Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BULL'-WEED, n.

Knapweed. – Johnson.

BULL'-WORT, n.

Bishopsweed. – Johnson.

BULL'Y, n. [Sw. böla, to bellow; buller, a tumult; Dan. bullen, swelled, puffed up; or more directly from Sax. bulgian, to bellow.]

A noisy, blustering, overbearing fellow, more distinguished for insolence and empty menaces than for courage, and disposed to provoke quarrels. – Addison.

BULL'Y, v.i.

To be noisy and quarrelsome. – Johnson.

BULL'Y, v.t.

To insult and overbear with noise and blustering menaces. – King.

BUL'LY-ING, n.

Act of bullying, or state of being bullied.

BUL'LY-ING, ppr.

Insulting with threats.

BUL'RUSH, n. [bole, or boll, and rush.]

A large kind of rush, growing in wet land or water, and without knots, says Johnson; but Dryden calls it, the knotty bulrush. It is not a technical word.

BUL'TEL, n. [See Bolt.]

A bolter or bolting cloth; also, bran. [Not used.]

BUL'WARK, n. [Sw. bolvärck; D. bolwerk; Ger. bollwerk; Dan. bolværk; from D. bol, plump and a ball, Sw. bula, W. bal, a protuberance, and work; a projecting or outwork. Fr. boulevard; Sp. and Port. baluarte; It. baluardo.]

1. In fortification, a bastion, or a rampart; a mound of earth round a place, capable of resisting cannon shot, and formed with bastions, curtains, &c. – Encyc.
2. A fortification; also, any means of defense; as, a navy is the bulwark of a nation.
3. That which secures against an enemy or external annoyance; a screen or shelter; means of protection and safety. Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. – Is. xxvi.

BUL'WARK, v.t.

To fortify with a rampart; to secure by a fortification; to protect. – Addison. Barlow.

BUM, n.

The buttocks; the part on which we sit. – Johnson.

BUM, v.i.

To make a noise. – Marston.

BUM-BAIL'IF, n. [A corruption of bound bailif.]

In England, an under-bailif; a subordinate civil officer, appointed to serve writs, and to make arrests and executions, and bound with sureties for a faithful discharge of his trust. [A vulgar word.] – Blackstone.

BUM'BARD, n.

See BOMBARD.

BUM'BAST, n. [A different orthography of Bombast, – which see.]

1. A cloth made by sewing one stuff upon another; patchwork.vGrew.
2. Linen stuffed with cotton; stuffing; wadding. – Shak.

BUM'BLE-BEE, n. [L. bombus, a buzzing.]

A large bee, sometimes called humble bee; so named from its sound.

BUM'BOAT, n.

A small boat for carrying provisions to a ship at a distance from shore. – Mar. Dict.

BUM'KIN, n. [See Bumpkin.]

1. A short boom projecting from each bow of a ship, to extend the clue of the foresail to windward.
2. A small out-rigger over the stern of a boat, to extend the mizzen. – Mar. Dict.

BUMP, n. [W. pwmp, a round mass; pwmpiaw, to thump; allied to L. bombus, and Eng. pomp, from swelling, thrusting out.]

1. A swelling or protuberance. – Dryden.
2. A thump; a heavy blow.

BUMP, v.i.

To make a loud, heavy or hollow noise, as the bittern. It is also written boom. [W. bwmp.] – Dryden.

BUMP, v.t.

To strike as with or against any thing large or solid, as to bump the head against a wall; to thump.

BUMP'ER, n.

A cup or glass filled to the brim, or till the liquor runs over. – Dryden.

BUMP'KIN, n. [bump, large, swelling, and kin, Sax. cyn, kind, genus.]

An awkward heavy rustic; a clown, or country lout. – Locke.

BUMP'KIN-LY, a.

Clownish. [Not used.] – Richardson.