=Bade=--băd, not bāde.
=Badinage=--băd´in-äzh, not băd´in-āje. Worcester gives
the same pronunciation, but places the accent on the last
syllable.
=Balance.= There are two common errors connected with this word.
One is to write it _ballance_: the other is to use it in the
sense of _remainder_, _rest_, etc.; as, the _balance_ of the
day, the _balance_ of the people. Balance means properly "the
excess on one side, or what added to the other makes equality."
The corrupt use of the word, as above mentioned, is laid down
as a vulgarism.
=Bantam=, not _banty_.
=Bellows=--bĕl´lŭs, not bĕl´lōz. The plural is the
same as the singular.
=Besom=--bē´zum, not bē´sum. A broom.
=Betroth=--be-trŏth, not be-trōth. =Betrothed=,
=Betrothal=, etc., are similarly pronounced.
=Blacking=, not _blackening_ for boots and shoes.
=Blouse=--blowz, not blowss.
=Bologna=--bō-lōn´ya, not bō-lō´na. _Bologna_
sausage, _Bologna_ phial, etc.
=Bona fide=--bō´na-fī´de, not bō´na-fīde nor
bŏn´a-fīde.
=Booth.= The _th_ is sounded as in the preposition _with_, not as
in _both_.
=Bouquet=--bōō-kā´ or boōō´kā, not bō-kā´.
=Bourgeois=, meaning a kind of type, is pronounced bür-jois´, not
like the following word:
=Bourgeois=, a citizen, pronounced bōōr-zhwaw´.
=Brand-new=, not _bran-new_. Although the latter adjective is
much used, it is evidently a corruption of the former. An
article in its newness may be bright like a _brand_ of fire, or
the _brand_ of the manufacturer may remain intact, but there is
certainly no _bran_ about it.
=Breeches=--brĭtch´ez, not as spelled.
=Bretzel=, not _pretzel_. A brittle German cake.
=Brilliant.= A diamond of the finest cut, with its faces and
facets so arranged as to secure the greatest degree of
brilliancy--whence the name. The name to many conveys the idea
of paste, or imitation. A _rose_ diamond may be just as pure,
but its depth does not permit it to be made a _brilliant_ of
without a much greater loss of substance.
=Brougham=--brōōm or brōō´am, not brō´am nor
brow´am. A kind of carriage.
=Burst=, =Burst= and =Bursting=, not _bust_, _busted_ and
_busting_.