bace

[BASE, adj.] * bāçe, s. [BASE, S.] IMG:content-0975.png:[blocks in formation] Bacchic-back Fr. bachelier = (1) a young gentleman who aspires to be a knight, (2) a student who has taken his first degree at a university, (3) an unmarried man, a lover; O. Fr. bachelier , bac hellier, bacheler, bachiler = a young man, from Med. Lat, bacca lari us , said to be from Late Lat. bacca for vacca = a cow.] [BACCALAUREATE.] A. Ordinary Lang. A person of the male sex, of marriageable age, who has not in fact been married. When he has pa ed the time of life at which the majority of men enter the matrimonial state, he is called an old bachelor . "Fair maid, send forth thine eye: this youthful parcel Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing.' Shakesp. All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 3. B. Technically : I. University degrees: 1. In the expre ion bachelor of arts (B.Α.), one who has taken the first degree at a university. The B. A. degree was introduced in the thirteenth century by Pope Gregory IX. In the opinion of Jamie son, in this sense the term bachelor was probably borrowed from the arrangement in the University of Paris, where two of the four orders into which the theological faculty was divided were called Bacca lari i Format i and Bacca lari i Cursores . "The Bachelars met in the chamber above the school of Human i tie."- Crawf . Hist. Uniq Edin., p. 29. (Jamie son.) *2. The same as Master of Arts. (0. Scotch .) "At any of our Universities, the students, after four years' study, take the degree of Bachelor , or, as it is commonly termed, Master of Arts."- Spottiswoode . ( Jamie son .) II. Heraldry: 1. Formerly (a) A person who, though a knight, had not a sufficient number of va als to have his banner carried before him in battle. *(b) One who was not old enough to display a banner of his own, and therefore had to follow that of another. "A knyghte of Rome and his bachylere." Gower, f. 42. (S. in Boucher.) *(c) A chevalier who, having made his first campaign, received a military girdle. *(d) One who, on the first occasion that he took part in a tournament, overcame his adversary. 2. Now : A member of the oldest but lowest order of English knighthood-the knights bachelors. [KNIGHT.] King Alfred is said to have conferred it on his son Athelstan. IIL. Among the London City Companies: One not yet admitted to the livery. Bachelor's buttons : A name given by gardeners to the double-flowered variety of one of the Crowfoots, or Buttercups ( Ranunculus acris ). Sometimes this species is further designated as Yellow Bachelor's Buttons, after the example of the French, who denominated it Boutons d'or, while the name White Bachelor's Buttons (in Fr. Boutons d'argent ) is bestowed on another Crowfoot ( Ranunculus aconitifo lius ). Various other plants, especially the campion, the burdock, the scabious or Bluebottle, have also been called Bachelor's Buttons, or Buttons. băch-el-or-dom, s. [Eng, bachelor; -dom.] Bachelors collectively.