Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAWB'LING, a.

Trifling; contemptible. [Obs.] – Shak.

BAW'-COCK, n.

A fine fellow. [Qu. beau-cock.] – Shak.

BAWD, n. [I know not the origin of this word; but in French, baudir is a term in hunting, signifying to excite or encourage dogs to the chase; formed, according to Lunier, from the Low Latin, baldire, or exbaldire, to enliven, to quicken; which, from the Italian baldo, baldanza, appears to be from the root of Eng. bold, the primary sense of which is, to project, to push or rush forward. In W. pud is what tends to allure. But one author quotes Hesychius, as giving Gr. βαδας, a procurer or procuress.]

A procurer or procuress. A person who keeps a house of prostitution, and conducts criminal intrigues. [Usually applied to females.]

BAWD, v.i.

1. To procure; to provide women for lewd purposes.
2. To foul or dirty. [Not in use.] – Skelton.

BAWD'-BORN, a.

Descended from a bawd. – Shak.

BAWD'I-LY, adv.

Obscenely; lewdly.

BAWD'I-NESS, n.

Obscenity; lewdness.

BAWD'RICK, n. [See Baldrick.]

A belt. – Chapman.

BAWD'RY, n. [See Bawd.]

1. The abominable practice of procuring women for the gratification of lust.
2. Obscenity; filthy, unchaste language.

BAWD'Y, a.

Obscene; filthy; unchaste; applied to language.

BAWD'Y-HOUSE, n.

A house of lewdness and prostitution.

BAWL, v.i. [Sax. bellan; Sw. bola, to low or bellow; W. ballaw; G. bellen, to bark; D. balderen, to roar; L. balo, to bleat; Fr. piailler, to bawl, to pule; Heb. יבל, yabal, the blast of a trumpet; Pers. bala, a cry or clamor; and Ar. and Heb. אבל, ebal, to weep, to wail. These all coincide in elements with L. pello, appello, Eng. peal, and the primary sense is the same.]

1. To cry out with a loud full sound; to hoot; to cry with vehemence, as in calling, or in pain or exultation.
2. To cry loud, as a child from pain or vexation.

BAWL, v.t.

To proclaim by outcry, as a common crier. – Swift.

BAWL'ED, pp.

Proclaimed by outcry.

BAWL'ER, n.

One who bawls.

BAWL'ING, n.

The act of crying with a loud sound.

BAWL'ING, ppr.

Crying aloud.

BAWN, n.

An inclosure with mud or atone walls for keeping cattle; a fortification. [Not used.] – Spenser.

BAW'REL, n.

A kind of hawk. – Todd.

BAW'SIN, n.

A badger. – B. Jonson.

BAX-TE'RI-AN, a.

Pertaining to Baxter, a celebrated English divine; as the Baxterian scheme. – Encyc.

BAY, a. [Fr. bai or baie; It. baio; Sp. bayo; L. badius. Class Bd.]

Red, or reddish, inclining to a chestnut color; applied to the color of horses. The shades of this color are called light bay, dark bay, dappled bay, gilded bay, chestnut bay. In popular language, in England, all bay horses are called brown. – Johnson. Encyc.

BAY, n.¹ [Fr. baie; Sp. and Port. bahia; It. baia; D. baai; contracted from the root of Sax. byge, an angle, bygan, D. boogen, to bend, whence bow.]

1. An arm of the sea, extending into the land, not of any definite form, but smaller than a gulf, and larger than a creek. The name however is not used with much precision, and is often applied to large tracts of water, around which the land forms a curve, as Hudson's Bay. Nor is the name restricted to tracts of water with a narrow entrance, but used for any recess or inlet between capes or head lands, as the Bay of Biscay.
2. A pond-head, or a pond formed by a dam for the purpose of driving mill-wheels. [I believe not used in the United States.]
3. In a barn, a place between the floor and the end of the building, or a low inclosed place for depositing hay. In England, says Johnson, if a barn consists of a floor and two heads, where they lay corn, they call it a barn of two bays. These bays are from 14 to 20 feet long, and floors from 10 to 12 feet broad, and usually 20 feet long, which is the breadth of the barn. – Builder's Dict.
4. In ships of war, that part on each side between decks which lies between the bitts. – Mar. Dict.
5. Any kind of opening in walls. – Chambers.

BAY, n.² [Qu. Gr. βαιον, a branch of the palm tree. In Sp. baya is a berry, the fruit of the laurel.]

1. The laurel tree. Hence,
2. Bays, in the plural, an honorary garland or crown, bestowed as a prize for victory or excellence, anciently made or consisting of branches of the laurel. The patriot's honors, and the poet's bays. – Trumbull.
3. In some parts of the United States, a tract of land covered with bay trees. – Drayton, S. Carolina.

BAY, n.³ [Goth. beidan, to expect; It. bada; “tenere a bada,” to keep at bay; “star a bada,” to stand trifling; badare, to stand trifling; to amuse one's self, to take care, to watch, to covet; abbadare, to mind; Fr. bayer, to gape or stand gaping. Qu. aboyer.]

A state of expectation, watching or looking for; as, to keep a man at bay. So a stag at bay, is when he turns his head against the dogs. Whence abeyance, in law, or a state of expectancy.