Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.

BEL'FRY, n. [Fr. befroy; barb. L. belfredus.]

1. Among military writers of the middle age, a tower erected by besiegers to overlook the place besieged, in which sentinels were placed to watch the avenues, and to prevent surprise from parties of the enemy, or to give notice of fires, by ringing a bell. Encyc.
2. That part of a steeple, or other building, in which a bell is hung, and more particularly, the timber work which sustains it. Encyc.

BEL-GARD', n. [Fr. bel and égard.]

A soft look or glance. [Not used.] Spenser.

BEL'GI-AN, a. [See Belgic.]

Belonging to Belgica, or the Netherlands.

BEL'GI-AN, n.

A native of Belgica, or the Low Countries.

BEL'GIC, a. [L. belgicus, from Belgæ, the inhabitants of the Netherlands and the country bordering on the Rhine, from that river to the Seine and the ocean. The name may have been given to them from their bulk or large stature; W. balc, prominent, proud, from bal, a shooting out; Eng. bulge; Russ. velikai, great. See Pomp. Mela. lib. 3. 3, and 3. 5; Tac. Agric.; Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 2. 16; Herod. lib. 6; Strabo, lib. 4. Owen supposes the Welsh name, Belgiad, to have been given them, from their bursting forth and ravaging Britain and Ireland. But they had the name on the Continent, before their irruption into Britain.]

Pertaining to the Belgæ, who, in Cesar's time, possessed the country between the Rhine, the Seine and the ocean. They were of Teutonic origin, and, anterior to Cesar's invasion of Gaul and Britain, colonies of them had established themselves in the southern part of Britain. The country was called from its inhabitants Belgica, not Belgium, which was the town of Beauvais. See Cluv. Germ. Ant. 2. 2. Belgic is now applied to the Netherlands, called also Flanders, or that part of the Low Countries which formerly belonged to the House of Austria.

BE'LI-AL, n. [Heb. בליעל.]

As a noun, unprofitableness; wickedness. As an adjective, worthless; wicked. In a collective sense, wicked men. Parkhurst.

BE-LI'BEL, v.t. [be and libel.]

To libel or traduce. Fuller.

BE-LIE', v.t. [be and lie. Sax. belecgan, of be and leogan, to lie, lig, or lyg, a lie; D. beliegen; G. belügen, to belie. See Lie.]

1. To give the lie to; to show to be false; to charge with falsehood; as, the heart belies the tongue. It is rarely used of declarations; but of appearances and facts which show that declarations, or certain appearances and pretenses are false and hypocritical. Hence,
2. To counterfeit; to mimick; to feign resemblance. With dust, with horses' hoofs, that beat the ground, / And martial brass, belie the thunder's sound. Dryden.
3. To give a false representation. Should I do so, I should belie my thoughts. Shak.
4. To tell lies concerning; to calumniate by false reports. Thou dost belie him, Percy. Shak.
5. To fill with lies. Slander doth belie all corners of the world. Shak.