Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter B - Page 50

Blackleg (n.) A notorious gambler.

Blackleg (n.) A disease among calves and sheep, characterized by a settling of gelatinous matter in the legs, and sometimes in the neck.

Black letter () The old English or Gothic letter, in which the Early English manuscripts were written, and the first English books were printed. It was conspicuous for its blackness. See Type.

Black-letter (a.) Written or printed in black letter; as, a black-letter manuscript or book.

Black-letter (a.) Given to the study of books in black letter; that is, of old books; out of date.

Black-letter (a.) Of or pertaining to the days in the calendar not marked with red letters as saints' days. Hence: Unlucky; inauspicious.

Blacklist (v. t.) To put in a black list as deserving of suspicion, censure, or punishment; esp. to put in a list of persons stigmatized as insolvent or untrustworthy, -- as tradesmen and employers do for mutual protection; as, to blacklist a workman who has been discharged. See Black list, under Black, a.

Blackly (adv.) In a black manner; darkly, in color; gloomily; threateningly; atrociously.

Blackmail (n.) A certain rate of money, corn, cattle, or other thing, anciently paid, in the north of England and south of Scotland, to certain men who were allied to robbers, or moss troopers, to be by them protected from pillage.

Blackmail (n.) Payment of money exacted by means of intimidation; also, extortion of money from a person by threats of public accusation, exposure, or censure.

Blackmail (n.) Black rent, or rent paid in corn, flesh, or the lowest coin, a opposed to "white rent", which paid in silver.

Blackmailed (imp. & p. p.) of Blackmail

Blackmailing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Blackmail

Blackmail (v. t.) To extort money from by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, as injury to reputation, distress of mind, etc.; as, to blackmail a merchant by threatening to expose an alleged fraud.

Blackmailer (n.) One who extorts, or endeavors to extort, money, by black mailing.

Blackmailing (n.) The act or practice of extorting money by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, as injury to reputation.

Black Monday () Easter Monday, so called from the severity of that day in 1360, which was so unusual that many of Edward III.'s soldiers, then before Paris, died from the cold.

Black Monday () The first Monday after the holidays; -- so called by English schoolboys.

Black monk () A Benedictine monk.

Blackmoor (n.) See Blackamoor.

Black-mouthed (a.) Using foul or scurrilous language; slanderous.

Blackness (n.) The quality or state of being black; black color; atrociousness or enormity in wickedness.

Blackpoll (n.) A warbler of the United States (Dendroica striata).

Black pudding () A kind of sausage made of blood, suet, etc., thickened with meal.

Black Rod () the usher to the Chapter of the Garter, so called from the black rod which he carries. He is of the king's chamber, and also usher to the House of Lords.

Black Rod () An usher in the legislature of British colonies.

Blackroot (n.) See Colicroot.

Blacks (n. pl.) The name of a kind of in used in copperplate printing, prepared from the charred husks of the grape, and residue of the wine press.

Blacks (n. pl.) Soot flying in the air.

Blacks (n. pl.) Black garments, etc. See Black, n., 4.

Blacksalter (n.) One who makes crude potash, or black salts.

Black salts () Crude potash.

Blacksmith (n.) A smith who works in iron with a forge, and makes iron utensils, horseshoes, etc.

Blacksmith (n.) A fish of the Pacific coast (Chromis, / Heliastes, punctipinnis), of a blackish color.

Black snake (n.) Alt. of Blacksnake

Blacksnake (n.) A snake of a black color, of which two species are common in the United States, the Bascanium constrictor, or racer, sometimes six feet long, and the Scotophis Alleghaniensis, seven or eight feet long.

Blackstrap (n.) A mixture of spirituous liquor (usually rum) and molasses.

Blackstrap (n.) Bad port wine; any common wine of the Mediterranean; -- so called by sailors.

Blacktail (n.) A fish; the ruff or pope.

Blacktail (n.) The black-tailed deer (Cervus / Cariacus Columbianus) of California and Oregon; also, the mule deer of the Rocky Mountains. See Mule deer.

Blackthorn (n.) A spreading thorny shrub or small tree (Prunus spinosa), with blackish bark, and bearing little black plums, which are called sloes; the sloe.

Blackthorn (n.) A species of Crataegus or hawthorn (C. tomentosa). Both are used for hedges.

Black vomit () A copious vomiting of dark-colored matter; or the substance so discharged; -- one of the most fatal symptoms in yellow fever.

Black wash (n.) Alt. of Blackwash

Blackwash (n.) A lotion made by mixing calomel and lime water.

Blackwash (n.) A wash that blackens, as opposed to whitewash; hence, figuratively, calumny.

Blackwood (n.) A name given to several dark-colored timbers. The East Indian black wood is from the tree Dalbergia latifolia.

Blackwork (n.) Work wrought by blacksmiths; -- so called in distinction from that wrought by whitesmiths.

Bladder (n.) A bag or sac in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some fluid; as, the urinary bladder; the gall bladder; -- applied especially to the urinary bladder, either within the animal, or when taken out and inflated with air.

Bladder (n.) Any vesicle or blister, especially if filled with air, or a thin, watery fluid.

Bladder (n.) A distended, membranaceous pericarp.

Bladder (n.) Anything inflated, empty, or unsound.

Bladdered (imp. & p. p.) of Bladder

Bladdering (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Bladder

Bladder (v. t.) To swell out like a bladder with air; to inflate.

Bladder (v. t.) To put up in bladders; as, bladdered lard.

Bladderwort (n.) A genus (Utricularia) of aquatic or marshy plants, which usually bear numerous vesicles in the divisions of the leaves. These serve as traps for minute animals. See Ascidium.

Bladdery (a.) Having bladders; also, resembling a bladder.

Blade (n.) Properly, 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.

Blade (n.) The cutting part of an instrument; as, the blade of a knife or a sword.

Blade (n.) The broad part of an oar; also, one of the projecting arms of a screw propeller.

Blade (n.) The scapula or shoulder blade.

Blade (n.) The principal rafters of a roof.

Blade (n.) The four large shell plates on the sides, and the five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell.

Blade (n.) A sharp-witted, dashing, wild, or reckless, fellow; -- a word of somewhat indefinite meaning.

Blade (v. t.) To furnish with a blade.

Blade (v. i.) To put forth or have a blade.

Bladebone (n.) The scapula. See Blade, 4.

Bladed (a.) Having a blade or blades; as, a two-bladed knife.

Bladed (a.) Divested of blades; as, bladed corn.

Bladed (a.) Composed of long and narrow plates, shaped like the blade of a knife.

Bladefish (n.) A long, thin, marine fish of Europe (Trichiurus lepturus); the ribbon fish.

Bladesmith (n.) A sword cutler.

Blady (a.) Consisting of blades.

Blae (a.) Dark blue or bluish gray; lead-colored.

Blaeberry (n.) The bilberry.

Blague (n.) Mendacious boasting; falsehood; humbug.

Blain (n.) An inflammatory swelling or sore; a bulla, pustule, or blister.

Blain (n.) A bladder growing on the root of the tongue of a horse, against the windpipe, and stopping the breath.

Blamable (a.) Deserving of censure; faulty; culpable; reprehensible; censurable; blameworthy.

Blamed (imp. & p. p.) of Blame

Blaming (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Blame

Blame (v. t.) To censure; to express disapprobation of; to find fault with; to reproach.

Blame (v. t.) To bring reproach upon; to blemish.

Blame (v.) An expression of disapprobation fir something deemed to be wrong; imputation of fault; censure.

Blame (v.) That which is deserving of censure or disapprobation; culpability; fault; crime; sin.

Blame (v.) Hurt; injury.

Blameful (a.) Faulty; meriting blame.

Blameful (a.) Attributing blame or fault; implying or conveying censure; faultfinding; censorious.

Blameless (a.) Free from blame; without fault; innocent; guiltless; -- sometimes followed by of.

Blamelessly (adv.) In a blameless manner.

Blamelessness (n.) The quality or state of being blameless; innocence.

Blamer (n.) One who blames.

Blameworthy (a.) Deserving blame; culpable; reprehensible.

Blancard (n.) A kind of linen cloth made in Normandy, the thread of which is partly blanches before it is woven.

Blanched (imp. & p. p.) of Blanch

Blanching (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Blanch

Blanch (a.) To take the color out of, and make white; to bleach; as, to blanch linen; age has blanched his hair.

Blanch (a.) To bleach by excluding the light, as the stalks or leaves of plants, by earthing them up or tying them together.

Blanch (a.) To make white by removing the skin of, as by scalding; as, to blanch almonds.

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