Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAYS, or BAYZE, n.

See BAIZ.

BAY'-SALT, n.

A salt which crystalizes or receives its consistence from the heat of the sun or action of the air. It forms in pits or basins, and from this circumstance receives its denomination. It appears first in a slight incrustation upon the surface of the water, which may be sea water, or any other water in which salt is dissolved. This crust thickens and hardens, till the crystalization is perfected, which takes place in eight, ten, or fifteen days. Encyc. Chambers.

BAY-WIN'DOW, n.

A window jutting out from the wall, as in shops.

BAY'-YARN, n.

A denomination sometimes used promiscuously with woolen yarn. Chambers.

BA-ZAR', n. [Per. بَازَاْر bazar; Russ, bazari, a market.]

Among the Turks and Persians, an exchange, market-place or place where goods are exposed to sale. Some bazars are open, others are covered with lofty ceilings or domes, pierced to give light. The bazar at Tauris will contain 30,000 men. Encyc.

BAZ'AT,

or BAZ'A n. A long, fine spun cotton from Jerusalem, whence it is called Jerusalem cotton. Encyc.

BDEL'LIUM, n. [del'yum; L.; Gr. βδελλιον; Syr. Ch. and Heb. בדלח. Bochart and Parkhurst translate it, pearl. Gen. ii. But it is doubtful whether the bdellium of the Scripture is that now used.]

A gummy resinous juice, produced by a tree in the East Indies, of which we have no satisfactory account. It is brought from the East Indies and from Arabia, in pieces of different sizes and figures, externally of a dark reddish brown, internally clear and not unlike to glue. To the taste is slightly bitterish and pungent; its odor is agreeable. In the mouth, it becomes soft and sticks to the teeth; on a red hot iron, it readily catches flame and burns with a crackling noise. It is used as a perfume and a medicine, being a weak deobstruent. Encyc.

BE, prep.

A prefix, as in because, before, beset, bedeck, is the same word as by; Sax. be, big; Goth. bi. It is common to the English, Saxon, Gothic, German, Dutch, Danish and Swedish languages. It occurs probably in the Russian, but is written po, as it is in possideo, and a few other words in the Latin. It denotes nearness, closeness, about, on, at, from some root signifying to pass or to press. [See By.] That this word is the Shemitic ב, used as a prefix, is certain, not only from its general applications, which may be seen by comparing the uses of the word, in the Hebrew for instance, with those in the Saxon; but from its use in particular phrases particularly in its use before the name of the Supreme Being in swearing. Hence we find that ב is not from בה nor from בית, as Parkhurst supposes, but is an abbreviation of big, which is used in the Saxon, bigspell, a proverb, a by-word; bigstandan, to stand by.

BE, v.i. [substantive verb; ppr. being; pp. been. Sax. beon, to be. G. bin, bist; D. ben; Pers. نُوَدْن bodan, to be, San. bhu; and W. bôd, byzu, bydiaw. The sense is, to stand, remain or be fixed; hence, to continue. This verb is defective, and its defects are supplied by verbs from other roots, am, is, was, were, which have no radical connection with be. The case is the same with the substantive verb in most languages.]

1. To be fixed; to exist; to have a real state or existence, for a longer or shorter time. Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. Phil. ii. To be, contents his natural desire. Pope.
2. To be made to be; to become. And they twain shall be one flesh. Matth. xix. Jer. xxxii.
3. To remain. Let the garment be as it was made.
4. To be present in a place. Where was I at the time ? When will you be at my house ?
5. To have a particular manner of being or happening; as, how is this affair ? how was it? what were the circumstances? This verb is used as an auxiliary in forming the tenses of other verbs, and particularly in giving to them the passive form; as, he has been disturbed. It forms, with the infinitive, a particular future tense, which often expresses duty, necessity or purpose; as, government is to be supported; we are to pay our just debts. Let be is to omit, or leave untouched; to let alone. Let be, said he, my prey. Dryden.

BEACH, n. [Qu. Russ. bok, coast.]

The shore of the sea, or of a lake, which is washed by the tide and waves; the strand. It may be sometimes used for the shore of large rivers.

BEACH'ED, a.

Exposed to the waves; washed by the tide and waves; also, driven on a beach.

BEACH'Y, a.

Having a beach or beaches. Shak.

BEA'CON, n. [be'ekn; W. pigwn, a beacon, cone, or turret, from pig, a point. See Pike. Sax. beacen, becen, a signal; D. baak, baaken; Ger. bake.]

1. A signal erected on a long pole, upon an eminence, consisting of a pitch barrel, or some combustible matter, to be fired at night, or to cause a smoke by day, to notify the approach of an enemy.
2. A light-house; a house erected on a point of land, or other place on the sea-coast, with lamps which burn at night, to direct navigators, and preserve vessels from running upon rocks, sand banks, or the shore. In general, a beacon may be any light or mark intended for direction and security against danger.
3. Figuratively, that which gives notice of danger.

BEA'CON-AGE, n.

Money paid for the maintenance of a beacon. Encyc. Ash.

BEA'CON-ED, a.

Having a beacon.

BEAD, n. [Ger. bethe, a bead; supposed from beten, biddan, to pray, from the use of beads in Catholic countries; Sax. bead, a praying. In Spanish and Portuguese, the word answering to count is used for a bead.]

1. A little perforated ball, to be strung on a thread, and worn about the neck, for ornament. A string of beads is called a necklace. Beads are made of gold, pearl, amber, steel, garnet, coral, diamond, crystal, pastes, glasses, &c. The Romanists use strings of beads in rehearsing their prayers. Hence the phrase, to tell beads, and to be at one's beads, is to be at prayer. Encyc. Johnson.
2. Any small globular body hence the glass globules, used in traffick with savages, and sold in strings, are called beads; also a bubble on spirit.
3. In architecture, a round molding, commonly made upon the edge of a piece of stuff, in the Corinthian and Roman orders, cut or carved in short embossments, like beads in necklaces. Encyc. Bidding of beads, is a charge given by a priest to his parishioners, to repeat certain pater-nosters upon their beads for a departed soul. Bailey.

BEA'DLE, n. [Sax. bydel or bædel; Fr. bedeau; Sp. bedel; It. bidello; Ger. büttel, pedell; Sw. bodel, a beadle, or lictor; from the root of bid, Sax. beodan, to order or command. See Bid.]

1. A messenger or crier of a court; a servitor; one who cites persons to appear and answer; called also an apparitor or summoner. Encyc.
2. An officer in a university, whose chief business is to walk with a mace, before the masters, in a public procession; or, as in America, before the president, trustees, faculty and students of a college, in a procession, at public commencements. Encyc.
3. A parish officer, whose business is to punish petty offenders. Johnson.

BEA'DLE-SHIP, n.

The office of a beadle. Wood.

BEAD'-MA-KER, n.

One who makes beads. In French, paternostriee is one who makes, strings, and sells beads. In Paris are three companies of paternostriers; one that works in glass or crystal; one, in wood and horn; a third, in amber, coral, &c. Encyc.

BEAD'-PROOF, a.

Spirit is bead-proof, when, after being shaken, a crown of bubbles will stand, for some time after, on the surface, manifesting a certain standard of strength. Encyc.

BEAD'-ROLL, n.

Among Catholics, a list or catalogue of persons, for the rest of whose souls they are to repeat a certain number of prayers, which they count by their beads. Encyc.

BEADS'-MAN, n.

A man employed in praying, generally in praying for another. Johnson.

BEADS'-WO-MAN, n.

A praying woman; a woman who resides in an alms-house. Ash.

BEAD'-TREE, n.

The azedarach, a species of melia, a native of the Indies, growing about 20 feet high, adorned with large pinnated or winged leaves, and clusters of pentapetalous flowers. Encyc.

BEA'GLE, n. [Fr. bigle, so named from littleness; W. bac, little; Ir. pig; It. piccolo. We have from the same root boy, and the Danes pige, a little girl, and probably pug is the same word. Qu. Gr. πυγμαιος, a pigmy.]

A small hound, or hunting dog. Beagles are of different sorts; as, the southern beagle, shorter and less, but thicker, than the deep-mouthed hound; the fleet northern, or cat beagle, smaller, and of a finer shape than the southern. From these species united, is bred a third, still preferable; and a smaller sort is little larger than the lap-dog. Encyc.