Backwards - BACK'WARDS, adv.[back and ward. See Ward.] With the back in advance; as, to move backward.
2. Toward the back; as, to throw the arms backward; to move backwards and forwards.
3. On the back, or with the back downwards; as, to fall backward.
4. Toward past times or events; as to look backward on the history of man.
5. By way of reflection; reflexively.
6. From a better to a worse state; as, public affairs go backward.
7. In time past; as,let us look some ages backward.
8. Perversely; from a wrong end.
I never yet saw man but she would spell him backward.
9. Towards the beginning; in an order contrary to the natural order; as, to read backward.
10. In a scriptural sense, to go or turn backward, is to rebel, apostatize, or relapse into sin, or idolatry. Isa 1.
11. Contrarily; in a contrary manner.
To be driven or turned backward, is to be defeated, or disappointed. Ps.xl.turn judgment backward, is to pervert justice and laws. Is.lix.
BACK'WARD, a. Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating. For wiser brutes are backward to be slaves.
2. Slow; sluggish; dilatory. The mind is backward to undergo the fatigue of weighing every argument.
3. Dull; not quick of apprehension; behind in progress; as a backward learner.
4. Late; behind in time; coming after something else, or after the usual time; as backward fruits; the season is backward.
BACK'WARD, n. The things or state behind or past.
In the dark backward or abysm of time. [Not proper,nor in use.]
Barefoot - BA'REFOOT, a. [See Foot.]
With the feet bare; without shoes and stockings. 2 Sam 15. Isa 20.
BA'REFOOT, a. or adv. With the feet bare; as, to dance barefoot.
Base - BASE, a.
1. Low in place. Obs.
2. Mean; vile; worthless; that is, low in value or estimation; used of things.
3. Of low station; of mean account; without rank, dignity or estimation among men; used of persons.
The base shall behave proudly against the honorable. Isa 3.
4. Of mean spirit; disingenuous; illiberal; low; without dignity of sentiment; as a base and abject multitude.
5. Of little comparative value; applied to metals, and perhaps to all metals, except gold and silver.
6. Deep; grave; applied to sounds; as the base sounds of a viol.
7. Of illegitimate birth; born out of wedlock.
8. Not held by honorable tenure. A base estate is an estate held by services not honorable,not in capite, or by villenage.
Such a tenure is called base, or low, and the tenant, a base tenant. So writers on the laws of England use the terms, a base fee, a base court.
Such a tenure is called base, or low, and the tenant, a base tenant. So writers on the laws of England use the terms, a base fee, a base court.
BASE, n. [L. basis; that which is set, the foundation or bottom.]
1. The bottom of any thing, considered as its support or the part of a thing on which it stands or rests; as the base of a column, the pedestal of a statue, the foundation of a house,&c.
In architecture, the base of a pillar properly is that part which is between the top of a pedestal and the bottom of the shaft; but when there is no pedestal, it is the part between the bottom of the column and the plinth. Usually it consists of certain spires or circles. The pedestal also has its base.
2. In fortification, the exterior side of the polygon, or that imaginary line which is drawn from the flanked angle of a bastion to the angle opposite to it.
3. In gunnery, the least sort of ordnance, the diameter of whose bore is l 1/4 inch.
4. The part of any ornament which hangs down, as housings.
5. The broad part of any thing, as the bottom of a cone.
6. In old authors, stockings; armor for the legs.
7. The place from which racers or tilters start; the bottom of the field; the carcer or starting post.
8. The lowest or gravest part in music; improperly written bass.
9. A rustic play, called also bays, or prison bars.
10. In geometry, the lowest side of the perimeter of a figure. Any side of a triangle may be called its base, but this term most properly belongs to the side which is parallel to the horizon. In rectangled triangles, the base, properly, is the side opposite to the right angle. The base of a solid figure is that on which it stands. The base of a conic section is a right line in the hyperbola and parabola, arising from the common intersection of the secant plane and the base of the cone.
11. In chimistry, any body which is dissolved by another body, which it receives and fixes. Thus any alkaline, earthy or metallic substance, combining with an acid, forms a compound or neutral salt, of which it is the base. Such salts are called salts with alkaline, earthy or metallic bases.
12. Thorough base, in music, is the part performed with base viols or theorbos, while the voices sing and other instruments perform their parts, or during the intervals when the other parts stop. It is distinguished by figures over the notes.
Counter base is a second or double base, when there are several in the same concert.
BASE, v.t. To embase; to reduce the value by the admixture of meaner metals. [Little used.]
2. To found; to lay the base or foundation.
To base and build the commonwealth of man.
Bass - B'ASS, n. [It has no plural.] The name of several species of fish. In England, this name is given to a species of perch, called by some the sea-wolf, from its voracity, and resembling, in a degree, the trout in shape, but having a larger head. It weighs about fifteen pounds. In the northern states of America, this name is given to a striped fish which grows to the weight of 25 or 30 pounds, and which enters the rivers; the perca ocellata.
A species of striped fish, of a darker color, with a large head, is called sea-bass, as it is never found in fresh water. This fish grows to two or three pounds weight. Both species are well tasted, but the proper bass is a very white and delicious food.
B'ASS, n. The linden, lime or tiel tree; called also bass-wood. [See Bast.]
2. [pron.bas.] A mat to kneel on in churches.
BASS, n. In music, the base; the deepest or gravest part of a tune. This word is thus written in imitation of the Italian basso, which is the Eng. base, low; yet with the pronunciation of base and plural bases, a gross error that ought to be corrected; as the word used in pronunciation is the English word base.
BASS, v.t. To sound in a deep tone.
Battle - BAT'TLE, n. [See Beat.] Owen supposes the Welsh batel, to be from tel, tight, stretched, compact, and the word primarily to have expressed the drawing of the bow. This is probably an error. The first battles of men were with clubs, or some weapons used in beating, striking. Hence the club of Hercules. And although the moderns use different weapons, still a battle is some mode of beating or striking.]
1. A fight, or encounter between enemies, or opposing armies; an engagement. It is usually applied to armies or large bodies of men; but in popular language, the word is applied to an encounter between small bodies, between individuals, or inferior animals. It is also more generally applied to the encounters of land forces than of ships; the encounters of the latter being called engagements. But battle is applicable to any combat of enemies.
2. A body of forces, or division of an army.
The main body, as distinct from the van and rear.
To give battle, is to attack an enemy; to join battle, is properly to meet the attack; but perhaps this distinction is not always observed.
A pitched battle is one in which the armies are previously drawn up in form, with a regular disposition of the forces.
To turn the battle to the gate, is to fight valiantly, and drive the enemy, who hath entered the city, back to the gate. Isa 28.
BAT'TLE, v.i. To join in battle; to contend in fight; sometimes with it; as, to battle it.
BAT'TLE, v.t. To cover with armed force.