BIGGIN, big'in, _n._ a child's cap or hood. [Fr. _béguin_, from the cap
worn by the _Beguines_, a religious society of women in France.]
BIGHT, b[=i]t, _n._ a bend of the shore, or small bay: a bend or coil of a
rope. [A.S. _byht_; cf. Dan. and Sw. _bugt_, Dut. _bocht_; from _b[=u]gan_,
to bow.]
BIGNONIA, big-n[=o]'ni-a, _n._ a genus of tropical plants with
trumpet-shaped flowers, named from the Abbé _Bignon_, Louis XIV.'s
librarian.
BIGOT, big'ot, _n._ one blindly and obstinately devoted to a particular
creed or party.--_adj._ BIG'OTED, having the qualities of a bigot.--_n._
BIG'OTRY, blind or excessive zeal, esp. in religious matters. [O. Fr.; of
dub. origin; variously conn. with _Visigoth_, they being Arians, while the
Franks were orthodox; with Sp. _bigote_, a moustache; with _Beguine_
(q.v.); and by Wace with a worthless legend that the Norman Rollo, in
refusing to kiss the foot of Charles the Simple, said, 'Ne se, _bi got_.']
BIJOU, be-zh[=oo]', _n._ a trinket: a jewel: a little box:--_pl._ BIJOUX
(be-zh[=oo]').--_n._ BIJOU'TRY, jewellery: small articles of virtu. [Fr.]
BIKE, b[=i]k, _n._ a nest of wasps, wild bees, &c.: a swarm of people.
[Scot.; ety. dub.]
BIKE. See BICYCLE.
BILABIATE, b[=i]-l[=a]'bi-[=a]t, _adj._ having two lips, as some corollas.
[L. _bi-_, twice, and LABIATE.]
BILANDER, b[=i]'land-[.e]r, _n._ a two-masted hoy, having her mainsail bent
to the whole length of her yard, hanging fore and aft, and inclined to the
horizontal at an angle of about 45º.--Also BY'LANDER. [Dut. _bijlander_.]
BILATERAL, b[=i]-lat'[.e]r-al, _adj._ having two sides.--_adv._
BILAT'ERALLY. [L. _bi-_, twice, and LATERAL.]
BILBERRY, bil'ber-i, _n._ called also _Whortleberry_, a shrub and its
berries, which are dark blue. [Cf. Dan. _böllebær_; Scot. _blaeberry_; Ger.
_blaubeere_.]
BILBO, bil'b[=o], _n._ a rapier or sword:--_pl._ BILBOES (bil'b[=o]z),
fetters. [From _Bilbao_, in Spain.]
BILE, b[=i]l, _n._ a thick bitter fluid secreted by the liver--yellow in
man and carnivorous animals, green in vegetable feeders: (_fig._)
ill-humour.--_n._ BILE'-DUCT, the duct which conveys the bile from the
liver and the gall-bladder to the small intestine.--_adjs._ BIL'IARY,
belonging to or conveying bile; BIL'IOUS, pertaining to or affected by
bile.--_adv._ BIL'IOUSLY. [Fr.--L. _bilis_.]
BILGE, bilj, _n._ the bulging part of a cask: the broadest part of a ship's
bottom.--_v.i._ to spring a leak by a fracture in the bilge, as a
ship.--_ns._ BILGE'-PUMP; BILGE'-WAT'ER.--_adj._ BILG'Y, having the
appearance and disagreeable smell of bilge-water. [Most prob. conn. with
BULGE.]
BILHARZIA, bil'här-zi-a, _n._ a human parasitic flat worm in the fluke or
Trematode order, with differentiated sexes. [From the helminthologist,
Theodor _Bilharz_.]
BILINGUAL, b[=i]-ling'wal, _adj._ of or containing two tongues or
languages.--Also BILIN'GUAR. [L. _bilinguis_--_bi-_, twice, _lingua_,
tongue.]
BILITERAL, b[=i]-lit'[.e]r-al, _adj._ consisting of two letters. [L. _bi-_,
twice, and _litera_, a letter.]
BILK, bilk, _v.t._ to elude; to cheat. [Perh. a dim. of BALK; at first a
term in cribbage.]
[Illustration]
BILL, bil, _n._ a kind of concave battle-axe with a long wooden handle: a
kind of hatchet with a long blade and wooden handle in the same line with
it, often with a hooked point, used in cutting thorn hedges or in
pruning.--_ns._ BILL'HOOK, a bill or hatchet having a hooked or curved
point; BILL'MAN, a soldier armed with a bill. [A.S. _bil_; Ger. _bille_.]
BILL, bil, _n._ the beak of a bird, or anything like it, applied even to a
sharp promontory, as Portland Bill: the point of the fluke of an
anchor--hence BILL'-BOARD, _n._, used to protect the planking from being
injured by the bill when the anchor is weighed.--_v.i._ to join bills as
doves: to caress fondly.--_adj._ BILLED. [A.S. _bile_, most prob. the same
word as the preceding.]
BILL, bil, _n._ an account of money: a draft of a proposed law: a written
engagement to pay a sum of money at a fixed date: a placard or
advertisement: any written statement of particulars: in the criminal law of
England, the formal name of a written accusation of serious crime preferred
before a grand-jury.--_n._ BILL'-BOOK, a book used in commerce in which an
entry is made of all bills accepted and received.--_n.pl._ BILL'-BROK'ERS,
persons who, being skilled in the money-market, the state of mercantile and
personal credit, and the rates of exchange, engage, either on their own
account or that of their employers, in the purchase and sale of foreign and
inland bills of exchange and promissory notes: the business of
BILL'-DISCOUNT'ERS, or discount-brokers, again, consists in discounting or
advancing the amount of bills of exchange and notes which have some time to
run before they come due, on the faith of the credit of the parties to the
bill.--_n._ BILL'-CHAM'BER, a department of the Court of Session in
Scotland which deals with summary business--so called because formerly both
summonses and diligence or execution were for the most part commenced by a
writ called a bill; BILL'-STICK'ER, one who sticks or posts up bills or
placards.--BILL OF ADVENTURE, a writing by a merchant stating that goods
shipped by him, and in his name, are the property of another, whose
adventure or chance the transaction is--the shipping merchant, on the other
hand, undertaking to account to the adventurer for the produce; BILL OF
COMPLAINT, the name given in the English Court of Chancery, prior to the
Judicature Act of 1873, to the formal statement of the facts and prayer for
relief submitted by a plaintiff to the court; BILL OF COSTS, an account
stating in detail the charges and disbursements of an attorney or solicitor
in the conduct of his client's business; BILL OF EXCEPTIONS, a statement of
objections, by way of appeal, against the decision of a judge who is trying
a case with a jury in the Court of Session; BILL OF EXCHANGE, a document
purporting to be an instrument of pecuniary obligation for value received,
and which is employed for the purpose of settling a debt in a manner
convenient to the parties concerned; BILL OF FARE, in a hotel, the list of
dishes or articles of food; BILL OF HEALTH, an official certificate of the
state of health on board ship before sailing; BILL OF LADING, a paper
signed by the master of a ship, by which he makes himself responsible for
the safe delivery of the goods specified therein; BILL OF MORTALITY, an
official account of the births and deaths occurring in a certain district
within a given time; BILL OF SALE, in English law, a formal deed assigning
personal property, the usual mode of transferring ships, and valuable as
mercantile securities over stock-in-trade, furniture, &c.; BILL OF SIGHT,
an entry of imported goods of which the merchant does not know the quantity
or the quality; BILL OF STORE, a license from the customs authorities to
reimport British goods formerly exported; BILL OF VICTUALLING, a list of
necessary stores shipped from the bonded warehouse, or for drawback on
board vessels proceeding on oversea voyages. [Through Low L. _billa_, from
L. _bulla_, anything round, a knob, a seal appended to a charter, hence a
document bearing a seal, &c. See BULL, an edict.]
BILLET, bil'et, _n._ a little note or paper: a ticket assigning quarters to
soldiers.--_v.t._ to quarter or lodge, as soldiers. [Fr.; dim. of BILL.]
[Illustration]
BILLET, bil'et, _n._ a small log of wood used as fuel: (_archit._) an
ornament in Norman architecture resembling billets of wood.--_n._
BILL'ET-HEAD, a billet or round piece of wood fixed in the bow or stern of
a whale-boat, round which the harpoon-line is turned when the whale is
struck. [Fr. _billette_--_bille_, the young stock of a tree, prob. of Celt.
orig., perh. allied to BOLE, the trunk of a tree.]
BILLET-DOUX, bil-e-d[=oo]', _n._ a sweet note: a love-letter. [Fr.
_billet_, a letter, _doux_, sweet.]
BILLIARDS, bil'yardz, _n._ a game played with a cue or mace and balls on a
table having pockets at the sides and corners.--_adj._ BILL'IARD.--_n._
BILL'IARD-MARK'ER, a person who marks the points made by the players. [Fr.
_billard_--_bille_, a ball.]
BILLINGSGATE, bil'ingz-g[=a]t, _n._ foul and abusive language like that
once familiar to the ear at _Billingsgate_ (the great fish-market of
London).
BILLION, bil'yun, _n._ a million or thousand thousand of millions
(1,000,000,000,000); or, according to the French method of numeration, one
thousand millions (1,000,000,000). [L. _bi-_, twice, and MILLION.]
BILLON, bil'on, _n._ base metal: esp. an alloy of silver with copper, tin,
or the like. [Fr., from same root as BILLET.]
BILLOW, bil'[=o], _n._ a great wave of the sea swelled by the wind:
(_poet._) a wave, the sea.--_v.i._ to roll in large waves.--_adjs._
BILL'OWED, BILL'OWY. [Scand.; Ice. _bylgja_; Sw. _bölja_, Dan. _bölge_, a
wave. See BILGE, BULGE.]
BILLY, BILLIE, bil'i, _n._ a comrade, a companion-in-arms: an Australian
bushman's boiling-pan or tea-pot:--_pl._ BILL'IES.--_n._ BILL'Y-GOAT, a
he-goat. [Prob. from _Bill_, a familiar abbrev. of William.]
BILLYBOY, bil'i-boi, _n._ a bluff-bowed one-masted trading-vessel. [Prob.
conn. with BILANDER.]
BILLYCOCK, bil'i-kok, _n._ a man's low-crowned felt hat. [From
_bully-cocked_, i.e. cocked like the bullies.]
BILOBED, b[=i]'l[=o]bd, BILOBULAR, b[=i]-lob'[=u]-lar, _adj._ having two
lobes. [L. _bi-_, twice, and _lobe_, a LOBULE.]
BILOCATION, b[=i]-lok-[=a]'shun, _n._ the power of being in two places at
the same time. [Coined from _bi-_, twice, and LOCATION.]
BILOCULAR, b[=i]-lok'[=u]-lar, _adj._ divided into two cells. [L. _bi-_,
twice, and L. _loculus_, dim. of _locus_, place.]
BIMANA, b[=i]m'an-a, or bim'an-a, _n._ a term used by Blumenbach, Cuvier,
&c., to describe the human species in contrast to other mammals--now rarely
used, men and monkeys being now zoologically united in the old Linnæan
order--Primates.--_adj._ B[=I]'MANOUS.
BIMENSAL, b[=i]-mens'al, _adj._ happening once in two months:
bimonthly.--_adj._ BIMES'TRIAL, of two months' duration. [L. _bi-_, and
_mensis_, a month.]
BIMETALLISM, b[=i]-met'al-izm, _n._ the name given to a monetary system in
which gold and silver are on precisely the same footing as regards mintage
and legal tender.--_adj._ BIMETAL'LIC, adapted to that standard.--_n._ and
_adj._ BIMET'ALLIST. [A recent coinage, from Gr. _bi-_, double, and METAL.]
BIMONTHLY, b[=i]-munth'li, _adj._ once in two months; also twice a month.
[L. _bi-_, two, and MONTH.]