Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BOOK'-SELL-ER, n. [book and sell.]

One whose occupation is to sell books.

BOOK'-STONE, n. [See Bibliolite.]

BOOK'-STORE, n.

A shop where books are sold.

BOOK'-WORM, n. [book and worm.]

1. A worm or mite that eats holes in books.
2. A student closely attached to books, or addicted to study; also, a reader without judgment. – Pope.

BOO'LEY, n.

In Ireland, one who has no settled habitation, but wanders from place to place with his flocks and herds, living on their milk, like the Tartars. – Spenser.

BOOM, n. [D. boom, a tree, a pole, a beam, a bar, a rafter; Goth. bagms; Ger. baum; Eng. beam; D. boomen, to push forward with a pole; Dan. bom, a rail or bar.]

1. A long pole or spar, run out from various parts of a ship, or other vessel, for the purpose of extending the bottom of particular sails; as, the jib-boom, studding-sail boom, main-boom, square-sail boom, &c. – Mar. Dict.
2. A strong iron chain, fastened to spars, and extended across a river, or the mouth of a harbor, to prevent an enemy's ships from passing.
3. A pole set up as a mark to direct seamen how to keep the channel in shallow water.

BOOM, v.i. [Sax. byma, byme, a trumpet; bymian, to blow or sound a trumpet; D. bomme, a drum; bommen, to drum; W. bwmp, a hollow sound. We see the senses of sounding, uttering the voice, swelling and rushing forward, are connected.]

1. In marine language, to rush with violence, as a ship under a press of sail.
2. To swell; to roll and roar, as waves. The hoarse waves booming to the ocean shore. – Hillhouse.
3. To cry as the bittern. – Goldsmith. The Dutch use bom for the sound of an empty barrel, and bommen is to drum.

BOOM'E-RANG, n.

A wooden weapon used by the natives of Australia. [See Kylee.]

BOON, a. [Fr. bon; L. bonus.]

Gay; merry; kind; bountiful; as, a boon companion. – Milton.

BOON, n.¹ [L. bonus; Fr. bon; Norm. boon; It. buono; Sp. bueno; Port. bom, good.]

1. A gift; a grant; a benefaction; a present; a favor granted. – Addison.
2. [Dan. bön, Sw. bön, a petition.] A prayer or petition. – Ash.

BOON, n.²

The refuse or useless vegetable matter from dressed flax. – Library of Ent. Knowledge.

BO'OPS, n.

The pike-beaded whale, with a double pipe in its snout, and a hard horny ridge on its back; so named from its sharp pointed nose. – Encyc.

BOOR, n. [Sax. gebur, a countryman or farmer; D. boer, a rustic, or farmer; G. bauer, a countryman and a builder, from bauen, to build, to cultivate; Sax. byan, or bugian, and gebugian; D. bouwen; Dan. bygger; Sw. byggia, to build. Boor is a contracted word.]

A countryman; a peasant; a rustic; a plowman; a clown; hence, one who is rude in manners, and illiterate. – Dryden.

BOOR'ISH, a.

Clownish; rustic; awkward in manners; illiterate. – Shak.

BOOR'ISH-LY, adv.

In a clownish manner.

BOOR'ISH-NESS, n.

Clownishness; rusticity; coarseness of manners.

BOOSE, n. [Sax. bosig, bosg; Heb. and Ch. אבוס, a stall or crib; Ar. أَبَسَ abasa, to shut up or imprison.]

A stall or inclosure for an ox, cow, or other cattle. [Not used or local.]

BOOSE, or BOUSE, v.i. [booz; W. bozi, to immerse.]

To drink hard; to guzzle. [Vulgar.]

BOOST, v.t.

To lift or raise by pushing; to push up. [A common vulgar word in New England.]

BOO'SY, a. [boo'zy.]

A little intoxicated; merry with liquor. [Vulgar.]

BOOT, n.¹

1. Profit; gain; advantage; that which is given to make the exchange equal, or to supply the deficiency of value in one of the things exchanged. – Shak.
2. To boot, in addition to; over and above; besides; a compensation for the difference of value between things bartered; as, I will give my house for yours, with one hundred dollars to boot. [Sax. to bote. The phrase is pure Saxon.]
3. Spoil; plunder. [See Booty.] – Shak.

BOOT, n.² [Fr. botte, a boot, a bunch; Ir. butais; W. botasen, botas; Sp. bota, a boot, a butt, or cask, a leather bag to carry liquors; Port. bota; It. botte, boots, a cask.]

1. A covering for the leg, made of leather, and united with a shoe. This garment was originally intended for horsemen, but is now generally worn by gentlemen on foot. The different sorts are fishing-boots, worn in water; hunting- boots, a thinner kind for sportsmen; jack-boots, a strong kind for horsemen; and half-boots.
2. A kind of rack for the leg, formerly used to torture criminals. This was made of boards bound fast to the legs by cords; or a boot or buskin, made wet and drawn upon the legs and then dried by the fire, so as to contract and squeeze the legs. – Encyc.
3. A box covered with leather in the fore part of a coach. Also, an apron or leathern cover for a gig or chair, to defend persons from rain and mud. This latter application is local and improper.

BOOT, v.t.

To put on boots.

BOOT', v.t. [Sax. bot, bote, reparation, satisfaction, a making good, amends; Goth. botyan, to profit or help; Sw. böt, a fine; D. boete, fine, penalty, repentance; boeten, to amend, or repair; G. busse, boot, fine, penance; büssen, to amend; Dan. bödder, to repair, or requite; böder, to expiate, or make atonement; W. buz, profit; buziaw, to profit. We observe this word is from the root of better, denoting more, or advance; Eng. but. The primary sense of the root is to advance, or carry forward.]

1. To profit; to advantage. It shall not boot them. – Hooker. But more generally followed by it, – what boots it? Indeed it is seldom used, except in the latter phrase.
2. To enrich, to benefit. I will boot thee. [Obs.] – Shak.

BOOT'CATCH-ER, n. [boot and catch.]

The person at an inn whose business is to pull off boots. [Obs.] – Swift.