Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BEL'A-MOUR, n. [Fr. bel-amour.]

A gallant; a consort. [Not used.] Spenser.

BEL'A-MY, n. [Fr. bel-ami.]

A good friend; an intimate. [Not used.] Spenser.

BE-LATE', v.t. [be and late.]

To retard or make too late. [Not used.]

BE-LAT'ED, a. [be and lated.]

1. Benighted; abroad late at night.
2. Too late for the hour appointed or intended; later than the proper time.

BE-LAT'ED-NESS, n.

A being too late. Milton.

BE-LAVE', v.t. [be and lave.]

To wash. [Not used.]

BE-LAW'GIVE, v.t.

To give a law to. [Barbarous and not used.] Milton.

BE-LAY', v.t. [This word is composed of be and lay, to lay to, lay by, or close. See Beleaguer.]

1. To block up, or obstruct. Dryden. Gower.
2. To place in ambush. Spenser.
3. To adorn, surround, or cover. Spenser.
4. In seamanship, to fasten, or make fast, by winding a rope, round a cleat, kevil, or belaying-pin. It is chiefly applied to the running rigging. Mar. Dict.

BE-LAY'ED, pp.

Obstructed; ambushed; made fast.

BE-LAY'ING, ppr.

Blocking up; laying an ambush; making fast.

BELCH, n.

1. The art of throwing out from the stomach, or from a hollow place; eructation.
2. A cant name for malt liquor. Dennis.

BELCH, v.t. [or int. Sax. bealcan, to belch, that is, to push out, to swell or heave; belgan, to be angry, that is, to swell with passion; Eng. bulge, bilge, bulk; allied to W. balc, prominent.]

1. To throw or eject wind from the stomach with violence.
2. To eject violently from a deep hollow place; as, a volcano belches flames and lava.

BELCH'ED, pp.

Ejected from the stomach, or from a hollow place.

BELCH'ING, n.

Eructation. Barret.

BELCH'ING, ppr.

Ejecting from the stomach or any deep hollow place.

BEL'DAM, n. [Fr. belle, fine, handsome, and dame, lady. It seems to be used in contempt, or as a cant term.]

1. An old woman. Shak. Spenser seems to have used the word in its true sense for good dame.
2. A hag. Dryden. Shak.

BE-LEA'GUER, v.t. [belee'ger. Ger. belagern, from be, by, near, and lagern, to lay; belegeren, to besiege, to convene, to belay; Sw. belægra, to besiege; Dan. beligger; Russ. oblegayu.]

To besiege; to block up; to surround with an army, so as to preclude escape. Dryden.

BE-LEA'GUER-ED, pp.

Besieged.

BE-LEA'GUER-ER, n.

One who besieges. Sherwood.

BE-LEA'GUER-ING, ppr.

Besieging; blocking up.

BE-LEAVE', v.t. [be and leave.]

To leave. [Not used.] May.

BE-LEC'TUR-ED, a.

Lectured.

BE-LEE', v.t. [be and lee.]

To place on the lee, or in a position unfavorable to the wind. Shak.

BEL'EM-NITE, n. [Gr. βελεμνον, a dart, or arrow, from βελος, from the root of βαλλω, pello, to throw.]

1. Arrow-head, or finger-stone; vulgarly called thunder-bolt, or thunder-stone. A genus of fossil shells, common in chalk and limestone. These shells consist of an interior cone, divided into partitions connected by a siphon, as in the nautilus, and surrounded by a number of concentric layers, made up of fibers radiating from the axis. These layers are somewhat transparent, and when burnt, rubbed or scraped, give the odor of rasped horn. The species are now extinct. Encyc. Ed. Encyc.
2. A generic name for the organic remains of extinct fossil bodies of the class Cephalopodes. Haldiman.

BE-LEP'ER, v.t.

To infect with leprosy. Beaumont.