| Words | Parts of Speech | Meaning/Definition/Similar Words |
|---|---|---|
| black art | The art practiced by conjurers and witches; necromancy; conjuration; magic. | |
| blackball | noun | A composition for blacking shoes, boots, etc.; also, one for taking impressions of engraved work., A ball of black color, esp. one used as a negative in voting; — in this sense usually two words., To vote against, by putting a black ball into a ballot box; to reject or exclude, as by voting against with black balls; to ostracize., To blacken (leather, shoes, etc.) with blacking. |
| blackband | noun | An earthy carbonate of iron containing considerable carbonaceous matter; — valuable as an iron ore. |
| blackbird | noun | In England, a species of thrush (Turdus merula), a singing bird with a fin note; the merle. In America the name is given to several birds, as the Quiscalus versicolor, or crow blackbird; the Agelaeus phoeniceus, or red-winged blackbird; the cowbird; the rusty grackle, etc. See Redwing. |
| blackcoat | noun | A clergyman; — familiarly so called, as a soldier is sometimes called a redcoat or a bluecoat. |
| blackcock | noun | The male of the European black grouse (Tetrao tetrix, Linn.); — so called by sportsmen. The female is called gray hen. See Heath grouse. |
| blackened | imp. & past participle | of Blacken |
| blackener | noun | One who blackens. |
| blackfeet | noun pl. | A tribe of North American Indians formerly inhabiting the country from the upper Missouri River to the Saskatchewan, but now much reduced in numbers. |
| blackfish | noun | A small kind of whale, of the genus Globicephalus, of several species. The most common is G. melas. Also sometimes applied to other whales of larger size., The tautog of New England (Tautoga)., The black sea bass (Centropristis atrarius) of the Atlantic coast. It is excellent food fish; — locally called also black Harry., A fish of southern Europe (Centrolophus pompilus) of the Mackerel family., The female salmon in the spawning season. |
| blackfoot | adjective | Of or pertaining to the Blackfeet; as, a Blackfoot Indian., A Blackfoot Indian. |
| blackhead | noun | The scaup duck. |
| blacklead | verb t. | To coat or to polish with black lead. |
| blacklist | verb t. | To put in a black list as deserving of suspicion, censure, or punishment; esp. to put in a list of persons stigmatized as insolvent or untrustworthy, — as tradesmen and employers do for mutual protection; as, to blacklist a workman who has been discharged. See Black list, under Black, a. |
| blackmail | noun | A certain rate of money, corn, cattle, or other thing, anciently paid, in the north of England and south of Scotland, to certain men who were allied to robbers, or moss troopers, to be by them protected from pillage., Payment of money exacted by means of intimidation; also, extortion of money from a person by threats of public accusation, exposure, or censure., Black rent, or rent paid in corn, flesh, or the lowest coin, a opposed to “white rent”, which paid in silver., To extort money from by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, as injury to reputation, distress of mind, etc.; as, to blackmail a merchant by threatening to expose an alleged fraud. |
| blackmoor | noun | See Blackamoor. |
| blackness | noun | The quality or state of being black; black color; atrociousness or enormity in wickedness. |
| blackpoll | noun | A warbler of the United States (Dendroica striata). |
| black rod | the usher to the Chapter of the Garter, so called from the black rod which he carries. He is of the king’s chamber, and also usher to the House of Lords., An usher in the legislature of British colonies. | |
| blackroot | noun | See Colicroot. |
| blacktail | noun | A fish; the ruff or pope., The black-tailed deer (Cervus / Cariacus Columbianus) of California and Oregon; also, the mule deer of the Rocky Mountains. See Mule deer. |
| blackwash | noun | A lotion made by mixing calomel and lime water., A wash that blackens, as opposed to whitewash; hence, figuratively, calumny. |
| blackwood | noun | A name given to several dark-colored timbers. The East Indian black wood is from the tree Dalbergia latifolia. |
| blackwork | noun | Work wrought by blacksmiths; — so called in distinction from that wrought by whitesmiths. |
| bladdered | imp. & past participle | of Bladder |
| bladebone | noun | The scapula. See Blade, 4. |
| bladefish | noun | A long, thin, marine fish of Europe (Trichiurus lepturus); the ribbon fish. |
| blaeberry | noun | The bilberry. |
| blameless | adjective | Free from blame; without fault; innocent; guiltless; — sometimes followed by of. |
| blanching | present participle & vb. noun | of Blanch |
| blandness | noun | The state or quality of being bland. |
| blanketed | imp. & past participle | of Blanket |
| blankness | noun | The state of being blank. |
| blarneyed | imp. & past participle | of Blarney |
| blaspheme | verb | To speak of, or address, with impious irreverence; to revile impiously (anything sacred); as, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit., Figuratively, of persons and things not religiously sacred, but held in high honor: To calumniate; to revile; to abuse., To utter blasphemy. |
| blasphemy | noun | An indignity offered to God in words, writing, or signs; impiously irreverent words or signs addressed to, or used in reference to, God; speaking evil of God; also, the act of claiming the attributes or prerogatives of deity., Figuratively, of things held in high honor: Calumny; abuse; vilification. |
| blastemal | adjective | Relating to the blastema; rudimentary. |
| blastment | noun | A sudden stroke or injury produced by some destructive cause. |
| blatantly | adverb | In a blatant manner. |
| blattered | imp. & past participle | of Blatter |
| blatterer | noun | One who blatters; a babbler; a noisy, blustering boaster. |
| blazoning | present participle & vb. noun | of Blazon |
| bleaberry | noun | See Blaeberry. |
| bleaching | present participle & vb. noun | of Bleach, The act or process of whitening, by removing color or stains; esp. the process of whitening fabrics by chemical agents. |
| bleachery | noun | A place or an establishment where bleaching is done. |
| blemished | imp. & past participle | of Blemish |
| blemishes | plural | of Blemish |
| blenching | present participle & vb. noun | of Blench |
| blennioid | adjective | Alt. of Blenniid |
| blessedly | adverb | Happily; fortunately; joyfully. |
| bletonism | noun | The supposed faculty of perceiving subterraneous springs and currents by sensation; — so called from one Bleton, of France. |
| blighting | present participle & vb. noun | of Blight, Causing blight. |
| blindfish | noun | A small fish (Amblyopsis spelaeus) destitute of eyes, found in the waters of the Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky. Related fishes from other caves take the same name. |
| blindfold | verb t. | To cover the eyes of, as with a bandage; to hinder from seeing., Having the eyes covered; blinded; having the mental eye darkened. Hence: Heedless; reckless; as, blindfold zeal; blindfold fury. |
| blindness | noun | State or condition of being blind, literally or figuratively. |
| blindworm | noun | A small, burrowing, snakelike, limbless lizard (Anguis fragilis), with minute eyes, popularly believed to be blind; the slowworm; — formerly a name for the adder. |
| blissless | adjective | Destitute of bliss. |
| blistered | imp. & past participle | of Blister |
| blitheful | adjective | Gay; full of gayety; joyous. |
| blockaded | imp. & past participle | of Blockade |
| blockader | noun | One who blockades., A vessel employed in blockading. |
| blockhead | noun | A stupid fellow; a dolt; a person deficient in understanding. |
| blocklike | adjective | Like a block; stupid. |
| block tin | See under Tin. | |
| blondness | noun | The state of being blond. |
| bloodbird | noun | An Australian honeysucker (Myzomela sanguineolata); — so called from the bright red color of the male bird. |
| bloodless | adjective | Destitute of blood, or apparently so; as, bloodless cheeks; lifeless; dead., Not attended with shedding of blood, or slaughter; as, a bloodless victory., Without spirit or activity. |
| bloodroot | noun | A plant (Sanguinaria Canadensis), with a red root and red sap, and bearing a pretty, white flower in early spring; — called also puccoon, redroot, bloodwort, tetterwort, turmeric, and Indian paint. It has acrid emetic properties, and the rootstock is used as a stimulant expectorant. See Sanguinaria. |
| bloodshed | noun | The shedding or spilling of blood; slaughter; the act of shedding human blood, or taking life, as in war, riot, or murder. |
| bloodshot | adjective | Red and inflamed; suffused with blood, or having the vessels turgid with blood, as when the conjunctiva is inflamed or irritated. |
| bloodwite | noun | Alt. of Bloodwit |
| bloodwood | noun | A tree having the wood or the sap of the color of blood. |
| bloodwort | noun | A plant, Rumex sanguineus, or bloody-veined dock. The name is applied also to bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis), and to an extensive order of plants (Haemodoraceae), the roots of many species of which contain a red coloring matter useful in dyeing. |
| bloodying | present participle & vb. noun | of Bloody |
| bloomless | adjective | Without bloom or flowers. |
| blossomed | imp. & past participle | of Blossom |
| blowpoint | noun | A child’s game. |
| blubbered | imp. & past participle | of Blubber, Swollen; turgid; as, a blubbered lip. |
| bluebeard | noun | The hero of a mediaeval French nursery legend, who, leaving home, enjoined his young wife not to open a certain room in his castle. She entered it, and found the murdered bodies of his former wives. — Also used adjectively of a subject which it is forbidden to investigate. |
| blueberry | noun | The berry of several species of Vaccinium, an ericaceous genus, differing from the American huckleberries in containing numerous minute seeds instead of ten nutlets. The commonest species are V. Pennsylvanicum and V. vacillans. V. corymbosum is the tall blueberry. |
| blue book | A parliamentary publication, so called from its blue paper covers., The United States official “Biennial Register.” | |
| blue-eyed | adjective | Having blue eyes. |
| blue-john | noun | A name given to fluor spar in Derbyshire, where it is used for ornamental purposes. |
| blueprint | See under Print. | |
| bluestone | noun | Blue vitriol., A grayish blue building stone, as that commonly used in the eastern United States. |
| bluffness | noun | The quality or state of being bluff. |
| blundered | imp. & past participle | of Blunder |
| blunderer | noun | One who is apt to blunder. |
| bluntness | noun | Want of edge or point; dullness; obtuseness; want of sharpness., Abruptness of address; rude plainness. |
| blushless | adjective | Free from blushes; incapable of blushing; shameless; impudent. |
| blustered | imp. & past participle | of Bluster |
| blusterer | noun | One who, or that which, blusters; a noisy swaggerer. |
| blustrous | adjective | Blusterous. |