Bissell truck A truck for railroad rolling stock, consisting of two ordinary axle boxes sliding in guides attached to a triangular frame; -- called also pony truck .

Bissextile noun [ Latin bissextilis annus, from bissextus ( bis + sextus sixth, from sex six) the sixth of the calends of March, or twenty-fourth day of February, which was reckoned twice every fourth year, by the intercalation of a day.] Leap year; every fourth year, in which a day is added to the month of February on account of the excess of the tropical year (365 d. 5 h. 48 m. 46 s.) above 365 days. But one day added every four years is equivalent to six hours each year, which is 11 m. 14 s. more than the excess of the real year. Hence, it is necessary to suppress the bissextile day at the end of every century which is not divisible by 400, while it is retained at the end of those which are divisible by 400.

Bissextile adjective Pertaining to leap year.

Bisson adjective [ Middle English bisen , bisne , Anglo-Saxon bisen , probably for bīs...ne ; bi by + s...ne clear, akin to seón to see; clear when near, hence short-sighted. See See .] Purblind; blinding. [ Obsolete] " Bisson rheum." Shak.

Bister, Bistre noun [ French bistre a color made of soot; of unknown origin. Confer , however, LG. biester frowning, dark, ugly.] (Paint.) A dark brown pigment extracted from the soot of wood.

Bistipuled adjective [ Prefix bi- + stipule .] (Botany) Having two stipules.

Bistort noun [ Latin bis + tortus , past participle of torquere to twist: confer French bistorte .] (Botany) An herbaceous plant of the genus Polygonum , section Bistorta ; snakeweed; adderwort. Its root is used in medicine as an astringent.

Bistoury noun ; plural Bistouries [ French bistouri .] A surgical instrument consisting of a slender knife, either straight or curved, generally used by introducing it beneath the part to be divided, and cutting towards the surface.

Bistre noun See Bister .

Bisulcate adjective [ Prefix bi- + sulcate .]
1. Having two grooves or furrows.

2. (Zoology) Cloven; said of a foot or hoof.

Bisulcous adjective [ Latin bisulcus ; bis twice + sulcus furrow.] Bisulcate. Sir T. Browne.

Bisulphate noun [ Prefix bi- + sulphate .] (Chemistry) A sulphate in which but half the hydrogen of the acid is replaced by a positive element or radical, thus making the proportion of the acid to the positive or basic portion twice what it is in the normal sulphates; an acid sulphate.

Bisulphide noun [ Prefix bi- + sulphide .] (Chemistry) A sulphide having two atoms of sulphur in the molecule; a disulphide, as in iron pyrites, FeS2; -- less frequently called bisulphuret .

Bisulphite noun (Chemistry) A salt of sulphurous acid in which the base replaces but half the hydrogen of the acid; an acid sulphite.

Bisulphuret noun [ Prefix bi- + sulphuret .] (Chemistry) See Bisulphide .

Bit noun [ Middle English bitt , bite , Anglo-Saxon bite , bite, from bītan to bite. See Bite , noun & v. , and confer Bit a morsel.]
1. The part of a bridle, usually of iron, which is inserted in the mouth of a horse, and having appendages to which the reins are fastened. Shak.

The foamy bridle with the bit of gold.
Chaucer.

2. Fig.: Anything which curbs or restrains.

Bit transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bitted ; present participle & verbal noun Bitting .] To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of.

Bit imperfect & past participle of Bite .

Bit noun [ Middle English bite , Anglo-Saxon bita , from bītan to bite; akin to Dutch beet , German bissen bit, morsel, Icelandic biti . See Bite , v. , and confer Bit part of a bridle.]
1. A part of anything, such as may be bitten off or taken into the mouth; a morsel; a bite. Hence: A small piece of anything; a little; a mite.

2. Somewhat; something, but not very great.

My young companion was a bit of a poet.
T. Hook.

» This word is used, also, like jot and whit , to express the smallest degree; as, he is not a bit wiser.

3. A tool for boring, of various forms and sizes, usually turned by means of a brace or bitstock. See Bitstock .

4. The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers. Knight.

5. The cutting iron of a plane. Knight.

6. In the Southern and Southwestern States, a small silver coin (as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12 1/2 cents; also, the sum of 12 1/2 cents.

Bit my bit , piecemeal. Pope.

Bit 3d sing. pr. of Bid , for biddeth . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Bit noun In the British West Indies, a fourpenny piece, or groat.

Bitake transitive verb [ See Betake , Betaught .] To commend; to commit. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Bitangent adjective [ Prefix bi- + tangent .] (Geom.) Possessing the property of touching at two points. -- noun A line that touches a curve in two points.

Bitartrate noun (Chemistry) A salt of tartaric acid in which the base replaces but half the acid hydrogen; an acid tartrate, as cream of tartar.

Bitch noun [ Middle English biche , bicche , Anglo-Saxon bicce ; confer Icelandic bikkja , German betze , peize .]
1. The female of the canine kind, as of the dog, wolf, and fox.

2. An opprobrious name for a woman, especially a lewd woman. Pope.

Bite transitive verb [ imperfect Bit ; past participle Bitten Bit ; present participle & verbal noun Biting .] [ Middle English biten , Anglo-Saxon bītan ; akin to Dutch bijten , Old Saxon bītan , Old High German bīzan , German beissen , Goth. beitan , Icelandic bīta , Swedish bita , Danish bide , Latin findere to cleave, Sanskrit bhid to cleave. √87. Confer Fissure .]

1. To seize with the teeth, so that they enter or nip the thing seized; to lacerate, crush, or wound with the teeth; as, to bite an apple; to bite a crust; the dog bit a man.

Such smiling rogues as these,
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain.
Shak.

2. To puncture, abrade, or sting with an organ (of some insects) used in taking food.

3. To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth. "Frosts do bite the meads." Shak.

4. To cheat; to trick; to take in. [ Colloq.] Pope.

5. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the anchor bites the ground.

The last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, . . . it turned and turned with nothing to bite .
Dickens.

To bite the dust , To bite the ground , to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust . -- To bite in (Etching) , to corrode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid. -- To bite the thumb at (any one), formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a quarrel; to defy. "Do you bite your thumb at us?" Shak. -- To bite the tongue , to keep silence. Shak.

Bite intransitive verb
1. To seize something forcibly with the teeth; to wound with the teeth; to have the habit of so doing; as, does the dog bite ?

2. To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent; as, it bites like pepper or mustard.

3. To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.

At the last it [ wine] biteth like serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Prov. xxiii. 32.

4. To take a bait into the mouth, as a fish does; hence, to take a tempting offer.

5. To take or keep a firm hold; as, the anchor bites .

Bite noun [ Middle English bite , bit , bitt , Anglo-Saxon bite bite, from bītan to bite, akin to Icelandic bit , Old Saxon biti , German biss . See Bite , v. , and confer Bit .]
1. The act of seizing with the teeth or mouth; the act of wounding or separating with the teeth or mouth; a seizure with the teeth or mouth, as of a bait; as, to give anything a hard bite .

I have known a very good fisher angle diligently four or six hours for a river carp, and not have a bite .
Walton.

2. The act of puncturing or abrading with an organ for taking food, as is done by some insects.

3. The wound made by biting; as, the pain of a dog's or snake's bite ; the bite of a mosquito.

4. A morsel; as much as is taken at once by biting.

5. The hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted, or the hold which one part of a machine has upon another.

6. A cheat; a trick; a fraud. [ Colloq.]

The baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite , by deceiving and overreaching.
Humorist.

7. A sharper; one who cheats. [ Slang] Johnson.

8. (Print.) A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.

Biter noun
1. One who, or that which, bites; that which bites often, or is inclined to bite, as a dog or fish. "Great barkers are no biters ." Camden.

2. One who cheats; a sharper. [ Colloq.] Spectator.

Biternate adjective [ Prefix bi- + ternate .] (Botany) Doubly ternate, as when a petiole has three ternate leaflets. -- Bi*ter"nate*ly , adverb Gray.

Bitheism noun [ Prefix bi- + theism .] Belief in the existence of two gods; dualism.

Biting adjective That bites; sharp; cutting; sarcastic; caustic. "A biting affliction." "A biting jest." Shak.

Biting in (Etching.) The process of corroding or eating into metallic plates, by means of an acid. See Etch . G. Francis.

Bitingly adverb In a biting manner.

Bitless adjective Not having a bit or bridle.

Bito noun , Bi"to tree` [ Etym. uncertain.] (Botany) A small scrubby tree ( Balanites Ægyptiaca ) growing in dry regions of tropical Africa and Asia.

» The hard yellowish white wood is made into plows in Abyssinia; the bark is used in Farther India to stupefy fish; the ripe fruit is edible, when green it is an anthelmintic; the fermented juice is used as a beverage; the seeds yield a medicinal oil called zachun . The African name of the tree is hajilij .

Bitstock noun A stock or handle for holding and rotating a bit; a brace.

Bitt noun (Nautical) See Bitts .

Bitt transitive verb [ See Bitts .] (Nautical) To put round the bitts; as, to bitt the cable, in order to fasten it or to slacken it gradually, which is called veering away . Totten.

Bittacle noun A binnacle. [ Obsolete]

Bitten past participle of Bite .

Bitten adjective (Botany) Terminating abruptly, as if bitten off; premorse.

Bitter noun [ See Bitts .] (Nautical) AA turn of the cable which is round the bitts.

Bitter end , that part of a cable which is abaft the bitts, and so within board, when the ship rides at anchor.

Bitter adjective [ Anglo-Saxon biter ; akin to Goth. baitrs , Icelandic bitr , Dan., Swedish , D., & German bitter , Old Saxon bittar , from root of English bite . See Bite , transitive verb ]
1. Having a peculiar, acrid, biting taste, like that of wormwood or an infusion of hops; as, a bitter medicine; bitter as aloes.

2. Causing pain or smart; piercing; painful; sharp; severe; as, a bitter cold day.

3. Causing, or fitted to cause, pain or distress to the mind; calamitous; poignant.

It is an evil thing and bitter , that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.
Jer. ii. 19.

4. Characterized by sharpness, severity, or cruelty; harsh; stern; virulent; as, bitter reproach.

Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Col. iii. 19.

5. Mournful; sad; distressing; painful; pitiable.

The Egyptians . . . made their lives bitter with hard bondage.
Ex. i. 14.

Bitter apple , Bitter cucumber , Bitter gourd . (Botany) See Colocynth . -- Bitter cress (Botany) , a plant of the genus Cardamine , esp. C. amara . -- Bitter earth (Min.) , tale earth; calcined magnesia. -- Bitter principles (Chemistry) , a class of substances, extracted from vegetable products, having strong bitter taste but with no sharply defined chemical characteristics. -- Bitter salt , Epsom salts; magnesium sulphate. -- Bitter vetch (Botany) , a name given to two European leguminous herbs, Vicia Orobus and Ervum Ervilia . -- To the bitter end , to the last extremity, however calamitous.

Syn. -- Acrid; sharp; harsh; pungent; stinging; cutting; severe; acrimonious.

Bitter noun Any substance that is bitter. See Bitters .

Bitter transitive verb To make bitter. Wolcott.

Bitter spar A common name of dolomite; -- so called because it contains magnesia, the soluble salts of which are bitter. See Dolomite .

Bitterbump noun (Zoology) the butterbump or bittern.

Bitterful adjective Full of bitterness. [ Obsolete]

Bittering noun A bitter compound used in adulterating beer; bittern.