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.
Blăt'ter, v. i. p. 140To patter; hence, to make a senseless noise; to rail. “The rain blattered.” Jeffrey. They procured, also, certain preachers to blatter against me, ... so that they had place and time to belie me…Blăt'ter-er, n. p. 140One who blatters; a noisy, blustering boaster. [Obs.] Spenser.Blăt'ter-ā'tion, n. p. 140Senseless noise or babble. [Obs.]Blăt'ter-ing, n. p. 140Senseless blustering.Blăt'ter-ōon', n. p. 140A senseless babbler. [Obs.] “I hate such blatteroons.” Howell.Blāy, n. p. 140(Ichth.) A small river fish; the bleak.Blāze, n. p. 140The stream of light and heat from any body when burning, proceeding from the combustion of inflammable gas; flame. “To heaven the blaze up-rolled.” Croly. 2. Light, as from flame; expanded light. O…Blāze, v. i. p. 140To shine with flame; as, the fire blazes. 2. To send forth or show a bright and expanded light. “And far and wide the icy summit blazed.” Wordsworth. 3. To be conspicuous.Blāze, v. t. p. 140To make public far and wide; to render conspicuous. “On charitable lists he blazed his name.” Pollok. To blaze those virtues which the good would hide. Pope. 2. To blazon. [Obs.] See BLAZON. Peacham.…Blāz'er, n. p. 140One who publishes and spreads reports. “Blazers of crime.” Spenser.Blāz'ing, a. p. 140Emitting flame or light; as, blazing torches. W. Scott.Blāz'ing-stār, n. p. 140A comet; a star that is accompanied with a coma, or train of light. 2. (Bot.) (a.) A plant of the Colchicum family, the Chamaelirium luteum. Dana. (b.) A medicinal plant (Aletris farinosa), called…Blā’zon, v. t. p. 140To display; to exhibit conspicuously; to make public far and wide. “Thyself thou blazon’st.” Shak. “There pride sits blazoned on th’ unmeaning brow.” Trumbull. “To blazon his own worthless name.”…Blā'zon, v. i. p. 140To shine; to be brilliant or conspicuous. [Rare.]Blā'zon, n. p. 140The art of drawing, describing, or explaining coats of arms. Peacham. 2. The representation on coats of arms. “Their blazon o’er his towers displayed.” W. Scott. 3. Ostentatious display, either by…Blā'z'on-er, n. p. 140One who blazons; a herald; a proclaimer or propagator. Burke.Blā'zōn-ry, n. p. 140The art of describing or explaining coats of arms in proper terms. “The principles of blazonry.” Peacham. 2. The exhibition of coats of arms. “The blazonry of Argyle.” Lord Dufferin.Blēa, n. p. 140The part of a tree which lies immediately under the bark. Chambers.Blēa'ber-ry, n. p. 140(Bot.) A plant and its fruit, a species of Vaccinium (V. uliginosum), having small leaves like those of box-wood, and little purple berries.Blēach, v. t. p. 140To make white, or whiter, by removing the original color; to blanch; to whiten. The destruction of the coloring matters attached to the bodies to be bleached is effected either by the action of the…Blēach, v. i. p. 140To grow white in any manner.Bleached, p. a. p. 140Whitened; made white. Let their bleached bones, and blood’s unbleaching stain, Long mark the battle-field with hideous awe. Byron.Blēach'er, n. p. 140One who whitens, or whose occupation is to whiten, by bleaching.Blēach'er-y, n. p. 140A place or establishment for bleaching.Blēach'-field, n. p. 140A field where any thing is bleached.Blēach'ing, n. p. 140The act or art of whitening, especially the process of whitening fabrics by chemical agents, &c. Ure.Blēach'ing-pow'der, n. p. 140A powder for bleaching, consisting of chloride of lime.Bleak, a. p. 140Without color; pale. [Obs.] When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as one that were laid out dead. Foxe. 2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds. Wastes too bleak to rear The common…Bleak, n. p. 140(Ichth.) A small river fish, five or six inches long, so named from its whiteness; called, by contraction, blay. It belongs to the family Cyprinidæ and genus Leuciscus (L. alburnus). ☞ The silvery…Bleak'ly, adv. p. 140Openly as to cold and wind; desolately.Bleak'ness, n. p. 140The quality of being bleak; openness of situation; exposure to the wind; hence, coldness. “The bleakness of the air.” Addison.Bleak'y, a. p. 140Bleak; unsheltered; cold. [Obs.] “Bleaky plains.” Dryden.Blear, a. p. 140Dim or sore with water or rheum; — applied to the eyes. His blear eyes ran in gutters to his chin. Dryden. 2. Causing dimness of sight; obscuring. “To cheat the eye with blear illusion.” Milton.Blear, v. t. p. 140To make sore; to affect with soreness of eyes, or a watery humor. Hence, 2. To make dim, or partially to obscure the sight of. Enticing dames my patience still did prove, And bleared mine eyes.…Bleared, p. a. p. 140Dimmed by a watery humor; affected with rheum. Dardanian wives, With bleared visages come forth to view The issue of th’ exploit. Shak.Blear'ed-ness, n. p. 140The state of being bleared, or dimmed with rheum. Wiseman.Blear'-eye or Blear'-eyed-ness, n. p. 140(Med.) A disease of the eyelids, consisting in chronic inflammation of the margins, with a gummy secretion of the sebaceous humor. Dunglison.Blear'-eyed, a. p. 140Having sore eyes; having the eyes dim with rheum; dim sighted. “The blear-eyed Crispin.” Drant. 2. Lacking in perception or penetration; as, a blear-eyed bigot.Blēar'y, n. p. 140A kind of porridge made of flour and water. Boiling a bleary, which was no other than flour and water, and that without salt. Judge Henry.Blēat, v. i. p. 140To make the noise of a sheep; to cry as a sheep. Then suddenly was heard along the main, To low the ox, to bleat the woolly train. Pope.Blēat, n. p. 140The cry of a sheep. “The bleat of fleecy sheep.” Chapman’s Homer.Blēat'er, n. p. 140One who bleats; a sheep. In cold, stiff soils the bleaters oft complain Of gouty ills. Dyer.Blēat'ing, p. a. p. 140Crying as a sheep. Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks from the seaside. Longfellow.Blēat'ing, n. p. 140The cry of a sheep. Chapman.Blĕb, n. p. 140A little tumor, vesicle, or blister; a bubble, as in water, glass, &c. Arsenic abounds with air blebs. Kirwan.Blĕb'by, a. p. 140Full of blebs.Blēd, imp. & p. p. p. 140of bleed.Blee, n. p. 140Complexion; color; likeness. [Eng.] [Rare.] “Bright of blee.” Chaucer. “That boy has a strong blee of his father.” Forby. “For white of blee with waiting for me.” Browning.Bleed, v. i. p. 140To lose blood; to run with blood, by whatever means; as, the arm bleeds. 2. To die a violent death, or by slaughter. The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day. Pope. 3. To issue forth, or drop as…Bleed, v. t. p. 140To let blood; to take blood from by opening a vein. 2. To lose, as blood; to emit or let drop, as juice, sap, or gum. “A decaying pine of stately size, bleeding amber.” Miller. 3. To draw money from…Bleed'ing, n. p. 140A running or issuing of blood, as from the nose; a hemorrhage; the operation of letting blood, as in surgery; the drawing of sap from a tree or plant.Bleit or Blāte, a. p. 140Bashful; diffident; timid. [Scot. and North Eng.] Johnson.Blēm'ish, v. t. p. 140To mark with deformity; to injure or impair, as any thing which is well formed, or excellent; to mar, or make defective, either the body or mind. Sin is a soil which blemisheth the beauty of thy…Blēm'ish, n. p. 140Any mark of deformity, whether physical or moral; any thing that diminishes beauty, or renders imperfect that which is well formed; that which impairs reputation. “The blemish of his prose.”…Blēm'ish-less, a. p. 140Without blemish; spotless. “A life in all so blemishless.” Feltham.Blēm'ish-ment, n. p. 140The state of being blemished; blemish; disgrace. [Obs.] For dread of blame and honor's blemishment. Spencer.Blĕnch, v. i. p. 140To shrink; to start back; to give way; to draw back, from lack of courage or resolution; to flinch. “Blench not at thy chosen lot.” Bryant. This painful, heroic task he undertook, and never blenched…Blēnch, v. t. p. 140To baffle; to disconcert; to break the force of, or render ineffectual. “If ye so should have answered him as I have showed you, though ye should have somewhat blenched him therewith, yet he might…Blĕnch, n. p. 141A start or shrinking back. [Obs.] These blenches gave my heart another youth. Shak.Blĕnch'er, n. p. 141One who frustrates; specifically, a person stationed to prevent the escape of the deer, at a hunt. See BLANCHER. Beau. & Fl.