Bounder - Bower

Prev Next

2. Under obligation; bound by some favor rendered; obliged; beholden.
[ Webster]

This holy word, that teacheth us truly our bounden duty toward our Lord God in every point. Ridley.
[ Webster]

3. Made obligatory; imposed as a duty; binding.
[ Webster]

I am much bounden to your majesty. Shak.
[ Webster]

Bounder (boundẽr), n. 1. One who, or that which, limits; a boundary. Sir T. Herbert.
[ Webster]

2. One who behaves dishonorably or objectionably; a cad.
[PJC]

Bounding, a. Moving with a bound or bounds.
[ Webster]

The bounding pulse, the languid limb. Montgomery.
[ Webster]

Boundless, a. Without bounds or confines; illimitable; vast; unlimited. “The boundless sky.” Bryant. “The boundless ocean.” Dryden.Boundless rapacity.” “Boundless prospect of gain.” Macaulay.
[ Webster]

Syn. -- Unlimited; unconfined; immeasurable; illimitable; infinite.
[ Webster]

-- Boundlessly, adv. -- Boundlessness, n.
[ Webster]

boundlessness n. the quality of being infinite.
Syn. -- infiniteness, infinitude, unboundedness.
[WordNet 1.5]

bounds n. 1. the line or plane indicating the limit or extent of something; as, the fotball was caught out of bounds.
Syn. -- boundary, bound.
[WordNet 1.5]

2. the greatest possible extent or degree of something.
Syn. -- limit, boundary.
[WordNet 1.5]

Bounteous (�), a. [OE. bountevous, fr. bounte bounty.] Liberal in charity; disposed to give freely; generously liberal; munificent; beneficent; free in bestowing gifts; as, bounteous production.
[ Webster]

But O, thou bounteous Giver of all good. Cowper.
[ Webster]

-- Bounteously, adv. -- Bounteousness, n.
[ Webster]

bountied adj. rewarded or rewardable by a bounty; as, a bountied animal pelt.
[WordNet 1.5]

Bountiful (�), a.
[ Webster]

1. Free in giving; liberal in bestowing gifts and favors.
[ Webster]

God, the bountiful Author of our being. Locke.
[ Webster]

2. Plentiful; abundant; as, a bountiful supply of food.
[ Webster]

Syn. -- Liberal; munificent; generous; bounteous.
[ Webster]

-- Bountifully, adv. -- Bountifulness, n.
[ Webster]

{ Bountihead (�), Bountyhood (�), } n. Goodness; generosity. [Obs.] Spenser.
[ Webster]

Bounty, n.; pl. Bounties (�). [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
[ Webster]

1. Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [Obs.]
[ Webster]

Nature set in her at once beauty with bounty. Gower.
[ Webster]

2. Liberality in bestowing gifts or favors; gracious or liberal giving; generosity; munificence.
[ Webster]

My bounty is as boundless as the sea. Shak.
[ Webster]

3. That which is given generously or liberally. “Thy morning bounties.” Cowper.
[ Webster]

4. A premium offered or given to induce men to enlist into the public service; or to encourage any branch of industry, as husbandry or manufactures.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Bounty jumper , one who, during the latter part of the Civil War, enlisted in the United States service, and deserted as soon as possible after receiving the bounty. [Collog.] -- Coloq. Queen Anne's bounty (Eng. Hist.), a provision made in Queen Anne's reign for augmenting poor clerical livings.
[ Webster]

Syn. -- Munificence; generosity; beneficence.
[ Webster]

Bouquet (�), n. [F. bouquet bunch, bunch of flowers, trees, feathers, for bousquet, bosquet, thicket, a little wood, dim. of LL. boscus. See thicket, and cf. , .]
[ Webster]

1. A nosegay; a bunch of flowers.
[ Webster]

2. A perfume; an aroma; as, the bouquet of wine.
[ Webster]

Bouquetin (�), n. [F.] (Zoöl.) The ibex.
[ Webster]

Bour (�), n. [See a chamber.] A chamber or a cottage. [Obs.] Chaucer.
[ Webster]

Bourbon (�), n. [From the castle and seigniory of Bourbon in central France.]
[ Webster]

1. A member of a family which has occupied several European thrones, and whose descendants still claim the throne of France.
[ Webster]

2. A politician who is behind the age; a ruler or politician who neither forgets nor learns anything; an obstinate conservative.
[ Webster]

Bourbonism (�), n. The principles of those adhering to the house of Bourbon; obstinate conservatism.
[ Webster]

Bourbonist, n. One who adheres to the house of Bourbon; a legitimist.
[ Webster]

Bourbon whisky. See under .
[ Webster]

Bourd (�), n. [F. bourde fib, lie, OF. borde, bourde, jest, joke.] A jest. [Obs.] Chaucer.
[ Webster]

Bourd (�), v. i. To jest. [Obs.] Chaucer.
[ Webster]

Bourder (�), n. A jester. [Obs.]
[ Webster]

Bourdon (�), n. [F., fr. L. burdo mule, esp. one used for carrying litters. Cf. Sp. muleta a young she mule; also, crutch, prop.] A pilgrim's staff.
[ Webster]

Bourdon (�), n. [F. See a refrain.] (Mus.) (a) A drone bass, as in a bagpipe, or a hurdy-gurdy. See (of a song.) (b) A kind of organ stop.
[ Webster]

Bourgeois (�), n. [From a French type founder named Bourgeois, or fr. F. bourgeois of the middle class; hence applied to an intermediate size of type between brevier and long primer: cf. G. bourgeois, borgis. Cf. .] (Print.) A size of type between long primer and brevier. See .
[ Webster]

This line is printed in bourgeois type.
[ Webster]

Bourgeois (�), n. [F., fr. bourg town; of German origin. See .] A man of middle rank in society; one of the shopkeeping class. [France.]
[ Webster]

a. Characteristic of the middle class, as in France.
[ Webster]

Bourgeoisie, n. [F.] The French middle class, particularly such as are concerned in, or dependent on, trade.
[ Webster]

Bourgeon (�), v. i. [OE. burjoun a bud, burjounen to bud, F. bourgeon a bud, bourgeonner to bud; cf. OHG. burjan to raise.] To sprout; to put forth buds; to shoot forth, as a branch.
[ Webster]

Gayly to bourgeon and broadly to grow. Sir W. Scott.
[ Webster]

Bouri (�), n. [Native name.] (Zoöl.) A mullet (Mugil capito) found in the rivers of Southern Europe and in Africa.
[ Webster]

{ Bourn, Bourne } (�), n. [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. �. The root is prob. that of burn, v., because the source of a stream seems to issue forth bubbling and boiling from the earth. Cf. , and see , v.] A stream or rivulet; a burn.
[ Webster]

My little boat can safely pass this perilous bourn. Spenser.
[ Webster]

{ Bourn, Bourne } (�), n. [F. borne. See a limit.] A bound; a boundary; a limit. Hence: Point aimed at; goal.
[ Webster]

Where the land slopes to its watery bourn. Cowper.
[ Webster]

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveler returns.
Shak.
[ Webster]

Sole bourn, sole wish, sole object of my song. Wordsworth.
[ Webster]

To make the doctrine . . . their intellectual bourne. Tyndall.
[ Webster]

Bournless, a. Without a bourn or limit.
[ Webster]

Bournonite (�), n. [Named after Count Bournon, a mineralogist.] (Min.) A mineral of a steel-gray to black color and metallic luster, occurring crystallized, often in twin crystals shaped like cogwheels (wheel ore), also massive. It is a sulphide of antimony, lead, and copper.
[ Webster]

Bournous (�), n. See .
[ Webster]

Bourrée (�), n. [F.] (Mus.) An old French dance tune in common time.
[ Webster]

Bourse (�), n. [F. bourse purse, exchange, LL. bursa, fr. Gr.� skin, hide, of which a purse was usually made. Cf. , .] An exchange, or place where merchants, bankers, etc., meet for business at certain hours; esp., the Stock Exchange of Paris.
[ Webster]

bourtree n. common black-fruited shrub or small tree (Sambucus nigra) of Europe and Asia; -- the fruit is used for wines and jellies.
Syn. -- black elder, common elder, elderberry, European elder.
[WordNet 1.5]

Bouse (�), v. i. To drink immoderately; to carouse; to booze. See .
[ Webster]

Bouse, n. Drink, esp. alcoholic drink; also, a carouse; a booze. “A good bouse of liquor.” Carlyle.
[ Webster]

Bouser (�), n. A toper; a boozer.
[ Webster]

Boustrophedon (�), n. [Gr. � turning like oxen in plowing; � to turn.] An ancient mode of writing, in alternate directions, one line from left to right, and the next from right to left (as fields are plowed), as in early Greek and Hittite.
[ Webster]

Boustrophedonic (�), a. Relating to the boustrophedon made of writing.
[ Webster]

Boustorphic (�), a. [Gr. � �ox-guiding.] Boustrophedonic.
[ Webster]

Bousy (�), a. Drunken; sotted; boozy.
[ Webster]

In his cups the bousy poet songs. Dryden.
[ Webster]

Bout (�), n. [A different spelling and application of bought bend.]
[ Webster]

1. As much of an action as is performed at one time; a going and returning, as of workmen in reaping, mowing, etc.; a turn; a round.
[ Webster]

In notes with many a winding bout
Of linked sweetness long drawn out.
Milton.
[ Webster]

The prince . . . has taken me in his train, so that I am in no danger of starving for this bout. Goldsmith.
[ Webster]

2. A conflict; contest; attempt; trial; a set-to at anything; as, a fencing bout; a drinking bout.
[ Webster]

The gentleman will, for his honor's sake, have one bout with you; he can not by the duello avoid it. Shak.
[ Webster]

Boutade (�), n. [F., fr. bouter to thrust. See .] An outbreak; a caprice; a whim. [Obs.]
[ Webster]

Boutefeu (�), n. [F.; bouter to thrust, put + feu fire.] An incendiary; an inciter of quarrels. [Obs.]
[ Webster]

Animated by . . . John à Chamber, a very boutefeu, . . . they entered into open rebellion. Bacon.
[ Webster]

Boutonnière (�), n. [F., buttonhole.] A bouquet worn in a buttonhole.
[ Webster]

Bouts-rimés (�), n. pl. [F. bout end + rimé rhymed.] Words that rhyme, proposed as the ends of verses, to be filled out by the ingenuity of the person to whom they are offered.
[ Webster]

Bouvines n. the location where in 1214 the French under King Philip Augustus defeated a coalition formed against him in one of the greatest battles of the middle ages.
[WordNet 1.5]

Bovate (�), n. [LL. bovata, fr. bos, bovis, ox.] (O. Eng. Law.) An oxgang, or as much land as an ox can plow in a year; an ancient measure of land, of indefinite quantity, but usually estimated at fifteen acres.
[ Webster]

Bovey coal (�). (Min.) A kind of mineral coal, or brown lignite, burning with a weak flame, and generally a disagreeable odor; -- found at Bovey Tracey, Devonshire, England. It is of geological age of the oölite, and not of the true coal era.
[ Webster]

Bovid (�), a. [L. bos, bovis, ox, cow.] (Zoöl.) Relating to that tribe of ruminant mammals of which the genus Bos is the type.
[ Webster]

Boviform (�), a. [L. bos, bovis, ox + -form.] Resembling an ox in form; ox-shaped. [R.]
[ Webster]

Bovinae n. a term essentially coextensive with the genus Bos, including cattle, buffalo, and sometimes kudu; -- it is not used technically.
Syn. -- subfamily Bovinae.
[WordNet 1.5]

Bovini n. a term essentially coextensive with the genus Bos; -- it is not used technically.
Syn. -- tribe Bovini.
[WordNet 1.5]

Bovine (�), a. [LL. bovinus, fr. L. bos, bovis, ox, cow: cf. F. bovine. See .]
[ Webster]

1. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the genus Bos; relating to, or resembling, the ox or cow; oxlike; as, the bovine genus; a bovine antelope.
[ Webster]

2. Having qualities characteristic of oxen or cows; sluggish and patient; dull; as, a bovine temperament.
[ Webster]

The bovine gaze of gaping rustics. W. Black.
[ Webster]

Bovril n. an extract of beef (given to people who are ill).
Syn. -- beef tea.
[WordNet 1.5]

Bow (bou), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bowed (�); p. pr. & vb. n. Bowing.] [OE. bowen, bogen, bugen, AS. būgan (generally v. i.); akin to D. buigen, OHG. biogan, G. biegen, beugen, Icel. boginn bent, beygja to bend, Sw. böja, Dan. böie, bugne, Coth. biugan; also to L. fugere to flee, Gr. �, and Skr. bhuj to bend. √88. Cf. .]
[ Webster]

1. To cause to deviate from straightness; to bend; to inflect; to make crooked or curved.
[ Webster]

We bow things the contrary way, to make them come to their natural straightness. Milton.
[ Webster]

The whole nation bowed their necks to the worst kind of tyranny. Prescott.
[ Webster]

2. To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend, figuratively; to turn; to incline.
[ Webster]

Adversities do more bow men's minds to religion. Bacon.
[ Webster]

Not to bow and bias their opinions. Fuller.
[ Webster]

3. To bend or incline, as the head or body, in token of respect, gratitude, assent, homage, or condescension.
[ Webster]

They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 2 Kings ii. 15.
[ Webster]

4. To cause to bend down; to prostrate; to depress,;� to crush; to subdue.
[ Webster]

Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave. Shak.
[ Webster]

5. To express by bowing; as, to bow one's thanks.
[ Webster]

Bow (bou), v. i. 1. To bend; to curve. [Obs.]
[ Webster]

2. To stop. [Archaic]
[ Webster]

They stoop, they bow down together. Is. xlvi. 2�
[ Webster]

3. To bend the head, knee, or body, in token of reverence or submission; -- often with down.
[ Webster]

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. Ps. xcv. 6.
[ Webster]

4. To incline the head in token of salutation, civility, or assent; to make bow.
[ Webster]

Admired, adored by all circling crowd,
For wheresoe'er she turned her face, they bowed.
Dryden.
[ Webster]

Bow (bou), n. An inclination of the head, or a bending of the body, in token of reverence, respect, civility, or submission; an obeisance; as, a bow of deep humility.
[ Webster]

Bow (bō), n. [OE. bowe, boge, AS. boga, fr. AS. būgan to bend; akin to D. boog, G. bogen, Icel. bogi. See , v. t.]
[ Webster]

1. Anything bent, or in the form of a curve, as the rainbow.
[ Webster]

I do set my bow in the cloud. Gen. ix. 13.
[ Webster]

2. A weapon made of a strip of wood, or other elastic material, with a cord connecting the two ends, by means of which an arrow is propelled.
[ Webster]

3. An ornamental knot, with projecting loops, formed by doubling a ribbon or string.
[ Webster]

4. The U-shaped piece which embraces the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
[ Webster]

5. (Mus.) An appliance consisting of an elastic rod, with a number of horse hairs stretched from end to end of it, used in playing on a stringed instrument.
[ Webster]

6. An arcograph.
[ Webster]

7. (Mech. & Manuf.) Any instrument consisting of an elastic rod, with ends connected by a string, employed for giving reciprocating motion to a drill, or for preparing and arranging the hair, fur, etc., used by hatters.
[ Webster]

8. (Naut.) A rude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
[ Webster]

9. (Saddlery) sing. or pl. Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddletree.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Bow bearer (O. Eng. Law), an under officer of the forest who looked after trespassers. -- Coloq. Bow drill , a drill worked by a bow and string. -- Coloq. Bow instrument (Mus.), any stringed instrument from which the tones are produced by the bow. -- Coloq. Bow window (Arch.) See . -- Coloq. To draw a long bow , to lie; to exaggerate. [Colloq.]
[ Webster]

Bow (bō), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bowed (�); p. pr. & vb. n. Bowing.] To play (music) with a bow. -- v. i. To manage the bow.
[ Webster]

Bow (bō), n. [Icel. bōgr shoulder, bow of a ship. See .]
[ Webster]

1. (Naut.) The bending or rounded part of a ship forward; the stream or prow.
[ Webster]

2. (Naut.) One who rows in the forward part of a boat; the bow oar.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Bow chaser (Naut.), a gun in the bow for firing while chasing another vessel. Totten.
[ Webster]

-- Coloq. Bow piece , a piece of ordnance carried at the bow of a ship. -- Coloq. On the bow (Naut.), on that part of the horizon within 45° on either side of the line ahead. Totten.
[ Webster]

Bowable (�), a. Capable of being bowed or bent; flexible; easily influenced; yielding. [Obs.]
[ Webster]

Bowbell (�), n. One born within hearing distance of Bow-bells; a cockney. Halliwell.
[ Webster]

Bow-bells (�), n. pl. The bells of Bow Church in London; cockneydom.
[ Webster]

People born within the sound of Bow-bells are usually called cockneys. Murray's Handbook of London.
[ Webster]

Bowbent (�), a. Bent, like a bow. Milton.
[ Webster]

Bow-compass (�), n.; pl. Bow-compasses (�). 1. An arcograph.
[ Webster]

2. A small pair of compasses, one leg of which carries a pencil, or a pen, for drawing circles. Its legs are often connected by a bow-shaped spring, instead of by a joint.
[ Webster]

3. A pair of compasses, with a bow or arched plate riveted to one of the legs, and passing through the other.
[ Webster]

bowdlerisation n. the deletion of all passages considered to be indecent.
Syn. -- bowdlerization, expurgation.
[WordNet 1.5]

bowdlerise v. same as .
Syn. -- bowdlerize, expurgate, shorten, cut.
[WordNet 1.5]

bowdlerization n. the deletion of all passages considered to be indecent.
Syn. -- bowdlerisation, expurgation.
[WordNet 1.5]

Bowdlerize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bowdlerized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bowdlerizing (?).] [After Dr. Thomas Bowdler, an English physician, who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818.] To expurgate, as a book, by omitting or modifying the parts considered offensive; to remove morally objectionable parts; -- said of literary texts.
Syn. -- bowdlerise, expurgate, shorten, cut.
[ Webster + WordNet 1.5]

It is a grave defect in the splendid tale of Tom Jones . . . that a Bowdlerized version of it would be hardly intelligible as a tale. F. Harrison.
[ Webster]

-- Bowdlerization (#), n. -- Bowdlerism (#), n.
[Webster Suppl.]

bowed adj. 1. bent over; -- used of back or head.
Syn. -- bent, inclined.
[WordNet 1.5]

2. (Music) sounded by stroking with a bow; -- of a stringed musical instrument; as, bowed instruments. Contrasted with plucked.
[WordNet 1.5]

3. resembling an arch.
Syn. -- arced, arched, arching, arciform, arcuate.
[WordNet 1.5]

4. same as .
Syn. -- bandy, bandy-legged, bowleg, bowlegged.
[WordNet 1.5]

5. submitting to the authority of another.
Syn. -- bowing.
[WordNet 1.5]

Bowel (?), n. [OE. bouel, bouele, OF. boel, boele, F. boyau, fr. L. botellus a small sausage, in LL. also intestine, dim. of L. botulus sausage.]
[ Webster]

1. One of the intestines of an animal; an entrail, especially of man; a gut; -- generally used in the plural.
[ Webster]

He burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Acts i. 18.
[ Webster]

2. pl. Hence, figuratively: The interior part of anything; as, the bowels of the earth.
[ Webster]

His soldiers . . . cried out amain,
And rushed into the bowels of the battle.
Shak.
[ Webster]

3. pl. The seat of pity or kindness. Hence: Tenderness; compassion. “Thou thing of no bowels.” Shak.
[ Webster]

Bloody Bonner, that corpulent tyrant, full (as one said) of guts, and empty of bowels. Fuller.
[ Webster]

4. pl. Offspring. [Obs.] Shak.
[ Webster]

Bowel, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Boweled or Bowelled (�); p. pr. & vb. n. Boweling or Bowelling.] To take out the bowels of; to eviscerate; to disembowel.
[ Webster]

Boweled (�), a. [Written also bowelled.] Having bowels; hollow. “The boweled cavern.” Thomson.
[ Webster]

Bowelless, a. Without pity. Sir T. Browne.
[ Webster]

Bowenite (�), n. [From G.T. Bowen, who analyzed it in 1822.] (Min.) A hard, compact variety of serpentine found in Rhode Island. It is of a light green color and resembles jade.
[ Webster]

Bower (�), n. [From , v. & n.]
[ Webster]

1. One who bows or bends.
[ Webster]

2. (Naut.) An anchor carried at the bow of a ship.
[ Webster]

3. A muscle that bends a limb, esp. the arm. [Obs.]
[ Webster]

His rawbone arms, whose mighty brawned bowers
Were wont to rive steel plates and helmets hew.
Spenser.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Best bower , Coloq. Small bower . See .
[ Webster]

Prev Next

Concept Explore Home

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z