Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAL-LIS'TIC, a. [L. ballista, an engine to throw stones, or shoot darts, from Gr. βαλλω, to throw or shoot.]

Pertaining to the ballista, or to the art of shooting darts, and other missive weapons, by means of an engine.

BAL-LIS'TICS, n.

The science or art of throwing missive weapons by the use of an engine. The ballista was a machine resembling a cross-bow. Encyc. Math. Dict. Ash.

BAL-LOON', or BAL'LOEN, n.

A state barge of Siam, made of a single piece of timber, very long, and managed with oars. Encyc

BAL-LOON', n. [Fr. ballon, a foot-ball; Sp. balon; It. pallone; W. pelhen, from pêl, a ball. See Ball.]

1. In general, any spherical hollow body. Encyc.
2. In chimistry, a round vessel with a short neck, to receive whatever is distilled; a glass receiver of a spherical form.
3. In architecture, a hall or globe on the top of a pillar.
4. In fireworks, a ball of pasteboard, or kind of bomb, stuffed with combustibles, to be played off, when fired, either in the air, or in water, which bursting like a bomb, exhibits sparks of fire like stars. Johnson. Encyc.
5. A game somewhat resembling tennis, played in an open field, with a large ball of leather, inflated with wind. Encyc.
6. A bag or hollow vessel, made of silk or other light material, and filled with hydrogen gas or heated air, so as to rise and float in the atmosphere; called for distinction, an air-balloon.
7. In France, a quantity of paper, containing 24 reams. [See Bale.]
8. In France, balloon, ballon or ballot, a quantity of glass plates; of white glass, 25 bundles of six plates each; of colored glass, 12 1-2 bundles of three plates each. Encyc.

BAL-LOON'IST, n.

One who makes or ascends in a balloon.

BAL-LOON'RY, n.

The art or practice of ascending in a balloon. Quart. Rev.

BAL'LOT, n. [Fr. ballote; Sp. balota, a little ball. See Ball.]

1. A ball used in voting. Ballots are of different colors; those of one color give an affirmative; those of another, a negative. They are privately put into a box or urn.
2. A ticket or written vote, being given in lieu of a is ballot, now called by the same name.
3. The act of voting by balls or tickets.

BAL'LOT, v.i.

1. To vote by ballot, that is, by putting little balls of different colors into a box, the greater number of one color or the other determining the result.
2. To vote by written papers or tickets.

BAL-LOT-A'TION, n.

A voting by ballot. [Little used.] Wotton.

BAL'LOT-BOX, n.

A box for receiving ballots.

BAL'LOT-ING, n.

The act of voting by ballot.

BAL'LOT-ING, ppr.

Voting by ballot.

BALM, n. [l mute; Fr. baume, a contraction of balsam, which see.]

1. The sap or juice of trees or shrubs remarkably odoriferous or aromatic. Dryden.
2. Any fragrant or valuable ointment. Shak.
3. Any thing which heals, or which soothes or mitigates pain. Shak. Young.
4. In botany, the name of several plants, particularly of the genus Melissa. They are aromatic, and used as corroborants. Balm of Gilead. A plant of the genus Amyris. Its leaves yield, when bruised, a strong aromatic scent; and from this plant is obtained the balm of Gilead of the shops, or balsam of Mecca or of Syria. It has a yellowish or greenish color, a warm bitterish aromatic taste, and an acidulous fragrant smell. It is valued as an odoriferous unguent, and cosmetic, by the Turks, who possess the country of its growth, and hence it is adulterated for market. Encyc.

BALM, v.t.

1. To anoint with balm, or with any thing medicinal.
2. To soothe; to mitigate; to assuage. Shak.

BALM'I-LY, adv.

In a balmy manner. Coleridge.

BALM'Y, a.

1. Having the qualities of balm; aromatic. Milton.
2. Producing balm; as, the balmy tree. Pope.
3. Soothing; soft; mild; as, balmy slumbers. Dryden.
4. Fragrant; odoriferous; as, balmy wings. Dryden.
5. Mitigating; easing; assuaging; as, balmy breath. Shak.

BAL'NE-AL, a. [L. balneum.]

Pertaining to a bath. Howell.

BAL'NE-A-RY, n. [L. balnearium, from balneum, Syr. balna, bath.]

A bathing room. Brown.

BAL-NE-A'TION, n.

The act of bathing. Brown.

BAL'NE-A-TO-RY, a.

Belonging to a bath or stove. Johnson.

BAL'O-TADE, n.

In the menage, a leap of a horse between two pillars, or upon a straight line, so that when his fore feet are in the air, he shows nothing but the shoes of his hind feet, without jerking out. In a capriole, the horse yerks out his hind legs Farrier's Dict. Encyc.

BAL'SAM, n. [Gr. βαλσαμον; L. balsamum.]

An oily, aromatic, resinous substance, flowing spontaneously or by incision, from certain plants. A great variety of substances pass under this denomination. But in modern chimistry the term is confined to such vegetable juices as are liquid or spontaneously become concrete, and consist of a resinous substance, combined with benzoic acid, or capable of affording it by decoction or sublimation. The balsams are either liquid or solid; of the former, are the balm of Gilead and the balsams of copaiba, Peru and Tolu; of the latter, benzoin, dragon's blood, and storax. Encyc. Nicholson. Ure. Balsam apple, an annual Indian plant, included under the genus Momordica. A water and a subtil oil are obtained from it, which are commended as deobstruents. Balsam tree. This name is given to a genus of plants called Clusia; to another, called Copaifera, which produces the balsam of cepaiba; and to a third, called Pistacia, turpentine tree or mastich tree. Balsam of Sulphur is a solution of sulphur in oil. Balsam of Tolu is the produce of the Toluifera, or Tolu tree, of South America. It is of a reddish yellow color, transparent, thick and tenacious, but growing hard and brittle by age. It is very fragrant, and like the balsam of Peru, is a stimulant, and used as a pectoral. Encyc. Linn. Balsam of Peru, the produce of a tree in Peru, possessing strong stimulant qualities.

BAL-SAM-A'TION, n.

The act of rendering balsamic.

BAL-SAM'IC, or BAL-SAM'IC-AL, a.

Having the qualities of balsam; stimulating; unctuous; soft; mitigating; mild. Arbuthnot.

BAL-SAM'IC, n.

A warm, stimulating, demulcent medicine, of a smooth and oily consistence. Coxe.