Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BLACK'-WADD, n. [black and wadd.]

An ore of manganese, found in Derbyshire, England, and used as a drying ingredient in paints. It is remarkable for taking fire when mixed with linseed oil in a certain proportion. – Encyc.

BLACK'-WASH, n.

A lotion composed of calomel and lime-water.

BLACK'WORK, n. [black and work.]

Iron wrought by black-smiths; so called in distinction from that wrought by white-smiths. – Encyc.

BLAD'-AP-PLE, n.

In botany, the Cactus, or a species of it. – Fam of Plants.

BLAD'DER, n. [Sax. blædr, blædra, bleddra, a bladder, and blæd, a puff of wind, also a goblet, fruit, the branch of a tree; W. pledren, a bladder; Sw. and Dan. blad, a page, a leaf, Eng. a blade; D. blad, a leaf, page, sheet, a board, a blade, a plate; G. blatt, a leaf; blatter, a blister, which is our bladder. The Germans express bladder by blase, D. blaas, which is our blaze. Hence we observe that the sense is taken from swelling, extending, dilating, blowing; Sax. blawan, to blow; W. blot or blwth, a puff or blast; W. pled, extension, from llêd, breadth; L. latus.]

1. A thin membranous bag in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some secreted fluid; as, the urinary bladder, the gall bladder, &c. By way of eminence, the word, in common language, denotes the urinary bladder, either within the animal, or when taken out and inflated with air. – Encyc. Johnson.
2. Any vesicle, blister or pustule, especially if filled with air, or a thin, watery liquor.
3. In botany, a distended membranaceous pericarp. – Martyn.

BLAD'DER-ED, a.

Swelled like a bladder. – Dryden.

BLAD'DER-NUT, n. [bladder and nut.]

1. A genus of plants with the generic name of Staphylea. They have three capsules, inflated and joined by a longitudinal suture. – Encyc.
2. The African bladder-nut is the Royena.
3. The laurel-leaved bladder-nut is a species of Ilex, holm or holly. – Fam. of Plants.

BLAD'DER-SEN-NA, n. [or bastard-senna,]

a genus of plants, called in botany Colutea. – Fam. of Plants. The jointed-podded bladder-senna is the Coronilla. – Fam. of Plants.

BLAD'DER-Y, a.

Resembling a bladder; containing bladders.

BLADE, n. [Sax. blæd, bled, a branch, fruit, herbs, goblet, a phial, the broad part or blade of an oar; Gr. πλατυς, broad. The radical sense is to shoot, extend, dilate. See Bladder.]

1. The stalk or spire of a plant, particularly of grass and corn; but applicable to the stalk of any herbaceous plant, whether green or dry.
2. A leaf. In this sense much used in the Southern States of North America, for the leaves of maiz, which are used as fodder.
3. The cutting part of an instrument, as the blade of a knife, or sword, so named from its length or breadth. Usually, it is made of iron or steel, but may be of any other metal, cast or wrought to an edge or point. Also, the broad part of an oar.
4. The blade of the shoulder, shoulder-blade, or blade-bone, is the scapula, or scapular bone. It is the broad upper bone of the shoulder, so called from its resemblance to a blade or leaf.
5. A brisk man; a bold, forward man; a rake.

BLADE, v.t.

To furnish with a blade.

BLADE'-BONE, n.

The scapula, or upper bone in the shoulder.

BLAD'ED, pp.

1. Having a blade or blades. It may be used of blade in the sense of a leaf, a spire, or the cutting part of an instrument.
2. In mineralogy, composed of long and narrow plates, like the blade of a knife. – Cleaveland.

BLADE'-SMITH, n.

A sword cutler.

BLAD'ING, ppr.

Furnishing with a blade.

BLAIN, n. [Sax. blegene; D. blein.]

A pustule; a botch; a blister. In farriery, a bladder, growing on the root of the tongue, against the windpipe, which swells so as to stop the breath. – Encyc.

BLAKE, a.

Yellow. – N. of Eng.

BLAM'A-BLE, a. [See Blame.]

Faulty; culpable; reprehensible; deserving of censure. – Dryden.

BLAM'A-BLE-NESS, n.

Culpableness; fault; the state of being worthy of censure. – Whitlock.

BLAM'A-BLY, adv.

Culpably; in a manner deserving of censure.

BLAME, n.

1. Censure; reprehension; imputation of a fault; disapprobation; an expression of disapprobation for something deemed to be wrong. Let me bear the blame forever. – Gen. xliii.
2. Fault; crime; sin; that which is deserving of censure or disapprobation. That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. – Eph. i.
3. Hurt; injury. And glancing down his shield, from blame him fairly blest. – Spenser. The sense of this word, as used by Spenser, proves that it is a derivative from the root of blemish. To blame, in the phrase, He is to blame, signifies blamable, to be blamed. This is a pure Saxon phrase. A like use of to is seen in to-day, to-night, and in together, a compound. Blame is not strictly a charge or accusation of a fault; but it implies an opinion in the censuring party, that the person censured is faulty. Blame is the act or expression of disapprobation for what is supposed to be wrong.

BLAME, v.t. [Fr. blâmer, for blasmer; It. biasmare, to blame; biasmo, for blasmo, blame. The Greeks have the root of this word in βλασφημεω, to blaspheme, and it seems to be of the same family as Fr. blesser, to injure, that is, to strike. See Blemish. But it is not clear that the noun ought not to be arranged before the verb.]

1. To censure; to express disapprobation of; to find fault with; opposed to praise or commend, and applicable most properly to persons, but applied also to things. I withstood him, because he was to be blamed. – Gal. ii. I must blame your conduct; or I must blame you for neglecting business. Legitimately, it can not be followed by of.
2. To bring reproach upon; to blemish; to injure. [See Blemish.] She had blamed her noble blood. [Obs.] – Spenser.

BLAM'ED, pp.

Censured; disapproved.

BLAME'FUL, a.

Faulty; meriting blame; reprehensible.

BLAME'FUL-LY, adv.

In a blameful manner.