Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAG'GING, n.

The cloth or materials for bags. – United States. Edwards's West Indies.

BAG'GING, ppr.

Swelling; becoming protuberant.

BAGN'IO, n. [ban'yo; It. bagno; Sp. baño; Port. banho; Fr. bain; L. balneum.]

1. A bath; a house for bathing, cupping, sweating and otherwise cleansing the body. In Turkey, it is the name of prisons where slaves are kept; so called from the baths which they contain. – Encyc.
2. A brothel.

BAG'PIPE, n. [bag and pipe.]

A musical wind instrument, used chiefly in Scotland and Ireland. It consists of a leathern bag, which receives the air by a tube, which is stopped by a valve; and pipes, into which the air is pressed by the performer. The base-pipe is called the drone, and the tenor or treble is called the chanter. The pipes have eight holes like those of a flute, which the performer stops and opens at pleasure. There are several species of bagpipes, as the soft and melodious Irish bagpipe, with two short drones and a long one; the Highland bagpipe, with two short drones, the music of which is very loud; the Scot's Lowland bagpipe, which is played with a bellows, and is also a loud instrument. There is also a small pipe, with a chanter about eight inches in length. – Encyc. In seamanship, to bag-pipe the mizzen, is to lay it aback by bringing the sheet to the mizzen shrouds. – Mar. Dict.

BAG'PI-PER, n.

One who plays on a bagpipe.

BAG'RE, n.

A small bearded fish, a species of Silurus, anguilliform, of a silvery hue, without scales, and delicious food. – Dict. of Nat. Hist.

BAG'REEF, n. [bag and reef.]

A fourth and lower reef used in the British navy. – Mar. Dict.

BA-GUET', n. [Fr. baguette, from bague, a ring; Ir. beacht; Sax. beag.]

In architecture, a little round molding, less than an astragal, sometimes carved and enriched. – Encyc.

BA-HAR', or BAR'RE, n.

Weights used in the East Indies. The great bahar, for weighing pepper, cloves, nutmegs, &c., is 524 lb. 9 oz. avoirdupois. The little bahar, for weighing quicksilver, vermilion, ivory, silk, &c., is 437 lbs. 9 oz. – Encyc.

BAIGNE, v.t. [Fr. baigner.]

To soak or drench. [Not used.] – Carew.

BAIK'AL-ITE, n. [From Baikal, a lake in Northern Asia.]

A mineral occurring in acicular prisms, sometimes long, and either confusedly grouped or radiating from a center. Its color is greenish, or yellowish white. It is regarded as a variety of tremolite. This name is given also to an olive-green variety of augite and also of epidote. – Cleaveland.

BAIL, n.

1. The person or persons who procure the release of a prisoner from custody, by becoming surety for his appearance in court. The bail must be real substantial bondsmen. – Blackstone. – B. and B. were bail to the arrest in a suit at law. – Kent. Bail is not used with a plural termination.
2. The security given for the release of a prisoner from custody; as, the man is out upon bail. Excessive bail ought not to be required. – Blackstone. Bail is common or special. Common bail are imaginary persons, who are pledges for the plaintif's prosecution; as, John Doe and Richard Roe. Special bail must be men of real substance, sufficient to pay their bond or recognizance. To perfect or justify bail, is to prove by the oath of the person that he is worth the sum for which he is surety beyond his debts. To admit to bail, is to release upon security given by bondsmen.
3. The handle of a kettle or other vessel.
4. In England, a certain limit within forest.

BAIL, v.t. [Fr. and Norm. bailler, to deliver, to lease; Arm. bahailhat; Ar. بَهَلَ bahala; Eth. ባልሐ baleah, to deliver, free, liberate, permit to go.]

1. To set free, deliver, or liberate from arrest and imprisonment, upon security given that the person bailed shall appear and answer in court. The word is applied to the magistrate, or the surety. The magistrate bails a man, when he liberates him from arrest or imprisonment, upon bond given with sureties. The surety bails a person, when he procures his release from arrest, by giving bond for his appearance. – Blackstone.
2. To deliver goods in trust, upon a contract, expressed or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee or person intrusted; as, to bail cloth to tailor to be made into a garment, or to bail goods to a carrier. – Blackstone.
3. To free from water; as, to bail a boat. This word is improperly written bale. The word is probably the same as bail in law, to free, or liberate, and signifies to throw out water, as with a bucket or shovel.

BAIL'A-BLE, a.

1. That may be set free upon bond with sureties; that may be admitted to bail; used of persons.
2. That admits of bail; as, a bailable offense. – Blackstone.

BAIL'BOND, n.

A bond or obligation given by a prisoner and his surety, to insure the prisoner's appearance in court, at the return of the writ.

BAIL'ED, pp.

1. Released from custody on bonds for appearance in court.
2. Delivered in trust, to be carried and deposited, redelivered, or otherwise accounted for.
3. Freed from water, as a boat.

BAIL-EE', n.

The person to whom goods are committed in trust, and who has a temporary possession and a qualified property in them, for the purposes of the trust. – Blackstone.

BAIL'ER, or BAIL'OR, n.

One who delivers goods to another in trust, for some particular purpose.

BAIL'IF, n. [Fr. baillif; Arm. belly; Scot. bailli; It. bailo, a magistrate; balia, power, authority. Ch. Ar. Heb. Syr. בעל, lord, chief. Class Bl.]

In England, an officer appointed by the sherif. Bailifs are either special, and appointed, for their adroitness, to arrest persons; or bailifs of hundreds, who collect fines, summon juries, attend the assizes, and execute writs and process. The sherif in England is the king's bailif. There are also bailifs of liberties, appointed by the lords in their respective jurisdictions, to execute process, and perform other duties; bailifs of forests and of manors, who direct the husbandry, collect rents, &c.; and water-bailifs in each port, to search vessels, gather toll for anchorage, arrest persons for debt on the water, &c. – Blackstone. Encyc. The office of bailif formerly was high and honorable in England, and officers under that title on the Continent are still invested with important functions.

BAIL-I-WICK, n. [bailli, an officer, see Bailif, and Sax. wic.]

The precincts in which a bailif has jurisdiction; the limits of a bailif's authority; as a hundred, a liberty, a forest, over which a bailif is appointed. In the liberties and franchises of lords, the bailif has exclusive jurisdiction. – Encyc.

BAIL'MENT, n. [from bail.]

A delivery of goods, in trust, upon a contract, expressed or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed. – Blackstone.

BAIL'PIECE, n.

A slip of parchment or paper containing a recognizance of bail above or bail to the action. – Blackstone.

BAIRN, or BARN, n. [Sax. bearn; Scot. bairn; probably, Eng. born.]

A child. [Little used in English.]

BAIT, n. [W. abwyd, bwyd; Arm. boet; Ir. abadh; Sw. bete, food; beta, to feed; Sax. batan, to bait; Russ. pitayu; Dan. beder, to rest for refreshment.]

1. Any substance for food, proper to be used or actually used, to catch fish, or other animals, by alluring them to swallow a hook, or to be caught in snares, or in an enclosure or net.
2. A portion of food and drink, or a refreshment taken on a journey.
3. An allurement; enticement; temptation.

BAIT, n.

White Bait, a small fish of the Thames.