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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- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Bŭsh'el-mān p. 177Bush'et, n. p. 177A small bush.Būsh'-hăr'rōw, n. p. 177(Agric.) A sort of harrow made of bushes, for harrowing grass lands or covering seeds.Bush'i-ness, n. p. 177The quality of being bushy, thick, or intermixed, like the branches of a bush.Bush'ing, n. p. 177(Mech.) Strictly, a ring, tube, or lining placed in a hole, and sometimes acting as a journal-box. 2. A thimble; — sometimes called a bush. 3. The operation of fitting bushes into holes or places…Bush'-man, n. p. 177A woodsman; a settler in the back woods of Australia. 2. (Geog.) One of a tribe of savages near the Cape of Good Hope; — so named by the Dutch.Bush'ment, n. p. 178A thicket; a cluster of bushes. [Obs.] “Woods, briers, bushments, and waters.” Raleigh. 2. An ambush; an ambuscade. [Obs.] Environing him with a bushment of soldiers, laid before in the mountains for…Bush'-whăck'er, n. p. 178One accustomed to beat about, or travel through, bushes; a raw countryman. They were gallant bush-whackers, and hunters of raccoons by moonlight. W. Irving. 2. A stout scythe or other instrument for…Bush'-whăck'ing, n. p. 178Traveling, or working a way, through bushes; pulling by the bushes, as in hauling a boat along the bushy margin of a stream. [U. S.] Flint.Bush'y, a. p. 178Full of branches; thick and spreading, like a bush; as, a bushy beard. “Bushy eyebrows.” Irving. 2. Full of bushes; overgrown with shrubs. “A bushy cliff.” Glover.Bus'i-less, a. p. 178Without business; at leisure; unemployed. [Obs.] Shak.Bus'i-ly, adv. p. 178In a busy manner.Bus'i-ness, n. p. 178That which busies, or that which occupies the time, attention, or labor of one, as his principal concern, whether for a longer or shorter time; employment; occupation. Wist ye not that I must be…Būsk, n. p. 178A long, thin piece of metal, whale-bone, or wood, somewhat elastic, and worn in the front of women’s corsets; a corset-board. Her long slit sleeves, stiff busk, puff verdingall, Is all that makes her…Bŭsh, n. p. 178A bush. [Obs.]Bŭsk, v. t. or v. i. p. 178To go; to direct one's course. [Obs.] Ye might have busked you to Huntley banks. Skelton. 2. To prepare, make ready, array. Busk you, busk you, my bonny bride. Hamilton. And busked them bold to…Būsked, a. p. 178Wearing a busk. Pollok.Bŭsk'et, n. p. 178A small bush. Spenser. 2. A compartment of shrubs in a garden. [Rare.]Bŭs'kin, n. p. 178A covering for the foot, coming some distance up the leg, fit for a defense against thorns, mud, &c., as in hunting. The hunted red-deer's undressed hide Their hairy buskins well supplied. W. Scott.…Bŭsk'ined, a. p. 178Dressed in buskins. Her buskined virgins traced the dewy lawn. Pope. 2. Of, or pertaining to, tragedy; tragic. “The buskined stage.” Milton.Bŭsk'y, a. p. 178Bushy; wooded; shaded or overgrown with trees or shrubs; — generally written bosky. See Bush. Shak.Bŭss, n. p. 178A kiss, a salute with the lips; more strictly, a rude, or playful kiss. Thou dost give me flattering busses. By my troth, I kiss thee with a most constant heart. Shak. 2. [O. Fr. busse, Pr. bus, L.…Bŭss, v. t. p. 178To kiss; to salute with the lips in a rude or playful manner. “Nor bussed the milking-maid.” Tennyson. Kissing and bussing differ both in this, We buss our wantons, but our wives we kiss. Herrick.Bŭst, n. p. 178A piece of statuary representing the upper part of the human figure, including the head, shoulders, and breast. Ambition sighed; she found it vain to trust The faithless column, and the crumbling…Bŭs'tard, n. p. 178(Ornith.) A bird of the genus Otis, of the Ostrich family. The great bustard (Otis tarda) is the largest land bird in Europe. It inhabits the temperate regions of Europe and parts of AsiaBŭs'ter, n. p. 178Something great; a roistering blade; also, a spree. [Vulgar, U. S.] Bartlett.Bŭs'tle, v. i. p. 178To stir quickly; to be very active; to be very quick in motion, through hurry or excitement; as, to bustle through a crowd. And leave the world for me to bustle in. Shak. Whose antique roots its…Bŭs'tle, n. p. 178Great stir; quick motion from excitement; hurried activity; tumult from stirring or excitement. Such a doctrine made a strange bustle and disturbance in the world. South.Bŭs'tle, n. p. 178A kind of pad or cushion worn by ladies for the purpose of expanding the skirts behind;—called also a bishop.Bŭs'tler, n. p. 178An active, stirring person.Bŭs'to, n. p. 178A bust; a statue. See BUST. Ashmole.Bus'y, a. p. 178Engaged for the time in business; full of business; occupied with employment; doing something important, or that can not be omitted; not at leisure. My mistress sends you word That she is busy, and…Bus'y, v. t. p. 178To make or keep busy; to employ; to occupy; as, to busy one's self with books. Be it thy course to busy giddy minds With foreign quarrels. Shak.Bus'y-bŏd'y, n. p. 178One who officiously concerns himself with the affairs of others; a meddling person. And not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. 1 Tim. v. 13.Bŭt, prep. & conj. p. 178Except; besides; unless; save. Who can it be but perjured Lycon? Smith. So insolent that he could not go, but either spurning equals or trampling on his inferiors. Fuller. ☞ In this sense, but is…Bŭt, n. p. 178See Butt.Būt, v. i. p. 178See BUTT and ABUT.Butch'er, n. p. 178One who slaughters animals, or dresses their flesh for market; one whose occupation is to kill animals for food. 2. A slaughterer; one who kills in a bloody manner; one given to slaughter. “Butcher…Butch'er, v. t. p. 178To kill or slaughter, as animals, for food, or for market. 2. To murder, especially in an unusually bloody or barbarous manner. Ithocles Was murdered, rather butchered. Ford.Butch'er-bird, n. p. 178(Ornith.) A bird of different species of the family Lanius. ☞ The Lanius excubitor is the common butcher-bird of Europe. Among the American species there are the L. septentrionalis, or northern…Butch'er-ing, n. p. 178The act of slaughtering; the act of killing with cruelty and blood. That dreadful butchering of one another. Addison. 2. The business or employment of a butcher.Butch'er-li-ness, n. p. 179A cruel, savage, butcherly manner. Johnson.Butch'er-ly, a. p. 179Grossly cruel and barbarous; bloody; murderous. “The victim of a butcherly murder.” D. Webster. What stratagems, how fell, how butcherly, This deadly quarrel daily doth beget! Shak.Butch'er-mēat or Butch'er's-mēat, n. p. 179The flesh of animals slaughtered for the table, as distinguished from game or other animal food.Butch'er-rōw, n. p. 179A row of shambles. Whitlock.Butch'er's-bro͞om, n. p. 179(Bot.) A plant, the Ruscus aculeatus, of the Smilax family, called also knee-holly, used by butchers for brooms to sweep their blocks.Butch'er-y, n. p. 179The business of a butcher. 2. Murder, especially murder committed with unusual barbarity; great slaughter. “The perpetration of human butchery.” Prescott. Can he a son to soft remorse incite, Whom…Bŭt'-ĕnd or Bŭtt'-ĕnd, n. p. 179The largest or blunt end of a thing; as, the but-end of a musket, or of a piece of timber.But'ler, n. p. 179A servant or officer in a household, whose principal business is to take charge of the liquors, plate, &c. Fie, daughter! when my old wife lived, upon This day, she was both pantler, butler, cook.…Bŭt'ler-ağe, n. p. 179(Old Eng. Law.) A duty of two shillings on every tun of wine imported into England by foreigners or merchant strangers;—so called because originally paid to the king’s butler for the king. Blackstone.Bŭt'ler-ship, n. p. 179The office of a butler. Gen. xl. 21.Bŭt'ment, n. p. 179(Arch.) A buttress of an arch; the supporter, or that part which joins it to the upright pier. 2. (Masonry.) (a.) The mass of stone or solid work at the end of a bridge, by which the extreme arches…Bŭt'ment-cheek, n. p. 179(Carp.) One of the two solid parts on each side of a mortise.Bŭtt or Bŭt, n. p. 179The larger end of a thing, as of a piece of timber, or of a fallen tree; an end; a limit; a bound. Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt And very sea-mark of my utmost sail. Shak. As applied to…Bŭtt or Būt, v. i. p. 179To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut. And Barnsdale there doth butt on Don's well-watered ground. Drayton. 2. To thrust the head forward; to strike by…Bŭtt, v. t. p. 179To strike by thrusting the head against, as a ram; to strike with the head. Two harmless lambs are butting one the other. Wotton.Bütte, n. p. 179An isolated peak or abrupt elevation of land in the central and western parts of North America, too high to be called a hill or ridge, and not high enough to be called a mountain. The creek . . .…Büt'ter, n. p. 179An oily, unctuous substance obtained from cream or milk by churning. 2. Any substance resembling butter in degree of consistence, or other qualities, especially, in old chemistry, the chlorides, as…Bŭt'ter, v. t. p. 179To cover or spread with butter. I know what's what. I know on which side My bread is buttered. Ford. 2. To increase, as stakes, at every throw or every game. [Cant.] Johnson.Bŭt'ter-and-ěggs, n. p. 179(Bot.) A plant of the genus Narcissus (N. incomparabilis). Loudon.