B

B

• • Baccare

  • keep back

  • Backward

  • the hinder part; hence, when applied to time,
    the past

  • Baffle

  • embarrass

  • Balked

  • heaped, as on a ridge

  • Ballow

  • a cudgel

  • Balm

  • the oil of consecration

  • Ban

  • to curse

  • Bank

  • to sail by the banks

  • Barm

  • yeast

  • Barn

  • a child

  • Barnacle

  • a shellfish, supposed to produce the sea-bird
    of the same name

  • Base

  • a game, sometimes called Prisoners' base

  • Bases

  • an embroidered mantle worn by knights on
    horseback, and reaching from the middle to
    below the knees

  • Basilisk

  • a kind of ordnance

  • Basta

  • enough

  • Bastard

  • raisin wine

  • Bate

  • to flutter, as a hawk

  • Bate

  • to except
    To abate

  • Bat-fowling

  • catching birds with a clap-net by night

  • Batlet

  • a small bat, used for beating clothes

  • Battle

  • army

  • Bavin

  • used as an a piece of waste wood, applied
    contemptuously to anything worthless

  • Bawcock

  • a fine fellow

  • Bawd

  • procurer

  • Bay

  • the space between the main timbers of the roof

  • Beadsman

  • one who bids bedes, that is, prays prayers
    for another

  • Bearing-cloth

  • a rich cloth in which children were wrapt at
    their christening

  • Beat

  • to flutter as a falcon, to meditate, consider
    earnestly

  • Beaver

  • the lower part of a helmet

  • Beetle

  • a mallet

  • Being

  • dwelling

  • Being

  • since, inasmuch as

  • Be-mete

  • to measure

  • Be-moiled

  • daubed with dirt

  • Bending

  • stooping under a weight

  • Benvenuto

  • (Italian), welcome

  • Bergomask

  • a rustic dance

  • Beshrew

  • evil befal

  • Bestraught

  • distraught, distracted

  • Beteem

  • to pour out

  • Betid

  • happened

  • Bezonian

  • a beggarly fellow

  • Biding

  • abiding-place

  • Biggen

  • a night-cap

  • Bilberry

  • the whortleberry

  • Bilbo

  • a sword, from Bilboa, a town in Spain where
    they were made

  • Bilboes

  • fetters or stocks

  • Bill

  • a bill-hook, a weapon

  • Bin

  • been, are

  • Bird-bolt

  • a bolt to be shot from a crossbow at birds

  • Birding

  • part. hawking at partridges

  • Bisson

  • blind

  • Blank

  • the white mark in the middle of a target;
    hence, metaphorically, that which is aimed at

  • Blench

  • to start aside, flinch

  • Blent

  • blended

  • Blood-boltered

  • smeared with blood

  • Blow

  • to inflate

  • Board

  • to make advances to; accost

  • Bob

  • a blow, metaph. a sarcasm

  • Bob

  • to strike, metaph. to ridicule, or to obtain
    by raillery

  • Bodge

  • to botch, bungle

  • Bodikin

  • a corrupt word used as an oath. 'Od's Bodikin,'
    God's little Body

  • Boitier

  • Vert green box

  • Bold

  • to embolden

  • Bollen

  • swollen

  • Bolted

  • sifted, refined

  • Bolter

  • a sieve

  • Bolting-hutch

  • a hutch in which meal was sifted

  • Bombard

  • a barrel, a drunkard

  • Bombast

  • padding

  • Bona-roba

  • a harlot

  • Bond

  • that to which one is bound

  • Book

  • a paper of conditions

  • Boot

  • help, use

  • Boot

  • to help, to avail

  • Bootless

  • without boot or advantage, useless

  • Boots

  • bots, a kind of worm

  • Bore

  • calibre of a gun; hence, metaph. size, weight,
    importance

  • Bosky

  • covered with underwood

  • Bosom

  • wish, heart's desire

  • Bots

  • worms which infest horses

  • Bourn

  • a boundary
    A brook

  • Brace

  • armour for the arm, state of defence

  • Brach

  • a hound bitch

  • Braid

  • deceitful

  • Brave

  • handsome, well-dressed

  • Brave

  • boast

  • Bravery

  • finery
    Boastfulness

  • Brawl

  • a kind of dance

  • Breast

  • voice

  • Breathe

  • to exercise

  • Breathing

  • exercising

  • Breeching

  • liable to be whipt

  • Breed-bate

  • a breeder of debate, a fomenter of quarrels

  • Breese

  • the gadfly

  • Bribe-buck

  • a buck given away in presents

  • Bring

  • to attend one on a journey

  • Brock

  • a badger, a term of contempt

  • Broke

  • to act as a procurer

  • Broken

  • having lost some teeth by age

  • Broken

  • Music the music of stringed instruments

  • Broker

  • an agent

  • Brotherhood

  • trading company

  • Brownist

  • a sectary, a follower of Brown, the founder
    of the Independents

  • Bruit

  • noise, report, rumour

  • Bruit

  • to noise abroad

  • Brush

  • rude assault

  • Buck

  • suds or lye for washing clothes in

  • Buck-basket

  • the basket in which clothes are carried to the
    wash

  • Bucking

  • washing

  • Buck-washing

  • washing in lye

  • Bug

  • a bugbear, a spectre

  • Bully-rook

  • a bragging cheater

  • Burgonet

  • a kind of helmet

  • Burst

  • to break

  • Busky

  • bushy

  • Butt-shaft

  • a light arrow for shooting at a target

  • Buxom

  • obedient

  • By'rlakin

  • by our little Lady: an oath