BOUNTY, bown'ti, _n._ liberality in bestowing gifts: the gift bestowed:
money offered as an inducement to enter the army, or as a premium to
encourage any branch of industry.--_adjs._ BOUN'TEOUS, BOUN'TIFUL, liberal
in giving: generous.--_advs._ BOUN'TEOUSLY, BOUN'TIFULLY.--_ns._
BOUN'TEOUSNESS, BOUN'TIFULNESS; BOUN'TIHOOD.--LADY BOUNTIFUL, a character
in Farquhar's _Beaux' Stratagem_, now used for the great lady of any
district. [O. Fr. _bontet_ (_bonté_), goodness--L.
_bonitatem_--_bonus_--good.]
BOUQUET, b[=oo]k'[=a], _n._ a bunch of flowers: a nosegay: the perfume
exhaled by wine. [Fr. _bosquet_, dim. of _bois_, a wood--It. _bosco_. See
BOSCAGE, BUSH.]
BOURASQUE, b[=oo]-rask', _n._ a tempest. [Fr. _bourrasque_; It. _borasco_,
a storm.]
BOURBONIST, b[=oo]r'bun-ist, _n._ an adherent of the _Bourbons_, the old
French royal dynasty.
BOURD, b[=oo]rd, _n._ (_Spens._) a jest, sport.--_n._ BOURD'ER (_obs._), a
jester. [O. Fr. _bourde_, origin unknown.]
BOURDON, b[=oo]r'dun, _n._ the refrain of a song: a bass stop in an organ
or harmonium. [See BURDEN.]
BOURDON, b[=oo]r'dun, _n._ (_obs._) a pilgrim's staff: a club. [Fr.--Low L.
_burdon-em_, a mule.]
BOURG, burg, _n._ Same as BURGH, BOROUGH.
BOURGEOIS, bur-jois', _n._ a kind of printing type, larger than brevier and
smaller than longprimer. [Fr.--perh. from the name of the typefounder.]
BOURGEOISIE, b[=oo]rzh'waw-z[=e], _n._ the middle class of citizens, esp.
traders. [From Fr. _bourgeois_, a citizen, often taken as a typical word
for the mercantile middle class--used also adjectively, like such in
manners or ways of thinking.]
BOURGEON, bur'jun, _v.i._ to put forth sprouts or buds: to grow. [Fr.
_bourgeon_, a bud, shoot.]
BOURIGNIAN, b[=oo]r-in'yan, _adj._ of or pertaining to Antoinette
_Bourignon_ (1616-80), a religious visionary who made religion consist in
inward emotion, not in knowledge or practice.--BOURIGN'IANISM was strong in
Scotland about the beginning of the 18th century, and ministers at
ordination renounced it down till 1889.
BOURLAW. See BYRLAW.
BOURN, BOURNE, b[=o]rn, or b[=oo]rn, _n._ a boundary, a limit, or goal:
(_Keats_) domain. [Fr. _borne_, a limit. See BOUND (2).]
BOURN, BOURNE. See BURN (1).
BOURSE, b[=oo]rs, _n._ an exchange where merchants meet for business. [Fr.
_bourse_. See PURSE.]
BOURTREE, b[=oo]r'tr[=e], _n._ the elder-tree--also BOUN'TREE.--_n._
BOUR'TREE-GUN, a pop-gun made of a piece of its wood by taking out the
pith. [_Scot._; ety. unknown.]
BOUSE, BOOZE, BOOSE, b[=oo]z, _v.i._ to drink deeply.--_n._ a drinking
bout.--_adj._ BOUS'ING, drinking.--_n._ BOUS'INGKEN, a low
drinking-shop.--_adj._ BOUS'Y, inclined to bouse: drunken. [Dut. _buysen_,
to drink deeply--_buis_, a tube or flask; allied to BOX.]
BOUSTROPHEDON, bow-strof-[=e]'don, _adj._ and _adv._ written ploughwise,
alternately from right to left and from left to right--a form of alphabetic
writing intermediate between the oldest Greek inscriptions (from right to
left, as in Semitic scripts) and the more convenient method of left to
right (from 7th century). [Gr.; _bou-strophos_, ox-turning.]
BOUT, bowt, _n._ a turn, trial, or round: an attempt: a contest or trial--a
fencing bout, or a continued fit of drinking. [Doublet of BIGHT; from root
of BOW, to bend.]