Brite, Bright

i. To be over-ripe, as wheat, barley, hops, . (Used in some parts of England.) Brit'ish, a. [A.S. Brittisc.] Pertaining to Great Britain, or its inhabitants. British Empire (The) embraces, with its colonies and po e ions, about one-third of the surface of the globe, and nearly a fourth of its population, and has its nucleus in the British Islands, or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. G. Britain, the largest, richest, and most populous of the two islands, includes what were formerly the independent kingdoms of England and Scotland, now united under one crown, and form, with Ireland, the centre of the wealth and civilization of the whole empire. We give, from the latest official returns acce ible in 1897, an abstract as follows: States and Po e ions. EUROPE. Great Britain and Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta... ASIA. British and Native States of India, Burmah, Ceylon, Labuan, Straits Settlements, Hong Kong, Aden and Socotra, and British North Borneo. AFRICA.-Cape Colony, including Caffraria, Natal, Sierra Leone, British South and East Africa, Gold Coast, Mauritius, St. Helena, Ascension, ...... BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.-DOminion of Canada, including Newfoundland..