bearbaiting (barb a"ting)

The sport of setting dogs, usually mastiffs, to fight with captive bears. The practice was prohibited in Great Britain by Parliament in 1835. Let him alone: I see his vein lies only For falling out at wakes and bear - baitings , That may expre him sturdy. Beau , and Fl ., Captain, iv. 3. Bear- baiting , then a favourite diversion of high and low, was the abomination of the austere sectaries. The Puritans hated it, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. Macaulay , Hist. Eng., ii. bearbane (barbān), n. A variety of the wolf's bane, Aconitum Lycoctonum . bearberry (bar'ber"i), n.; pl. bearberries (-iz). 1. A trailing evergreen ericaceous shrub, Arc tostaphylos uva - ursi, found throughout the arctic and mountainous portions of the northern hemisphere, and bearing small bright-red drupes. The leaves are very astringent and slightly bitter, and under the name uva - ursi are used in medicine as an astringent tonic, chiefly in affections of the bladder. It is the kinnikinic which the Indians of western America mix with their tobacco for smoking. Also called bear's bilberry, bear's - grape, and foxberry. 2. In the Pacific States, a species of Rhamnus, R. Purshiana, named from the fondne of bears for its berries. Also called bearwood. - Alpine or black bearberry, a dwarf arctic-alpine species of the genus Arctostaphylos, A. alpina. bearbine, bearbind (ber'bin, -bind), n. [ IMG:content-1801.png:[graphic] IMG:content-1802.png:[ocr errors] IMG:content-1803.png:[blocks in formation] to adapt them to the shape of the ve el.-5. To remove the beard or fringe from, as from oysters. II. in trans. To grow a beard, or become bearded. [Rare]. Nor full-pulsed manhood, lingering here, Shall add, to life's abounding joy, It is good to steal away from the society of bearded men, and even of gentler woman, and spend an hour or two with children. Hawthorne , Twice-Told Tales, I. 2. In her .: (a) Same as barbed1 , 3. (b) Having a train like that of a comet or meteor (which see).-3. In entom .: (a) Having a tuft of hairs on the clypeus, overhanging the mouth. (b) Covered on one side with short and thickly set hairs: said of antennæ. - Bearded argali. See ar- gal i.-Bearded griffin. See griffin . Bearded tit, bearded titmouse, the Panurus biarmicus . - Bearded vulture, the Gypaetus barbatus . beard-gra (berd'gras), n. The common name of (a) some species of Polypogon , especially P. Mons pel i ens is and P. littoral is , from the dense- ly bearded appearance of the close panicles; (b) some common species of Andropogon , as A. nutans , A. scoparius , etc.Woolly beard-gra , a name given to species of Erianthus . - Naked beard- gra , a name of species of Gymnopogon . beardie (ber'di), n. Same as beardy , 2. bearding (bēr'ding), n. [ beard + ing1.] 1. The line of the intersection of the keel, dead wood, stem, and stern-post of a ship with the outer surface of the frame-timbers. Also called bearding - line and stepping - point .-2. The dim i- nution of the edge or surface of a piece of tim- ber from a given line, as in the stem, dead- wood, etc., of a ship. Hamersly . as the mu el. (2) The gills of some bivalves, as the oyster. (e) In entom ., one of a pair of small fleshy bodies of some lepidopterous and dipterous insects. (f) Whalebone. 3. In bot .: (a) A crest, tuft, or covering of spreading hairs. (b) The awn or bristle-like appendage upon the chaff of grain and other gra es. See cut under barley . (c) With some bearding-line (bēr'ding-lin), n . Same as beard- authors, a name given to the lower lip of a ing , 1. Thou [the crown), most fine, most honour'd, most re- nown'd, Hast eat thy bearer up. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 6. In old law , one who bears down or oppre es others by vexatiously a isting a third party in maintaining a suit against them; a maintain or. of type or on a pre , for the purpose of bearing off impre ion and preventing injury to type or woodcuts. (b) pl . Type-high pieces of metal placed in the very open spaces and over the heads of pages to be stereotyped, and also type- high strips of metal placed around pages or forms to be electrotyped, to prevent injury to the face of the type or the plates in the subse- quent proce es, and cut away from the plates before printing.-9. In her ., a supporter.-10t. A roll of padding forming a kind of bustle, for- merly worn by women to support and distend their skirts "at their setting on at the bodies." Fairholt .-11. In an organ, one of the thin pieces of wood attached to the upper side of a sound-board, to form guides for the register- slides which command the openings in the top of a wind-chest leading to the pipes of the sep a- rate systems of pipes which form the stops. E. H. Knight .-12. A tree or plant that yields fruit or flowers. This way of procuring autumnal roses, in some that are Boyle . IMG:content-1804.png:[blocks in formation] Yet can a miller make a clerkes berd , For al his art. Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 175. Mo berdes in two houres (Withoute rasour or sisoures) Ymade , then greynes be of sondes. sex, immature; adolescent: as, a beardle bearer-pin (bar'er-pin), n. A pin separating youth.-2. In ornith . , having no rictal vibristhe strings of a piano at the point where the sæ: as, the beardle flycatcher, Ornithium imlength is determined. Wor . Supp . berbe . 3. In ichth . , having no barbels.-4. In bear-garden (bar'gärdn), n. 1. A place where bot ., without beard or awn.-Beardle drum, the redfish or branded drum, Sciæna ocellata, which has no barbels. See cut under redfish . beardle ne (berd'les-nes), n. The state or condition of being beardle . beardleted (berd'let-ed), a. [ beardlet , dim. of beard (cf. barbule ), + -ed2.] In bot . , having little awns. beardling (bērd'ling), n. One who wears a beard; formerly, in contrast with shaveling , a layman. [Rare.] beard-mo (bērd'môs), n. A name of the lichen Usnea barbata , which, often intermixed with others, clothes forest-trees with the shaggy gray fleece of its pendulous thread-like branches; the "idle mo " of Shakspere (C. of E., ii. 2). bear-dog (bar'dog), n. A dog for baiting bears. True. You fought high and fair. Daup . Like an excellent bear-dog. bears are kept for the diversion of spectators. The bear-garden in London in Elizabeth's reign was also called Paris - garden and bear's - college . Hurrying me from the playhouse, and the scenes there, to the bear - garden , to the apes, and a es, and tigers. Stillingflect. 2. Figuratively, any place of tumult or disorder. Those days when slavery turned the Senate-chamber into a bear-garden. N. A. Rev. , CXXVI. 11. bear-gra (bar'grås), n . A name given to the cama , Cama i a esculent a , of Oregon; also, in Texas, to Dasylirion Texanum, the young pulpy stems of which are much eaten by bears; and to species of the genus Yucca , for the same IMG:content-1805.png:[blocks in formation] beard-tongue (bērd'tung), n. A name given ing or baiting the bear. to plants of the genus Pentstemon , with refer- ence to the bearded sterile stamen. beardy (bēr'di), n .; pl. beardies (-diz). [Dim. of beard.] 1. A name of the white-throat, Sylvia Chaucer , House of Fame, 1. 181. cinerea. Macgillivray . [Local, British.] -2. In verbal n. of bear1 .] To one's beard, to one's face; in defiance of one. Rail'd at their covenant, and jeer'd Their rev'rend persons to my beard. IMG:content-1806.png:[blocks in formation] Scotland, a name of the loach, Nemachilus bar- batulus , a small fresh-water malacopterygian fish, family Cyprinid a : so called from the six barbules that hang from the mouth. Also spell- ed beardie . bearer (bar'er), n. [ME, berer , berere ; bear1 + -er1.] 1. One who bears, carries, or sustains; a carrier; specifically, one who carries any- thing as the attendant of another: as, St. Chris- topher, or the Christ- bearer (the meaning of the name); a sword- bearer , an armor- bearer , a palanquin- bearer , etc. His armour- bearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart. 1 Sam. xiv. 7. Forgive the bearer of unhappy news: Your alter'd father openly pursues Your ruin. 2. One who carries a body to the grave; a pall-bearer.-3. In India: (a) A palanquin-car- rier. (b) A domestic servant who has charge of his master's clothes, furniture, etc.-4. In I had reason to dread a fair outside, to mistrust a pop- ular bearing , to shudder before distinction, grace, and courtesy. Charlotte Brontë , Shirley, xxiv. 4. The mutual relation of the parts of a whole; mode of connection. But of this frame the bearings and the ties, The strong connections, nice dependencies, Gradations just, has thy pervading soul Look'd through? Pope , E ay on Man, i. 29. bearing Transactions which have direct bearings on freedom, on health, on morals, on the permanent well-being of the nation, can never be morally indifferent. Rae , Contemp. Socialism, p. 213. 5. The special meaning or application of any thing said or written. To change the bearing of a word. Tennyson, In Memoriam, cxxviii. 6. The act or capability of producing or bringing forth: as, a tree past bearing . In travail of his bearing, his mother was first dead. Robert of Gloucester. 7. In arch., the space between the two fixed extremes of a beam or timber, or between one extreme and a supporter: that is, its unsupported span.-8. In mach., the part in contact with which a journal moves; that part of a shaft or an axle which is in contact with its supports; in general, the part of any piece where it is supported, or the part of another piece on which it rests.-9. Same as bearing note.-10. pl. In ship - building, the widest part of a ve el below the plank-sheer; the line of flotation which is formed by the water on her sides when upright, with provisions, stores, etc., on board in proper trim.-11. In her., any single charge of a coat of arms; any one of the ordinaries, or any heraldic bird, beast, or other figure (see charge ); hence, in the plural, the whole herald ice display to which a person is entitled. See arm2, 7.-12. The direction or point of the compa in which an object is seen, or the direction of one object from another, with reference to the points of the compa . In geol. and mining, used in speaking either of the outcrop of the strata or of the direction of any metalliferous lode or deposit, whether under ground or at the surface: nearly synonymous with run, course, and strike. "Before the sun could go his own length, the little water will be in the big."... "I thought as much," returned the scout,... "from the course it takes, and the bearings of the mountains." Cooper, Last of the Mohicans, xxxii. Antifriction bearing. See antifriction. - Conical bearing, an end-bearing for the spindle of a machine-tool, formed by abutting the spindle-end against the end of a and the other is correspondingly untersuche point, screw serves to adjust the bearings for wear. Continuous bearings. See continuous. - Sand-bearings, in mold ing, the supports for the core in the sand of a mold. Bide bearings of a car-truck, plates, blocks rollers rocking motion. - To bring a person to his bearings, to put him in his proper place; take him down. - To lose one's bearings, to become uncertain or confused in regard to one's position; become bewildered or puzzled. placed on each side of the center-pin to prevent a too great To take bearings, to ascertain on what point of the compa an object lies. The term is also applied to ascertain ing the situation or direction of any object estimated with reference to some part of a ship, as on the beam, before the beam, abaft the beam, etc. Hence, to determine one's position; make one's self acquainted with the locality in which one is; discover how matters stand; get rid of bewilderment or misunderstanding. The best use that we can now make of this occasion, it seems to me, is to look about us, take our bearings , and tell the fugitives should pursue. what course, in our opinion, they W. Phillips, Speeches, p. 76. 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