Bullion Bul"lion (bul"yŭn)
noun [ Confer Middle English
bullyon a hook used for fastening the dress, a button, stud, an embossed ornament of various kinds,
e. g. , on the cover of a book, on bridles or poitrels, for purses, for breeches and doublets, Late Latin
bullio the swelling of boiling water, a mass of gold or silver, from Latin
bulla boss, stud, bubble (see
Bull an edict), or perhaps corrupted from French
billon base coin, Late Latin
billio bullion. Confer
Billon ,
Billet a stick.]
1. Uncoined gold or silver in the mass. » Properly, the precious metals are called
bullion , when smelted and not perfectly refined, or when refined, but in bars, ingots or in any form uncoined, as in plate. The word is often often used to denote gold and silver, both coined and uncoined, when reckoned by weight and in mass, including especially foreign, or uncurrent, coin.
2. Base or uncurrent coin. [ Obsolete]
And those which eld's strict doom did disallow,
And damm for bullion , go for current now.
Sylvester.
3. Showy metallic ornament, as of gold, silver, or copper, on bridles, saddles, etc. [ Obsolete]
The clasps and bullions were worth a thousand pound.
Skelton.
4. Heavy twisted fringe, made of fine gold or silver wire and used for epaulets; also, any heavy twisted fringe whose cords are prominent.
Bulrush Bul"rush` noun [ Middle English
bulrysche ,
bolroysche ; of uncertain origin, perhaps from
bole stem +
rush .]
(Botany) A kind of large rush, growing in wet land or in water. » The name
bulrush is applied in England especially to the cat-tail (
Typha latifolia and
T. angustifolia ) and to the lake club-rush (
Scirpus lacustris ); in America, to the
Juncus effusus , and also to species of
Scirpus or club-rush.