Bear-trap dam Bear"-trap` dam (Engineering) A kind of movable dam, in one form consisting of two leaves resting against each other at the top when raised and folding down one over the other when lowered, for deepening shallow parts in a river.

Bear, Bere Bear, Bere noun [ Anglo-Saxon bere . See Barley .] (Botany) Barley; the six-rowed barley or the four-rowed barley, commonly the former ( Hordeum hexastichon or H. vulgare ). [ Obsolete except in North of Eng. and Scot.]

Bear's-breech Bear's"-breech` noun (Botany) (a) See Acanthus , noun , 1. (b) The English cow parsnip ( Heracleum sphondylium ) Dr. Prior.

Bear's-ear Bear's-ear` (bârz"ēr`) noun (Botany) A kind of primrose ( Primula auricula ), so called from the shape of the leaf.

Bear's-foot Bear's"-foot` (-fot`) noun (Botany) A species of hellebore ( Helleborus fœtidus ), with digitate leaves. It has an offensive smell and acrid taste, and is a powerful emetic, cathartic, and anthelmintic.

Bear's-paw Bear's"-paw` noun (Zoology) A large bivalve shell of the East Indies ( Hippopus maculatus ), often used as an ornament.

Bearable Bear"a·ble adjective Capable of being borne or endured; tolerable. -- Bear"a*bly , adverb

Bearberry Bear"ber·ry noun (Botany) A trailing plant of the heath family ( Arctostaphylos uva-ursi ), having leaves which are tonic and astringent, and glossy red berries of which bears are said to be fond.

Bearbind Bear"bind` noun (Botany) The bindweed ( Convolvulus arvensis ).

Beard Beard (bērd) noun [ Middle English berd , Anglo-Saxon beard ; akin to Fries. berd , Dutch baard , German bart , Lithuanian barzda , OSlav. brada , Pol. broda , Russian boroda , Latin barba , W. barf . Confer 1st Barb .]

1. The hair that grows on the chin, lips, and adjacent parts of the human face, chiefly of male adults.

2. (Zoology) (a) The long hairs about the face in animals, as in the goat. (b) The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak in some birds (c) The appendages to the jaw in some Cetacea, and to the mouth or jaws of some fishes. (d) The byssus of certain shellfish, as the muscle. (e) The gills of some bivalves, as the oyster. (f) In insects, the hairs of the labial palpi of moths and butterflies.

3. (Botany) Long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn; as, the beard of grain.

4. A barb or sharp point of an arrow or other instrument, projecting backward to prevent the head from being easily drawn out.

5. That part of the under side of a horse's lower jaw which is above the chin, and bears the curb of a bridle.

6. (Print.) That part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face.

7. An imposition; a trick. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Beard grass (Botany) , a coarse, perennial grass of different species of the genus Andropogon . -- To one's beard , to one's face; in open defiance.

Beard Beard (bērd) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bearded ; present participle & verbal noun Bearding .] 1. To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of (a man), in anger or contempt.

2. To oppose to the face; to set at defiance.

No admiral, bearded by these corrupt and dissolute minions of the palace, dared to do more than mutter something about a court martial.
Macaulay.

3. To deprive of the gills; -- used only of oysters and similar shellfish.

Bearded Beard"ed adjective Having a beard. " Bearded fellow." Shak. " Bearded grain." Dryden.

Bearded vulture , Bearded eagle . (Zoology) See Lammergeir . -- Bearded tortoise . (Zoology) See Matamata .

Beardie Beard"ie (bērd"ȳ) noun [ From Beard , noun ] (Zoology) The bearded loach ( Nemachilus barbatus ) of Europe. [ Scot.]

Beardless Beard"less adjective 1. Without a beard. Hence: Not having arrived at puberty or manhood; youthful.

2. Destitute of an awn; as, beardless wheat.

Beardlessness Beard"less·ness noun The state or quality of being destitute of beard.

Bearer Bear"er (bâr"ẽr) noun 1. One who, or that which, bears, sustains, or carries. " Bearers of burdens." 2 Chron. ii. 18. "The bearer of unhappy news." Dryden.

2. Specifically: One who assists in carrying a body to the grave; a pallbearer. Milton.

3. A palanquin carrier; also, a house servant. [ India]

4. A tree or plant yielding fruit; as, a good bearer .

5. (Com.) One who holds a check, note, draft, or other order for the payment of money; as, pay to bearer .

6. (Print.) A strip of reglet or other furniture to bear off the impression from a blank page; also, a type or type-high piece of metal interspersed in blank parts to support the plate when it is shaved.

Bearherd Bear"herd` noun A man who tends a bear.

Bearhound Bear"hound` noun A hound for baiting or hunting bears. Carlyle.

Bearing Bear"ing (bâr"ĭng) noun 1. The manner in which one bears or conducts one's self; mien; behavior; carriage.

I know him by his bearing .
Shak.

2. Patient endurance; suffering without complaint.

3. The situation of one object, with respect to another, such situation being supposed to have a connection with the object, or influence upon it, or to be influenced by it; hence, relation; connection.

But of this frame, the bearings and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies.
Pope.

4. Purport; meaning; intended significance; aspect.

5. The act, power, or time of producing or giving birth; as, a tree in full bearing ; a tree past bearing .

[ His mother] in travail of his bearing .
R. of Gloucester.

6. (Architecture) (a) That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports; as, a lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall. (b) The portion of a support on which anything rests. (c) Improperly, the unsupported span; as, the beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports.

7. (Machinery) (a) The part of an axle or shaft in contact with its support, collar, or boxing; the journal. (b) The part of the support on which a journal rests and rotates.

8. (Her.) Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms -- commonly in the plural

A carriage covered with armorial bearings .
Thackeray.

9. (Nautical) (a) The situation of a distant object, with regard to a ship's position, as on the bow, on the lee quarter, etc.; the direction or point of the compass in which an object is seen; as, the bearing of the cape was W. N. W. (b) plural The widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer. (c) plural The line of flotation of a vessel when properly trimmed with cargo or ballast.

Ball bearings . See under Ball . -- To bring one to his bearings , to bring one to his senses. -- To lose one's bearings , to become bewildered. -- To take bearings , to ascertain by the compass the position of an object; to ascertain the relation of one object or place to another; to ascertain one's position by reference to landmarks or to the compass; hence (Fig.), to ascertain the condition of things when one is in trouble or perplexity.

Syn. -- Deportment; gesture; mien; behavior; manner; carriage; demeanor; port; conduct; direction; relation; tendency; influence.

Bearing cloth Bear"ing cloth` (klŏth`; 115). A cloth with which a child is covered when carried to be baptized. Shak.

Bearing rein Bear"ing rein` A short rein looped over the check hook or the hames to keep the horse's head up; -- called in the United States a checkrein .

Bearing ring Bear"ing ring` In a balloon, the braced wooden ring attached to the suspension ropes at the bottom, functionally analogous to the keel of a ship.

Bearish Bear"ish adjective Partaking of the qualities of a bear; resembling a bear in temper or manners. Harris.

Bearishness Bear"ish·ness noun Behavior like that of a bear.

Bearn Bearn noun See Bairn . [ Obsolete]

Bearskin Bear"skin` noun 1. The skin of a bear.

2. A coarse, shaggy, woolen cloth for overcoats.

3. A cap made of bearskin, esp. one worn by soldiers.

Bearward Bear"ward` noun [ Bear + ward a keeper.] A keeper of bears. See Bearherd . [ R.] Shak.

Beast Beast (bēst) noun [ Middle English best , beste , Old French beste , French bête , from Latin bestia .] 1. Any living creature; an animal; -- including man, insects, etc. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

2. Any four-footed animal, that may be used for labor, food, or sport; as, a beast of burden.

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast .
Prov. xii. 10.

3. As opposed to man : Any irrational animal.

4. Fig.: A coarse, brutal, filthy, or degraded fellow.

5. A game at cards similar to loo. [ Obsolete] Wright.

6. A penalty at beast, omber, etc. Hence: To be beasted, to be beaten at beast, omber, etc.

Beast royal , the lion. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Syn. -- Beast , Brute . When we use these words in a figurative sense, as applicable to human beings, we think of beasts as mere animals governed by animal appetite; and of brutes as being destitute of reason or moral feeling, and governed by unrestrained passion. Hence we speak of beastly appetites; beastly indulgences, etc.; and of brutal manners; brutal inhumanity; brutal ferocity. So, also, we say of a drunkard, that he first made himself a beast , and then treated his family like a brute .

Beasthood Beast"hood noun State or nature of a beast.

Beastings Beast"ings noun plural See Biestings .

Beastlihead Beast"li·head noun [ Beastly + -head state.] Beastliness. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Beastlike Beast"like" adjective Like a beast.

Beastliness Beast"li·ness noun The state or quality of being beastly.

Beastly Beast"ly (bēst"lȳ) adjective 1. Pertaining to, or having the form, nature, or habits of, a beast.

Beastly divinities and droves of gods.
Prior.

2. Characterizing the nature of a beast; contrary to the nature and dignity of man; brutal; filthy.

The beastly vice of drinking to excess.
Swift.

3. Abominable; as, beastly weather. [ Colloq. Eng.]

Syn. -- Bestial; brutish; irrational; sensual; degrading.

Beat Beat (bēt) transitive verb [ imperfect Beat ; past participle Beat , Beaten ; present participle & verbal noun Beating .] [ Middle English beaten , beten , Anglo-Saxon beátan ; akin to Icelandic bauta , Old High German b...zan . Confer 1st Butt , Button .] 1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat grain, in order to force out the seeds; to beat eggs and sugar; to beat a drum.

Thou shalt beat some of it [ spices] very small.
Ex. xxx. 36.

They did beat the gold into thin plates.
Ex. xxxix. 3.

2. To punish by blows; to thrash.

3. To scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of rousing game.

To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey.
Prior.

4. To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind.

A frozen continent . . . beat with perpetual storms.
Milton.

5. To tread, as a path.

Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way.
Blackmore.

6. To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish or conquer; to surpass.

He beat them in a bloody battle.
Prescott.

For loveliness, it would be hard to beat that.
M. Arnold.

7. To cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; -- often with out . [ Colloq.]

8. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.

Why should any one . . . beat his head about the Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic?
Locke.

9. (Mil.) To give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound by beat of drum; as, to beat an alarm, a charge, a parley, a retreat; to beat the general, the reveille, the tattoo. See Alarm , Charge , Parley , etc.

To beat down , to haggle with (any one) to secure a lower price; to force down. [ Colloq.] -- To beat into , to teach or instill, by repetition. -- To beat off , to repel or drive back. -- To beat out , to extend by hammering. -- To beat out of a thing, to cause to relinquish it, or give it up. "Nor can anything beat their posterity out of it to this day." South. -- To beat the dust . (Man.) (a) To take in too little ground with the fore legs, as a horse. (b) To perform curvets too precipitately or too low. -- To beat the hoof , to walk; to go on foot. -- To beat the wing , to flutter; to move with fluttering agitation. -- To beat time , to measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot. -- To beat up , to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to beat up an enemy's quarters.

Syn. -- To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump; baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; cudgel; belabor; conquer; defeat; vanquish; overcome.

Beat Beat intransitive verb 1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.

The men of the city . . . beat at the door.
Judges. xix. 22.

2. To move with pulsation or throbbing.

A thousand hearts beat happily.
Byron.

3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do.

Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below.
Dryden.

They [ winds] beat at the crazy casement.
Longfellow.

The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die.
Jonah iv. 8.

Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers.
Bacon.

4. To be in agitation or doubt. [ Poetic]

To still my beating mind.
Shak.

5. (Nautical) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse.

6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat .

7. (Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.

8. (Acoustics & Mus.) To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; -- said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.

A beating wind (Nautical) , a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress. -- To beat about , to try to find; to search by various means or ways. Addison. -- To beat about the bush , to approach a subject circuitously. -- To beat up and down (Hunting) , to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag. -- To beat up for recruits , to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise.

Beat Beat noun 1. A stroke; a blow.

He, with a careless beat ,
Struck out the mute creation at a heat.
Dryden.

2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse.

3. (Mus.) (a) The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit. (b) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament.

4. (Acoustics & Mus.) A sudden swelling or reënforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See Beat , intransitive verb , 8.

5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat .

6. A place of habitual or frequent resort.

7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead ; as, a dead beat . [ Low]

Beat of drum (Mil.) , a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc. -- Beat of a watch , or clock , the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of beat , according as the stroke is at equal or unequal intervals.

Beat Beat adjective Weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted. [ Colloq.]

Quite beat , and very much vexed and disappointed.
Dickens.

Beat Beat noun 1. One that beats, or surpasses, another or others; as, the beat of him. [ Colloq.]

2. The act of one that beats a person or thing ; as: (a) (Newspaper Cant) The act of obtaining and publishing a piece of news by a newspaper before its competitors; also, the news itself; a scoop.

It's a beat on the whole country.

Scribner's Mag.

(b) (Hunting) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively. "Driven out in the course of a beat ." Encyc. of Sport.

Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them.

Encyc. of Sport.

(c) (Fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade.

Beaten Beat"en (bēt"'n; 95) adjective 1. Made smooth by beating or treading; worn by use. "A broad and beaten way." Milton. " Beaten gold." Shak.

2. Vanquished; conquered; baffled.

3. Exhausted; tired out.

4. Become common or trite; as, a beaten phrase. [ Obsolete]

5. Tried; practiced. [ Obsolete] Beau. & Fl.

Beater Beat"er (bēt"ẽr) noun 1. One who, or that which, beats.

2. A person who beats up game for the hunters. Black.

Beath Beath (bē&thlig;) transitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon beðian to foment.] To bathe; also, to dry or heat, as unseasoned wood. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Beatific, Beatifical Be`a·tif"ic, Be`a·tif"ic·al adjective [ Confer French béatifique , Latin beatificus . See Beatify .] Having the power to impart or complete blissful enjoyment; blissful. "The beatific vision." South. -- Be`a*tif"ic*al*ly , adverb

Beatificate Be`a·tif"i·cate transitive verb To beatify. [ Obsolete] Fuller.

Beatification Be·at`i·fi·ca"tion noun [ Confer French béatification .] The act of beatifying, or the state of being beatified; esp., in the R. C. Church, the act or process of ascertaining and declaring that a deceased person is one of "the blessed," or has attained the second degree of sanctity, -- usually a stage in the process of canonization. "The beatification of his spirit." Jer. Taylor.

Beatify Be·at"i·fy (be*ăt"ĭ*fī) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Beatified (-fīd); present participle & verbal noun Beatifying .] [ Latin beatificare ; beatus happy (fr. beare to bless, akin to bonus good) + facere to make: confer French béatifier . See Bounty .] 1. To pronounce or regard as happy, or supremely blessed, or as conferring happiness.

The common conceits and phrases that beatify wealth.
Barrow.

2. To make happy; to bless with the completion of celestial enjoyment. " Beatified spirits." Dryden.

3. (R. C. Ch.) To ascertain and declare, by a public process and decree, that a deceased person is one of "the blessed," and is to be reverenced as such, though not canonized.

Beating Beat"ing noun 1. The act of striking or giving blows; punishment or chastisement by blows.

2. Pulsation; throbbing; as, the beating of the heart.

3. (Acoustics & Mus.) Pulsative sounds. See Beat , noun

4. (Nautical) The process of sailing against the wind by tacks in zigzag direction.

Beatitude Be·at"i·tude noun [ Latin beatitudo : confer French béatitude . See Beatify .] 1. Felicity of the highest kind; consummate bliss.

2. Any one of the nine declarations (called the Beatitudes ), made in the Sermon on the Mount ( Matt. v. 3-12 ), with regard to the blessedness of those who are distinguished by certain specified virtues.

3. (R. C. Ch.) Beatification. Milman.

Syn. -- Blessedness; felicity; happiness.

Beau Beau (bō) noun ; plural French Beaux (E. pron. bōz), English Beaus (bōz). [ French, a fop, from beau fine, beautiful, from Latin bellus pretty, fine, for bonulus , dim. of bonus good. See Bounty , and confer Belle , Beauty .] 1. A man who takes great care to dress in the latest fashion; a dandy.

2. A man who escorts, or pays attentions to, a lady; an escort; a lover.

Beau ideal Beau" i·de"al (bō" i*dē" a l; 277). [ French beau beautiful + idéal ideal.] A conception or image of consummate beauty, moral or physical, formed in the mind, free from all the deformities, defects, and blemishes seen in actual existence; an ideal or faultless standard or model.

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