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Box-iron

A hollow smoothing iron containing a heater within.

box-number

the mailing address to which answers to a newspaper ad can be sent.

Boxberry

The wintergreen. (Gaultheria procumbens).

boxed

enclosed in or set off by a border or box; as, boxed sections of the report; boxed announcements in the newspaper.

Boxen

Made of boxwood; pertaining to, or resembling, the box (Buxus).

Boxhaul

To put (a vessel) on the other tack by veering her short round on her heel; -- so called from the circumstance of bracing the head yards abox (i. e., sharp aback, on the wind).

Boxhauling

A method of going from one tack to another. See Boxhaul.

Boxing

The act of fighting with the fist; a combat with the fist; sparring; pugilism.

Boxkeeper

An attendant at a theater who has charge of the boxes.

Boxthorn

A plant of the genus Lycium, esp. Lycium barbarum.

Boxwood

The wood of the box (Buxus).

Boy

To act as a boy; -- in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage.

Boyard Boyar

A member of a Russian aristocratic order abolished by Peter the Great. Also, one of a privileged class in Roumania.

Boyau

A winding or zigzag trench forming a path or communication from one siegework to another, to a magazine, etc.

Boycott

The process, fact, or pressure of boycotting; a combining to withhold or prevent dealing or social intercourse with a tradesman, employer, etc.; social and business interdiction for the purpose of coercion.

Boyer

A Flemish sloop with a castle at each end.

Boyhood

The state of being a boy; the time during which one is a boy.

Boyish

Resembling a boy in a manners or opinions; belonging to a boy; childish; trifling; puerile.

Boyne

a battle in the War of the Grand Alliance in Ireland in 1690, where William III of England defeated the deposed James II and so ended Stuart Catholicism in England.

boys-and-girls

a Eurafrican annual (Mercurialis annua) naturalized in America as a weed; formerly dried for use as a purgative, diuretic or antisyphilitic.

boysenberry

a cultivated hybrid bramble of California having large dark wine-red fruit with a raspberrylike flavor.

Boza

An acidulated fermented drink of the Arabs and Egyptians, made from millet seed and various astringent substances; also, an intoxicating beverage made from hemp seed, darnel meal, and water.

bra

same as brassiere.

Brabantine

Pertaining to Brabant, an ancient province of the Netherlands.

Brabble

A broil; a noisy contest; a wrangle.

Brabbler

A clamorous, quarrelsome, noisy fellow; a wrangler.

Braccate

Furnished with feathers which conceal the feet.

Brace

To get tone or vigor; to rouse one's energies; -- with up.

braced

held up by braces or buttresses.

Bracelet

An ornamental band or ring, for the wrist or the arm; in modern times, an ornament encircling the wrist, worn by women or girls.

Bracer

That which braces, binds, or makes firm; a band or bandage.

Brach

A bitch of the hound kind.

Brachelytra

A group of beetles having short elytra, as the rove beetles.

Brachial

Pertaining or belonging to the arm; as, the brachial artery; the brachial nerve.

Brachiata

A division of the Crinoidea, including those furnished with long jointed arms. See Crinoidea.

Brachiate

Having branches in pairs, decussated, all nearly horizontal, and each pair at right angles with the next, as in the maple and lilac.

Brachioganoidei

An order of ganoid fishes of which the bichir of Africa is a living example. See Crossopterygii.

Brachiolaria

A peculiar early larval stage of certain starfishes, having a bilateral structure, and swimming by means of bands of vibrating cilia.

Brachiopoda

A class of Molluscoidea having a symmetrical bivalve shell, often attached by a fleshy peduncle.

Brachium

The upper arm; the segment of the fore limb between the shoulder and the elbow.

Brachydome

A dome parallel to the shorter lateral axis. See Dome.

Brachypinacoid

A plane of an orthorhombic crystal which is parallel both to the vertical axis and to the shorter lateral (brachydiagonal) axis.

Brachyptera

A group of Coleoptera having short wings; the rove beetles.

Brachypteres

A group of birds, including auks, divers, and penguins.

Brachystochrone

A curve, in which a body, starting from a given point, and descending solely by the force of gravity, will reach another given point in a shorter time than it could by any other path. This curve of quickest descent, as it is sometimes called, is, in a vacuum, the same as the cycloid.

Brachyura

A group of decapod Crustacea, including the common crabs, characterized by a small and short abdomen, which is bent up beneath the large cephalo-thorax. [Also spelt Brachyoura.] See Crab, and Illustration in Appendix.

Bracing

The act of strengthening, supporting, or propping, with a brace or braces; the state of being braced.

Brack

Salt or brackish water.

Bracket

To place within brackets; to connect by brackets; to furnish with brackets.

Bracketing

A series or group of brackets; brackets, collectively.

Brackish

Saltish, or salt in a moderate degree, as water in saline soil.

Brackishness

The quality or state of being brackish, or somewhat salt.

Bract

A leaf, usually smaller than the true leaves of a plant, from the axil of which a flower stalk arises. Any modified leaf, or scale, on a flower stalk or at the base of a flower.

Bracteal

Having the nature or appearance of a bract.

Bractlet

A bract on the stalk of a single flower, which is itself on a main stalk that support several flowers.

Brad

A thin nail, usually small, with a slight projection at the top on one side instead of a head; also, a small wire nail, with a flat circular head; sometimes, a small, tapering, square-bodied finishing nail, with a countersunk head.

bradykinin

a hypotensive tissue hormone (C50H73N15O11) which acts on smooth muscle, dilates peripheral vessels and increases capillary permeability. It is formed locally in injured tissue and is believed to play a role in the inflammatory process. It is a nonapeptide with the sequence: Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe-Ser-Pro-Phe-Arg.

Bradypus

type genus of the Bradypodidae, comprising the three-toed sloths.

Brae

A hillside; a slope; a bank; a hill.

Brag

Proudly; boastfully.

Brage

the Norse god of poetry and music; a son of Odin.

Bragget

A liquor made of ale and honey fermented, with spices, etc.

Bragi

the Norse god of poetry and music; a son of Odin.

Bragly

In a manner to be bragged of; finely; proudly.

Brahma

The One First Cause; also, one of the triad of Hindu gods. The triad consists of Brahma, the Creator, Vishnu, the Preserver, and Siva, the Destroyer.

Brahmin Brahman

A person of the highest or sacerdotal caste among the Hindus.

Brahmo-somaj

A modern reforming theistic sect among the Hindus.

Brahmoism

The religious system of Brahmo-somaj.

Brahms

a famous German composer, b. 1833, d. 1897.

braided

adorned with braid; as, his braided collar.

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