Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAKE, v.t. [Sax. bacan; Sw. baka; Dan. bager; D. bakken; Ger. backen; Gipsy, pekgum; Russ. peku, to bake; pekar, a baker; Per. pochtan, to bake or cook.]

1. To heat, dry and harden, as in an oven or furnace, or under coals of fire; to dress and prepare for food, in a close place heated; as, to bake bread.
2. To dry and harden by heat, either in an oven, kiln or furnace, or by the solar rays; as, to bake bricks, to bake the ground.

BAK'ED, pp.

Dried and hardened by heat; dressed in heat; as baked meat.

BAKE'HOUSE, n. [bake and house.]

A house or building for baking.

BAKE'MEATS, n.

Meats prepared for food in an oven. Gen. xl.

BAK'EN, pp.

The same as baked, and nearly obsolete.

BAK'ER, n.

One whose occupation is to bake bread, biscuit, &c.

BAK'ER-FOOT, n.

An ill-shaped or distorted foot. Taylor.

BAK'ER-LEG-GED, a.

One who has crooked legs, or legs that bend inward at the knees.

BAK'ER-Y, n.

1. The trade of a baker.
2. A place occupied with the business of baking bread, &c. Smollett.

BAK'ING, n.

The quantity baked at once; as, a baking of bread.

BAK'ING, ppr.

Drying and hardening in heat; dressing or cooking in a close place, or in heat.

BAL'AN, n.

A fish of a beautiful yellow, variegated with orange, a species of wrasse, caught on the shores of England. Dict. of Nat. Hist.

BAL'ANCE, n. [Fr. balance; Sp. balanza; It. bilancia; L. bilanx, bis, twice, and lanx, a dish, the double dish.]

1. A pair of scales for weighing commodities. It consists of a beam or lever suspended exactly in the middle, with a scale or basin hung to each extremity, of precisely equal weight. The Roman balance, our steel-yard, consists of a lever or beam, movable on a center, and suspended near one of its extremities. Hence,
2. One of the simple powers in mechanics, used for determining the equality or difference of weight in heavy bodies, and consequently their masses or quantity of matter. Encyc.
3. Figuratively, an impartial state of the mind, in deliberating; or a just estimate of the reasons and arguments on both sides of a question, which gives to each its due weight, or force and importance.
4. As balance signifies equal weight, or equality, it is by custom used for the weight or sum necessary to make two unequal weights or sums equal; that which is necessary to bring them to a balance or equipoise. Hence, in accounts, balance is the difference of two sums; as upon an adjustment of accounts, a balance was found against A in favor of B. Hence, to pay a balance, is to pay the difference and make the two accounts equal.
5. Balance of trade is an equal exportation of domestic productions, and importation of foreign. But, usually, the term is applied to the difference between the amount or value of the commodities exported and imported. Hence the common expression, The balance of trade is against or in favor of a country.
6. Equipoise, or an equal state of power between nations; as, the balance of power.
7. Equipoise, or an equal state of the passions. The balance of the mind. Pope.
8. That which renders weight or authority equal. The only balance attempted against the ancient kings, was a body of nobles. J. Adams.
9. The part of a clock or watch which regulates the beats.
10. In astronomy, a sign in the zodiac, called in Latin, Libra, which the sun enters at the equinox in September. The hydrostatic balance is an instrument to determine the specific gravity of fluid and solid bodies. The assay balance is one which is used in docimastic operations, to determine the weight of minute bodies.

BAL'ANCE, v.t.

1. To adjust the weights in the scales of a balance so as to bring them to an equipoise. Hence,
2. To weigh reasons; to compare, by estimating the relative force, importance, or value of different things; as, to balance good and evil.
3. To regulate different powers, so as to keep them in a state of just proportion; as, to balance Europe, or the powers of Europe.
4. To counterpoise; to make of equal weight or force; to make equipollent; as, one species of attraction balances another. One expression in the letter must check and balance another. Kent.
5. To settle and adjust, as an account; to find the difference of two accounts, and to pay the balance, or difference, and make them equal.
6. In seamanship, to contract a sail, by rolling up a small part of it at one corner. Mar. Dict. BAL'ANCE, v. i.
7. To have on each side equal weight; to be on a poise.
8. To hesitate; to fluctuate between motives which appear of equal force, as a balance plays when poised by equal weights. Between right and wrong, never balance a moment. Anon.

BAL'ANC-ED, pp.

Charged with equal weights; standing on an equipoise; regulated so as to be equal; settled; adjusted made equal in weight or amount.

BAL'ANCE-FISH, n.

The zygæna, or marteau; a fish of the genus Squalus, or shark kind. It is six feet long, and weighs 500 lbs. It has three or four rows of broad pointed and serrated teeth; has a horrible aspect, and is very voracious. Encyc.

BAL'ANC-ER, n.

1. The person who weighs, or who uses a balance.
2. A member of an insect useful in balancing the body. The balancers in insects are two very fine movable threads, terminated by a kind of oval button placed under the origin of the wings.
3. One skilled in balancing.

BAL'ANCE-REEF, n.

A reef band that crosses a sail diagonally, used to contract it in a storm. Mar. Dict.

BAL'ANC-ING, n.

Equilibrium; poise. Spenser.

BAL'ANC-ING, ppr.

Charging with equal weights; being in a state of equipoise; bringing to a state of equality; regulating respective forces or sums to make them equal; settling; adjusting; paying a difference of accounts; hesitating; contracting a sail by rolling up one corner of it.

BAL'A-NITE, n.

A fossil shell of the genus Balanus. Jameson.

BAL'ASS, or BAL'AS, n. [Sp. balax;. Fr. balais.]

A variety of spinel ruby, of a pale rose red, or inclining to orange. Its crystals are usually octahedrons, composed of two four-sided pyramids, applied base to base. [See Spinel.] Cleaveland. Kirwan.

BA-LAUS'TINE, n.

The wild pomegranate tree. Coxe.

BAL'CO-NY, n. [Fr. balcon; It. balcone; Sp. balcon; Port. balcam; probably a jutting, as in bulk, belly; W. balc. In Pers. نَالكَنه balkanah, is a cancellated window.]

In architecture, a projection in front of a house; a frame of wood, iron or stone, or other building, supported by columns, pillars or consoles, and encompassed with a balustrade. Balconies are common before windows. Encyc.

BALD, a. [bauld; Sp. baldio, untilled, vacant, unfurnished; Port. baldio, open, common; baldar, to frustrate.]

1. Destitute of hair, especially on the top and back of the head.
2. Destitute of the natural covering; as, a bald oak.
3. Without feathers on the head; as, a bald vulture.
4. Destitute of trees on the top; as, a bald mountain.
5. Unadorned; inelegant; as, a bald translation. Dryden.
6. Mean; naked; base; without dignity or value. Shak.
7. In popular language, open, bold, audacious.
8. Without beard or awn; as, bald wheat.