Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BO'SOM, v.t.

1. To inclose in the bosom; to keep with care. Bosom up my counsel. – Shak.
2. To conceal; to hide from view. To happy convents bosom'd deep in vines. – Pope.

BO'SOM-ED, pp.

Inclosed in the breast; concealed.

BO'SOM-ING, ppr.

1. Putting in the bosom.
2. Embracing, as a fond mother her child.

BO'SON, n.

A boatswain; [a popular, but corrupt pronunciation.] The merry boson. – Dryden.

BOS-PO'RI-AN, a. [From Bosporus.]

Pertaining to a bosporus, a strait or narrow sea between two seas, or a sea and a lake. The Alans forced the Bosporian kings to pay them tribute, and exterminated the Taurians. – Tooke.

BOS'PO-RUS, n. [Gr. βους, an ox, and πορος, a passage.]

A narrow sea or a strait, between two seas or between a sea and a lake, so called, it is supposed, as being an ox-passage, a strait over which an ox may swim. So our northern ancestors called a strait, a sound, that is, a swim. The term Bosporus has been particularly applied to the strait between the Propontis and the Euxine, called the Thracian Bosporus; and to the strait of Caffa, called the Cimmerian Bosporus, which connects the Palus Mæotis or sea of Azof, with the Euxine. – D'Anville.

BOSS, n. [Fr. bosse; Arm. boçz. In D. bos is a bunch, a bundle, a truss, a tuft, a bush, a sheaf, whence bosch, G. busch, a bush or thicket. In W. bôth is the boss of a buckler, the nave of a wheel, and a bottle, and hence W. bothel, a rotundity, a bottle or any round vessel, a wheal or blister. A boss is a protuberance, either from shooting, projecting, or from collecting and forming a mass.]

1. A stud or knob; a protuberant ornament, of silver, ivory, or other material, used on bridles, harness, &c.
2. A protuberant part; a prominence; as, the boss of a buckler.
3. A round or swelling body of any kind; as, a boss of wood. – Moxon.
4. A water-conduit, in form of a tun-bellied figure. – Ash. Bailey.

BOSS'AGE, n. [from boss; Fr. bossage.]

1. A stone in a building which has a projective, and is laid rough, to be afterward carved into moldings, capitals, coats of arms, &c. – Encyc.
2. Rustic work, consisting of stones which advance beyond the naked or level of the building, by reason of indentures or channels left in the joinings; chiefly in the corners of edifices, and called rustic quoins. The cavities are sometimes round, sometimes beveled, or in a diamond form, sometimes inclosed with a cavetto, and sometimes with a listel. – Encyc.

BOSS'ED, pp.

Studded; ornamented with bosses. – Shak.

BOSS'IVE, a.

Crooked; deformed. – Osborne.

BOSS'Y, a.

Containing a boss; ornamented with bosses. His head reclining on his bossy shield. – Pope.

BOS'TRY-CHITE, n. [Gr. βοςρυχος.]

A gem in the form of a lock of hair. – Ash.

BOS'VEL, n.

A plant, a species of Crowfoot. – Johnson.

BOS'WELL-ISM, n.

A peculiarity of Boswell.

BOT, n.

See BOTS.

BO-TAN'IC, or BO-TAN'IC-AL, a. [See Botany.]

Pertaining to botany; relating to plants in general; also, containing plants, as a botanic garden.

BO-TAN'IC-AL-LY, adv.

According to the system of botany.

BOT'AN-IST, n.

One skilled in botany; one versed in the knowledge of plants or vegetables, their structure, and generic and specific differences. The botanist is he who can affix similar names to similar vegetables, and different names to different ones, so as to be intelligible to every one. – Linn.

BOT'A-NIZE, v.i.

To seek for plants; to investigate the vegetable kingdom; to study plants. He could not obtain permission to botanize upon mount Sabber. – Niebuhr, Trans.

BOT-A-NOL'O-GY, n. [Gr. βοτανη, a plant, and λογος, discourse.]

The science of botany. – Dict.

BOT-A-NOM'AN-CY, n. [Gr. βοτανη, a plant, and μαντεια, divination.]

An ancient species of divination by means of plants, especially sage and fig leaves. Persons wrote their names and questions on leaves, which they exposed to the wind, and as many of the letters as remained in their places were taken up, and being joined together; contained an answer to the question. – Encyc.

BOT'A-NY, n. [Gr. βοτανη, a plant; Pers. بُوتََه botah, a shrub; probably allied to bud, to shoot.]

Botany is the science of the structure of plants, the functions of their parts, their places of growth, their classification, and the terms which are employed in their description and denomination. – Tully.

BO-TAR'GO, n. [Sp.]

A relishing sort of food, made of the roes of the mullet, much used on the coast of the Mediterranean as an incentive to drink. – Johnson. Chambers.

BOTCH, n. [It. bozza, botza, a swelling, or rather pezzo, a piece; the latter is the Eng. patch.]

1. A swelling on the skin; a large ulcerous affection. Botches and blains must all his flesh imboss. – Milton.
2. A patch, or the part of a garment patched or mended in a clumsy manner; ill-finished work in mending.
3. That which resembles a botch; a part added clumsily; adventitious or ill-applied words. If those words are not notorious botches, I am deceived. – Dryden.

BOTCH, v.t.

1. To mend or patch with a needle or awl, in a clumsy manner, as a garment; to mend or repair awkwardly, as a system of government. – Hudibras.
2. To put together unsuitably, or unskillfully; to make use of unsuitable pieces. For treason botched in rhyme will be thy bane. – Dryden.
3. To mark with botches. Young Hylas botched with stains. – Garth.