They are terribly afraid of being called bigots and enthusiasts; but think there is no danger of falling into the opposite extreme of lukewarmness and want of piety. Porteus, vol. i. Ser. 1.

Nor think the Muse, whose sober voice ye hear, Contracts with bigot frown her sullen brow; Casts round religion's orb the mists of fear, Or shades with horrours, what with smiles should glow. Mason. Elegy on the Death of a Lady. A rich chain of great pearls and small vases, red and gold, are other ornaments to our bigotted sovereign.

Pennant. Journey from Chester.

I shall only in one word mention the horrid effects of bigotry and avarice, in the conquest of Spanish America; a conquest on a low estimation effected by the murder of ten millions of the species.-Burke. Vindication of Nat. Society. BI'LANDER. Dut. Be-landen, to land; Fr. Belandre, a boat or vessel, fit only to keep close to land.

Why chuse we then like bilanders to creep
Along the coast, and land in view to keep,
When safely we may launch into the deep.

BILBO.
BILBOES.
BILBOESMITH.

Bilboa.

Dryden. The Hind & Panther, pt. i.

A kind of sword or rapier, and also of stocks for the feet; so called because made at

Tell that brave man of hope, He shall the Mountford's find in th' head of all their troops,

To answer his proud braves; our bilbows be as good
As his, our arms as strong.-Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 22.
It was not so of old: men took up trades,
That knew the craft they had been bred in right,
An honest bilboe-smith would make good blades.
B. Jonson. To my faithful Servant.

BILE. A. S. Bile, ulcus; Dut. Buyle; Ger. Buhel; Sw.Bald. Junius says, "Buyle vel puyle est tuber, a puylen; protuberare, prominere." Wachter, that Beul is a stroke, a blow; the mark made by a blow; a tumour; from the A. S. Bluan, to give a blow, to strike; yet he doubts whether the signification can be transferred from a tumour (a tuberculis) to an ulcer (ad ulcera). See BOIL. Applied to

An ulcerous tumour.

And there was a beggar Lazarus by name: that lay at hise gate ful of bilis, and coueytide to be fulfillid of the crummys that fellen doun fro the riche mannes boord: and no man gaf to him, but houndis camen and likkiden his bylis.-Wiclif. Luke, c. 16.

When there is a byle in the skynne of any mans flesh, and it is healed and after in the place of the byle there appeare a whyte rysing, either a shynynge white somewhat redysh, let him be sene of the preast.-Bible, 1551. Lev. c. 13.

BILE. Fr. Bile; Lat. Bilis; from the BILIOUS. Gr. Xoλn, (Vossius). See the quotation from Arbuthnot. Used met. see the quotation from Prior.

But when once settled in the stomach, it excited vomitings, in which was thrown up all that matter which physicians call discharges of bile, attended with excessive torture.-Smith. Thucydides, b. ii.

The bile is of two sorts, the cystick, or that contained in the gall-bladder, which is a sort of repository for the gall; and the hepatick, or what flows immediately from the liver. Arbuthnot. On Aliments, c. 1.

The liver minds his own affair;
Kindly supplies our public uses,
And parts and strains the vital juices;

Still lays some useful bile aside,

To tinge the chyle's insipid tide;

Else we should want both gibe and satire; And all be burst with pure good-nature.-Prior. Alma, c.1. Some of them [voracious animals] have the biliary duct inserted into the pylorus.-Arbuthnot. On Aliments, c. 1. Why bilious juice a golden light puts on, And floods of chyle in silver currents run. Garth. Dispensary, c. 1. BILK. Mr. Gifford says, "Bilk seems to have become a cant word about this (Ben Jonson's)

time, for the use of it is ridiculed by others, as well as Jonson. It is thus explained in Cole's English Dictionary, Bilk, nothing; also to deceive.' Lye, from the Goth. Bilaikan, which properly signifies insultando illudere.

To cheat, to defraud, to elude.

Tub. Hee will ha' the last word, though he take bilke for't. Hugh. Bilke? what's that?

Tub. Why nothing, a word signifying nothing; and borrow'd here to express nothing. B. Jonson. Tale of a Tub, Acti. sc. 1. [He] was then ordered to get into the coach, or behind it, for that he wanted no instructors; but be sure you dog you, says he, don't you bilk me.-Spectator, No. 498.

Patrons in days of yore, like patrons now,
Expected that the bard should make his bow
At coming in, and ev'ry now and then
Hint to the world that they were more than men ;
But, like the patrons of the present day,
They never bilk'd the poet of his pay.

BI-LITERAL. letters, (literæ.)

Churchill. Independence. Consisting of, formed by, two

It is the genius of the Sanscrit, and other languages of the same stock, that the roots of the verbs be almost universally biliteral.-Sir W. Jones. Fourth Anniversary Discourse. BILL, v. A. S. Bile. Perhaps from the A. S. BILL, n. Pullian, to pull. The beak, that which pecketh; the bill, that which pulleth. So in Lat. Vellicare, (from vellere, to pull,) is to pull, as a bird does.

The bill, beak, or nib of a bird, the nose or snout of a beast or fish, the snout or beak of a ship, (Somner.)

To bill (met.), to fondle, to play the part of fond lovers.

And of a rauen, which was tolde,
Of nyne hondred wynter olde,

She toke the head, with all the bille.-Gower. Con. A. b. v.
No sooner had the bird the maiden eyde,
But, leaping on the rocke, downe from a bough
He takes a cherry up, (which he but now
Had hither brought, and in that place had laid
Till to the cleft his song had drawne the maid)
And flying with the small stem in his bill,
(A choicer fruit, than hangs on Bacchus' hill)
In fair Marina's bosom tooke his rest,
A heavenly seat fit for so sweet a guest:
Where Citherea's doves might billing sit,
And gods and men with envy look on it.

Browne. British Pastorals, s. 3. On whose [the cup's] swelling sides, four handles fixed

were

And upon every handle sate, a pair of doves of gold;
Some billing and some pecking meat.

Chapman. Homer. Iliad, b. xi.
Forthwith from out the ark a raven flies
And after him, a surer messenger,

A dove sent forth once and agen to spie
Green tree or ground whereon his foot may light:
The second time returning, in his bill
An olive leafe he brings, pacific signe.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. xi. On the other side, Tom Faddle and his pretty spouse, wherever they come, are billing at such a rate, as they think must do our hearts good who behold 'em. Spectator, No. 300.

When that the stak of wood was reared vp
Under the ayre within the inward court
With clouen oke and billets made of fyrre,
With garlandes she doth all beset the place.
Surrey. Virgile. Eneis, b. iv

He in the mornynge caused the Mayre of the citie t apparell in armure the beste and most coragious persones the citie: whiche brought to him iii. m. archers and iii. m bilmen besyde them that were deputed to defend the citie. Hall. Hen. IV. an. 1

The souldiers Englishmen were all asleep except the watch, the which was slender; and yet the shout arises bowes and bils, bows and bils; which is a signification o extreme defence, to avoide the present danger in all town of war.-Knox. History of Reformation, p. 91.

Cocceius Proculus a bilman of the garde had a suite with his neighbour about a small parcell of ground, which lay doubtfull betweene them, Otho with his owne money bought his neighbours whole ground, and freely bestowed it vpon him.-Savile. Tacitus. Historie, p. 18.

Enuy, when it is once conceiued in a malicious heart, is like fire in billets of juniper, which (they say) continues more yeares than one.-Bp. Hall. Cont. Anna & Peninna.

Firing the wood cut in length like our billets, at the ends, and joyning them together so close, that though no flame or fire did appeare, yet the heat continued without intermission. Sir F. Drake. Revived, p. 50. Come, pierce your old hogsheads, ne'er stint us in sherry, For this is the season to drink and be merry; That, reviv'd by good liquor and billets together, We may brave the loud storms, and defy the cold weather. Fenton. Imit. of Horace, b. i. Ode 9.

The ranks of bill-men in order to battle are always environ'd with pike men; for the bill-men serve specially for execution if the enemy be overthrown. Oldys. Life of Ralegh.

Though winter reigns, our labours never fail :
Then all day long we hear the sounding flail;
And oft the beetle's strenuous stroke descends,
That knotty block-wood into billets rends.

BILL, v.
BILL, n.

BILLET, V.

Scott. Amoebean, Ecl. 2. Spelman, Schedula, libellus, syngraphus; A. S. Bille unde Græco Barb. BIAXOS; Gal, and Bel. Billet. The verb occurs in our old translators; Conquirere milites, in modern usage, to enlist, to enroll, to put or write upon the musterroll; is rendered to bill by Sir Henry Savile.

n.

To billet a soldier or other person is by note, bill, or particular in writing, to appoint his quarters or lodgings.

A bill seems to be applied to a statement in writing of certain particular things, as a bill of indictment, a bill of costs, a bill of exchange; the first setting forth the particular offences charged; the second, the particular sums claimed; and the last, the particular sum to be paid, the time when, the place where, &c.

This salfe cherl came forth a ful gret pas,
And saide; lord, if that it be your will,
As doth me right upon this pitous bill,
In which I plaine upon Virginius,
And if that he wol sayn it is not thus,
I wol it prove, and finden good witnesse,
That soth is that my bille wol expresse.

Sir T. More. Workes, p. 302. Again, whereas divers of their neighbours, and of the Ilotes themselves, (whom they had billed in their bands of soulders) stole away and ran to their enemies.

North. Plutarch, p. 522. Pelopidas seeing every man afraid of this eclipse above, he would not compell the people to depart with this fear, nor with so ill hope to hazard the loss of seven thousand Thebans, being all billed to go this journey.-Id. Ib. p. 252.

Which being of itselfe a burdensome thing, was made much more insupportable, by the auarice and lewd disposition of the officers, who billed chiefly such as were old or impotent persons, and then for money released them.

Savile. Tacitus. Historie, p. 144.

The father of Alenas denied, and said that he had cast in no lot for him; and it seemd unto every man that there was some error in writing of those billes or names for the lottery. Holland. Plutarch, p. 157.

Item, you haue caused the sixt of October last past, at Hampton Court for the defence of your owne cause, diuers seditious bils to bee written in counterfeited hands, and secretly to be throwne abroad in diuers partes of this realme.

Stowe. Edw. VI. an. 1540.

Thinkest thou that they be coblers, tapsters, or such like ese mechanical people, that write these bills and scrolls which are found daily in thy prætor's chair, and not the noolest men and best citizens that do it? North. Plutarch, p. 820. The peeres and captaines of Israel are driven manicled through the Assyrian streets, and billeted to the severall places of their perpetuall servitude.

Bp. Hall. Cont. The Utter Destruction of Israel. Seldome ever hath extremity of mischief seized, where easter afflictions have not been billeted before.

Id. Cont. Haman Disrespected. Robin, you must know, is the best man in town for carryirga billet; the fellow has a thin body, swift step, demure les, sufficient sense, and knows the town. Spectator, No. 498.

Our countrymen could not forbear laughing when they heard a lover chanting out a billet-dour, and even the supersription of a letter set to a tune.-Id. No. 29.

As he never said-no-to any request in his life, he has given them a bill, drawn by a friend of his upon a merchant in the city, which I am to get changed.

Goldsmith. The Goodnatur'd Man, Act iii. sc. 1.

I write this, Eliza, at Mr. James's whilst he is dressing, and the dear girl, his wife, is writing beside me, to thee.-I got your melancholy billet before we sat down to dinner. Sterne, Let. 84. Sw. Goth. Bulg-ia, to bulge, to belly out, to swell.

BILLOW, v. BILLOW, R.

BILLOWY.

To swell or heave; usually applied to the swelling or heaving of the waves.

The mariner amidde the swelling seas,

Who seeth his barke with many a billowe beaten,

Now here, now there, as winds and waues best please,
When thundring Joue with tempest list to threaten,
And dreades in depest gulfe for to be eaten,
Yet learnes a meane by mere necessitie
To save himselfe in such extremitie.

Gascoigne. Chorus to Jocasta, Act ii.

Within two dayes after, there arose another great storme, at the north-east, and we lay a trie, being driven far into the sea, and had much ado to keepe our barke from sinking, the blowe was so great.-Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. i. p. 334.

O, doe but thinke

You stand upon the riuage, and behold

A citie on th' inconstant billowes dauncing:
Fer so appeares the fleet maiesticall,
Holding due course to Harflew.

Shakespeare. Hen. V. Chorus 3.

But as a ship that vnder saile doth passe
The roaring billowes and the raging streames,
And drawing nigh the wished port (alas)
Breaks on some hidden rocke her ribs and beams.
Pairefax. Godfrey of Bulloigne, b. ii. s. 84.

The beaten bark, her rudder lost,

Is on the rolling billows tost;

Her keel now ploughs the ooze, and soon
Her top-mast tilts against the moon.-Cotton. Winter.

No sleepe could seise

His ey-lids; he beheld the Pleiades;

The Beare, surnam'd the Waine, that round doth moue About Orion; and keeps still aboue

The billowie ocean.-Chapman. Homer. Odysses, b. v

The billowing snow, and violence of the shower,
That from the hills disperse their dreadful store,
And o'er the vales collected ruin pour.

Prior. Solomon, b. iii.
Their legions roam without a guide,
Like vessels tost on ocean's billowy tide,
Whose course unsteer'd the winds and tempests sway,
And chance conducts them o'er the watry way.
Lewis. Statius, b. x.
Without this last [judgment] the vessel is tossed by every
hellow, and will find shipwreck in every breeze.
Goldsmith. Citizen of the World.

When first the kingdom to thy virtues due
Rose from the billowy deep in distant view;
When Albion's isle, old ocean's peerless pride,
Towered in imperial state above the tide.

Warton. On the Marriage of the King.

BIN. Skinner, and after him, Tooke, derive from the A. S. Pyndan, to enclose, to pen, or pin; to bin, differing merely in the application, from to pen or pin.

Any thing that encloses, that confines; as a corn-bin, a wine-bin.

Wel coude he kepe a garner and a binn
Ther was non auditour coude on him winne.
Chaucer. The Prologue, v. 595.
You might haue sene them throng out of the town:
Like ants, when they do spoile the bing of corne,
For winters dread, which they beare to their den.
Surrey. Virgile. Enæis, b. iv.

O'er twice three pickers, and no more, extend
The binman's sway.
BINAL.
BINARY.

Bis, Binus, two.
Twofold, double.

Thor. I have 'em already, Somerton.
Somerton. Binal revenge all this.

Ford. Witch of Edmonton, Act iii. sc. 2. Pythagorus affirmeth, that of the two first principles, unity was God, and the soveraign good; which is the very nature of one, and is understanding it selfe: but the indefinite binary, is the devill and evill, about which is the multitude materiall, and the visible world.-Holland. Plutarch, p. 665.

So that this matter was rightly called heaven: and the union of the passive and active principle in the creation of this material heaven is the second day's work, and the binarie denotes the nature thereof.

BIND, v. BIND, n. BINDER.

BINDING.

More. The Philosophick Cabbala, c.1. Goth. and A. S. Bindan: Dut. and Ger. Binden; Sw. Binda. See BOND.

To tie, to fasten, to knit, to connect, to confine, to put into confinement, under constraint or obligation; to constrain, to oblige. Sir mercy, my life thou saue it me, Do not that vilany, fettred that I be. In prison thou me do, but nouht in bondes bynde, pray gow it be so, for schame of my kynde. R. Brunne, p. 167. And I pursuyde this weie tel to the deeth, byndynge and bytakyng into holdis men and wymmen. Wiclif. Dedis, c. 23.

I

& I persecuted this way vnto the deathe byndinge and deliuerynge into prison both men and women.

Bible, 1551. Ib.

So that as most animals are binocular, spiders for the most part octonocular, and some senocular; so flies, &c. are multocular, having as many eyes as there are perforations in their cornea.-Derham. Phys. Theol. b. viii. c. 3. note a.

As in certain circumstances we invariably see one object appear double, so in others we as invariably see two objects unite into one; and, in appearance, lose their duplicity. This is evident in the appearance of the binocular telescope. Reid. Inquiry, c. 6. s. 13. From Bios, life, and ypapew, to grave, to write. A writer of the lives of

BIOGRAPHER.
BIOGRAPHY.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

individuals.

The character of the author, that industrious and exact antiquary and biographer, Mr. Anthony Wood, is well known to the learned world. Wood. Athene Oxon. Booksellers to the Reader. But in that he came so late thither as this author men

Now sith it may nat goodly be withstound
And is a thing so virtuous in kind
Refuseth nought to loue for to ben bond
Sith as him seluen list he may not bind.

Chaucer. Troilus, b. i. And vnto thys your fathers set their hades & seales, binding them selucs to compell the king to keepe thys contracte. Barnes. Workes, p. 89.

The hunter seelynge both his eyen, and byndinge his [the lyon's] legges strongly together, fynally daunteth his fiercenesse, and maketh hym obediente to his ensygnes and tokens. Sir T. Elyot. The Governor, b. ii. c. 14.

And likewyse they did calculate that whiche mighte transcende and be ouer the ioynters or byndinge togiders of the sayd bricques.-Nicolls. Thucydides, p. 76.

Well Jessica goe in,

Perhaps I will returne immediately;
Doe as I bid you, shut dores after you, fast binde fast finde,
A prouerbe neuer stale in thriftie minde.

Shakespeare. Merchant of Venice, Act ii. sc. 5. Euen in those actions whereby an offence may bee occasioned (though not giuen) charity bindes us to cleare both our owne name, and the conscience of others. Bp. Hall. Cont. Altar of the Reubenites. For he knows, that we have no strength but what he gives us; and therefore, as he binds burdens upon our shoulders, so he gives us strength to bear them.

Bp. Taylor, vol. i. Ser. 11. There grew by this a field of corne, high, ripe; where reapers wrought,

And let thicke handfuls fall to earth; for which, some other brought

Bands, and made sheaves. Three binders stood, and took the handfuls reapt

From boyes that gatherd quickly up; and by them armefuls heapt. Chapman. Homer. Iliad, b. xviii.

There too he form'd the likeness of a field
Crowded with corn, in which the reapers toil'd
Each with a sharp tooth'd sickle in his hand.
Along the furrow here, the harvest fell

In frequent handfuls; there, they bound the sheaves.
Three binders of the sheaves their sultry task
All plied industrious, and behind them boys
Attended, filling with the corn their arms,

And off'ring still their bundles to be bound.-Cowper. Ib.

We both are bound to follow heavens beheasts,
And tend our charges with obeisaunce meeke.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 6.

afterwards mentions; and, as the biographical fry who follow have nibbled out of him ;-they are all mistaken, for he will presently appear two years before that time amounts to, in the wars abroad.-Oldys. Life of Ralegh.

His biographical writings teach philosophy, at once by precept and by example. His morals and his characters mutually explain and give force to each other. His sentiments of the duty of a biographer were peculiarly just and delicate.-Langhorne. Life of Plutarch.

Those parallel circumstances and kindred images, to which we readily conform our minds, are, above all other writings, to be found in narratives of the lives of particular persons; and therefore, no species of writing seems more worthy of cultivation than biography, since none can be more delightful or more useful, none can more certainly enchain the heart by irresistible interest, or more widely diffuse instruction to every diversity of condition.

Johnson. Rambler, No. 60.

You cannot compare the history of the same events as delivered by any two historians, but you will meet with many circumstances which, though mentioned by one, are either wholly omitted, or differently related by the other; and this observation is peculiarly applicable to biographical writings. Watson. Apology for Christianity. BI-PARTITE. Bis, two, and Partiri, parBI'PARTED. titus, to part.

Shared, separated, divided, into two parts.

By our by-parted crowne, of which

The moyetie is mine,

But how the fire was maked up on highte,
And eke the names how the trees highte,

As oke, fir, birch.-Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 2921.

An allegory is as much as to say as strauge speakyng or borrowed speach. As whe we say of a wanton child, this sheepe hath magottes in his tayle, he must be annoynted with byrchin salue, which speach I borow of the shepheardes. Tindall. Works, p. 166.

The eugh, obedient to the benders will,
The birch for shafts, the sallow for the mill.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 1.

The birds that han left her song
While they han suffred cold full strong
In wethers grille, and derke to sight

Ben in May for sunne bright

So glad, that they shew in singing

That in her hert is such liking

That they mote singen and ben light.

Chaucer. The Rom. of the Rose. These louers know well inough, the vaineglorious mindes of many, which haue a great delight in their owne prayses wherewith they be caught like as the byrder beguyleth the byrdes.-Vives. Instruct. of Christian Women, b. i. c. 14.

The yonger sorte, come pyping on apace,
In whistles made of fine enticing wood,
Til they haue caught the birds, for whom they bryded.
Gascoigne. Epil. to Slecle Glas.

Thei should haue lacked leisure to haue separate the oyntmentes and swete spices from the bodye, seeyng they cleaued as fast thereto as byrdelime.-Udal. John, c. 20.

Another parte followynge the flighte of byrdes (for the Frenchmen are above all other nations cunninge in bird spellinge,) with muche slaughter of the barbarous nations pearsed vnto the coste of Sclavonie, and reasted in Pannonie.-Goldyng. Justine, p. 108.

No tree, whose branches did not brauely spring;
No branch, whereon a fine bird did not sit:
No bird, but did her shrill notes sweetly sing:
No song but did containe a louely dit.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 6.

Jul. 'Tis almost morning, I would haue thee gone, And yet no further then a wanton's bird,

That lets it hop a little from his hand,

Like a poore prisoner in his twisted gyues,
And with a silken thred plucks it back againe,
So louing jealous of his liberty.

Shakespeare. Romeo & Juliet, Act ii. sc. 2.

I do inuite you to morrow morning to my house to breakfast after we'll a birding together, I haue a fine hawke for the bush.-Id. Merry Wives, Act iii. sc. 3.

O that this young fellow,
Who, on my knowledge, is able to beat a man,
Should be baffled by this blind imagined boy,
Or fear his bird-bolts.

Massinger. The Guardian, Act iii. sc. 1.

As Cupid took his bow and bolt,
Some birding sport to find,
He chanced on a country swain,
Which was some yeoman's hind.

Cupid and the Clown. Vncertaine Auctors.

Now as touching birdlime, it is made of the berries of misselto, gathered in harvest time before they are ripe; for if they should tarie still to take showers of raine, well might they thrive and encrease in bignesse, but their strength and vertue would be gone cleane, for ever making any such glew or birdlime aforesaid. Holland. Plinie, b. xvi. c. 4.

As there is a preparedness to good works, so there is a preparedness to evil; when the heart is thus bird-limed, then it cleaves to every thing it meets with.

Goodwin. A Christian's Growth, pt. ii. c. 3.

Sweet fellow-prisoners, 'twas a cruel art,
The first invention to restrain the wing,
To keep the inhabitants o' the air close captive,
That were created to sky freedom: surely
The merciless creditor took his first light,
And prisons their first models, from such bird-loops.
Shirley. The Bird in a Cage, Act iv. sc. 1.

Of birds, how each, according to her kind,
Proper materials for her nest can find,
And build a frame, which deepest thought in man
Would or amend or imitate in vain ?-Prior. Solomon, b. i.

How oft your birds have undeserving bled,
Linnet, or warbling thrush, or moaning dove,
Pheasant with gaily-glistening wings,

Or carly-mounting lark !-Warton. Ode on Shooting.

That government being so situated, as to have a large range of prospect, and as it were a bird's eye view of every thing, they might see distant dangers, and distant advantages, which were not so visible to those, who stood on the common level.-Burke. Letter to Thomas Burgh, Esq.

And Jhesus passinge, saygh a man blynd fro his birthe; and hise disciplis axiden hym, maister, what synnede this man, or hise eldris, that he schulde be bourn blind. Wiclef. John, c. 9. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blynd from his byrth. And hys dysciples asked him, saying: master, who dyd sinne: this man, or his father and mother, y' he was borne blind.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

And whanne a covenable day was fallen Eroude in his birth-day made a soper to the princes and tribunes and to the grettist of Galilee.-Wiclif. Mark, c. 6.

But when a couenient day was come: Herode on his birth-day made a supper to ye lordes, captains & chief estates of Galile.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

On of the gretest adversitees of this world, is whan a free man by kinde, or of birthe, is constreined by poverte to eten the almesse of his enemie.-Chaucer. The Tale of Melibeus.

And Jacob sayd: sel me thys daye thy byrthright. And Esau answered: lo I am at the poynt to dye, and what profite shall this byrthright do me: and Jacob sayd: swere to me then this daye. And he swore to hi, and solde his byrthright vnto Jacob.-Bible, 1551. Genesis, c. 25.

It is in effect therefore the birth-day of the world; the beginning of a new, better, eternal life to men, (offered to all, and effectually bestowed on those, who will embrace it,) which we now do celebrate.-Barrow, vol. iii. Ser. 43.

However it comes about, that now they celebrate Queen Elizabeth's birthnight, as that of their saint and patroness; yet then they were for doing the work of the Lord by arms against her.-Dryden. Religio Laici, Pref.

But why your wonder should I vainly raise?
My birthplace tell, and Ariadne's praise.

Fawkes. Argon. of Apollonius, b. iii.

An eminent person of later times, was reproached by one of better birth, though of meaner parts, for having formerly been a carrier. Ilis answer, for his temper and excellent judgement in it, is not to be forgotten, which was, "that if he who reproached him had once been a carrier, he would have been a carrier still."-Tatler, No. 294.

Useful discoveries are sometimes indeed the effect of superior genius, but more frequently they are the birth of time and of accidents.-Reid. Inquiry, c. 1. s. 8.

Those barb'rous ages past, succeeded next
The birthday of invention; weak at first,
Dull in design, and clumsy to perform.

Cowper. Task, b. i.

The article of food, so called, is not uncommonly more than twice baked.

The Turke doth not amend his galeis, nor rigge out mō then fiftie. In Greece there is no biscoct in making, no preparacon of vitales, or other thing.

Lodge. Illustrat. of British History, vol. i. p. 169. Besides this, these ioly gallauntes lefte behynd theim for haste, all their tentes, xiiii. greate gonnes and xl. barrelles of pouder, ccc. pipes of wyne, cc. pipes of bisket and floure, cc. frayles of figges and resones, and v. c. barrelles of herrings.-Hall. Hen. VI. an. 4.

In this march a pair of shoos vvas sold for thirty shillings, and a bisket cake for ten shillings; so great was our want both of cloathing and victuals.

Sir F. Drake. West Indian Voyage, p. 57.

Mr. Borcel told me, that the curious merchant used no other art, than the stowing of his bisket, well baked, in casks exactly calked.-Boyle. Works, vol. ii. p. 108.

The prattling about the rights of men will not be accepted in payment of a biscuit or a pound of gun-powder. Burke. Reflect. on the French Revolution. BI-SECT. Bis, twice; and Secare, SecBISECTIONS. § tum, to cut:

To cut into two.

Any assigned arch or angle may be bisected by plain common Geometry.-Barrow. Math. Lect. 15.

BISHOP, n. BI'SHOP, v. Br'SHOPDOM. BI'SHOPING. BI'SHOPHOOD. BI'SHOPLY.

This word, upon the introduction of Christianity, found its way into all the European languages. A. S. Bisceop; Dut. Bischop; Ger. Bischof; Sw. Biskop; Fr. Evesque; BI'SHOPRICK. It. Vescovo; from the Gr. Eniσkonos, from Е, and ΣKOTT-ELV, Sp. Obispo, to look into. A bishop is literally— An over-looker, an over-seer. Milk, in Yorkshire, is said to be bishoped, when it is burnt. 66 Formerly, in days of superstition, pre-lage, all the inhabitants ran out in order to receive whenever a Bishop passed through a town or vilhis blessing; this frequently caused the milk on the fire to be left till burnt to the vessel, and gave origin to the above allusion." (Grose, Prov. Gloss.) Tindale seems to point to a more specious origin of this expression, in the rancour of the reformers, which ascribed every ill that might betide them to the popish bishops.

Though we were exempted from the common condition of our birth, yet he would not deliver himselfe from those ordinary rites, that implied the weaknesse, and blemishes of humanity.-Bp. Hall. Cont. The Purification.

And so those od dayes the Egyptians do call at this sent, the dayes of the Epact, celebrating and solemnizing them as the birth-dayes of their gods. Holland. Plutarch, p. 1051.

Macd. Let vs rather
Hold fast the mortall sword: and like good men,
Bestride our downfall birthdome.

Shakespeare. Macbeth, Act iv. sc. 3.

But howsoever it was, he [Polymnis] descended from one of the most noble and ancient houses of the Thebans,

of whom they report this notable thing: that the most part of this noble lineage carried upon their body even for a naturall birth-mark from their mothers womb, a snake. North. Plutarch, p. 917.

No ominous star did at thy birthtide shine,
That might of thy sad destiny divine.
Drayton. Dudley to Lady Jane Gray.

To bishop-to perform the church ceremony of confirmation. See the example from Sir Thomas More.

For that lond that bitwene Homber, & the water of Te-
mese y wis
Ich wene in the bischop riche of Lyncolne ys.
R. Gloucester, p. 5.

The bishop of Canterbirle in comon alle o liche, Schewed it in ilk schire, alle his bisshop riche. R. Brunne, p. 301. And by cam a man of a mayde. and metropolitanus, And baptisede an busshoppede. whit the blode of us herte Alle that wilnede other wolde.-Piers Plouhman, p. 300. Were the bisshop blessid eth worth bothe h' eyen. Has sele sholde nogt be sent. în deceet of the puple. Id. p. 4. Therfore hooly britheren, and parteneris of heuenli clepaz, bibolde ghe apostle and the bischop of oure confesSeza. Jesu which is trewe to him that made him, as also moises in al the hous of hym.-Wielif. Ebrewis, c. 3.

And it is writen in the book of Salmys, the abitacioun of hez be maad desert, and be there noon that dwelle in it, and anothir take his bishopricke.—Wiclif. Dedis, c. 1.

BI-SULCOUS. Bis and Sulcus; Gr. 'Oλкos, tractus, from 'Eλke, to draw. Applied in natural history to

Cloven footed animals.

Others there are which make good the paucity of their breed with the length and duration of their dayes, whereof there want not examples in animals uniparcus; first, in tisulcous or cloven hooft, as camels and beeves, whereof there is above a million annually slain in England.

Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. vi. c.6.

BITCH. Of uncertain etymology; applied to the female of the dog, and other animals; and also, opprobriously, to a woman.

He would set down in writing, and openly pronounce, that neither bitches loved their whelpes, nor mares their foles, hens their chickens, and other foules their little birds

"That they call confirmacion, ye people call bishopping. They thinke that if the bishop butter ye childe in the forhed, Lat then it is safe.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 378.

When a thing spedeth not well, we borow speach and say, the bishop hath blessed it, because that nothing spedeth well that they medle with all. If the porage be burned to, or the meate ouer rosted, we say, the bishop hath put his foote in the potte, or the bishop hath played the cooke, because the bishops burn who they lust, and whosoever Capleaseth them.—Tyndall. Workes, p. 166.

Now doeth he rente his clothes, prophecying hereby, how it shall cum to passe, that the true bishop raignynge the earnall and figuratiue biskophode shal be cleane abolished, and set aside.-Udal. Mark, c. 14.

Wherefore the bishop (saith he) reuerently, and accordinge to his bishoply office, after the holy praises of Godde's workes, he excuseth himselfe, that he taketh vpon him to offer that healthful sacrifice.-M. Hardinge. Jewell, p. 567.

Why sent they it by Felton to
Be bishoped at Paule's?

Why feed they Fitz-Morrice, that
In Ireland marshal'd brawles?

Warner. Albion's England, b. x. c. 54.

In the person of a bishop there be three distinct faculties: his spiritual function, wherein he is a bishop; his legal at lity, wherein he is a layman and hath liberty to contract, and his temporal dignity, wherein he is a Baron and Peer of the Realm, and participateth their priviledges.

Spelman. Answer to Apologie, p. 115.

Asser. See the frowardness of this man, he would perrazde us that the succession and divine right of bishopdom hath bin unquestionable through all ages.

Milton. Animad. upon Rem. Defence.

Shortly after all the bishops which had been depriued in the time of King Edward the sixt, were restored to their bishoprickes, and the other which were placed in King Edward's times remooued.-Stowe. Queene Mary, an. 1553.

So Cymon, since his sire indulg'd his will,
Impetuous lov'd, and would be Cymon still;
Galesus he disown'd, and chose to bear
The name of fool confirm'd and bishop'd by the fair.
Dryden. Cymon & Iphigenia.

BIS-SEXTILE. Bis and Sextilis, from Sex, six-so called because the sixth of the calends of March was repeated; occurred twice.

Now, when it was observed by this reckoning, that the Fanne had performed his revolution sooner than the year erned about, which before was wont to prevent the course of the sunne, this error was reformed, and after every fourth years expired, came about the bissextile aforesaid, and made all streight.-Holland. Plinie, b. xviii. c. 25.

The inconvenience attending the form of the year above aptioned was in a great measure remedied by the Romans in the time of Julius Caesar, who added one day every fourth year, which (from the place of its insertion, viz. after the Myth of the calends of March,) was called bissextile, or leap year.-Priestley. On History, vol. i. Lect. 14.

A

BISSON. Bisson or Beesen, i. e. Blind. word still in use in some parts of the north of England. Steevens; Bizend, Beezen, or Bison, blind, (Grose.) In A. S. Bisen, cæcus, blind.

Thys manne was not purblynde, or a lyttle appayred, and decayed in syght, but as byspine as was possible to be. Udal. Marke, c. 8.

What harme can your beesome (sc. beesen) Conspectuities gleane out of his charracter, if I be knowne well enough too. Shakespeare. Coriolanus, Act ii. sc. 1.

1 Play. But who, O who, had seen the mobled Queen, Run bare foot vp and downe, Threatning the flame

With bisson rheume,

Id. Hamlet, Act ii. sc. 2.

nature.-Holland. Plutarch, p. 180.

From below

By your true names of Stygian bitches you
I will call upp, and to the sunnes light leaue.
May. Lucan, b. vi.
A. S. Bitan; Dut. Byten; Ger.
Beissen; Sw. Bita.

BITE, v. BITE, n. BI'TER. BITING, n.

'BITINGLY. BIT, v. BIT, n. BITLESS.

To pinch, to squeeze, to gripe, to crush; to pierce, to penetrate, to wound, to pain as a bite, or any thing which biteth;-literally and metaphorically.

A bit; a small piece; so much bit or bitten: as a bit of bread; a bit of a bridle. To bit-to put the bit in the mouth, to cause to bite, gripe, or hold fast.

A Bite, (see the quotations from Swift and the Spectator,) applied met. from the simpleness, silliness, eagerness, with which fish bite or catch the bait, to that unsuspecting credulity which seizes and swallows whatever is imposed upon it. And yspyted hym thour out myd an yrene spyte And rostede in thys grete fure, to abbe the folle byle. R. Gloucester, p. 207.

Here now the grete dispute, & the vilenie That to ther bak gan bite of Scotland the clergie. R. Brunne, p. 335. And if ghe bite and ete ech othir, se ghe lest ghe be wastid ech fro othir.-Wiclif. Galatians, c. 5.

If ye bite and deuoure one another: take hede lest ye be consumed one of another.-Bible, 1551. Ib. Right as a serpent hideth under floures, Til he may see his time for to bite.

Chaucer. The Squieres Tale, v. 10,826.

What thing is than this power that may not done away the bitings of businesse, ne eschew the pricks of dread. Id. Boecius, b. iii. Understandest thou not, that I am a philosopher. That other man answered again bytingly and said: I had wel vnderstand it, if thou hadst holden thy tongue stil.-Id. Ib. Spite draue me into Boreas raigne,

Where hory frostes the frutes do bite, When hilles were spred and cuery plaine With stormy winters mantle white.

Surrey. The Constant Louer Lamenteth.

And the Lord sayd vnto Moses: make the a serpent and hang it vp for a sygne, and let as many as are bitten, loke vpon it and they shall liue.-Bible, 1551. Num. c. 21.

Whiche message he dissimulated as litle to regarde as the bytyng of a flee, as thoughe the Englishmen in the battaile, whiche he knewe to be at hande, could do no enterprice (as it happened indeed) either necessary to be feared, or worthy to be remembered.-Hall. Hen. VII. an. 3.

For whether the braue gennet be broken with the bitte, or with the snaffle, whether he be brought in awe with a spurre, or with a wand, all is one if hee prove readie and well mouthed.-Gascoigne. Advert. of the Author.

Here hath beene wt mee a poore woman weepyng, and waylyng, and crying out, howe you haue vndone her, her poore husband, and her miserable children, for all they haue not one bitte of bread, towardes their foode, neither is she able to labour.-Barnes. Workes, p. 208.

The pointed steele arriuing rudely theare,
His harder hide would neither pearce nor bight,
But glauncing by forth passed forward right.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. 1. c. 11. The oration thus framed to bite and to please the soldiers mindes, and the moderate seuerity vsed withall (for onely ou two iustice was done) were gratefully accepted. Savile. Tacitus. Historie, p. 49.

They [the Brocks, &c.] will draw in their breath so hard, that their skin being stretched and puffed up withall, they will avoid the biting of the hound's tooth, and checke the wounding of the hunter; so as neither the one nor the other can take hold of them.-Holland. Plinie, b. viii. c. 38.

Of whose doore, her faire
And halfe transparent hand, receiu'd the key,
Bright, brazen; bitted passing curiously,
And at it hung a knob of iuory.

Chapman. Homer. Odysses, b. xxi.
Therefore that great Creator, well foreseeing
To what a monster she would soon be changing,
(Though lovely once, perfect and glorious being,)
Curb'd with her iron bit, and held from ranging.
P. Fletcher. The Purple Island, c. 5.
All the abject sorts

Of sorrow, I have varied, tumbl'd in dust, and hid;
No bit, no drop of sustenance toucht.

Chapman. Homer. Iliad, b. xxiv.
There is an old poore man,

Who after me, hath many a weary steppe
Limpt in pure loue: till he be first suffic'd,
Opprest with two weake euils, age, and hunger,
I will not touch a bit.

Shakespeare. As You Like It, Act ii. sc. ". A scoff and a jeer is many times more provoking than a blow; and nothing will sooner kindle the coals of contention than a biting taunt.-Hopkins. Works, p. 184.

Massylians, that without saddles ride,
And with a wand their bitlesse horses guide.

May. Lucan, b. iv. You may easily imagine to yourself what appearance I made, who am pretty tall, ride well, and was very well dressed, at the head of a whole county, with musick before me, a feather in my hat, and my horse well bitted.

Spectator, No. 113.

If this doctrine be true, then all men's senses are deceived in a plain sensible matter, wherein 'tis as hard for them to

be deceived as in any thing in the world: for two things can hardly be imagined more different, than a little bit of wafer and the whole body of a man.-Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 11.

All is owing to the mercenary low humour of the times we live in, who, groveling in the baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and over-reaching one another, scorn the glorious ways by which our ancestors grew rich, when they pursued, together with their private advantages, the honour and interest of their native country and of their posterity.—Humourist, vol. ii. p. 41.

I'll teach you a way to outwit Mrs. Johnson: it is a newfashioned way of being witty, and they call it a bite. You must ask a bantering question, or tell some damned lye in a serious manner, and then she will answer or speak as if you were in earnest; then, cry you, Madam, there's a bite! Swift. To a Friend of Mrs. Johnson, 1703.

A biter is one who tells you a thing you have no reason to disbelieve in itself; and perhaps has given you, before he bit you, no reason to disbelieve it for his saying it; and if you give him credit, laughs in your face, and triumphs that he has deceived you.-Spectator, No. 501.

Their field of vision is too contracted to take in the whole of any but minute objects; they view all nature bit by bit; now the proboscis, now the antennæ, now the pinna ofa flea-Goldsmith. Citizen of the World, Let. 88.

When he was yet scarcely seven years old, being at dinner with the queen his mother, intending to give a bit of bread to a great dog he was fond of, this hungry animal snapt too greedily at the morsel, and bit his hand in a terrible manner.-Id. The Bee, No. 2.

All plants, of ev'ry leaf, that can endure
The Winter's frown, if screen'd from his shrewd bite,
Live there, and prosper.

BITTER, adj. BITTER, n. BITTERFULL. BITTERLY.

BITTERNESS.

Cowper. Task, b. iii.

A. S. Ger. Dut. and Sw. Biter; A. S. Biterian, from Bitan, to bite. Applied particularly to the taste.

Biting, piercing, penetrating, as any thing which bites; and thus, painful, hurtful, inflicting pain or distress, of mind or body; calamity, wretchedness.

The whyttiour that eny whight is. bote yf he worcke ther after

The bilerour he shall a bygge.-Piers Plouhman, p. 275. The bitternesse that thow hast browe, now brouk hit thy self.

That ert doctour of deth, drynk that thou madest.

Id. p. 361. That if ye han bitter envie, and stryvyngis ben in youre hertis, nyle ye haue glorie and be lieris agens the treuthe. Wiclif. James, c. 3.

But if ye haue bytter enuyinge and strife in your hertes, reioyce not: neyther be against the trueth.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

And Petre bithoughte on the word of Jhesus, that he had seide, bifore the cock crow, thries thou schalt denye me, and he ghede out and wept bittirly.—Wiclif. Matthew, c. 26.

And Peter remembered the woordes of Jesu, whyche sayd vnto hym: before ye cocke crowe yu shalte denye me thryse: and went out at the dores and wept bytterlye. Bible, 1551. Ib. The mouth of whiche is full of cursyng and bytternesse, the feet of hem swifte to schede blood.-iclif. Rom. c. 3.

Whose mouthes are full of curssynge and bytterness, their fete are swifte to sheede bloude.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

Alone here I stand, full sorie and full sad,
Which hoped to haue seen my lord and king
Small cause haue I to be merry or glad
Remembring this bitterfull deperting.

Chaucer. Lam. of M. Mag.

For all suche tyme of loue is lore,

And like vnto the bitter swete.

For though it thinke a man first swete.

He shall wel felen at laste,

That it is sower, and maie not laste.-Gower. Con. A. b. viii.

As cruel waves full oft be found,

Against the rockes to rore and cry;

So doth my hart full oft rebound,
Agaynst my brest full bitterly.

Surrey. The Constant Louer Lamenteth.

I haue sometimes passed the bounds of modestie (wherein I will neyther accuse, nor excuse myselfe) yet are my speaches in bitternesse farre inferiour to those opprobries, slanders, and disdainefull wordes vttered either in the first or second admonition, or in your replie.

Whitgift. Defence, p. 20.

But wise words taught in numbers for to runne,
Recorded by the Muses, liue for aye;

Ne may with storming showers be washt away,
Ne bitter breathing winds with harmfull blast,
Nor age, nor enuie shall them euer wast.

Spenser. The Ruines of Time.

He that greedily puts his hand to a delicious table, shall weep bitterly when he suffers the convulsions and violence by the divided interests of such contrary juices.

Bp. Taylor, vol. i. Ser. 16. One draught of the river that makes glad the city of God above, can sweeten all the bitterness of the world.

Bales. The Great Duty of Resignation, Direct. 1.

All men are agreed to call vinegar sour, honey sweet, and aloes bitter; and as they are all agreed in finding these qualities in those objects, they do not in the least differ concerning their effects with regard to pleasure and pain. They all concur in calling sweetness pleasant, and sourness and bitterness unpleasant. Burke. Sublime and Beautiful. On Tasle. My sweets

And she that sweetens all my bitters too,
Nature, enchanting Nature, in whose form

And lineaments divine I trace a hand

That errs not, and find raptures still renew'd, Is free to all men-universal prize.-Cowper. Task, b. iii. BITTERN. Dut. Butoor; Fr. Butor; Sp. BITTOUR. Bitor; It. Bittore. Bos taurus, or Boatus taurinus, from the noise it makes, when its head is immersed in the mire. In the territory about Arelate, there is a bird called Taurus, because it loweth like a bull or cow, for otherwise a small bird it is," (Plin. x. 42.)

And as a bitore bumbleth in the mire,
She laid hire mouth unto the water doun.
Bewrey me not, thou water, with thy soun,
Quod she, to thee I tell it, and no mo,
Min husbond hath long asses eres two.

Chaucer. The Wif of Bathes Tale, v. 6544. Then to the water's brink she laid her head, And as a biltour bumps within a reed, "To thee alone, O Lake," she said, "I tell, (And as thy queen, command thee to conceal :) Beneath his locks the king my husband wears A goodly royal pair of asses ears."-Dryden. Ib.

That a bittor maketh that mugient noyse, or as we term it bumping, by putting its bill into a reed as most beleive, or as Bellonius and Aldrovandus conceive, by putting the same in water or mud, and after a while retaining the ayr by suddenly excluding it again, is not so easily made out. Browne. Vulgar Errours, b. iii. c. 27.

Along thy glades, a solitary guest,
The hollow sounding bittern guards its nest.

BITUME.
BITU'MED.

BITU MEN.
BITUMINATed.
BITUMINOUS.

Goldsmith. Deserted Village. Lat. Bitumen; Gr. ПTvs, πιθος, πιθυς, from πιειν, premere, premendo, affigere, (Lennep,) to press, to fix, by

pressure.

See the example from Goldyng. The common noun is Bitumen; May uses Bitume.

She buylded Babilon and enclosed it with a wall of bricke enterlayed with sand and bytumen, which is a kynd of slimye mortar, yssuing out of the ground, in diuers places of that countrye.-Goldyng. Justine, p. 2.

Mix with these

Idæan pitch, quick sulphur, silver's spume,
Sea onion, hellebore, and black bitume.-May.

Where is Marcus Scaurus Theater, the bituminated walls of Babylon? And how little rests of the Pyramids of Egypt. Feltham, pt. i. Resolve 46.

2 Sail. Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches, caulked and bitumed ready.

Per. I thank thee.-Shakespeare. Pericles, Act iii. sc. 1.
Hee with a crew, whom like ambition joyns
With him or under him to tyrannize,
Marching from Eden towards the west, shall finde
The plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge
Boiles out from under ground, the mouth of hell.
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. xii.

A worse knob remains to be plained, how they [the trees] are preserved sound so many ages, seeing moisture is the mother of corruption, and such the ground wherein they are found: except any will say there is clammy bituminous substance about them, which fenceth them from being corrupted. Fuller. Worthies. Anglesey.

The fabric seem'd a wood of rising green,
With sulphur and bitumen cast between,
To feed the flames.-Dryden. Palamon & Arcite, b. iii.
The Maker! ample in his bounty, spread
The various strata of earth's genial bed;
Temper'd the subject mass with pregnant juice,
And subtile stores of deep and sacred use;
Salts, oils, and bitumen, and unctuous pitch,
With precious, though mysterious, influence rich.
Brooke. Universal Beauty, b. iii.
The light
Wood-nymphs; and those, who o'er the grots preside,
Whose stores bituminous with sparkling fires,
In summer's tedious absence, cheer the swains,
Long sitting at the loom.-Dyer. The Fleece, b. iii.
BI-VALVE, adj.
BIVALVE, n.
BIVALVED.

BIVALVULAR.

Bis, twice, and Valve, perhaps Volva, so called, because they fold inwards, (Vossius.) Applied in Natural History; as the examples sufficiently explain. Bivalvular, or bivalve husk, is one that opens or gapes the whole length, like a door that opens in two parts. Miller, Gardener's Dictionary. Crabs, either of this kind, or allied to them, the antients believed to have been the consentaneous inmates of the pinnæ, and other bivalves.-Pennant. British Zoology.

With respect to the figure of shells, Aristotle has divided them into three kinds. There are first, the univalve, or turbinated, which consist of one piece, like the box of a snail; secondly, the bivalve, consisting of two pieces, united by a hinge, like an oyster.

Goldsmith. Animated Nature, vol. iv.

The muscle and the oyster appear to have but few distinctions, except in their shape and the power of motion in the scallop, and the razor-shell, have differences equally minute.

former. Other bivalved shell fish, such as the cockle, the

Id. Ib.

A thousand olde stories thee aledge
Of women loste, through false & fooles boste :
Prouerbes canst thyself ynow, and woste
Ayenst that vice for to ben a blabbe.

Chaucer. Troilus, b. iii. Thus the bishoppe wound hym self fro the duke when he had moste nede of his ayde, for if he had taried still ye duke had not made so many blabbes of his counsaill, nor put so muche confidens in the Welshmen, nor yet so temerariously set forwarde without knowledge of his frendes as he dyd, whiche thinges were his sodaine ouerthrowe as they that knew it dyd reporte.-Hall. Rich. III. an. 2.

But the mother agayne on her part forasmuche as she perceyued and founde a certayne power of the goddeheade to glitter and shewe furthe in hym, was well contente to

followe the minde and ordering of her sonne: and bein myndfull of her owne wise and discrete sobrenesse, dyd yet make no blabbyng out abroade of any thing. Udal. Luke, c.

Whan the tounge lyeth still, if the mynde be not occupye well, it were less euil saue for worldleye rebuke, to blabb on trifles somewhat sottishlye, than whyle they seeme sag in kepyng silence, secretely paraduenture the meane why to fantasye wyth themself, fylthy sinful deuises. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 75

Apel. (alone.) I fear me, Apelles, that thine eyes hav blabbed that which thy tongue durst not. Lyly. Alexander & Campaspe, Act. v. sc. 2 Such be his chance that to his love doth wrong; Unworthy he to have so worthy place, That cannot hold his peace and blabbing tongue; Light ioyes float on his lips, but rightly grace Sinckes deepe, and th' heart's low center doth imbrace. Spenser. Brittain's Ida, c. 6

To have reveal'd

Secrets of men, the secrets of a friend,
How hainous had the fact been, how deserving
Contempt, and scorn of all, to be excluded
All friendship and avoided as a blab,
The mark of fool set on his front?

Milton. Samson Agonistes.

Loth to betray a husband and a prince,
But she must burst, or blab; and no pretence
Of honour ty'd her tongue from self-defence.

Dryden. Wife of Bath's Tale.

Tell us, you dead; will none of you, in pity
To those you left behind, disclose the secret?
Oh! that some courteous ghost would blab it out;
What 'tis you are, and we must shortly be.-Blair. Grave.
BLACK, v.

BLACK, N. BLACK, adj. BLACKEN. BLACKING, n. BLACKISH. BLACKLY. BLACKNESS. BLACKGUARD. BLACKMOOR.

Lve

Dut. & Ger. Black. says, the A. S. Blac, blac bleck, is niger, bleak; that Blac-ian, is pallere, nigrescere, and albescere, to be pale, to grow or to become black; and also to grow or become white. That Blac-an, is PALLIDUM colorem inducere; nigrescere, denigrare, to bleach; to put on a pale colour, to grow or become black, to blacken; to bleach. And that Blic-an, ablic-an, is, dealbare, fulgere, corruscare; (Blice, candidatus,) to whiten or be white, to shine, to glitter. Bleak and bleach, are used by our elder writers in correspondence with pale; and they seem to be applied when, by some withering, blighting (blicht-ing), agency (e. g. of weather), a chill and sterile paleness is produced; but we should not and do not hesitate to apply bleak, to a chill, and sterile blackness, effected by a similar withering and blighting agency; when verdure or fruitfulness are withered away, blight-ed (or blicht-ed); where these genial appearances of nature are lacking; and hence it admits of conjecture that Blac-an and Blic-an owe their origin to some northern word still preserved in the Dut. Leycken, and Eng. Lack, to lessen, to decrease, to wane or be wanting, to fade, to decay; to wither, or waste away. The common prefix Be, would form Beleyck-en, bleyck-en, to bleach; Bleyck, bleached or bicaked, pale: and by a mere difference of vowel, Blac, black, bleaked or blacked, dark; the application of black and bleach being to appearances differing in colour, though effected by the same or similar causes. BLEACH, BLEAK, BLANCH, BLANK, BLENCH, BLINK.

See

Blackguard." In all great houses, but particularly in the royal residences, there were a number of mean and dirty dependents, whose office it was to attend the wood-yard, scul leries, &c.; of these the most forlorn wretches seem to have been selected to carry coals to the kitchens, halls, &c. To this smutty regiment, who attended the progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, the people, in derision, gave the name of blackguards." (B. Jonson's Works, by Gifford, ii. 169, note 5.)