One who officiously concerns himself with the affairs of others; a meddling person.
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the state of being or appearing to be actively engaged in an activity; as, they manifested all the busyness of a pack of beavers.
active work of little value, performed merely to occupy time, avoid boredom, or to look busy; as, while he was waiting he filled the days with busywork.
See Butt, v., and Abut, v.
A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.
The common European starfish (Asterias rubens).
a white crystalline ester (C18H30N2O2) that is applied to mucous membranes as a topical anesthetic. Chemically it is 3-(di-n-butylamino)-1-propanol 4-aminobenzoate (H2N.C6H4.CO.O.(CH2)3N(C4H9)2). It is usually used as the sulfate salt.
a gaseous hydrocarbon C4H6; -- it is used as a monomer unit in making synthetic rubbers.
An inflammable gaseous saturated hydrocarbon, C4H10, of the marsh gas, or paraffin, series.
a flammable alcohol (C4H9.OH) derived from butane and used as a solvent.
a lesbian who is noticeably masculine.
To kill or slaughter (animals) for food, or for market; as, to butcher hogs.
any species of shrike of the genus Lanius, so called because they impale their prey on thorns.
The business of a butcher.
Butchery quality.
Like a butcher; without compunction; savage; bloody; inhuman; fell.
The business of a butcher.
a genus of East Indian trees or shrubs: dhak.
any of three isomeric singly unsaturated hydrocarbons C4H8; all are used in making synthetic rubbers; -- called also butylene.
a genus of broad-winged soaring hawks.
any hawk of the genus Buteo.
An officer in a king's or a nobleman's household, whose principal business it is to take charge of the liquors, plate, etc.; the head servant in a large house.
A duty of two shillings on every tun of wine imported into England by merchant strangers; -- so called because paid to the king's butler for the king.
The office of a butler.
A buttress of an arch; the supporter, or that part which joins it to the upright pier.
The common English flounder.
A detached low mountain, or high rising abruptly from the general level of the surrounding plain; -- applied to peculiar elevations in the Rocky Mountain region.
One who, or that which, butts.
a name given to several perennial plants having showy flowers of two shades of yellow, or of yellow and orange, such as Narcissus incomparabilis in Europe, and the toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) in the United States; the latter is a naturalized weed in North America.
Apt to let things fall, or to let them slip away; not skillful in using the hands; slippery; careless.
tall annual herb or subshrub of tropical Asia having velvety leaves and yellow flowers and yielding a strong fiber; naturalized in SE Europe and US.
A kind of candy, mainly composed of sugar and butter.
The buffel duck.
The rice bunting or bobolink; -- so called in the island of Jamaica.
The European bittern.
A broad-leaved plant (Petasites vulgaris) of the Composite family, said to have been used in England for wrapping up pats of butter.
A plant of the genus Ranunculus, or crowfoot, particularly Ranunculus bulbosus, with bright yellow flowers; -- called also butterflower, golden cup, and kingcup. It is the cuckoobud of Shakespeare.
the fatty substance of milk from which butter is made.
someone who drops things (especially one who cannot catch a ball); a person who is butter-fingered.
A name given to several different fishes, in allusion to their slippery coating of mucus, as the Stromateus triacanthus of the Atlantic coast, the Epinephelus punctatus of the southern coast, the rock eel, and the kelpfish of New Zealand.
any of various plants of the genus Ranunculus.
A general name for the numerous species of diurnal Lepidoptera.
tropical gurnardlike fish with huge fanlike pectoral fins for underwater gliding; unrelated to searobins.
A substance prepared from animal fat with some other ingredients intermixed, as an imitation of butter.
A steel cutting instrument, with a long bent shank set in a handle which rests against the shoulder of the operator. It is operated by a thrust movement, and used in paring the hoofs of horses.
A man who makes or sells butter.
The milk that remains after the butter is separated from the cream.
An American tree (Juglans cinerea) of the Walnut family, and its edible fruit; -- so called from the oil contained in the latter. Sometimes called oil nut and white walnut.
An annual composite plant of the Mississippi valley (Senecio lobatus).
Over weight.
A genus of low herbs (Pinguicula) having simple leaves which secrete from their glandular upper surface a viscid fluid, to which insects adhere, after which the margin infolds and the insects are digested by the plant. The species are found mostly in the North Temperate zone.
An apartment in a house where butter, milk and other provisions are kept.
An abuttal; a boundary.
The part at the back of the hip, which, in man, forms one of the rounded protuberances on which he sits; the rump. Often used in the plural -- see buttocks.
the fleshy part of the human body at the back of the hip, on which a person sits.
To be fastened by a button or buttons; as, the coat will not button.
See Buttonwood.
A shrub (Cephalanthus occidentalis) growing by the waterside; -- so called from its globular head of flowers. See Capitulum.
furnished with buttons or something buttonlike. Opposite of unbuttoned.
conservatively formal and businesslike in dress and manner.
taciturn. Opposite of voluble.
To hold at the button or buttonhole; to detain in conversation to weariness; to bore; as, he buttonholed me a quarter of an hour.
A disk of bone, wood, or other material, which is made into a button by covering it with cloth.
A boy servant, or page, -- in allusion to the buttons on his livery.
The name of several plants of the genera Spermacoce and Diodia, of the Madder family.
The Platanus occidentalis, or American plane tree, a large tree, producing rough balls, from which it is named; -- called also buttonball tree, and, in some parts of the United States, sycamore. The California buttonwood is Platanus racemosa.
Ornamented with a large number of buttons.
To support with a buttress; to prop; to brace firmly.
To unite by a butt weld.
One who mines by contract, at so much per ton of coal or ore.
A compound radical, regarded as butane, less one atom of hydrogen.
A volatile liquid, C4H9.SH, having a strong odor like that of a skunk; also called butanethiol. All three isomers, normal, sec-, and tert-butanethiol possess the skunk odor.
A colorless liquid base, C4H9.NH2, of which there are four isomeric varieties.
to introduce the butyl group into (a chemical compound).
Any one of three metameric hydrocarbons, C4H8, of the ethylene series. They are gaseous or easily liquefiable; -- called also butene.
Having the qualities of butter; resembling butter.
A salt of butyric acid.
Pertaining to, or derived from, butter.
A butyrate of glycerin; a fat contained in small quantity in milk, which helps to give to butter its peculiar flavor.
An instrument for determining the amount of fatty matter or butter contained in a sample of milk.
A liquid ketone obtained by heating calcium butyrate.
Butyraceous.
The radical (C3H7.CO-) of butyric acid.
Belonging to the box tree.
An alkaloid obtained from the Buxus sempervirens, or common box tree. It is identical with bebeerine; -- called also buxina.
Yielding; pliable or compliant; ready to obey; obedient; tractable; docile; meek; humble.
the type genus of the Buxaceae.
To negotiate or treat about a purchase.
to take over ownership of; -- of corporations and companies.
One who buys; a purchaser.
the act of buying; as, buying equipment for the trip took several hours.
the acquisition of ownership of a company by purchasing a controlling percentage of its stock.
See Buzz.
A continuous, humming noise, as of bees; a confused murmur, as of general conversation in low tones, or of a general expression of surprise or approbation.
Senseless; stupid.
A hawk resembling the buzzard, but with legs relatively longer.
One who, or that which, buzzes; a whisperer; a talebearer.
In a buzzing manner; with a buzzing sound.
men's underwear.
biological warfare; the use of bacteria or viruses or toxins to destroy men and animals or food.
a boiling water reactor; a type of nuclear reactor that uses water as a coolant and moderator; -- the steam produced can drive a steam turbine and produce electrical power.
Out of the common path; aside; -- used in composition, giving the meaning of something aside, secondary, or incidental, or collateral matter, a thing private or avoiding notice; as, by-line, by-place, by-play, by-street. It was formerly more freely used in composition than it is now; as, by-business, by-concernment, by-design, by-interest, etc.
One who bids at an auction in behalf of the auctioneer or owner, for the purpose of running up the price of articles.
A side or incidental blow; an accidental blow.
A private corner.
An appendage; that which depends on something else, or is distinct from the main dependence; an accessory.
A drinking between meals.
An election held by itself, not at the time of a general election.
Private end or interest; secret purpose; selfish advantage.
Self-interest; private advantage.
A private lane, or one opening out of the usual road.
A local or subordinate law; a private law or regulation made by a corporation for its own government.
A nickname.
A by-passage, for a pipe, or other channel, to divert circulation from the usual course.
A passage different from the usual one; a byway.
Past; gone by.
A retired or private place.
A secondary or additional product; something produced, as in the course of a manufacture, in addition to the principal product.
Private end or view; by-interest.
A private room or apartment.
An incidental or casual speech, not directly relating to the point.
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