Brusque Brusque adjective [ French brusque , from Italian brusco brusque, tart, sour, perhaps from Latin ( vitis ) labrusca wild (vine); or confer Old High German bruttisc grim, from brutti terror.] Rough and prompt in manner; blunt; abrupt; bluff; as, a brusque man; a brusque style.

Brusqueness Brusque"ness noun Quality of being brusque; roughness joined with promptness; bluntness. Brit. Quar.

Brussels Brus"sels noun A city of Belgium, giving its name to a kind of carpet, a kind of lace, etc.

Brussels carpet , a kind of carpet made of worsted yarn fixed in a foundation web of strong linen thread. The worsted, which alone shows on the upper surface in drawn up in loops to form the pattern. -- Brussels ground , a name given to the handmade ground of real Brussels lace. It is very costly because of the extreme fineness of the threads. -- Brussels lace , an expensive kind of lace of several varieties, originally made in Brussels; as, Brussels point, Brussels ground, Brussels wire ground. -- Brussels net , an imitation of Brussels ground, made by machinery. -- Brussels point . See Point lace . -- Brussels sprouts (Botany) , a plant of the Cabbage family, which produces, in the axils of the upright stem, numerous small green heads, or "sprouts," each a cabbage in miniature, of one or two inches in diameter; the thousand-headed cabbage. -- Brussels wire ground , a ground for lace, made of silk, with meshes partly straight and partly arched.

Brustle Brus"tle intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Brustled ; present participle & verbal noun Brustling ] [ Middle English brustlien and brastlien , Anglo-Saxon brastlian , from berstan to burst, akin to German prasseln to crackle. See Burst , intransitive verb ] 1. To crackle; to rustle, as a silk garment. [ Obsolete] Gower.

2. To make a show of fierceness or defiance; to bristle. [ Obsolete]

To brustle up , to bristle up. [ Obsolete] Otway.

Brustle Brus"tle noun A bristle. [ Obsolete or Prov.] Chaucer.

Brut Brut intransitive verb [ French brouter , Old French brouster . See Browse , noun ] To browse. [ Obsolete] Evelyn.

Brut Brut noun (Zoology) See Birt .

Bruta Bru"ta noun [ New Latin , neuter plural, from Latin brutus heavy, stupid.] (Zoology) See Edentata .

Brutal Bru"tal adjective [ Confer French brutal . See Brute , adjective ] 1. Of or pertaining to a brute; as, brutal nature. "Above the rest of brutal kind." Milton.

2. Like a brute; savage; cruel; inhuman; brutish; unfeeling; merciless; gross; as, brutal manners. " Brutal intemperance." Macaulay.

Brutalism Bru"tal·ism noun Brutish quality; brutality.

Brutality Bru·tal"i·ty noun ; plural Brutalities [ Confer French brutalité .] 1. The quality of being brutal; inhumanity; savageness; pitilessness.

2. An inhuman act.

The . . . brutalities exercised in war.
Brougham.

Brutalization Bru`tal·i·za"tion noun The act or process of making brutal; state of being brutalized.

Brutalize Bru"tal·ize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Brutalized ; present participle & verbal noun Brutalizing .] [ Confer French brutaliser .] To make brutal; beasty; unfeeling; or inhuman.

Brutalize Bru"tal·ize intransitive verb To become brutal, inhuman, barbarous, or coarse and beasty. [ R.]

He mixed . . . with his countrymen, brutalized with them in their habits and manners.
Addison.

Brutally Bru"tal·ly adverb In a brutal manner; cruelly.

Brute Brute (brut) adjective [ French brut , nasc., brute , fem., raw, rough, rude, brutish, Latin brutus stupid, irrational: confer Italian & Spanish bruto .] 1. Not having sensation; senseless; inanimate; unconscious; without intelligence or volition; as, the brute earth; the brute powers of nature.

2. Not possessing reason, irrational; unthinking; as, a brute beast; the brute creation.

A creature . . . not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endued
With sanctity of reason.
Milton.

3. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of, a brute beast. Hence: Brutal; cruel; fierce; ferocious; savage; pitiless; as, brute violence. Macaulay.

The influence of capital and mere brute labor.
Playfair.

4. Having the physical powers predominating over the mental; coarse; unpolished; unintelligent.

A great brute farmer from Liddesdale.
Sir W. Scott.

5. Rough; uncivilized; unfeeling. [ R.]

Brute Brute noun 1. An animal destitute of human reason; any animal not human; esp. a quadruped; a beast.

Brutes may be considered as either aëral, terrestrial, aquatic, or amphibious.
Locke.

2. A brutal person; a savage in heart or manners; as unfeeling or coarse person.

An ill-natured brute of a husband.
Franklin.

Syn. -- See Beast .

Brute Brute transitive verb [ For bruit .] To report; to bruit. [ Obsolete]

Brutely Brute"ly adverb In a rude or violent manner.

Bruteness Brute"ness noun 1. Brutality. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

2. Insensibility. "The bruteness of nature." Emerson.

Brutify Bru"ti·fy transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Brutified ; present participle & verbal noun Brutifying .] [ Brute + -fy : confer French brutifier .] To make like a brute; to make senseless, stupid, or unfeeling; to brutalize.

Any man not quite brutified and void of sense.
Barrow.

Brutish Bru"tish (bru"tĭsh) adjective Pertaining to, or resembling, a brute or brutes; of a cruel, gross, and stupid nature; coarse; unfeeling; unintelligent.

O, let all provocation
Take every brutish shape it can devise.
Leigh Hunt.

Man may . . . render himself brutish , but it is in vain that he would seek to take the rank and density of the brute.
I. Taylor.

Syn. -- Insensible; stupid; unfeeling; savage; cruel; brutal; barbarous; inhuman; ferocious; gross; carnal; sensual; bestial.

-- Bru"tish*ly , adverb -- Bru"tish*ness , noun

Brutism Bru"tism (bru"tĭz'm) noun The nature or characteristic qualities or actions of a brute; extreme stupidity, or beastly vulgarity.

Brutting Brut"ting noun Browsing. [ Obsolete] Evelyn.

Bryological Bry·o·log"i·cal adjective Relating to bryology; as, bryological studies.

Bryologist Bry·ol"o·gist noun One versed in bryology.

Bryology Bry·ol"o·gy noun [ Greek ... moss + - logy .] That part of botany which relates to mosses.

Bryonin Bry"o·nin noun (Chemistry) A bitter principle obtained from the root of the bryony ( Bryonia alba and B. dioica ). It is a white, or slightly colored, substance, and is emetic and cathartic.

Bryony Bry"o·ny (brī"o*nȳ) noun [ Latin bryonia , Greek brywni`a , from bry`ein to swell, esp. of plants.] (Botany) The common name of several cucurbitaceous plants of the genus Bryonia . The root of B. alba ( rough or white bryony ) and of B. dioica is a strong, irritating cathartic.

Black bryony , a plant ( Tamus communis ) so named from its dark glossy leaves and black root; black bindweed.

Bryophyta Bry·oph"y·ta noun plural See Cryptogamia .

Bryozoa Bry`o·zo"a noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... moss + ... animal.] (Zoology) A class of Molluscoidea, including minute animals which by budding form compound colonies; -- called also Polyzoa .

» They are often coralike in form and appearance, each small cell containing an individual zooid. Other species grow in delicate, flexible, branched forms, resembling moss, whence the name. Some are found in fresh water, but most are marine. The three principal divisions are Ectoprocta , Entoprocta , and Pterobranchia . See Cyclostoma , Chilostoma , and Phylactolema .

Bryozoan Bry`o·zo"an adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Bryozoa. -- noun One of the Bryozoa.

Bryozoum Bry`o·zo"um noun [ New Latin See Bryozoa .] (Zoology) An individual zooid of a bryozoan coralline, of which there may be two or more kinds in a single colony. The zoœcia usually have a wreath of tentacles around the mouth, and a well developed stomach and intestinal canal; but these parts are lacking in the other zooids ( Avicularia , Oœcia , etc.).

Buansuah Bu`an·su"ah noun [ Native name.] (Zoology) The wild dog of northern India ( Cuon primævus ), supposed by some to be an ancestral species of the domestic dog.

Buat Bu"at noun [ Scot., of uncertain origin.] A lantern; also, the moon. [ Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

Bub Bub noun Strong malt liquor. [ Cant] Prior.

Bub Bub noun [ Confer 2d Bubby .] A young brother; a little boy; -- a familiar term of address of a small boy.

Bub Bub transitive verb [ Abbrev. from Bubble .] To throw out in bubbles; to bubble. [ Obsolete] Sackville.

Bubale Bu"ba·le noun [ Confer French bubale . See Buffalo , noun ] (Zoology) A large antelope ( Alcelaphus bubalis ) of Egypt and the Desert of Sahara, supposed by some to be the fallow deer of the Bible.

Bubaline Bu"ba·line adjective (Zoology) Resembling a buffalo.

Bubaline antelope (Zoology) , the bubale.

Bubble Bub"ble noun [ Confer Dutch bobbel , Danish boble , Swedish bubbla . Confer Blob , noun ] 1. A thin film of liquid inflated with air or gas; as, a soap bubble ; bubbles on the surface of a river.

Beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow,
Like bubbles in a late disturbed stream.
Shak.

2. A small quantity of air or gas within a liquid body; as, bubbles rising in champagne or aërated waters.

3. A globule of air, or globular vacuum, in a transparent solid; as, bubbles in window glass, or in a lens.

4. A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.

5. The globule of air in the spirit tube of a level.

6. Anything that wants firmness or solidity; that which is more specious than real; a false show; a cheat or fraud; a delusive scheme; an empty project; a dishonest speculation; as, the South Sea bubble .

Then a soldier . . .
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.
Shak.

7. A person deceived by an empty project; a gull. [ Obsolete] "Ganny's a cheat, and I'm a bubble ." Prior.

Bubble Bub"ble intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bubbled ; present participle & verbal noun Bubbling ] [ Confer Dutch bobbelen , Danish boble . See Bubble , noun ] 1. To rise in bubbles, as liquids when boiling or agitated; to contain bubbles.

The milk that bubbled in the pail.
Tennyson.

2. To run with a gurgling noise, as if forming bubbles; as, a bubbling stream. Pope.

3. To sing with a gurgling or warbling sound.

At mine ear
Bubbled the nightingale and heeded not.
Tennyson.

Bubble shell Bub"ble shell` (Zoology) A marine univalve shell of the genus Bulla and allied genera, belonging to the Tectibranchiata.

Bubbler Bub"bler transitive verb To cheat; to deceive.

She has bubbled him out of his youth.
Addison.

The great Locke, who was seldom outwitted by false sounds, was nevertheless bubbled here.
Sterne.

Bubbler Bub"bler noun 1. One who cheats.

All the Jews, jobbers, bubblers , subscribers, projectors, etc.
Pope.

2. (Zoology) A fish of the Ohio river; -- so called from the noise it makes.

Bubbling Jock Bub"bling Jock` (Zoology) The male wild turkey, the gobbler; -- so called in allusion to its notes.

Bubbly Bub"bly adjective Abounding in bubbles; bubbling. Nash.

Bubby Bub"by (bŭb"bȳ) noun [ Confer Prov. German bübbi , or Italian poppa , Pr. popa , Old French poupe , a woman's breast.] A woman's breast. [ Low]

Bubby Bub"by noun [ A corruption of brother .] Bub; -- a term of familiar or affectionate address to a small boy.

Bubo Bu"bo (bū"bo) noun ; plural Buboes (-boz). [ Late Latin bubo the groin, a swelling in the groin, Greek boubw`n .] (Medicine) An inflammation, with enlargement, of a lymphatic gland, esp. in the groin, as in syphilis.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here: Webster > Letter B > Page 106 of 120.
« Previous ¦98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 ¦ Next »