Blitum

[Gr. blet on, insipid; in allusion to its fair but insipid berries.] ( Bot.) A genus of plants, ord. Chenopod i ace a.-DIAG. Calyx 3-cleft, segments ovate, equal; stam. 1, exserted; sty. 2; ova., ovoid, acuminate; seed 1, contained in the calyx which becomes a berry. -They are herbaceous weeds, with flowers and fruits in capitate clusters terminal and axillary. - The Strawberry Blite, B. capitanum, is a weed-like plant, about 1 foot in height, branching, growing in fields, and sometimes cultivated for borders in the flower-garden; heads of flowers se ile, near together, on the branches and summit of the stem; fruit consisting of the reddened flowers, appearing like strawberries, full of a purple juice, taste insipid. It blo oms in June, and is found from Virginia to the Arctic Circle. Bloat, ( blōt ,) v. a. [A.S. blad , 0. Ger. blat , from blajan , to blow; allied to Lat. flatus, from flare , to blow.] To blow, swell, or puff out or up; to swell up or make turgid; as, a bloated stomach. -To inflate or puff up with vanity or self-adulation. "His rude e ays Encourage him, and bloat him up with praise." - Dryden. -v. i . To grow turgid; to dilate. "If a person of a firm constitution begins to bloat,... his fibres grow weak." - Arbuthnot. Bloat'ed, pp. or a. Swelled; grown turgid; inflated; as, "a bloated ma ." - Goldsmith.