Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BE-REFT', pp. [of Bereave.]

Deprived; made destitute.

BE-REN-GA'RI-AN-ISM, n.

The opinions or doctrines of Berengarius, archdeacon of St. Mary at Anjou, and of his followers, who deny the reality of the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist. – Encyc.

BERG, n. [Sax. beorg, beorh, a hill, a castle.]

A borough; a town that sends burgesses to parliament; a castle. [See Burg.] [Obs.] – Ash.

BERG'A-MOT, n. [Fr. bergamote; Sp. bergamota.]

1. A species of pear.
2. A species of citron, at first casually produced by an Italian, who grafted a citron on the stock of a bergamot pear tree. The fruit has a fine taste and smell, and its essential oil is in high esteem as a perfume. This oil is extracted from the yellow rind of the fruit. Hence,
3. An essence or perfume from the citron thus produced.
4. A species of snuff perfumed with bergamot.
5. A coarse tapestry, manufactured with flocks of wool, silk, cotton, hemp and ox or goat's hair, said to have been invented at Bergamo in Italy. – Encyc.

BERG'AN-DER, n. [berg, a cliff, and Dan. and, G. ente, Sax. ened, a duck.]

A burrow duck; a duck that breeds in holes under cliffs. – Thomson.

BER'GE-RET, n. [Fr. berger, a shepherd.]

A song. [Not used.] – Chaucer.

BERG'MAN-ITE, n. [from Bergman, the mineralogist.]

A mineral classed with scapolite, in the family of felspath. It occurs massive, with gray and red quartz in Norway. Its colors are greenish and grayish white. – Cyc.

BERG'MAS-TER, n. [Sax. beorg, a hill or castle, and master.]

The bailif or chief officer among the Derbyshire miners. – Johnson.

BERG'MOTE, n. [Sax. beorg, a hill, and mote, a meeting.]

A court held on a hill in Derbyshire, in England, for deciding controversies between the miners. – Blount. Johnson.

BE-RHYME', v.t. [be and rhyme.]

To mention in rhyme or verse; used in contempt. – Shak.

BER'LIN, n.

A vehicle of the chariot kind, supposed to have this name from Berlin, the chief city of Prussia, where it was first made, or from the Italian berlina, a sort of stage or pillory, and a coach. – Encyc.

BER-LUC'CIO, n.

A small bird, somewhat like the yellow-hammer, but less and more slender. – Dict. of Nat. Hist.

BERME, n.

In fortification, a space of ground of three, four or five feet in width, left between the rampart and the moat or foss, designed to receive the ruins of the rampart, and prevent the earth from filling the foss. Sometimes it is palisaded, and in Holland it is generally planted with quickset hedge. – Encyc.

BER'NA-CLE, n. [See BARNACLE.]

BER'NARD-INE, a.

Pertaining to St Bernard, and the monks of the order.

BER'NARD-INS, n.

An order of monks, founded by Robert, abbot of Moleme, and reformed by St. Bernard. The order originated about the beginning of the 12th century. They wear a white robe, with a black scapulary; and when they officiate, they are clothed with a large white gown, with great sleeves, and a hood of the same color. – Encyc.

BE-ROB', v.t. [be and rob.]

To rob. [Not in use.] – Spenser.

BER'OE, n.

A marine animal of an oval or spherical form, nearly an inch in diameter, and divided into longitudinal ribs, like a melon. – Dict. of Nat. Hist.

BER'RIED, a.

Furnished with berries.

BER'RY, n. [Sax. beria, a grape or cluster of grapes; berga, a grape stone, a berry.]

1. A succulent or pulpy fruit, containing naked seeds. Or in more technical language, a succulent pulpy pericarp, or seed-vessel, without valves, containing several seeds, which are naked, that is, which have no covering but the pulp or rind. It is commonly round or oval. This botanical definition includes the orange and other like fruits. But in popular language, berry extends only to smaller fruits, as strawberry, gooseberry, &c. containing seeds or granules.
2. A mound. [For barrow.] – W. Browne.

BER'RY, v.i.

To bear or produce berries.

BER'RY-BEAR-ING, a.

Producing berries.

BER'RY-FORM'ED, a.

Formed like a berry. – Smith.

BERT, n.

Sax. beorht, berht; Eng. bright. This word enters into the name of many Saxon princes and noblemen; as Egbert, Sigbert. The Bertha of the northern nations was by the Greeks called Eudoxia, an equivalent word. Of the same sort were Phædrus, Epiphanius, Photius, Lampridius, Fulgentius, Illustris. [See Bright.] – Camden.

BERTH, n. [from the root of bear.]

1. A station in which a ship rides at anchor, comprehending the space in which she ranges. In more familiar usage, the word signifies any situation or place, where a vessel lies or can lie, whether at anchor or at a wharf.
2. A room or apartment in a ship, where a number of officers or men mess and reside.
3. The box or place for sleeping at the sides of a cabin; the place for a hammoc, or a repository for chests, &c. To berth, in seamen's language, is to allot to each man a place for his hammoc.