Blapsidæ

pl. ( Zool. ) See BLAP8. Blare, v. n. [Du. blaren; Ger. blärren, plärren, to bleat, to weep.] To bellow; to roar. (R.) ( Com .) A small coin of Berne, value about 2 cent a. The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia Blar'ney, in Ireland, a village in co. Cork. It has a fine old castle, and is remarkable for having in its neighborhood the famous Blarney Stone , the ki ing of which is said to confer upon the Irish an eloquent power in the language of courtship, called blarney . Blasket Islands, a group of rocky islands, at the entrance of Dingle Bay, S.W. coast of Ireland. One of these, called Tiraght, forms the westernmost land in Europe. Blaspheme', v . a . [Fr. blasphême ; Gr. blasphēmeō. See BLAME.] To speak injuriously, reproachfully, and irreverently of the Supreme Being; to revile, speak, or write reproachfully or impiously of God or of sacred things. To speak evil of; to utter abuse or calumny against; to speak reproachfully of. "Those who from our labours heap their board, Blaspheme their feeder, and forget their lord."- Pope . -v. n. To utter blasphemy. Blasphem'er, n. One who blasphemes. Blasphem'ere , n. A female who blasphemes. Blasphem'ing, n. The act of blasphemy. Blasphemous, a . Uttering or containing blasphemy; impiously, irreverent in regard to God or sacred things. Blasphemously, adv . In a blasphemous manner. Blasphemy, n. A crime marked for public punish- ment in the laws of most civilized nations, and which has been regarded as of such enormity by many nations as to be punished with death. The word is Greek, but it has found its way into the English and several other modern languages, owing, it is supposed, to the want of native terms to expre with precision and brevity the idea of which it is the representative. Etymologically, it denotes speaking so as to strike or hurt; the using to a person's face reproachful and insulting expre ions. In this general way it is used by Greek writers, and even in the New Testament; as in 1 1 Tim . vi. 4, "Whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings," where the word rendered "railings" is, in the original, "blasphe- mies." Thus, also, in Mark vii. 22, our Saviour himself, in enumerating various evil dispositions or practices, mentions, an "evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishne ," not meaning, as it seems, more than the ordinary case of insulting speech. B. in this sense, however much to be avoided as immoral and mischievous, is not marked as a crime, and its suppre ion is left to the ordinary in- fluences of morals and religion, and not provided for by law. In this sense, indeed, the word can hardly be said to be naturalized among us, though it may occasion- ally be found in the poets, and in those prose-writers who exercise an inordinate curiosity in the selection of their terms. But, besides being used to denote insulting and opprobrious speech in general, it was used to denote speech of that kind of a peculiar nature, namely, when the object against which it was directed was a person esteemed sacred, but especially when against God.- Among the canonists, the definition of B. is made to include the denying God, or the a erting anything to be God, which is not God; and this extended appli- cation of the term has been received in most Christian countries, and punishments more or le severe have been denounced against the crime.-In England, by tude, chambers, and even galleries, are formed in the rock, dynamite, or other explosive being inserted, and fired by the galvanic curient. Thus enormous ma es of rock, weighing you sands of tons, are removed. The old implements used have given way to the diamond drills, and other tools. but this last was repealed by 7 Will. IV. c. 5, which rendered the punishment only fine and imprisonment. In 1843, a person was tried before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, for publishing books denying the truth and authority of the Holy Scriptures, and tending to bring contempt upon the Christian religion, and, being found guilty, was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment. In France, before the great Revolution, it was a B , also to speak against the Holy Virgin and the saints, to deny one's faith, to speak with impiety of holy things, and to swear by things sacred. The law relating to B. was totally repealed in 1791; and the present French penal code, art. 262, enacts that any person who, by words or gestures, shall commit any outrage upon objects of public worship in the places designed for the performance of its rites, shall be fined from $2 to $100, and be imprisoned for a period not le than 15 days nor more than 6 months. In most of the U. States, statutes have been enacted against B .; but these statutes are not understood in all cases to have abrogated the common law; and it has been decided that neither these statutes nor the common-law doctrine is repugnant to the constitution of those States in which the question has arisen.