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Back Bond • noun an instrument which, in conjunction with another making an absolute disposition,
constitutes a trust.
Backstop • noun 1. Sports a screen or fence used to prevent a ball from being thrown or hit far out of a
playing area, as in baseball. 2. Baseball A catcher. 3. Something that supports or bolsters.
Backwardation • noun (Stock Exchange) the seller's postponement of delivery of stock or shares, with the
consent of the buyer, upon payment of a premium to the latter; - also, the premium so paid.
Backwater • noun 1 a part of a river not reached by the current, where the water is stagnant. 2 a place or
state in which no development is taking place.
Backwoods • plural noun chiefly N. Amer. 1 remote uncleared forest land. 2 a remote or sparsely
inhabited region.
Bard • noun 1 archaic or literary a poet, traditionally one reciting epics. 2 (the Bard) Shakespeare. 3 (Bard)
the winner of a prize for Welsh verse at an Eisteddfod.
— ORIGIN Celtic.
Barnacle • noun a marine crustacean which attaches itself permanently to underwater surfaces.
1
By H.U.
Barratry • noun. (pl. bar·ra·tries) 1. the offense of persistently instigating lawsuits, typically groundless
ones. 2. an unlawful breach of duty on the part of a ship's master or crew resulting in injury to the ship's
owner. 3. sale or purchase of positions in church or state.
— ORIGIN Middle English barratrie, the sale of church offices, from Old French baraterie, deception,
malversation, from barater, to cheat
Batten • noun a long, flat wooden or metal strip for strengthening or securing something.
— PHRASES batten down the hatches 1 secure a ship’s tarpaulins. 2 prepare for a difficulty or crisis.
Bazooka • noun 1 a short-range rocket launcher used against tanks. 2 a kazoo shaped like a trumpet.
Bedraggle • verb (used with object), -gled, -gling. to make limp and soiled, as with rain or dirt.
Behove • verb (it behoves someone to do) formal it is a duty, responsibility, or appropriate response for
someone to do.
Belch • verb 1 noisily emit wind from the stomach through the mouth. 2 forcefully emit (smoke or flames).
• noun an act of belching.
Belfry • noun (pl. belfries) the place in a bell tower or steeple in which bells are housed.
Benighted • adjective 1 ignorant or unenlightened. 2 archaic unable to travel further because darkness has
fallen.
Bevel • noun 1 (in carpentry) a surface or edge which slopes away from a horizontal or vertical surface. 2
(also bevel square) a tool for marking angles in carpentry and stonework.
Bight • noun 1 a curve or recess in a coastline or other geographical feature. 2 a loop of rope.
— ORIGIN originally denoting a short written document, later a written order requiring a householder to
lodge the bearer: from Old French billette ‘little bill’; related to BILL1.
• noun 1 a thick piece of wood. 2 a small bar of metal for further processing.
— ORIGIN Old French billette and billot ‘little tree trunk’, from Latin billa, billus ‘branch, trunk’.
Billow • noun 1 a large undulating mass of cloud, smoke, or steam. 2 archaic a large sea wave.
• verb 1 (of fabric) fill with air and swell outwards. 2 (of smoke, cloud, or steam) move or flow outward
with an undulating motion.
Bimensal • adjective & adverb appearing or taking place twice a month or every two months.
Biorhythm • noun a recurring cycle in the physiology or functioning of an organism, such as the daily cycle
of sleeping and waking.
— ORIGIN Latin.
Bivalve • noun an aquatic mollusc which has a compressed body enclosed within two hinged shells, such as
an oyster, mussel, or scallop.
• adjective 1 (also bivalved) having a hinged double shell. 2 Botany having two valves.
Black ban • noun a refusal by an interest group to supply or purchase goods or services.
— ORIGIN originally denoting a body of servants, especially the menials in charge of kitchen utensils; the
exact significance of black is uncertain.
Blackleg • noun Brit. derogatory a person who continues working when fellow workers are on strike.
Black light • noun is the common name for a lamp emitting electromagnetic radiation that is almost
exclusively in the soft near ultraviolet range, and very little visible light. In many areas this type of lighting
is more commonly referred to as simply "UV light".
Black maria • noun Colloquial a closed vehicle for transporting prisoners to and from jail.
Blandish • verb (used with object) to coax or influence by gentle flattery; cajole: They blandished the
guard into letting them through the gate. • verb (used without object) to use flattery or cajolery.
— ORIGIN 1350–1400; ME blandisshen < AF, MF blandiss-, long s. of blandir < L blandīrī to soothe,
flatter. See BLAND, -ISH 2
Blinker • noun chiefly Brit. 1 (blinkers) a pair of small screens attached to a horse’s bridle to prevent the
horse seeing sideways. 2 (blinkers) a thing that prevents someone from understanding a situation fully. 3 a
vehicle indicator light that flashes on and off.
Bluster • verb 1 talk in a loud or aggressive way with little effect. 2 (of wind or rain) blow or beat fiercely
and noisily.
— ORIGIN imitative.
Boater • noun 1 a flat-topped straw hat with a brim. originally worn while boating. 2 a person who travels
in a boat.
— ORIGIN French.
Bootstrap • noun is a mobile truck designed for rapidly assessing the blood alcohol concentration of motor
vehicle drivers in large numbers. Operated by police services, they allow main arterial roads such as
freeways to be blocked, with all or most drivers sampled for compliance with drunk driving laws. They are
commonly used outside popular nightspots to trap drivers who might illegally drive home drunk. The
vehicle itself is not used to test all drivers. Multiple test points are set up on the highway and drivers are
breath tested in their own vehicles though the wound down window. Drivers failing this test will be taken to
the bus for processing.
Bot • intransitive/transitive verb to cadge.
— ORIGIN Scandinavian.
Brackish • adjective 1 slightly salt; having a salty or briny flavor. 2 distasteful; unpleasant.
— ORIGIN 1530–40; < D brak salty + -ISH 1
Bract • noun Botany a modified leaf with a flower or flower cluster in its axil.
Brawn • noun 1 physical strength as opposed to intelligence. 2 Brit. cooked meat from a pig’s or calf’s
head, pressed with jelly.
Breakpoint • noun in software development, is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a program, put in
place for debugging purposes. More generally, a breakpoint is a means of acquiring knowledge about a
program during its execution. During the interruption, the programmer inspects the test environment (logs,
memory, files, etc.) to find out whether the program functions as expected.
In practice, a breakpoint consists of one or more conditions that determine when a program's execution
should be interrupted.
Brigand • noun a member of a gang of bandits, especially in forested and mountainous areas.
Brindle • adjective (of a domestic animal) brownish or tawny with streaks of other colour.
— ORIGIN probably Scandinavian.
Brinkmanship • noun the pursuit of a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping.
Brogue • noun 1 a strong outdoor shoe with ornamental perforated patterns in the leather. 2 a marked
accent, especially Irish or Scottish, when speaking English.
— ORIGIN originally denoting a rough shoe: from Scottish Gaelic and Irish bróg; sense 2 perhaps arose as
an allusion to the rough footwear of Irish peasants.
Buckley’s • noun (in phrase have Buckley’s chance) Austral./NZ informal have little or no chance.
— ORIGIN perhaps from William Buckley (died 1856), who, despite dire predictions as to his chances of
survival, lived with the Aboriginals for many years.
Bumble • verb 1 act or speak in an awkward or confused manner. 2 (of an insect) buzz or hum.
Brit. informal
• noun a bribe.
— ORIGIN symbolic.
— ORIGIN named after Buncombe County in North Carolina, mentioned in a speech made by its
congressman solely to please his constituents (c.1820).
Bunting • noun a seed-eating songbird of a large group typically with brown streaked plumage and a boldly
marked head.
Burble • verb 1 make a continuous murmuring noise. 2 speak unintelligibly and at length.
— ORIGIN imitative.
Burl • noun 1 a lump in wool or cloth. 2 N. Amer. a rounded knotty growth on a tree.
— ORIGIN Old French bourle ‘tuft of wool’, from Latin burra ‘wool’.
Burr • noun 1 a whirring sound. 2 a rough pronunciation of the letter r, as in some regional accents. 3 (also
bur) a prickly seed case or flower head that clings to clothing and animal fur. 4 (also bur) a rough edge left
on a metal object by the action of a tool. 5 (also bur) a small drill used in woodworking, dentistry, or
surgery.
Bushwhack • verb 1 N. Amer. & Austral./NZ live or travel in the bush. 2 N. Amer. & Austral./NZ work
clearing scrub and felling trees. 3 N. Amer. ambush.
— ORIGIN perhaps a blend of Old French bistarde and oustarde, from Latin avis tarda ‘slow bird’.
Buzzard • noun 1 a large bird of prey typically seen soaring in wide circles. 2 N. Amer. a vulture.
— ORIGIN Old French busard, from Latin buteo ‘falcon’.
— ORIGIN 1325–75; ME
Reference
Dictionary.com