāde, v. i. p. 138To have a blade. As sweet a plant, as fair a flower, is faded As ever in the Muses' garden bladed. Fletcher.Blāde'-bōne, n. p. 138The scapula, or upper bone in the shoulder.Blād'ed, p. p. p. 138Having a blade or blades. It may be used of blade in the sense of a leaf, a spire, or the cutting part of an instrument; as, a two-bladed knife. Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass. Shak. 2.…Blāde'smith, n. p. 138A sword cutler. [Obs.]Bläe, n. p. 138A thin plate or scale. [Scot.] 2. A rough part of wood, &c., left in boring or sawing. [Scot.] Jamieson.Blāin, n. p. 138An inflammatory swelling or sore; a pustule; a blister. Botches and blains must all his flesh imboss. Milton. 2. (Far.) A bladder growing on the root of the tongue, against the windpipe, which swells…Blām'a-ble, a. p. 138Deserving of censure; faulty; culpable; reprehensible.Blām'a-ble-ness, n. p. 138The state of being worthy of censure; culpableness; fault. Whitlock.Blām'a-bly, adv. p. 138In a manner deserving of censure; culpably.Blāme, v. t. p. 138To censure; to express disapprobation of; to find fault with. “We have done to blame but ourselves.” Tillotson. 2. To bring reproach upon; to blemish; to injure. [Obs.] See BLEMISH. She blamed her…Blāme, n. p. 138An expression of disapprobation for something deemed to be wrong; imputation of fault; censure; reprehension. Let me bear the blame forever. Gen. xliii. 9. 2. That which is deserving of censure or…Blāme'ful, a. p. 138Faulty; meriting blame; reprehensible. Shak.Blāme'ful-ly, ad. p. 138In a blameful manner; faultily; blamably.Blāme'ful-ness, n. p. 138State of being blameful.Blāme'less, a. p. 138Without fault; innocent; guiltless; not meriting censure. A bishop then must be blameless. 1 Tim. iii. 2. Sometimes followed by of. “Blameless still of arts that polish to deprave.” Mullet. We will…Blāme'less-ly, adv. p. 138Innocently; without fault or crime.Blāme'less-ness, n. p. 138Innocence; freedom from fault or blame.Blām'er, n. p. 138One who blames, finds fault, or censures.Blāme'wor-thi-ness, n. p. 138The quality of deserving censure; fault; blamableness.Blāme'wor-thy, a. p. 138Deserving blame; censurable; culpable; reprehensible.Blāne'ard, n. p. 138A kind of linen cloth manufactured in Normandy, so called because the thread is half blanched before it is woven.Blănch, v. t. p. 138To take out the color, and make white; to whiten; to make blank. “Blanched locks.” W. Scott. Keep the natural ruby of your cheeks When mine are blanched with fear. Shak. 2. To make white by stripping…Blănch, v. i. p. 138To grow or become white; as, his cheek blanched with fear; the rose blanches in the sun. 2. To evade; to shift; to speak softly. [Obs.] Books will speak plain, when counselors blanch. Bacon.Blăn'chard Lāthe p. 138A lathe for turning irregular forms, such as shoe-lasts or gun-stocks.Blănch'er, n. p. 138One who blanches or whitens. 2. One who anneals and cleanses money. 3. One who hinders or turns aside. [Obs.] And so even now hath he divers blanchers belonging to the market, to let and stop the…Blānch'-hōld'ing, n. p. 139(Law.) A tenure by which the tenant is bound to pay only an elusory yearly duty, as a penny or some small article, to his superior, as an acknowledgment of his right—a mode not unfrequent in…Blänch-īm'e-ter, n. p. 139An instrument for measuring the bleaching power of chloride of lime and potash. Ure.Blănch'ing, n. p. 139The act of whitening; the operation of giving a peculiar luster and brightness to pieces of silver about to be coined, and not yet stamped, by means of acids, heat, &c. 2. The covering of iron plates…Blănch'ing-liq'uor, n. p. 139The solution of chloride of lime for bleaching;—called by workmen chemic. Porter.Blanc-mange', n. p. 139Blanc-man'ger p. 139(Cookery.) A preparation of dissolved isinglass, or sea-moss, milk, sugar, cinnamon, &c., boiled into a thick consistence.Bland, a. p. 139Mild; soft; gentle; as, bland words; bland zephyrs; producing a pleasing impression by soft or soothing qualities. “Exhilarating vapor bland.” Milton.Blan-dā’tiōn, n. p. 139Gross flattery. [Obs.]Blan-dil'o-quence, n. p. 139Fair, mild, flattering speech. [Obs.]Bland'ish, v. t. p. 139To flatter by kind words or affectionate actions; to soften; to caress. Mustering all her wiles, With blandished parleys. Milton.