BEARD, _s._ The hair that grows on the lips and chin; sharp prickles
growing upon the ears of corn; a barb of an arrow.
BEAST, _s._ An animal distinguished from birds, insects, fishes, and
man; an irrational animal, opposed to man. In _forestry_, there
are five beasts which are properly beasts of forest, or venery;
_viz._ the hart, hind, hare, boar, and wolf.
BEAT, _s._ A stroke, or a striking. In sporting phraseology, it
means the place or country a man passes over in pursuit of game.
BEAT, _v._ To move in a pulsatory manner; to dash, as a flood or
storm. To look for game.
BEATER, _s._ An instrument with which any thing is beaten; a person
attending a sportsman, as in pheasant or cock-shooting, to beat
the covers and flush the birds.
BEE, _s._ The insect that makes honey.
BEE-EATER, _s._ (_Merops apiaster_, LINN.) A bird that feeds upon
bees. Of this genus only one species is British.—_Montagu._
BEE-HIVE, _s._ The case or box in which bees are kept.
BEES-WAX, _s._ Much used in forming ointment.
BEECH, _s._ A tree. _Beechen_, _a._ Consisting of the wood of the
beech.
BEEF, _s._ The flesh of black cattle prepared for food; an ox, bull,
or cow.
BEER, _s._ Liquor made of malt and hops; a useful vehicle for tonics
and cordials. When good it is an excellent restorative for a
fatigued horse. Heated with spirits and ginger it relieves
colic, gripes, &c.
BEET, _s._ The name of a plant.
BEETLE, _s._ An insect distinguished by having hard cases, or
sheaths, under which he folds his wings; a heavy mallet. Beetles
flying about late in an evening often foretel a fine day on the
morrow.—_Foster._
BELLADONNA, _s._ Nightshade; a powerful narcotic.
Mr. Youatt considers this to have some prophylactic powers against
rabies, but particularly when in union with the scutellaria, or
skull-cap. He begins “with a drachm ball to a moderate-sized dog,
containing two scruples of the scutellaria, and about two and a half
grains of the belladonna, to be given night and morning: on the second
week two balls are given; on the third, three; and this continued for
six weeks.” The nightshade is also a general sedative.—_The Horse._
BELLMETAL, _s._ The metal of which bells are made.
BELLOW, _v._ To make a noise as a bull; to make any loud and violent
outcry.
BELLWETHER, _s._ A sheep which leads the flock with a bell hung on
his neck.
BELLY, _s._ That part of the body which reaches from the breast to
the thighs, containing the bowels.
BELLY-BOUND, _a._ Costive.
BELT, _s._ A girdle; a cincture.
BENZOIN, _s._ Called also GUM BENJAMIN. It is a yellow resinous
substance, and from it _Flowers of Benjamin_ are extracted. It
is used as an ingredient in Friar’s Balsam and Paregoric Elixir.
BERNACLE, _s._ A bird like a goose, fabulously supposed to grow on
trees.
[Illustration]
The Bernacle, (_Anas Erythropus_, LINN. _La Bernacle_, BUFF.) weighs
about five pounds, and measures more than two feet in length, and nearly
four and a half in breadth. The bill, from the tip to the corners of the
mouth, is scarcely an inch and a half long, black, and crossed with a
pale reddish streak on each side; a narrow black line passes from the
bill to the eyes, the irides of which are brown; the head is small, and,
as far as the crown, together with the cheeks and throat, white; the
rest of the head and neck, to the breast and shoulders, is black; the
upper part of the plumage is prettily marbled or barred with blue, grey,
black, and white; the feathers of the back are black, edged with white,
and those of the wing coverts and scapulars, blue grey, bordered with
black near the margins, and edged with white; the quills black, edged a
little way from the tips with blue grey; the under parts and tail
coverts white; the thighs are marked with dusky lines or spots, and are
black near the knees; the tail is black, and five inches and a half
long; the legs and feet dusky, very thick and short, and have a stumpy
appearance.
In severe winters these birds are not uncommon in this kingdom,
particularly on the northern and western parts, where, however, they
remain only a short time, and depart early in the spring to their
northern wilds, to breed and spend the summer.—_Bewick._
BETTER, _s._ One that lays bets or wagers.
BEVY, _s._ A flock of quails.
BILE, _s._ A thick, yellow, bitter liquor, separated in the liver,
collected in the gall bladder, and discharged by the common
duct; a sore angry swelling.
BILL, _s._ The beak of a fowl; a kind of hatchet with a hooked
point.
BILLIARDS, _s._ A kind of play upon a flat surface, with cues,
maces, and balls.
In order to play billiards well, attention must be given at first to the
method of holding the mace; to the position in which the player should
stand, and the manner of delivering the hall from the mace; but these
are much more easily acquired by observation or by the direction of a
good player, than by any possible written rules. A person who plays with
his right hand must stand with his left foot foremost; and on the
contrary he who is left-handed must stand with his right foot foremost,
by which he will stand more steady and firm. Immoderate bursts of
passion, and even fretting at trifling disappointments in the game, are
usually found very prejudicial to the player; his nerves, being
affected, it is impossible for him to make the stroke with that
steadiness and nicety the game requires.
The games usually played till lately were the white winning and the red
winning carambole games, but the winning and losing carambole game is
now very fashionable.