Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAD'NESS, n.

The state of being bad, evil, vicious or depraved; want of good qualities, natural or moral; as, the badness of the heart, of the season, of the roads, &c.

BAF'FE-TAS, or BAF'TAS, n. [or BAS'TAS.]

An India cloth or plain muslin. That of Surat is said to be the best. Encyc.

BAF'FLE, n.

A defeat by artifice, shifts and turns. South.

BAF'FLE, v.i.

To practice deceit. Barrow.

BAF'FLE, v.t. [Fr. befler, to make, or play the fool with; Sp. befar; It. beffare, id. It coincides in origin with buffoon. In Scottish beff, baff, signifies to strike.]

To mock or elude by artifice; to elude by shifts and turns; hence to defeat, or confound; as, to baffle the designs of an enemy. Fashionable follies baffle argument. Anon.

BAF'FLED, pp.

Eluded; defeated; confounded.

BAF'FLER, n.

One that baffles.

BAF'FLING, ppr.

Eluding by shifts, and turns, or by stratagem; defeating; confounding. A baffling wind, among seamen, is one that frequently shifts from one point to another.

BAF'FLING-LY, adv.

In a baffling manner.

BAF'FLING-NESS, n.

Quality of baffling.

BAG, n. [Norm. bage, a bag, a coffer; bagnes, baggage. This word seems to be from the root of pack, pouch, Fr. poche, or of the same family; or it is from the sense of tying, binding; Sp. baga, a rope or cord for fastening loads on beasts of burden. Hence baggage; It. bagaglia; Sp. bagage; Port. bagagem; Fr. bagage; Arm. pacq, a pack, and bagaich.]

1. A sack; a pouch, usually of cloth or leather, used to hold, preserve or convey corn, and other commodities.
2. A sack in animal bodies containing some fluid or other substance; the udder of a female beast.
3. Formerly, a sort of silken purse tied to the hair.
4. In commerce, a certain quantity of a commodity, such as it is customary to carry to market in a sack; as, a bag of pepper or hops; a bag of corn.
5. Among farriers, a bag of asafetida and savin is tied to the bits of horses to restore their appetites. Encyc.

BAG, v.i.

To swell like a full bag, as sails when filled with wind.

BAG, v.t.

1. To put into a bag.
2. To load with bags.

BA-GASSE', n.

The sugar-cane, when crushed and dry; used as fuel. Ure.

BAG-A-TELLE', n. [bagatel'; Fr.; Sp. bagatela; It. bagatella; Arm. bagauh.]

A trifle; a thing of no importance.

BAG'GAGE, n. [Fr. bagage. Qu. Eng. package; D. pakkaadje, baggage, that which is packed. See Bag.]

1. The tents, clothing, utensils, and other necessaries of an army.
2. The clothing and other conveniencies which a traveler carries with him, on a journey. Having dispatched my baggage by water to Altdorf. Coxe, Switz. [The English now call this luggage.]

BAG'GAGE, n. [Fr. bagasse; It. bagascia; Sp. bagazo, a catamite; Pers. baga, a strumpet.]

A low worthless woman; a strumpet.

BAG'GING, n.

The cloth or materials for bags. United States. Edwards's West Indies.

BAG'GING, ppr.

Swelling; becoming protuberant.

BAGN'IO, n. [ban'yo; It. bagno; Sp. baño; Port. banho; Fr. bain; L. balneum.]

1. A bath; a house for bathing, cupping, sweating and otherwise cleansing the body. In Turkey, it is the name of prisons where slaves are kept; so called from the baths which they contain. Encyc.
2. A brothel.

BAG'PIPE, n. [bag and pipe.]

A musical wind instrument, used chiefly in Scotland and Ireland. It consists of a leathern bag, which receives the air by a tube, which is stopped by a valve; and pipes, into which the air is pressed by the performer. The base-pipe is called the drone, and the tenor or treble is called the chanter. The pipes have eight holes like those of a flute, which the performer stops and opens at pleasure. There are several species of bagpipes, as the soft and melodious Irish bagpipe, with two short drones and a long one; the Highland bagpipe, with two short drones, the music of which is very loud; the Scot's Lowland bagpipe, which is played with a bellows, and is also a loud instrument. There is also a small pipe, with a chanter about eight inches in length. Encyc. In seamanship, to bag-pipe the mizzen, is to lay it aback by bringing the sheet to the mizzen shrouds. Mar. Dict.

BAG'PI-PER, n.

One who plays on a bagpipe.

BAG'RE, n.

A small bearded fish, a species of Silurus, anguilliform, of a silvery hue, without scales, and delicious food. Dict. of Nat. Hist

BAG'REEF, n. [bag and reef.]

A fourth and lower reef used in the British navy. Mar. Dict.

BA-GUET', n. [Fr. baguette, from bague, a ring; Ir. beacht; Sax. beag.]

In architecture, a little round molding, less than an astragal, sometimes carved and enriched. Encyc.