A crossbow.

a natural family comprising the triggerfishes.

Like a fish of the genus Balistes; of the family Balistid/. See Filefish.

A narrow opening, often cruciform, through which arrows might be discharged.

A pole or a frame raised as a sea beacon or a landmark.

To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

to divide a territory into small, hostile states.

The countries occupying the Balkan Peninsula.

Same as baffled.

A person who stands on a rock or eminence to espy the shoals of herring, etc., and to give notice to the men in boats which way they pass; a conder; a huer.

likely to stop abruptly and unexpectedly.

In a manner to balk or frustrate.

Uneven; ridgy.

line across a billiard table behind which the cue balls are placed at the start of a game.

Apt to balk; as, a balky horse.

A social assembly for the purpose of dancing; -- usually applied to an occasion lavish or formal.

An ornament resembling a ball placed in a circular flower, the petals of which form a cup round it, -- usually inserted in a hollow molding.

skilled in stealing the ball or robbing a batter of a hit; -- used of a Baseball or basketball or football player.

shaped like a sphere.

To make mention of in ballads.

A form of French versification, sometimes imitated in English, in which three or four rhymes recur through three stanzas of eight or ten lines each, the stanzas concluding with a refrain, and the whole poem with an envoy.

A writer of ballads.

Ballad poems; the subject or style of ballads.

A fast-sailing schooner, used in the Bermudas and West Indies.

To bully; to threaten.

To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold.

A toll paid for the privilege of taking up ballast in a port or harbor.

That which is used for steadying anything; ballast.

See Balladry.

formed or gathered into a ball.

A female ballet dancer.

An artistic dance performed as a theatrical entertainment, or an interlude, by a number of persons, usually women. Sometimes, a scene accompanied by pantomime and dancing.

a man who trains ballet dancers.

a woman who trains ballet dancers.

a heelless slipper specifically designed to be worn by ballet dancers while dancing.

of or pertaining to ballet{1}.

a ballet enthusiast.

An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.

A crossbow.

Of or pertaining to the ballista, or to the art of hurling stones or missile weapons by means of an engine.

A rocket-propelled missile of long range which is guided only during the powered portion of its flight, which usually takes only a small part of the total flight time; -- contrasted with guided missile.

The science or art of hurling missile weapons by the use of an engine.

A smokeless powder containing equal parts of soluble nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin.

See Bailey.

To go up or voyage in a balloon.

Swelled out like a balloon.

One who goes up in a balloon; an a/ronaut.

The art or practice of managing balloons or voyaging in them; the sport of riding in balloons.

An a/ronaut.

The art or practice of ascending in a balloon; an older term for ballooning.

To vote for or in opposition to.

A leap of a horse, as between two pillars, or upon a straight line, so that when his four feet are in the air, he shows only the shoes of his hind feet, without jerking out.

In France, a second ballot taken after an indecisive first ballot to decide between two or several candidates; a runoff election.

Voting by ballot.

One who votes by ballot.

An officer who has charge of a ballot box.

A cudgel.

an athlete who plays baseball.

a pen which has a small metal ball as point of transfer of ink to paper, at the tip of a cylandrical and non-refillable reservoir of ink; -- short for ballpoint pen.

Incapable of being penetrated by balls from firearms; bulletproof.

nonsense.

something badly botched or muddled; a foul-up.

same as balls-up.

an informal intensifier.

noisy or blatant advertizing or publicity.

to be bossy towards; same as bullyrag.

To anoint with balm, or with anything medicinal. To soothe; to mitigate.

To render balmy.

In a balmy manner.

A long woolen petticoat, worn immediately under the dress.

Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild; as, balmy weather.

Of or pertaining to a bath.

A bathing room.

The act of bathing.

Belonging to a bath.

A description of baths.

A treatise on baths; the science of bathing.

The treatment of disease by baths.

nonsense; foolishness; bunk; -- also used as an interjection.

See Projector, below.

See Ballotade.

A raft or float, used principally on the Pacific coast of South America.

To treat or anoint with balsam; to relieve, as with balsam; to render balsamic.

The act of imparting balsamic properties.

Having the qualities of balsam; containing, or resembling, balsam; soft; mitigative; soothing; restorative.

Producing balsam.

a natural family comprising the balsams, distinguished from the family Geraniaceae by the irregular flowers.

The Impatiens balsamina, or garden balsam.

genus of coarse West American herbs with large roots containing an aromatic balsam.

Having the quality of balsam; containing balsam.

a plant of the genus Balsamorhiza having white-downy leaves in a basal rosette and yellow flowers and long balsam-scented taproots.

To stick together.

Of or pertaining to the sea which separates Norway and Sweden from Jutland, Denmark, and Germany; situated on the Baltic Sea.

A small column or pilaster, used as a support to the rail of an open parapet, to guard the side of a staircase, or the front of a gallery. See Balustrade.

Having balusters.

A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, or the eaves of a building, or as a guard railing on a staircase; -- it serves as a guard to prevent people from falling.

Honore de Balzac, a French novelist; b. 1799, d. 1850.

of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Honore Balzac.

An imposition; a cheat; a hoax.

To cheat; to wheedle.

The capital city of Mali. Population (2000) = 746,000.

A child or baby; esp., a representation in art of the infant Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes.

A representation of a grotesque scene from common or rustic life.

To flog with the bamboo.

To deceive by trickery; to cajole by confusing the senses; to hoax; to mystify; to humbug.

A swindler; one who deceives by trickery.

A tribe of plants comprising the bamboos.

An ancient title of the warden of the eastern marches of Hungary; now, a title of the viceroy of Croatia and Slavonia.

Commonplace; trivial; hackneyed; trite.

Something commonplace, hackneyed, or trivial; the commonplace, in speech.

A perennial herbaceous plant of almost treelike size (Musa sapientum); also, its edible fruit. See Musa.

The territory governed by a ban.

An ornamental covering, as of carpet or leather, for a bench or form.

A bank, especially that of Venice.

imp. of Bind.

An adhesive bandage, composed of a short ribbon of cloth or plastic with an adhesive coating on one side, and having a patch of gauze at the center. It is used to cover small cuts, abrasions, or blisters on the skin, and may be easily applied to and removed from the skin with no additional material. Originally a trademark, the term has been popularly used generically.

To bind, dress, or cover, with a bandage; as, to bandage the eyes.

A fabric made in Manila from the older leaf sheaths of the abaca (Musa textilis).

A species of silk or cotton handkerchief, having a uniformly dyed ground, usually of red or blue, with white or yellow figures of a circular, lozenge, or other simple form; -- it is often used as a neckerchief. The term is also used for any large and brightly colored handkerchief.

A light box of pasteboard or thin wood, usually cylindrical, for holding ruffs (the bands of the 17th century), collars, caps, bonnets, etc.