BEET

(Celt, belt, red.) The sweet succulent root of raris, a Chenopodiaceous plant of biennial duration.Itis used in the winter as a salad, for which purpose the red and yellow beets of Castelnaudari are the best; for the food of cattle, under the name of mangel wurzel; and for the extraction of sugar: for the last object a white rooted variety with a purple crown Is the most esteemed. Seastiluiebeet,for Beta spinach.maritima, is a well-known and excellent sub BEETLE. (Sax. byte].) In Architecture, a large i r or mallet, with one, two, or three handles,for as many persons, with which piles, stakes, wedges, Sec. are driven. Beetle. A name commonly given to the insects of the Coleopterous order, especially to such as are of a dark or obscure colour; it is also applied, but improperly, to the common pest of our kitchens, the blatt a, or cockroach, which is an insect of the Orthopterous order, [s. 153]