Birdlime Bird"lime` transitive verb To smear with birdlime; to catch with birdlime; to insnare.

When the heart is thus birdlimed , then it cleaves to everything it meets with.
Coodwin.

Birdling Bird"ling noun A little bird; a nestling.

Birdman Bird"man noun A fowler or birdcatcher.

Birdman Bird"man noun An aviator; airman. [ Colloq.]

Birdseed Bird"seed` noun Canary seed, hemp, millet or other small seeds used for feeding caged birds.

Birdwoman Bird"wom`an noun An airwoman; an aviatress. [ Colloq.]

Birectangular Bi`rec·tan"gu·lar adjective [ Prefix bi- + rectangular .] Containing or having two right angles; as, a birectangular spherical triangle.

Bireme Bi"reme noun [ Latin biremis ; bis twice + remus oar: confer French birème .] An ancient galley or vessel with two banks or tiers of oars.

Biretta Bi·ret"ta noun Same as Berretta .

Birgander Bir"gan·der noun See Bergander .

Birk Birk noun [ See Birch , noun ] A birch tree. [ Prov. Eng.] "The silver birk ." Tennyson.

Birk Birk noun (Zoology) A small European minnow ( Leuciscus phoxinus ).

Birken Birk"en transitive verb [ From 1st Birk .] To whip with a birch or rod. [ Obsolete]

Birken Birk"en adjective Birchen; as, birken groves. Burns.

Birkie Bir"kie noun A lively or mettlesome fellow. [ Jocular, Scot.] Burns.

Birl Birl transitive verb & i. To revolve or cause to revolve; to spin. [ Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

Birl Birl transitive verb & i. [ Anglo-Saxon byrlian . √92.] To pour (beer or wine); to ply with drink; to drink; to carouse. [ Obsolete or Dial.] Skelton.

Birlaw Bir"law noun [ See By -law .] (Law) A law made by husbandmen respecting rural affairs; a rustic or local law or by-law. [ Written also byrlaw , birlie , birley .]

Birostrate, Birostrated Bi·ros`trate, Bi·ros"tra·ted adjective [ Prefix bi- + rostrate .] Having a double beak, or two processes resembling beaks.

The capsule is bilocular and birostrated .
Ed. Encyc.

Birr Birr intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Birred ; present participle & verbal noun Birring .] [ Confer Middle English bur , bir , wind, storm wind, from Icelandic byrr wind. Perh. imitative.] To make, or move with, a whirring noise, as of wheels in motion.

Birr Birr noun 1. A whirring sound, as of a spinning wheel. 2. A rush or impetus; force.

Birrus Bir"rus noun [ Late Latin , from Latin birrus a kind of cloak. See Berretta .] A coarse kind of thick woolen cloth, worn by the poor in the Middle Ages; also, a woolen cap or hood worn over the shoulders or over the head.

Birse Birse noun A bristle or bristles. [ Scot.]

Birt Birt (bẽrt) noun [ Middle English byrte ; confer French bertonneau . Confer Bret , Burt .] (Zoology) A fish of the turbot kind; the brill. [ Written also burt , bret , or brut .] [ Prov. Eng.]

Birth Birth (bẽrth) noun [ Middle English burth , birth , Anglo-Saxon gebyrd , from beran to bear, bring forth; akin to Dutch geboorte , Old High German burt , giburt , German geburt , Icelandic burðr , Sanskrit bhrti bearing, supporting; confer Ir. & Gael. beirthe born, brought forth. √92. See 1st Bear , and confer Berth .] 1. The act or fact of coming into life, or of being born; -- generally applied to human beings; as, the birth of a son. 2. Lineage; extraction; descent; sometimes, high birth; noble extraction.

Elected without reference to birth , but solely for qualifications.
Prescott.

3. The condition to which a person is born; natural state or position; inherited disposition or tendency.

A foe by birth to Troy's unhappy name.
Dryden.

4. The act of bringing forth; as, she had two children at a birth . "At her next birth ." Milton. 5. That which is born; that which is produced, whether animal or vegetable.

Poets are far rarer births than kings.
B. Jonson.

Others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself.
Addison.

6. Origin; beginning; as, the birth of an empire. New birth (Theol.) , regeneration, or the commencement of a religious life. Syn. -- Parentage; extraction; lineage; race; family.

Birth Birth noun See Berth . [ Obsolete] De Foe.

Birthday Birth"day` (bẽrth"dā`) noun 1. The day in which any person is born; day of origin or commencement.

Those barbarous ages past, succeeded next
The birthday of invention.
Cowper.

2. The day of the month in which a person was born, in whatever succeeding year it may recur; the anniversary of one's birth.

This is my birthday ; as this very day
Was Cassius born.
Shak.

Birthday Birth"day` adjective Of or pertaining to the day of birth, or its anniversary; as, birthday gifts or festivities.

Birthdom Birth"dom noun [ Birth + - dom .] The land of one's birth; one's inheritance. [ R.] Shak.

Birthing Birth"ing noun (Nautical) Anything added to raise the sides of a ship. Bailey.

Birthless Birth"less adjective Of mean extraction. [ R.] Sir W. Scott.

Birthmark Birth"mark` noun Some peculiar mark or blemish on the body at birth.

Most part of this noble lineage carried upon their body for a natural birthmark , . . . a snake.
Sir T. North.

Birthnight Birth"night` noun The night in which a person is born; the anniversary of that night in succeeding years.

The angelic song in Bethlehem field,
On thy birthnight , that sung thee Savior born.
Milton.

Birthplace Birth"place` noun The town, city, or country, where a person is born; place of origin or birth, in its more general sense. "The birthplace of valor." Burns.

Birthright Birth"right` noun Any right, privilege, or possession to which a person is entitled by birth, such as an estate descendible by law to an heir, or civil liberty under a free constitution; esp. the rights or inheritance of the first born.

Lest there be any . . . profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright .
Hebrew xii. 16.

Birthroot Birth"root` noun (Botany) An herbaceous plant ( Trillium erectum ), and its astringent rootstock, which is said to have medicinal properties.

Birthwort Birth"wort` noun A genus of herbs and shrubs ( Aristolochia ), reputed to have medicinal properties.

Bis Bis adverb [ Latin bis twice, for duis , from root of duo two. See Two , and confer Bi- .] Twice; -- a word showing that something is, or is to be, repeated; as a passage of music, or an item in accounts.

Bis- Bis- prefix A form of Bi- , sometimes used before s , c , or a vowel.

Bisa antelope Bi"sa an"te·lope (Zoology) See Oryx .

Bisaccate Bi·sac"cate adjective [ Prefix bi- + saccate .] (Botany) Having two little bags, sacs, or pouches.

Biscayan Bis·cay"an adjective Of or pertaining to Biscay in Spain. -- noun A native or inhabitant of Biscay.

Biscotin Bis"co·tin noun [ French biscotin . See Biscuit .] A confection made of flour, sugar, marmalade, and eggs; a sweet biscuit.

Biscuit Bis"cuit noun [ French biscuit (cf. Italian biscotto , Spanish bizcocho , Portuguese biscouto ), from Latin bis twice + coctus , past participle of coquere to cook, bake. See Cook , and confer Bisque a kind of porcelain.] 1. A kind of unraised bread, of many varieties, plain, sweet, or fancy, formed into flat cakes, and bakes hard; as, ship biscuit .

According to military practice, the bread or biscuit of the Romans was twice prepared in the oven.
Gibbon.

2. A small loaf or cake of bread, raised and shortened, or made light with soda or baking powder. Usually a number are baked in the same pan, forming a sheet or card. 3. Earthen ware or porcelain which has undergone the first baking, before it is subjected to the glazing. 4. (Sculp.) A species of white, unglazed porcelain, in which vases, figures, and groups are formed in miniature. Meat biscuit , an alimentary preparation consisting of matters extracted from meat by boiling, or of meat ground fine and combined with flour, so as to form biscuits.

Biscutate Bi·scu"tate adjective [ Prefix bi- + scutate .] (Botany) Resembling two bucklers placed side by side.

Bise Bise noun [ French] A cold north wind which prevails on the northern coasts of the Mediterranean and in Switzerland, etc.; -- nearly the same as the mistral .

Bise Bise noun (Paint.) See Bice .

Bisect Bi·sect" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bisected ; present participle & verbal noun Bisecting .] [ Latin bis twice + secare , sectum , to cut.] 1. To cut or divide into two parts. 2. (Geom.) To divide into two equal parts.

Bisection Bi·sec"tion noun [ Confer French bissection .] Division into two parts, esp. two equal parts.

Bisector Bi·sec"tor noun One who, or that which, bisects; esp. (Geom.) a straight line which bisects an angle.