fame, character, or reputation; to find fault with; to pass an unfavourable judgment upon; to rebuke, to chide, to censure, to reprimand, to reprehend. The phrase "is to blame," is a remnant of old English idiom. Is to, and is to be, are all we now have to supply the place of the Latin future participles, in rus and dus. Culpaturus and culpandus, would by Chaucer have been translated without distinction, is to blame. Spernendus est, he renders, it is to despise. Tho ys moder y slaw was, me blamede hym ther fore. And thei camen nygh and reisiden hym and seiden: comaundour we perischen, and he roos and blamede the wynd and the tempest of the watir, and it ceesside and pesiblete was maad.-Wiclif. Luke, c. 8. This blamyng that is maad of manye, suffisith to him that is such oon.-Id. 2 Corynth. c. 2. Men schulen be louynge hemsilff, coueitouse, high of berynge, proude, blasfemeris; not obedient to fadir and modir, unkynde, cursid withouten affeccioun, withouten pees, false blameris. Id. Tyte, c. 3. Immortal God, thou savedst Susanne Fro false blame, and thou merciful mayde, Chaucer. The Man of Lawes Tale, v. 5059. He that is irous and wroth, as sayth Senek, he may not spike but blameful thinges, and with his vicious wordes he stirreth other folk to anger and to ire. Id. The Tale of Melibeus. This maie a kynge well vnderstonde, If he wyll stonde blameless.-Gower. Con. A. b. vii. Now if we should for this matter breake the rule of charitie, and euery man hate his neighbour that would not thinke as he doth, then were we greatly to blame and in jeoperdie of condemnation.-Frith. Workes, p. 150. If thys is to be feared in such as shew thys prepostorous zeale agaynste that whiche is blameworthy, what shall we thinke of those that vnder the pretence of zeale deface the minister, and the word that he preacheth, for doing that which is lawfull, and the whiche of duetic he ought to do. Whitgift. Defence, p. 260. For throughout the whole world, in every place, at all times, and in all mens mouths, fortune alone is sought unto and called upon: she only is named and in request; shee alone is blamed, accused, and endited. Holland. Plinie, b. ii. c. 12. Nathlesse, he shortly shall againe be tryde, Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 1. If he had not freedom of will to determine himself towards good and evil, as he pleased, he must then be under a fatal necessity of doing whatsoever he should happen to do; and then as he could give no proof of his temper and inclination, so there could be no such thing as acceptableness to God when he did well, nor blamableness when he did otherwise. Goodman. Winter Evening Conference, p. 3. Neither can I see how it should be blamelesse, objecting such fancies and imaginations as it doth; which to withstand and resist were not blamable, but rather to give place and follow them.-Holland. Plutarch, p. 886. For nature hath her zodiac also, keeps her great annual circuit over human things, as truly as the sun and planets in the firmament; hath her anomalies, hath her obliquities in assentions and declinations, accesses and recesses, as blamelessly as they in heaven.-Millon. Tetrachordon. There is another [difficulty] remaining in the thing itself, which is concerning the blamelessness, or being void of offence.-Goodwin. Of Gospel Holiness, b. i. c. 4. To this we owe much of the innocency, and in some respects blamelessness, cf our lives, that we have not been a scandal to the Gospel, a shame to the good, and a scorn to the bad.-Hopkins. Works, p. 292. This Robert Grosted whose learning (in Hebrew, Greeke. Latine, and other languages.] ioined with vertue, and good life, wan to him perpetuall commendation, was a manifest blamer of the Pope, and king.-Stowe. Hen. III. an. 1253. It is hard to say how far saints may fall, or how often into offence and blameworthiness. Goodwin. Gospel of Holiness, b. i. c. 4. But if we receive the grace of God in vain, and take no care to perform the condition, and do neglect to implore the grace and assistance of God's H. Spirit to that purpose, we have none to blame but ourselves.-Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 46. It is the excess, not the thing itself, that is blameable. Prior. Preface to Solomon. Not simple Nature's unaffected sons, The blameless Indians, round the forest-cheer, In sunny lawn or shady covert set, Hold more unspotted converse. Thomson. To the Memory of Lord Talbot. Cowper. Task, b. v. Mallet. Amyntor & Theodora, c. 1. The disturbance and fear, which often follow upon a man's having done an injury, arise from a sense of his being blameworthy; otherwise there would, in many cases, be no ground of disturbance, nor any reason to fear resentment or shame.-Butler. Analogy of Religion, pt. i. c. 3. A wise man may frequently neglect praise, even when he has best deserved it; but, in al; matters of serious consequence, he will most carefully endeavour so to regulate his conduct as to avoid, not only blameworthyness, but, as much as possible, every probable imputation of blame. Smith. Moral Sentiments, pt. iii. c. 2. BLANCH, v. Į Fr. Blanc; It. Bianco; BLANCHER. Sp. Blanco; A. S. Blican; Ger. Blicken, blinken, to shine, to glitter, to twinkle or blink; lucere, coruscare, micare; and by consequence, dealbare, to whiten; quia (album) flectit, (Skinner.) præ reliquis coloribus copiosissimam lucem re Blanch, blench, and blink, are probably the same word differently written and applied. See also BLEACH. To blanch; to brighten, to whiten, (lucescere, dealbare,) and thus-To give a fair appearance, a fair face to any thing; and also as, to blench or blink, (qv.) To avoid or cause to avoid, to evade, escape, or shun, to shrink, or start away from, to startle. Blancher, cited from Sidney, is used exactly as blencher in Beaum. and Fletch. Wallnuttes, if they be blanched, are supposed to be good for the stomake.-Sir. T. Elyot. Castel of Helth, b. ii. c. 14. And so many days were spent, and so many ways used, while Zelmane was like one that stood in a tree waiting a good occasion to shoot; and Gynecia a blancher, which kept the dearest deer from her.-Sidney. Arcadia, b. i. Ah! now I see the sweetest dawn, Thrice welcome to my longing sight! To those choice waters, I most fitly may compare. Of humour hath beene farre from me, nor fits it, or in warre To blanch things further than their truth, or flatter any powre. Chapman. Homer. Iliad, b. xii. The judges of that time thought it was a dangerous thing to admit Ifs and Ands to qualifie the words of treason, whereby every man might expresse his malice and blanch his danger.-Bacon. Hen. VII. p. 134. 186 Now, Sir, concerning your [Milton's] travels, wherein I may challenge a little more privilege of discourse with you. I suppose you will not blanch Paris in your way. Reliquia Wottonianæ, p. 343. This Spanish inquisition is A trappe, so slylie sett; As into it wise, godly, rich, By blanchers bace as [are] fett. Warner. Albion's England, b. ix. Men of wit and confidence will always make a shift to say something for any thing: and some way or other blanch over the blackest and most absurd things in the world. Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 20, Then the sleek brightening lock, from hand to hand, BLAND, adj. BLANDISHING, N. Dyer. The Fleece, b. ii. Lat. Blandus, soothing. Of uncertain etymology. Sir T. More and Hall write blandiment. BLA'NDISHMENT. Soothing, mild, gentle, lulling, caressing, flattering. If he flater or blandise more than him ought for any necessitee; (in certain he doth sinne.) Chaucer. The Persones Tale. For thou wert wont to hurtelen and dispisen her with many words. wha she was blandishing and present, and pursudest her with sentences that were drawen out of mine entre, that is to say, of mine information.-Id. Boecius, b. ii. If the worlde frowne vpon the: vnneth it mai be that thy vertue (which all lift vpwarde shoulde have God alone to please) shal somewhat vnto the blandishing of the woride & fauore of ye people icline.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 16. Womans blandiments he chauged into the desire of hea uenly ioyes and dispising ye blast of vaine glorie which he before desired, now with all his mind he began to scke the glore and profite of Christes churche.-Id. Ib. p. 4. The Kyng aunswered her [Quene Anne] with fair wondes, and with dissimulynge blandimentes and flatterynge lesynges comforted her, and biddynge her to be of good comforte, fer to his knowledge she shoulde haue none other cause. Hall. Rich. III. an. 3. The force of that fallacious fruit, That with the exhilirating vapour bland About their spirits had plaid, and inmost powers Made erre, was now exhar'd.-Milton. Par. Lost, b. ix. The rose yeelds her sweete blandishment, Lost in the fold of lovers' wreathes, The violet enchants the sent When earely in the spring she breaths. Habington. Castara, pt. ii. Ah! could'st thou here thy humble mind content, Lowly with me to live in country cell, And learn suspect the courts' proud blandishment, Here might we safe, here might we sweetly dwell P. Fletcher. To Mr. J. Tomkins Array'd in arms, and bland in voice and look, Besides Hippomedon her stand she took; Yet, while her artful tale the warrior heard. He fear'd her looks, and wonder'd why he fear'd. Lewis. Thebaid of Statius, b. ix. In former days a country life, Cooper. The Retreat of Aristippus, Ep. 1. Fawke. An Autumnal Ode. O could I steal From Harmony her softest-warbled strain Of melting air! or Zephyr's vernal voice! Or Philomela's song, when love dissolves To liquid blandishment his evening lay. BLANK, v. BLANK, n. BLANK, adj. BLANKNESS. Mallet. Amyntor & Theodora, c. 3. Skinner derives the Eng. Blank; Fr. Blanc; It. Bianco; Sp. Blanco, through the Ger. Blinken, from A. S. Blican. It is no doubt the same word as Blanch, (qv.) To blank, is look pale, to strike with the paleness; to have the To whiten, to make pale, to appal, or cause to ment, of dismay: and thus, to disappoint, astonish, paleness, (sc.) of disappointment, of astonish or dismay. And more nearly to the usage of blanck; To avoid, evade, escape, shun, or shrink, or start from, to startle. A blank, (sc.) paper, is a white paper, with nothing distinguishable upon it, that destroys its entire whiteness: also, a white mark or spot at which to aim: and thus The aim, mark, or point aimed at-is so called. These fellows being right glad that the Saduceis were put to a foyle and blanked, and that Jesus had answered to their mindes, dyd lyke learned men propoune and putte forthe vnto him by one of the scribes, set vp for the nones to play this parte, a notable question out of the moste inward misteries of the law.-Udal. Mark, c. 12. Did not I euen right nowe see the with mine eyes in the garden with Jesus? Peter beyng with this saying vtterly biancke and sore astonished, wished himselfe accursed yf ever he knew Jesus.-Id. John, c. 18. These reasons did Sylla alledge against Pompey, and told him plainly, that if he were bent to stand in it, he would resist him. All this blanked not Pompey, who told him frankly again, how men did honour the rising, not the setting of the sun.-North. Plutarch, p. 531. [1] betokeneth guilt of conscience, and a blanknesse which a pale colour will bewray. Holland. Ammianus, p. 439, Annotation. It was the curiosity, delicacy, or niceness of his [Waller's] spirit, which did rather constrain him to blank his mental tables, than to leave there any records, that were not choice and singular. Boyle. Works, vol. vi. p. 333. Letter from Mr. Beale. Pope. Dunciad, b. i. When he would declare what he is unto us, he only saith, I AM, leaving us to make the application of him to ourselves, according to our several wants, capacities, or desires; he sets as it were his hand to a blank, that we may write under whatsoever good thing we would have of him. Beveridge, vol. ii. Ser. 143. Heard, nightly plung'd amid the sullen waves, But (maids) see Ye bathe his feete: and then with tapistry, Best sheets, and blanquets, make his bed, and lay Massinger. The Parliament of Love, Act iv. sc. 5. Himself among the story'd chiefs he spies, Haste! far, O far, your infant throng remove: Let us leave this place, and endeavour to get a night's Thou mayest depend upon it, that affair of the blanketing happened to thee, for the fault thou wast guilty of, in omitting to put me in mind of it, in time.--Id. Ib. b. iii. c. 5. BLARE. Dut. Blaeren; Ger. Blærren, mugire. Mr. Grose says, Blare in the north is to roar and cry. Linguam etiam ab irrisu exerentem, is rendered by Holland, "scornfully lelling and blaring out his tongue." Being thus armed and set out, they bring him forth against this vainglorious Gaule, set all upon joy full foolishly, and (as the ancient writers have thought it worth the noting and remembrance) scornfully lelling and blaring out his tongue.-Holland. Livivs, p. 255. BLASPHEME. Fr. Blasphemer; Sp. Blasphemar; Gr. Βλασφημείν, παρα το βάλλειν την φήμην: βαλλειν, i. e. petere, and pnun, fama. To attack or assail, the fame, character, or repu To attack, assail, insult, (the name, the attributes, the ordinances, the revelations, the will or government of God.) Thanne the prince of prestis to ronte hise clothis and seide, he hath blasfemed, what yit han we nede to witnessis? lo now ye han herd blasfemie.-Wiclif. Matt. c. 26. Then the hye priest rent his clothes saying: he hath blasphemed: what nede have we of anye moo wytnesses, behold now we haue heard his blasphemy.-Bible, 1551. Ib. Men schulen be louynge hemsilff, coucitouse, high of berynge, proude, blasfemeris; not obedient to fadir and modir, unkynde, cursid withouten affeccioun. Wiclif. Tyte, o. 3. Now cometh hasardrie with his apertenauntes, as tables Against whom (the confessions and assercions, maturely and of his sainctes.-Hall. Hen. VI. an. 9. It is applied (met.) by Shakespeare, from the verb, pany of a certain diuine recounted for a learned man, and to blank, as we might now use blankness. My face Ile grime with filth, Blanket my loines, elfe all my haires in knots, And with presented nakednesse out-face The windes, and persecutions of the skie. Not long after Mr. Tyndall happened to be in the comin commoning and disputing with him, hee drove hym to that issue that the sayd great doctour burst out into these blasphemous words, and sayd, we were better to bee without God's laws than the Pope's.-The Life of Tyndall, b. i. And more ouer (whiche is moch to be meruayled at) he [Romulus] also prohybyted, that any thinge shuld be red or spoken, reprocheable or blasphemous to God. Sir T. Elyot. Governor, b. iii. c. 2. The Romishe Nabugodonozer had by wrestynge and Come thick night, Ard pall thee in the dunnest smoake of hell, Tast my keene knife see not the wound it makes, While 'gainst blasphemers' general sight Our painful author striveth, And happy spirits which live in heavenly light On earth reviveth.-Beaumont. On Drayton's Moses. With that, all mad and furious he grew, Like a fell mastiffe through enraged heat, And curst, and band, and blasphemies forth threw Against the gods.-Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. v. c. 11. Where though it followeth, the accuser neuer shewed signe of shame (the way to repētance) but terribly curseth, & blasphemously sweareth he neuer comitted any such act, though the same be registred before the honorable, ye Queenes Maiesties high commissioners. Stowe. Queene Mary, an. 1557. How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge thyself on all those who thus continually blaspheme thy great and all-glorious name, and use it to palliate their most atrocious crimes and barbarous enormities? Beveridge, vol. i. Ser. 6. The carnal conceit, that God will graciously receive sinners when the world has left them; that when by calamitous constraint they are at last brought to confess their wickedness, and are only sorrowful for the evil consequences of it, the conceit that they shall find mercy, is atheism of as blasphemous a nature as the denial of a God. Bales. Danger of Prosperity. I have not yet instanced in the grossest part of their superstition, not to say downright idolatry, in this kind; I mean in their extravagant worship of the blessed virgin and mother of our Lord; whom they blasphemously call the Queen of Heaven.-Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 40. He healed the man that was sick of the palsy, and forgave his sins; a plain proof of his divinity, because none but God has the power and prerogative of forgiving sins; and therefore the Jews accused him of blasphemy for pretending to this power.-Porteus, vol. i. Lect. 9. Sceptics may wrangle, and mockers may blaspheme; but the pious man knows by evidence too sublime for their comprehension, that his affections are not misplaced, and that his hopes shall not be disappointed. Beattie. On Truth, pt. i. c. 2. Much pains have been taken to poison the minds of all ranks of people, but especially the middling and the lower classes, by the most impious and blasphemous publications that ever disgraced any Christian country. BLAST, v. Porteus, vol. i. Lect. 1. A. S. Blæstan; Ger. Blasten, to blow. Formed upon the past part. of Blæsan, to blaze, (qv.) To strike as with a sudden gust or wind; as with an impetuous and destructive wind: to wither up, to desolate, to destroy, to annihilate. It is used by Hall and Surrey for-to blow or sound a blast, to sound aloud, to proclaim, to blaze abroad. But rede that boweth downe for euery blast- Chaucer. Troilus, b. ii. Whan thei were in the sea amid, Gower, Con. A. b. viii. A myghty tre and of a noble heyght Skelton. The Crowne of Laurell. Phyllip duke of Burgoyne, abydyng still in his high & warlike enterprise, assebled together of Flemynges, Pycardes, Hollanders, and Henowiers a greate army, to the nombre of xl. m. so well armed, so well vitailed, so well furnished with ordenaunce, and well garnished in all thynges, that they thoughte in their hartes, and blasted emongest theymselfes, that the Calicians would leave the town desolate, & flie for their sauegarde, hearynge onely the approachyng of the Gauntoys.-Hall. Hen. VI. an. 14. All thy trees and fruit of thy lande shall be marred with blastynge. Bible, 1551. Deut. c. 28. Nor blasted may thy name be by the mouth of those Whom death hath shut in sylence, so that they may not disclose. Surrey. Psalm 88. After mydnight the trumpettes sounded in king Hĕryes hoost; than euery man made hym redy; at the seconde batayls.-Berners. Froissart. Cronycie, vol. i. c. 237. blast they drewe out of their lodgynges, and ordered thro And now were all the hopes of my future life upon blasting; the indentures were preparing: the time was set: my suites were addrest for the journey. What was the issue? O God, thy Providence made and found it. Bp. Hall. Specialties of his Life In the morne and liquid dew of youth, Shakespeare. Hamlet, Act i. sc. 3. But it may be noted, that the blossoms do not forthwith discover the blast; an old experienced countryman having once given me notice of a blasty noon, and within a day or two shewing the proof upon the cherry-blossoms then flagging, but not much altering their colour till two days more were past.-Boyle. Works, vol. iii. p. 154. He [the debaucher] blasts all the fruit he tastes, and where the brute has been devouring there is nothing left worthy the relish of the man.-Spectator, No. 199. And see where surly winter passes off, Thomson. Spring. And though no gathering clouds the day control, Rowe. Lucan. Pharsalia, b.i. The secrets of th' abyss to spy, Gray. The Progress of Poesy. Such is the disposition of mankind, if they cannot blast the action, they will censure the vanity. Melmoth. Pliny, b. i. Let. 8. But now I come vnto my course againe, Our voyage is to the Ile of Dogges, there where the blattant beast doth rule and raigne renting the credit of whom it please.-The Returne from Pernassus, Act v. sc. 4. Hind. The Panther's breath was ever fam'd for sweet; But from the Wolf such wishes oft I meet: You learn'd this language from the blatant beast, Or rather did not speak, but were possess'd. Dryden. The Hind & Panther, pt. ii. Led by the blatant voice along the skies, Parnell. Queen Anne's Peace. BLATTER. Lat. Blaterare, from Blatire, BLATTEROON. which Vossius says you may derive from the Gr. Bλarov, for BANтov, cast, thrown forth; añо тоν Bаλλew, to throw. To throw out, (sc.) idle words, to speak foolishly, to babble, to blab. For before it [the tongue] she hath set a pallisado of sharp teeth, to the end that if peradventure it will not obey reason, which within holdeth it hard as if with a strait bridle, but it will blatter out and not tarry within, we might bite it until it bleed again, and so restrain the intemperance thereof. Holland. Plutarch, p. 159. She [a ship] roade at peace, through his onely paines and excellent indurance, how ever envy list to blatter against him.-Spenser, On Ireland. I will endeavour to lose the memory of him, and that my thoughts may never run more upon the fashion of his face, which you know he hath no cause to brag of: I hate such blateroons.-Howell, b. ii. Let. 75. To spread or disperse, to divulge, to publish, to proclaim: also to display or set forth conspiAnd also restricted to cuously, ostentatiously. the heraldic blazonry of arms. This lady brought in her right hond Chaucer. Rom. of the Rose. While I was glorious in worldly wolefulnesse, and had soche goodes in wealth, as maken manne rich, tho was I drawe into compaignies that loos, prise, and name yeuen : tho louteden blasours, tho curreiden glosours, tho welcomeden flatterers, tho worshipped thilke, that now deinen not to looke.-Id. The Testament of Loue, b. i. Tho laye there certaine woodde clifte And put hem in the firye hete, Gascoigne. Dan Bartholomew. I can nat tell you what was this knyghtes name, nor of what countre, but the blasure of his armes was goules, two fusses sable, a border sable. Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol.i. c. 281. So spake the Father; and, unfoulding bright Toward the right hand his glorie, on Blaz'd forth unclouded Deitie the Son. A traine of powder was made, and set on fire, which gave to the blessed martyr of God, a blaise, and scorched his left hand and that side of his face, but neither kindled the wood nor yet the coales.-Knox. Hist. of the Reform. p.6. Vtterers of secrets he from thence debard, Babblers of folly, and blazers of crime. Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 9. Large shells of nuts their covering helmet yield, And o'er the region, with reflected rays, Tall groves of needle for their lances blaze, Dreadful in arms the marching mice appear. Parnell. Battle of the Frogs and Mice, b. ii. Others are of opinion that it foretells battell and bloodshed, and believe it of the same prognostication as the tail of a blazing star.-Spectator. No. 127. But when their chains were cast aside, Parnell. A Night Piece on Death. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant.-Johnson. Life of Pope. But now friend Cornelius, sith I haue blasened his vaunt, hearken his vertue and worthinesse.-Golden Boke, Let. 2. Well, if it were folie to bewaile things which are vnpos a blason of good understanding. sible to be recouered, sith Had I wist doth seldome serue as Gascoigne. Advertisement to the Reader Indeed a silence does that tomb befit, Where is no herald left to blazon it. Donne. Elegies upon the Authour The hag lay long revolving what might be, Garth. The Dispensary, c. 2. His whole mind was blazoned over with a variety of glit tering images; coronets, escutcheons, &c. Goldsmith. Citizen of the World, Let. 104 My honourable friend has not brought down a spirite imp of chivalry to win the first achievement and blazon arms on his milk-white shield in a field listed against him. Burke. On the Duration of Parliamen These historians, recorders, and blazoners of virtues an arms, differ wholly from that other description of hist rians, who never assign any act of politicians to a goo motive.-Id. A Letter to a Noble Lord. BLE. Able, ible; Lat. Bilis, from the Goth Abal, strength, power, force. The Lat. term nation in Bilis (with few exceptions) was use passively; (e. g.) Arable, that may be ered ploughed; Audible, that may be heard; and th contraction into ile, docile, that may be taught and was thus contradistinguished from the term nations, ive and ic, which were used actively (e. g.) Coercive, that can or may coerce; Didacti that can or may teach. In the decay of the La language, adjectives terminating in Bilis, us with an active signification, were introduced great numbers; and many transferred into o own English: thus, Comfortable, that can or ma that does comfort; Conducible, that can or ma that does, conduce. Sensible, we use, to denote full of sense ;-which can feel, which may be fel he is a sensible man; very sensible of the cold; a of any sensible change of the weather. Ma words of this description are considered by Too to have been received by us from French wor in Ble, which were taken corruptly from Itali words in Vole. As It. Confortevole; Fr. Co fortable: It. Capevole; Fr. Capable. The abu seems too firmly established, and too widely sprea to admit of any but a very partial remedy. S Ic, IVE. BLEACH, v. BLEACH, n. BLEACH, adj. BLEACHER. BLEACHERY. See BLACK. A. S. Blican, at can, dealbare; Ger. Bleiche Dut. Bleycken; Sw. Bleka: To whiten, to make pale, white. Some one, for she is pale and bleche, Shakespeare. Loue's Labour Lost, Act v. sc After that, they be spred abroad and displaied open to sunne, and left without dores to take all weathers both and night, and to bee bleached, untill they be drie and whi Holland. Plinie, b. xvi. c. There runneth likewise out of vines a certaine gum, wh is passing good for the bleach, scabs, and seals in li children. Id. Ib. b. xiii. c. 11. Virgil, to give this thought likewise a cloathing of poe describes some spirits as bleaching in the winds. Tatler. No. Immortal liberty, whose look sublime, Hath bleach'd the tyrant's cheek in every varying clin Smollett. Ode to Independe In the price of linen we must add the wages of the f dresser, of the spinner, of the weaver, of the bleacher, together with the profits of their respective employers. Smith. Wealth of Nations, b. i. On the side of the great bleachery are the public walls Penn A. S. Blac. The same w as Bleach, differently appli the earth, the herba bleached or bleaked, blighted blacked, by cold, piercing, withering winds; BLEAKLY. then applied to that which is exposed to cold, piercing winds; to that which is chill, dreary, de salate. By the fourthe seale, the beast, the voyce, and the pale marest thou vnderstande the heretykes, whiche dyd race wares and a long tyme vexe the holy churche with te doctrine. And haue made it, as it were pale & Baked for very sorow & heuynes.-Udal. Rev. c. 6. With bleak and with congealing winds The earth in shining chains he binds; And still as he doth farther pass, Quarries his way with liquid glass.-Cotton. Winter. Being shipped at Deepe, the sea used us hardly and, ara night and a great part of the day following, sent us well wind-beaten to that bleak haven whence we set -Bp. Hall. Some Specialities. Those limbs, in lawn and softest silk array'd, The inhabitants of Nova Zembla go naked, without compling of the bleakness of the air: as the armies of the ther nations keep the field all winter.-Addison. On shrubs they browze, and, on the bleaky top Of rugged hills, the thorny bramble crop. Dryden. Virgil, Geor. 3. What should they do beset with dangers round, Id. The Hind & Panther, pt. iii. For is there aught that Nature's hand has sown BLEAR, . BLEAR, adj. BLE ARNESS. BLEAREDNESS. Cawthorn. Of Taste. Skinner and Junius coincide with Minshew, that Blear is the Dut. Blaer, pustula; and Skinner adds that Blaer is from the Ger. Blaen, tumescere; from the A. S. Blanc-an, flare, inflare, (q.d.) cutis inflatio. To bear the sight, (met.) is to dim, impede, or obstruct the sight, as if disordered with pustules or blains, He blessede hem wt hus bulles, & blerede hure eye. And Samuel answered: what meaneth the the bleatinge of the shepe i myne eares, and the noyse of the oxe whiche I heare.-Bible, 1551. 1 Sam. c. 15. Set in my ship, mine eare reacht, where we rod Chapman. Homer. Odysses, b. xii. The humble shepherd to his rays, Cowper. Ib. Having his rustic homage paid, And to some cool retired shade Driven his bleating flocks to graze; Sits down delighted with the sight Of that great lamp, so mild, so fair, so bright. host fill With shouts and clamours. Chapman. Homer. Iliad, b. iv. The wolf, who from the nightly fold, Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drunk her milk, Nor wore her warming fleece. Thomson. Spring. In time his [Shenstone's] expenses brought clamours about him, that overpowered the lamb's bleat and the linnet's song; and the groves were haunted by beings very different from fauns and fairies.-Johnson. Life of Shenstone. In cold stiff soils the bleaters oft complain Of gouty ails, by shepherds term'd the halt: Those let the neighbouring fold or ready crook Detain; and pour into their cloven feet Corrosive drugs. Dyer. The Fleece, b. i. BLEB. Skinner says, from the Ger. Blaen, tumescere, turgescere, to swell. See BLUB. "A blister; also a bubble in the water. Piers Ploukman, p. 4. (Grose.) Phebus, (quod he) for all thy worthinesse For all thy beautee, and all thy gentillenesse, For all thy song, and all thy minstralcie, For all thy waiting blered is thin eye, With on of litel reputation. North." And were not the angels a great deal better employed in the beholding the worth of their Creatour, than to diminish their own happinesse, by attending those, whom nothing can make happie? looking on this troubled passing stream of the perishing generations of men, to as little purpose water.-More. Song of the Soul, Conclusion. Sire, he wold say, an emperour mote nede Chaucer. The Monkes Tale. v. 14,425. In this meane tyme in Englōde, ye Jewys in dyuerse placis of the realme, as Lyncoln, Staunforde, & Lynne, were roboyd & spoyled; and at Yorke to the nombre of cccc. & mo, cutte theyr mayster veynes & bled to deth. Fabyan. Rich. I. an. 1181. And said whimple alas, there nis no more Chaucer. Legend of Thisbe of Babilon. Whereupon he [Cato] called for all his men, one after another, and very angerly asked them his sword, and gave one of them such a blow on his face, that his nose fell a bleeding, and his hand was all bloody withall. North. Plutarch, p. 660. The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to day, Pope. Essay on Man, Epist. 1. BLE MISHMENT. BLEMISHING, N. To blemish, is to affix some blame, some cause of blame; some stain, some spot, which sullies, taints or tarnishes the original soundness, fairness, or purity. And henceTo taint, to tarnish, to sully; to deform, to disfigure. And thus it suffiseth not onley, that they reuerence ne auaile me naught, but if thou of thy fre will, rather be blemished with mine offencion.-Chaucer. Boccius, b. i. But whenne he [Chas. IX.] came to mennes astate he then was ryght sorry, and wolde saye full often, to his famyliers, a prince is greatly blemysshed whenne he lakketh conynge of lecture.-Fabyan, an. 1483. For if ye do ye shall gretely abate the honoure of the lady, and also blemyssheth the honoure of the quene of Castell her doughter, for then ye sholde make her worse then a bastarde. Berners. Froissart. Cronycie, vol. ii. c. 43. To see how Christ was prophecied and described therein, cosider & marke, how that the kidde or lambe must be without spot or blemish, and so was Christ onely of all makind, in the sight of God and of his laws. Tyndall. Workes, p. 439. But now the Frenchemen haue fortified, victailed and manned their tounes, and we haue spent tyme and dooen losse of vs and greate blemishyng of our honours. Chaucer. The Manciples Tale, v. 17,198. almost, as idle boy's do on dancing blebs and bubbles in the nothyng at all, lyngeryng for the kyng your master, to the BLEE. A. S. Bleoh, from Blewan, efflorescere, to blow, to bloom. In Ritson's Ancient Songs, I followed mast (alwayes) that least was worth. And leste thou shouldste suppose by space my talke myghte ouergrow In balke the beareeyde Crispins roole whose tounge on pattans free Did retchlesse run, euen here I cease not one word more of me. Drant, Horace. The first Satyre. The Jewe putteth awaye his wife for stench of breth, for res of the eyes, or for any such like fautes, where as christen men, there is but one cause onely whitche teeth wedlocke, and that is the breache of the fayth & se of matrimony-Udal, Mark, c. 10. Thy bright eyes, bleare and wrinkle: and so change Thy frine at all parts, that thou shalt be strange Ta al the wooers-Chapman. Homer. Odysses, b. xiii. Et say the eyes bee enflamed and bleered onely, without any extraordinarie moisture appearing in them, the little acles lying within the loines of a swine, rosted and afterwards panned to a cataplasme, and so applied, do quite rid way the same bleeredness.-Holland. Plinie, b. xxviii. c. 11. They, who be loath and take heed to offend and hurt them generally to The complexion, hue, colour. Chaucer. Lamentations of Mary Magdalen. Uncertaine Auctors. Hickes, vol. i. p. 230. Forth then hyed our king, I wisse, are bleare-eyed or otherwise given to the paine and in- colore, scilicet: to grow red; to blush, or bloom. Hall. Hen. VIII. an. 4. If any natural blemish blot our face, You do protest, it gives our beauty grace. Drayton. Mrs. Shore to Edw. IV. Full many lords, and many knights her loued, Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 2. A life in all so blemishlesse, that we The earl thinking there might remain some grudge of the last years' falling out, caused Sir Walter Ralegh and Sir Francis Vere to shake hands; "which we did both," says he, "the more willingly, because there had nothing passed between us that might blemish reputation." Thenne shalt the blench at a bergh. And thus thinkende I stonde still Without blenchinge of mine eie, Right as me thought that I seie Piers Plouhman, p. 122. Of paradis the most ioie.-Gower. Con. 4. b. vi. For now if ye so shuld haue answered him as I haue shewed you, thoughe ye shoulde haue somwhat blenched him therwith, yet he might & wold of likelyhod haue gone further with you & haue asked you wherby ye know yt ye shoulde beleue the churche.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 205. Lyke as the good husbande, when he hath sowen his grounde, setteth vp cloughtes or thredes, whiche some call shailes, some blenchars, or other lyke shewes, to feare away byrdes, whiche he foreseeth redye to deuoure and hurte his corne.-Sir T. Elyot. The Governor, b. i. c. 23. Zanch. I feel the old man's master'd by such passion, And too high rackt, which makes him overshoot all His valour should direct at, and hurt those That stand but by as blenchers. Beaum. & Fletch. Love's Pilgrimage, Act ii. sc. 1. Made old offences of affections new, Most true it is, that I have look'd on truth Askance and strangely; but, by all above, These blenches gave my heart another youth, And worse essays prov'd thee my best of love. Shakespeare, Son. 110. The noble lord who then conducted affairs, and his worthy colleagues, whilst they trembled at the prospect of such distresses as you have since brought upon yourselves, were not afraid steadily to look in the face that glaring and dazzling influence at which the eyes of eagles have blenched. Burke. On American Taxation. BLEND, v. A. S. Blendan; Sw. Blanda, BLENT, part. Sperhaps from Be-lanan: Blanan, blan-ed, bland; and upon this past part. the verb, Bland-an. See To LEND. To mix, to mingle; to confound, to give to each ingredient some quality or qualities of the other. To see both blended in one flood, Crashaw. Upon the Infant Martyr. But not that matters wilde, and mylde without reason should goo Blended as one. Nothing is a greater sacriledge than to prostitute the great name of God to the petulancy of an idle tongue, and blend it as an expletive, to fill up the emptiness of a weak discourse.-Bp. Taylor, vol. i. Ser. 23. Drant. Horace. Art of Poetry. He mourned still, and wept ful sore I sweare by the holy roode Old Robin of Portugale. Percy. BLENT, is the past tense and past part. Blinned, blind, blint or blent, from the A. S. Blinnan; to stop, (sc.) the sight, the vision. See BLIN. Lucifer loke ne myghte. so lyght hym a blent. O sely preest, o sely innocent, Chaucer. The Chanones Yemannes Tale, v. 16,544. Lo Argus, which that had an hundred eyen, Id. The Marchantes Tale, v. 9985. Alas! alas! that I ne had yblent, Chaucer. The Miller's Tale, v. 3751. Richard Coer de Leon. Weber, vol. ii. He blent away with a leap. BLESS, or BLISS. BLESSED. BLESSEDLY. Lo this is euen the vary grounde, this is the perfytte cause, That most mislyke themselues so muche, And can no reason pause In blesfuines. Drant. Horace, Sat. b. i. s. 1 Blessed, who walk'st not in the worldling's way; A. S. Bliss-ian, blessian, Blessed, who with foul sinners wilt not stand: blithsian, lætari, lætificare, to Blessed, who with proud mockers dar'st not stay; Nor sit thee down amongst that scornful band. make blithe, (qv.) joyous or P. Fletcher, Psal glad.-A. S. Blithe, be-lithe; But since so it pleaseth him, whose wisdom and goodn blissom, blithsome; i. e. Be-guideth all, put thy confidence in him, and one day we sh lissom, be- lithesome. Lithe, blessedly meet again, never to depart. lithesome, and lissom, still used in the north, for BLE'SSFULNESS. quiet, still, gentle, pliant, flexible; from the A. S. Lysan, to loosen or slacken. And, hence, consequentially BLE'SSEDFUL. BLE'SSEDNESS. BLE'SSER. BLESSING. The deeps and the snows, the hail and the rain, the bi of the air and fishes of the sea, they can and do glorify G and give him praise in their capacity; and yet he gave th no speech, no reason, no immortal spirit, no capacity eternal blessedness.—Bp. Taylor, vol. ii. Ser. 12. Id. Holy Living, s. 4. Of Humi The assurance of a future blessedness is a cordial that revive our spirits more in the day of adversity, than all wise sayings and considerations of philosophy. To loosen; or dissolve, to release, to relieve (sc.) When thou hast said or done any thing for which t the tightness, stiffness; to alleviate, to soothe or receivest praise or estimation, take it indifferently, soften the harshness; to mitigate, to assuage, to return it to God; reflecting upon him as the giver of still, quiet or tranquillize-the violence or turbu-gift, or the blesser of the action, or the aid of the design. lence, the pain or anguish; to pacify, to please, to gratify; to communicate or confer ease, pleasure, joy, gladness, happiness, prosperity; to bestow a wish, a prayer, for happiness, or well being. piness, be conferred upon you. Bless you; may ease, pleasure, prosperity, hapI bless you; I (as far as my wishes and prayers are effectual to do so) confer prosperity, happiness upon you. Hii blessede hem echon, Thus gate was that werre pesed, withouten lore, Id. p. 209. Tillotson, vol. i. Se I took up Homer, and dipped into that famous speech Achilles to Priam, in which he tells him, that Jupiter by him two great vessels, the one filled with blessings, the other with misfortunes; out of which he mingles a c position for every man that comes into the world. Tatler, No. The very babe Knows this, and 'chance awak'd, his little hands Lifts to the gods, and on his innocent couch Calls down a blessing. Mason. Caracia BLIGHT, v. Perhaps from the A. S. Lih BLIGHT, n. Sbelihtan, to alight, to desce to fall upon, to strike upon;-to strike, to bl as lightning; and thus To destroy, to wither up, to desolate. BLACK, BLEAK. Blights are often caused by a continued dry easterly w for several days together, without the intervention showers, or any morning dew, by which the perspiratio the tender blossoms is stopp'd, so that in a short time colour is changed and they wither and decay. Miller. Gardener's Diction Tho' they could not hinder brave and active spirits budding out into noble beginnings, of most hopeful be to the common wealth; yet could [they] by stopping channel of supplies or encouragements,, blite them Blesse ghe men that pursuen ghou, blesse ghe and nyle advancing to any fruitful or profitable conclusions. ghe curse.-Wiclif. Romayns, c. 12. Blesse them whiche persecute you: blesse, but curse not. Bible, 1551. Ib. Therefore I gesside necessarie to preie brethren that thei come bifore to ghou, and make redi this bilright blessyng to be redi so as blessyng and not as auarice. for I geic this thing, he that sowith scarsli schal also repe scarsli, and he that sowith in blessyngis schal also repe of blessyngis. Wiclif. 2 Corynth, c. 9. Wherefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, to come beforehand vnto you for to prepare youre good blessing promysed afore, that it might be ready: so that it be a blessing, and not a defraudyng. This yet remember, how that he which soweth lyttel, shall reape lytell, & he that soweth plenteously shall reape plenteously.-Bible, 1551. Ib. O leve brother, quod this Arius, Chaucer. The Wif of Bathes Prol. v. 6346. Gower. Con. A. b. v. For the soule doeth not perishe whiche departeth from the bodye, nor the bodye doeth not altogether go to destruction, that in tyme to come shal liue more blessedlye, and be immortall.-Udal. John, c. 9. For in this xxxi. Psalme discribeth he also this blessedfull state of man, declared now by the gospel, shewing that yt it is not giue & receiued, as due vnto vs for the workes of BLENT, the past tense of Blench, shrinked, Moses law, but by the fre goodness of God, wherby we are started aside, (Tyrwhitt.) Oldys. Life of Ra The Lady Blast, you must understand, has such a p cular malignity in her whisper, that it blights like an eas wind, and withers every reputation that it breathes up Spectator, No. Trust not, ye ladies, to your beauty's power, I suspect it will be found, that whenever the blig wind and those frosts at blooming time have prevailed produce of the wheat crop will turn out very indifferen Dodsley. Agriculture, A. S. Blindan, blindi Ger. Blinden, or blend Dut. Blinden, from the Blinnan, to stop, (Jur and after him Tooke.) To stop or stay; to s impede, obstruct, pre or hinder, (sc.) the si the vision, the percept To blind-fold; to fold any thing over the e the sight, the vision (lit. and met.) so as to bli stop, prevent the sight, &c. So longe hom spedde baddeliche, that hii mizte as bline.-R. Gloucester, p. 566. |