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Banana

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

Banat

The territory governed by a ban.

Bancal

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

Banco

A bank, especially that of Venice.

Band Aid band-aid Band-Aid

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.

Bandage

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

Bandala

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

Bandana Bandanna

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.

Bandbox

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

Bandeau

A narrow band or fillet, as for the hair, part of a headdress, etc.

bandelette Bandlet Bandelet

A small band or fillet; any little band or flat molding, compassing a column, like a ring, and usually at the top of the column; an annulet.

Banderilla

A barbed dart carrying a banderole which the banderillero thrusts into the neck or shoulder of the bull in a bullfight.

Banderillero

One who thrusts in the banderillas in bullfighting.

Bandicoot

A species of very large rat (Mus giganteus), found in India and Ceylon. It does much injury to rice fields and gardens. A ratlike marsupial animal (genus Perameles) of several species, found in Australia and Tasmania.

banding

A strip or stripe of a contrasting color or material.

Bandle

An Irish measure of two feet in length.

Bandog

A mastiff or other large and fierce dog, usually kept chained or tied up.

Bandolier Bandoleer

A broad leather belt formerly worn by soldiers over the right shoulder and across the breast under the left arm. Originally it was used for supporting the musket and twelve cases for charges, but later only as a cartridge belt.

Bandon

Disposal; control; license.

Bandore

A musical stringed instrument, similar in form to a guitar; a pandore. It is now obsolete, but see bandura.

bandura

A traditional Ukrainian stringed musical instrument shaped like a lute, having many strings.

bandwagon

A popular trend that attracts growing support.

bandwidth

The maximum rate of information transfer (measured in bits/second) that can be carried by a communication channel.

Bandy

Bent; crooked; curved laterally, esp. with the convex side outward; as, a bandy leg.

Bane

To be the bane of; to ruin.

Baneberry

A genus (Act/a) of plants, of the order Ranunculace/, native in the north temperate zone. The red or white berries are poisonous.

Baneful

Having poisonous qualities; deadly; destructive; injurious; noxious; pernicious.

Bang

The short, front hair combed down over the forehead, esp. when cut squarely across; a false front of hair similarly worn; -- usually used in the plural; as, her bangs came down almost to her eyes.

Bangkok

The capital city of Thailand. Population (2000) = 5,882,000.

Bangladesh

An independent Asian country on teh Bay of Bengal that was once part of India and then part of Pakistan (called East Pakistan).

Bangladeshi

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Bangladesh.

Bangle

An ornamental circlet, of glass, gold, silver, or other material, worn mostly by women, upon the wrist or ankle; a ring bracelet. It differs from other bracelets in being rigid and not articulated, in contrast to bracelets made of links.

Bangui

The capital city of Central African Republic. Population (2000) = 706,000.

Banian

A Hindu trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer.

Banish

To condemn to exile, or compel to leave one's country, by authority of the ruling power.

Banishment

The act of banishing, or the state of being banished.

banjo

A stringed musical instrument having a head and neck like the guitar, and a circular body like a tambourine. It has five strings, and is played with the fingers and hands.

Banjul

The capital city of Gambia. Population (2000) = 44,188,.

Bank

To tilt sidewise in rounding a curve; -- said of a flying machine, an a/rocurve, or the like.

Bank Bancus Banc

A bench; a high seat, or seat of distinction or judgment; a tribunal or court.

Bank-sided

Having sides inclining inwards, as a ship; -- opposed to wall-sided.

Banker

One who conducts the business of banking; one who, individually, or as a member of a company, keeps an establishment for the deposit or loan of money, or for traffic in money, bills of exchange, etc.

Bankia

a genus consisting of giant shipworms.

Banking

The business of a bank or of a banker.

bankroll

To pay the costs of; as, Who will bankroll the restoration of the former East German economy?.

Bankrupt

To make bankrupt; to bring financial ruin upon; to impoverish.

Bankruptcy

The state of being actually or legally bankrupt.

Bankside

The slope of a bank, especially of the bank of a stream.

Banlieue

The territory without the walls, but within the legal limits, of a town or city.

Banner

A kind of flag attached to a spear or pike by a crosspiece, and used by a chief as his standard in battle.

Bannered

Furnished with, or bearing, banners.

Bannerol

A banderole; esp. a banner displayed at a funeral procession and set over the tomb. See Banderole.

Bannock

A kind of cake or bread, in shape flat and roundish, commonly made of oatmeal or barley meal and baked on an iron plate, or griddle; -- used in Scotland and the northern counties of England.

Bannockburn

A battle in which the Scots under Robert the Bruce defeated the English and assured the independence of Scotland.

Banns

Notice of a proposed marriage, proclaimed in a church, or other place prescribed by law, in order that any person may object, if he knows of just cause why the marriage should not take place.

Banquet

To regale one's self with good eating and drinking; to feast.

banqueting

Eating an elaborate meal (often accompanied by entertainment).

Banquette

A raised way or foot bank, running along the inside of a parapet, on which musketeers stand to fire upon the enemy.

Banquetter

One who banquets; one who feasts or makes feasts.

Banshie Banshee

A supernatural being supposed to warn a family of the approaching death of one of its members, by wailing or singing in a mournful voice, as under the windows of the house.

Banstickle

A small fish, the three-spined stickleback.

Bantam

A variety of small barnyard fowl, with feathered legs, probably brought from Bantam, a district of Java.

Banteng

The wild ox of Java (Bibos Banteng).

Banter

The act of bantering; joking or jesting; humorous or good-humored raillery; pleasantry.

Bantingism

A method of reducing corpulence by avoiding food containing much farinaceous, saccharine, or oily matter; -- so called from William Banting of London.

Bantling

A young or small child; an infant.

Bantu

Of or pertaining to the Bantu language group Bantu (definition 2); as, Bantu languages.

Banxring

An East Indian insectivorous mammal of the genus Tupaia.

Banyan

A tree of the same genus as the common fig, and called the Indian fig (Ficus Indica), whose branches send shoots to the ground, which take root and become additional trunks, until it may be the tree covers some acres of ground and is able to shelter thousands of men.

Banzai

Lit., May you live ten thousand years; -- used in salutation of the emperor and as a battle cry.

Baobab

A gigantic African tree (Adansonia digitata), also naturalized in India. See Adansonia.

Baphomet

An idol or symbolical figure which the Templars were accused of using in their mysterious rites.

Baptisia

A genus of North American plants with showy pealike flowers and an inflated pod.

Baptism

The act of baptizing; the application of water to a person, as a sacrament or religious ceremony, by which he is initiated into the visible church of Christ. This is performed by immersion, sprinkling, or pouring.

Baptismal

Pertaining to baptism; as, baptismal vows.

Baptistry Baptistery

In early times, a separate building, usually polygonal, used for baptismal services. Small churches were often changed into baptisteries when larger churches were built near. A part of a church containing a font and used for baptismal services.

Baptizable

Capable of being baptized; fit to be baptized.

Baptize

To administer the sacrament of baptism to.

Bar

To fasten with a bar; as, to bar a door or gate.

Baraca

An international, interdenominational organization of Bible classes of young men; -- so named in allusion to the Hebrew word Berachah (Meaning blessing) occurring in 2 Chron. xx. 26 and 1 Chron. xii.

Barad

The pressure of one dyne per square centimeter; -- used as a unit of pressure.

baragnosis

the inability to estimate the weight of an object.

baranduki

The terrestrial Siberian squirrel (Eutamius sibiricus).

Barathea

A soft fabric with a kind of basket weave and a diapered pattern.

Barb

Armor for a horse. Same as 2d Bard, n., 1.

Barbacan Barbican

A tower or advanced work defending the entrance to a castle or city, as at a gate or bridge. It was often large and strong, having a ditch and drawbridge of its own.

Barbadian

Of or pertaining to Barbados. A native of Barbados.

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