Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BET'TER-MENT, n.

A making better; improvement. – Montague.

BET'TER-NESS, n.

Superiority. – Tooke.

BET'TING, ppr.

Waging; laying a wager.

BET'TOR, n. [from bet.]

One who bets or lays a wager. – Addison.

BET'TY, n. [Supposed to be a cant word from the name of a maid; but qu. is it not from the root of beat or L. peto?]

An instrument to break open doors. – Arbuthnot.

BE-TUM'BLED, a. [be and tumble.]

Rolled about; tumbled; disordered. – Shak.

BE-TU'TOR-ED, a.

Tutored; instructed. – Coleridge.

BE-TWEEN, prep. [Sax. betweonan, betwynan; of be and twain, two, Sax. tweg, twegen. The Saxons used, in the same sense, betuh, and betweoh, betwo, See Twain, Twin.]

1. In the intermediate space, without regard to distance; as, New York is between Boston and Philadelphia; the Delaware river runs between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
2. From one to another; passing from one to another, noting exchange of actions or intercourse; as, things go well between the parties.
3. Belonging to two or more, in common, or partnership; as, two friends have but one soul between them; twenty proprietors own a tract of land between them. We observe that between is not restricted to two.
4. Having mutual relation to two or more; as, discords exist between the families.
5. Noting difference, or discrimination of one from another; as, to distinguish between right and wrong.

BE-TWIXT', prep. [Sax. betwyx, betwyxt, betweox, betweoh; be and tweg, two.]

1. Between; in the space that separates two persons or things; as, betwixt two oaks.
2. Passing between; from one to another, noting intercourse. [See Between.]

BEV'EL, a.

Crooked; awry; oblique. – Bailey.

BEV'EL, n. [Fr. buveau. Qu. It. biecca livella, oblique level.]

1. Among masons, carpenters, joiners, &c., an instrument, or kind of square, one leg of which is frequently crooked, according to the sweep of an arch or vault. It is movable on a point or center, and so may be set to any angle. An angle that is not square is called a bevel angle, whether obtuse or acute. – Bailey. Johnson. Encyc.
2. A curve or inclination of a surface from a right line; as, the proper bevel of a piece of timber. – Encyc.

BEV'EL, v.i.

To curve; to incline towards a point, or from a direct line.

BEV'EL, v.t.

To cut to a bevel angle. – Moxon.

BEV'EL-ED, pp.

Formed to a bevel angle. – Kirwan.

BEV'EL-ED-WHEEL, n.

A wheel with a beveled edge, in which the cogs are inserted.

BEV'EL-ING, a.

Curving; bending from a right line.

BEV'EL-ING, n.

1. A hewing of timber with a proper and regular curve, according to a mold laid on one side of its surface.
2. The curve or bevel of timber. – Encyc.

BEV'EL-ING, ppr.

Forming to a bevel angle.

BEV'EL-MENT, n.

In mineralogy, bevelment supposes the removal of two contiguous segments from the edges, angles, or terminal faces of the predominant form, thereby producing two new faces, inclined to each other at a certain angle, and forming an edge. – Cleaveland.

BEV'ER, n. [It. bevere, to drink.]

A collation or small repast between meals. [Not used.] – Morison.

BEV'ER, v.i.

To take a small repast between meals. – Wallis.

BEV'ER-AGE, n. [It. bevere, or bere, to drink; beveraggio, drink; Sp. beber, from L. bibo; Fr. buveur; a tippler; buvette, a tavern; buvotter, to sip, to tipple; Arm. beuvrauh, beverage.]

1. Drink; liquor for drinking. It is generally used of mixed liquor. Nectar is called the beverage of the gods. In the middle ages, beverage, beveragium, or biberagiumi, was money for drink given to an artificer or other person over and above his hire or wages. The practice has existed, to a certain extent, in America, within my memory, and I know not but it still exists in some parts of this country. A person who had a new garment, was called on to pay beverage, that is, to treat with liquor. Hence,
2. A treat on wearing a new suit of clothes, or on receiving a suit from the tailor; also, a treat on first coming into prison; a garnish.
3. In England, water-cider, a mixture of cider and water, made by putting water into pumice before it is pressed. – Mortimer. Johnson.

BEV'ILE, n. [See Bevel.]

In heraldry, a thing broken or opening, like a carpenter's bevel. – Encyc.

BEV'Y, n. [I know not the origin or affinities of this word. The etymologies I have seen are not worth notice.]

A flock of birds; hence, a company; an assembly or collection of persons; usually applied to females.

BE-WAIL', v.i.

To express grief. – Shak.