Bidental adjective Having two teeth. Swift.

Bidentate adjective (Bot. & Zoology) Having two teeth or two toothlike processes; two- toothed.

Bidet noun [ French bidet , perhaps from Celtic; cr. Gael. bideach very little, diminutive, bidein a diminutive animal, W. bidan a weakly or sorry wretch.]

1. A small horse formerly allowed to each trooper or dragoon for carrying his baggage. B. Jonson.

2. A kind of bath tub for sitting baths; a sitz bath.

Bidigitate adjective [ Prefix bi- + digitate .] Having two fingers or fingerlike projections.

Biding noun Residence; habitation. Rowe.

Biela's comet (Astron.) A periodic coment, discovered by Biela in 1826, which revolves around the sun in 6.6 years. The November meteors (Andromedes or Bielids) move in its orbit, and may be fragments of the comet.

Bield noun A shelter. Same as Beild . [ Scot.]

Bield transitive verb To shelter. [ Scot.]

Bielid noun (Astron.) See Andromede .

Biennial adjective [ Latin biennalis and biennis , from biennium a space of two years; bis twice + annus year. Confer Annual .]
1. Happening, or taking place, once in two years; as, a biennial election.

2. (Botany) Continuing for two years, and then perishing, as plants which form roots and leaves the first year, and produce fruit the second.

Biennial noun
1. Something which takes place or appears once in two years; esp. a biennial examination.

2. (Botany) A plant which exists or lasts for two years.

Biennially adverb Once in two years.

Bier noun [ Middle English bæe , beere , Anglo-Saxon b...r , b...re ; akin to Dutch baar , Old High German bāra , German bahre , Icel barar , D... baare , Latin feretrum , Greek ... , from the same ...... bear to produce. See 1st Bear , and confer Barrow .]
1. A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave.

2. (Weaving) A count of forty threads in the warp or chain of woolen cloth. Knight.

Bierbalk (bēr"bak`) noun [ See Bier , and Balk , noun ] A church road (e. g., a path across fields) for funerals. [ Obsolete] Homilies.

Biestings, Beestings noun plural [ Middle English bestynge , Anglo-Saxon bȳsting , from bȳst , beost ; akin to Dutch biest , Old High German biost , German biest ; of unknown origin.] The first milk given by a cow after calving. B. Jonson.

The thick and curdy milk . . . commonly called biestings .
Newton. (1574).

Bifacial adjective [ Prefix bi- + facial .] Having the opposite surfaces alike.

Bifarious adjective [ Latin bifarius ; bis twice + fari to speak. Confer Greek ... twofold; ... twice + ... to say.]
1. Twofold; arranged in two rows.

2. (Botany) Pointing two ways, as leaves that grow only on opposite sides of a branch; in two vertical rows.

Bifariously adverb In a bifarious manner.

Biferous adjective [ Latin bifer ; bis twice + ferre to bear.] Bearing fruit twice a year.

Biffin noun [ Confer Beaufin .]
1. A sort of apple peculiar to Norfolk, Eng. [ Sometimes called beaufin ; but properly beefin (it is said), from its resemblance to raw beef.] Wright.

2. A baked apple pressed down into a flat, round cake; a dried apple. Dickens.

Bifid adjective [ Latin bifidus ; bis twice + root of findere to cleave or split: confer French bifide .] Cleft to the middle or slightly beyond the middle; opening with a cleft; divided by a linear sinus, with straight margins.

Bifidate adjective [ Latin bifidatus .] See Bifid .

Bifilar adjective [ Prefix bi- + filar .] Two-threaded; involving the use of two threads; as, bifilar suspension; a bifilar balance.

Bifilar micrometer (often called a bifilar ), an instrument form measuring minute distances or angles by means of two very minute threads (usually spider lines), one of which, at least, is movable; -- more commonly called a filar micrometer .

Biflabellate adjective [ Prefix bi- + flabellate .] (Zoology) Flabellate on both sides.

Biflagellate adjective [ Prefix bi- + flagellate .] Having two long, narrow, whiplike appendages.

Biflorate, Biflorous adjective [ Latin bis twice + flos , floris , flower.] (Botany) Bearing two flowers; two-flowered.

Bifocal adjective [ Prefix bi-+ focal .] Having two foci, as some spectacle lenses.

Bifold adjective [ Prefix bi- + fold .] Twofold; double; of two kinds, degrees, etc. Shak.

Bifoliate adjective [ Prefix bi- + foliate .] (Botany) Having two leaves; two- leaved.

Bifoliolate adjective [ Prefix bi- + foliolate .] (Botany) Having two leaflets, as some compound leaves.

Biforate adjective [ Latin bis twice + foratus , past participle of forare to bore or pierce.] (Botany) Having two perforations.

Biforine noun [ Latin biforis , biforus , having two doors; bis twice + foris door.] (Botany) An oval sac or cell, found in the leaves of certain plants of the order Araceæ . It has an opening at each end through which raphides, generated inside, are discharged.

Biforked adjective Bifurcate.

Biform adjective [ Latin biformis ; bis twice + forma shape: confer French biforme .] Having two forms, bodies, or shapes. Croxall.

Biformed adjective [ Prefix bi- + form .] Having two forms. Johnson.

Biformity noun A double form.

Biforn preposition & adverb Before. [ Obsolete]

Biforous adjective [ Latin biforis having two doors; bis twice, two + foris door.] See Biforate .

Bifronted adjective [ Prefix bi- + front .] Having two fronts. " Bifronted Janus." Massinger.

Bifurcate intransitive verb To divide into two branches.

Bifurcate, Bifurcated adjective [ Prefix bi- + furcate .] Two-pronged; forked.

Bifurcation noun [ Confer French bifurcation .] A forking, or division into two branches.

Bifurcous adjective [ Latin bifurcus ; bis twice + furca fork.] See Bifurcate , adjective [ R.] Coles.

Big adjective [ Compar. Bigger ; superl. Biggest .] [ Perh. from Celtic; confer W. beichiog , beichiawg , pregnant, with child, from baich burden, Arm. beac'h ; or confer Middle English bygly , Icelandic biggiligr , (properly) habitable; (then) magnigicent, excellent, from Middle English biggen , Icelandic byggja , to dwell, build, akin to English be .]
1. Having largeness of size; of much bulk or magnitude; of great size; large. "He's too big to go in there." Shak.

2. Great with young; pregnant; swelling; ready to give birth or produce; -- often figuratively.

[ Day] big with the fate of Cato and of Rome.
Addison.

3. Having greatness, fullness, importance, inflation, distention, etc., whether in a good or a bad sense; as, a big heart; a big voice; big looks; to look big . As applied to looks, it indicates haughtiness or pride.

God hath not in heaven a bigger argument.
Jer. Taylor.

» Big is often used in self-explaining compounds; as, big- boned; big- sounding; big- named; big- voiced.

To talk big , to talk loudly, arrogantly, or pretentiously.

I talked big to them at first.
De Foe.

Syn. -- Bulky; large; great; massive; gross.

Big Bend State Tennessee; -- a nickname.

Big, Bigg noun [ Middle English bif , bigge ; akin to Icelandic bygg , Danish byg , Swedish bjugg .] (Botany) Barley, especially the hardy four-rowed kind.

"Bear interchanges in local use, now with barley, now with bigg ."
New English Dict.

Big, Bigg transitive verb [ Middle English biggen , from Icelandic byggja to inhabit, to build, b...a (neut.) to dwell (active) to make ready. See Boor , and Bound .] To build. [ Scot. & North of Eng. Dial.] Sir W. Scott.

Biga noun [ Latin ] (Antiq.) A two-horse chariot.

Bigam noun [ Latin bigamus twice married: confer French bigame . See Bigamy. ] A bigamist. [ Obsolete]

Bigamist noun [ Confer Digamist .] One who is guilty of bigamy. Ayliffe.