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.
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.Bŭt'ter-bird, n. p. 179The rice-bunting or bobolink; — so called in Jamaica.Bŭt'ter-bŭmp, n. p. 179The bittern. Johnson.Bŭt'ter-bŭr, n. p. 179(Bot.) A plant of the genus Tussilago, or coltsfoot. The common butter-bur is T. petasites, also the common Linaria (L. vulgaris), growing in wet lands, and having the largest leaves of any British…Bŭt'ter-cŭp, n. p. 179(Bot.) A plant of the genus Ranunculus, or crowfoot, particularly R. bulbosa, with bright yellow flowers;—called also golden-cup and king's-cup; the cuckoo-bud of Shakespeare. London.Bŭt'ter-flow'er, n. p. 179A yellow flower; the buttercup.Bŭt'ter-fly, n. p. 179(Entom.) An insect of different species of the order Lepidoptera, and especially of the family Papilio. SeeBŭt'ter-fly-shell, n. p. 179(Conch.) A shell of the genus Voluta.Bŭt'ter-fly-vălve, n. p. 179(Mech.) A species of double clock-valve, consisting of two semicircular clappers or wings hinged to a cross-rib cast in the pump-bucket, and so named from its resemblance to a butterfly when open.Bŭt'ter-is, n. p. 179(Far.) An instrument of steel set in a wooden handle, used for paring the hoof of a horse.Bŭt'ter-milk, n. p. 179The milk that remains after the butter is separated from it.Bŭt'ter-nŭt, n. p. 179(Bot.) An American tree (the Juglans cinerea) and its fruit, so called from the oil contained in the latter; — sometimes called oil-nut and white walnut. 2. The nut of the Caryocar butyraceum and C.…Bŭt′ter-prĭnt or Bŭt′ter-stămp, n. p. 179A piece of carved wood used to mark cakes of butter.Bŭt'ter-tōōth, n. p. 179A broad fore-tooth. Johnson.Bŭt'ter-tree, n. p. 179(Bot.) A tree of the genus Bassia, the seeds of which yield a substance very closely resembling butter. ☞ The butter-tree of India is the B. butyracea; that of Africa is the Shea tree, described by…Bŭt'ter-wife or Bŭt'ter-wom'an, n. p. 179A woman who makes or sells butter. Johnson.Bŭt'ter-wort, n. p. 179(Bot.) A plant of the genus Pinguicula (P. vulgaris), of the Bladderwort family, growing on bogs or soft grounds, having leaves covered with soft prickles, which secrete a glutinous liquor.Bŭt'ter-y, a. p. 179Having the qualities, consistence, or appearance, of butter.Bŭt'ter-y, n. p. 179An apartment in a house where butter, milk, provisions, and utensils are kept. All that need a cool and fresh temper, as cellars, pantries, and butteries, to the north. Wotton. 2. A room in some…Bŭtt'-hĭnge, n. p. 179See BUTT.Bŭt'ting, n. p. 179An abuttal; a boundary. Without buttings or boundings on any side. Bp. Beveridge.Bŭtt'-joint or Bŭt'ting-joint, n. p. 179(Carp.) A joint between two pieces of timber or wood, at the end of one or both, and either at right angles or oblique to the grain, as the joints which the struts and braces form with the…