bakufu (bakufo)

[ On the 3rd of June the Shogun had an audience of the Mikado. His majesty's speech on the occasion was as follows: "The duties of the bakufu are on the one hand to govern the empire in peace, and on the other to subjugate the barbarians." F. O. Adams , Japan, I. 384. bal (bal), n. [Formerly also ball , bal , a mine (Pryce), a cluster of mines (Borlase).] A mine. [Cornwall.] bal. An abbreviation of balance. balaam (ba'lam), n. [In allusion to Balaam and his "dumb a speaking with man's voice" (Num. xxii. 28-30; 2 Pet. ii. 16).] 1. Matter regarding marvelous and incredible events inserted in a newspaper to fill space. [English printers' cant.] Balaam is the cant name for asinine paragraphs about monstrous productions of nature and the like, kept standing in type to be used whenever the real news of the day leave an awkward space that must be filled up somehow. Lockhart , Life of Scott, lxx. 2. Same as balaam - box . Bring in Balaam , and place him on the table. J. Wilson , Noctes Ambros., II. xxvi. balaam-box, balaam-basket (bā'lam-boks, -båsket), n. An editor's depository for worthle matter, rejected writings, etc. Who can doubt that an E ay for the Edinburgh Review, in "the old unpolluted English language," would have been consigned, by the editor, to his balaam - basket? F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 17.