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An American Dictionary of the English Language

by Noah Webster

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.

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  1. Boy'-bish'op, n.p. 157A boy (usually a chorister) elected bishop, in old Christmas sports, and invested with robes and other insignia. He practiced a kind of mimicry of the ceremonies in which the bishop usually…
  2. Boy'-blind, a.p. 157Blind as a boy; undiscerning. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.
  3. Boy'er, n.p. 157(Naut.) A Flemish sloop with a castle at each end.
  4. Boy'hood, n.p. 157The state of a boy, or of immature age. Turning to mirth all things of earth, As only boyhood can. Hood.
  5. Boy'ish, a.p. 157Resembling a boy in manners or opinions; belonging to a boy; childish; trifling; puerile. “A boyish, odd conceit.” Baillie.
  6. Boy'ish-ly, adv.p. 157In a boyish manner; like a boy; childishly.
  7. Boy'ish-ness, n.p. 157The manners or behavior of a boy; childishness.
  8. Boy'ism, n.p. 157Childishness; puerility. Dryden. 2. The state of a boy; boyhood. [Rare.] Warton.
  9. Boy's'-play, n.p. 157Childish amusement; any thing trifling.
  10. Bo-yū'na, n.p. 157A large serpent of America, black and slender, having an intolerable smell. Also, a harmless reptile.
  11. Bra-bant'ine, a.p. 157(Geog.) Pertaining to Brabant, a province of the Netherlands, or to its inhabitants.
  12. Brāb'ble, n.p. 157A broil; a clamorous contest; a wrangle. [Obs.] This petty brabble will undo us all. Shak.
  13. Brāb'ble, v. i.p. 157To clamor; to contest noisily. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.
  14. Brāb'ble-ment, n.p. 157Clamorous, contentious language. [Obs.] Holland.
  15. Brāb'bler, n.p. 157A clamorous, quarrelsome, noisy fellow; a wrangler. [Obs.] Shak.
  16. Brāb'bling, n.p. 157The act of contentious clamoring. [Obs.] Sir T. More.
  17. Brăc'cāte, a.p. 157(Ornith.) Furnished with feathers which conceal the feet.
  18. Brāce, n.p. 157A prop or support; especially (Carp.), a piece of timber extending like an arm across a corner from one piece of timber to another, which forms an angle with it in the frame of a building, to give…
  19. Brāce, v. t.p. 157To furnish with braces; to support; to prop; as, to brace a beam on a building. 2. To draw tight; to tighten; to bind or tie close; to put in a state of tension; to strengthen; as, to brace the…
  20. Brāçē'let, n.p. 157An ornament for the wrist, worn mostly by ladies. He had bracelets of gold upon his arm. Scott. 2. A piece of defensive armor for the arm. Johnson.
  21. Brā'cer, n.p. 157That which braces, binds, or makes firm; a band or bandage. 2. Armor for the arm. Chaucer. 3. A medicine which gives tension or tone to any part of the body. Johnson.
  22. Brāch, n.p. 157A bitch of the hound kind. Shak.
  23. Brāch'i-al or Brā'chi-al, a.p. 157Belonging to the arm; as, the brachial artery; the brachial nerve. Hooper. 2. Of the nature of an arm; resembling an arm.
  24. Brāch'i-ate, a.p. 157(Bot.) Having branches in pairs, decussated, all nearly horizontal, and each pair at right angles with the next, as in the maple and lilac. Greg.
  25. Bräch'i-o-pŏd, n.p. 157(Zoöl.) An animal of the sub-kingdom Mollusca. See MOLLUSK.
  26. Brāh'man, n.p. 157See BRAHMAN.
  27. Brăch'y-căt/a-lē/ctĭc, n.p. 157(Gr. & Lat. Pros.) A verse wanting two syllables at its termination.
  28. Bräch'y-cĕph'a-lous, a.p. 157Having skulls whose transverse diameter, or that from parietal bone to parietal bone, exceeds the antero-posterior diameter. Dant.
  29. Brăch'y-dī-ăg'o-nal, n.p. 157The shortest of the diagonals in a rhombic prism.
  30. Bräch'y-dōme, n.p. 157(Crystallog.) A dome parallel to the shorter diagonal. Dana.
  31. Bra-chȳg'ra-pher, n.p. 157A writer in short hand. He asked the brachygrapher whether he wrote the notes of that sermon. Gayton.
  32. Bra-chȳg'ra-phy, n.p. 157The art or practice of writing in short hand; stenography. B. Jonson.
  33. Bra-chyl'o-gy, n.p. 157(Rhet.) The expressing of any thing in the most concise manner.
  34. Bra-chȳp'ter-ōŭs, a.p. 157(Ornith.) Having wings, which, when folded, do not reach to the base of the tail. Eronde.
  35. Bra-chȳst'o-chrōne, n.p. 157A curve, in which a body, starting from a given point, and descending solely by the force of gravity, will reach another given point in it in a shorter time than it could by any other path. This…
  36. Bräch'y-tȳp'ōüs, a.p. 157(Min.) Of a short form. Mols.
  37. Brăch'y-ū'rāl, a.p. 157(Zoöl.) Short-tailed;— a term applied to a tribe of crustacea, comprehending the crabs. See CRUSTACEA.
  38. Brā'cing, n.p. 157Act of bracing, or state of being braced. 2. (Engin.) Any system of braces, as the bracing of a truss.
  39. Brā'cing, a.p. 157Imparting strength or tone; strengthening; stiffening.
  40. Bräck, n.p. 157An opening caused by the parting of any solid body; a breach; a flaw. “Stain or brack in her sweet reputation.” Beau. & Fl.
  41. Brack'en, n.p. 157Fern. See BRAKE.
  42. Brăck'et, n.p. 157(Arch. & Engin.) A piece, or combination of pieces, of wood, stone, or metal, triangular in general shape, and either plain or ornamented, usually projecting from, or fastened to, a wall, or other…
  43. Brăck'et, v. t.p. 157To place within brackets; to connect by brackets; to furnish with brackets.
  44. Bräck'et-ing, n.p. 157(Arch.) A series of ribs, or brackets, for supporting cornices, &c. Gwilt.
  45. Brăck'et-light, n.p. 157A gas-light projecting from a side-wall.
  46. Bräck'ish, a.p. 157Saltish, or salt in a moderate degree;—applied to water partially saturated with salt, or mixed with sea-water. “Water so salt and brackish as no man can drink it.” North.
  47. Brăck'ish-ness, n.p. 158The quality of being brackish; saltiness in a small degree. [Obs.]
  48. Bräck'y, a.p. 158Brackish. [Obs.] “The bracky fountains.” Drayton.
  49. Bräct or Bräc'te-ä, n.p. 158(Bot.) A small leaf or scale, from the axil of which a flower or its pedicel proceeds. Bracts in general are the leaves of an inflorescence, more or less different from ordinary leaves.
  50. Brăc'te-al or Brăc'te-ate, a.p. 158(Bot.) Furnished with bracts. Barton.
  51. Brăct'ed, a.p. 158(Bot.) Furnished with bracts.
  52. Brăc'te-o-late, a.p. 158(Bot.) Furnished with bracteoles.
  53. Brăc'te-ōle or Brăct'let, n.p. 158(Bot.) A bract on the stalk of a single flower, which is itself on a main stalk that supports several flowers. Gray.
  54. Brăct'less, a.p. 158(Bot.) Destitute of bracts.
  55. Brăd, n.p. 158A particular kind of nail, with a slight projection at the top on one side instead of a head.
  56. Bräd'-awl, n.p. 158An awl to pierce holes for the insertion of brads. Weale.
  57. Bräd'y-pŭs, n.p. 158The sloth. See SLOTH.
  58. Brāe, n.p. 158A declivity; broken ground. [Scot.] Burns.
  59. Brăg, v. i.p. 158To praise one's self, or what belongs to one's self, in an ostentatious manner; to boast; to pretend; to vaunt;—followed by of. Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, Brags of his substance.…
  60. Brăg, n.p. 158A boast or boasting; ostentatious praise of one's own deeds or advantages. But made not here his brag Of “came,” and “saw,” and “overcame.” Shak. 2. The thing boasted of. “Beauty is Nature's brag.”…