| Blattidae | A family of insects (order Blattaria) consisting of over 4,000 species of cockroaches, largely tropical but worldwide in distribution, including a number of abundant pests of households, kitchens, and institutions or facilities, wherever food is present; noxious wherever found, yet not positively incriminated in natural transmission of pathogenic organisms to man. Common household pests include the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, and the oriental cockroach, Blatta orientalis. Origin: L. Blatta, cockroach (05 Mar 2000) |
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| blaubok | <zoology> The blue buck. See Blue buck, under Blue. Origin: D. Blauwbok. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| blay | <marine biology> A fish. See Bleak. Origin: AS. Blge, fr. Blc, bleak, white; akin to Icel. Bleikja, OHG. Bleicha, G. Bleihe. See Bleak, &. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| blaze | 1. A stream of gas or vapor emitting light and heat in the process of combustion; a bright flame. "To heaven the blaze uprolled." 2. Intense, direct light accompanied with heat; as, to seek shelter from the blaze of the sun. "O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon!" (Milton) 3. A bursting out, or active display of any quality; an outburst; a brilliant display. "Fierce blaze of riot." "His blaze of wrath." "For what is glory but the blaze of fame?" (Milton) 4. [Cf. D.; akin to E. Light] A white spot on the forehead of a horse. 5. A spot made on trees by chipping off a piece of the bark, usually as a surveyor's mark. "Three blazes in a perpendicular line on the same tree indicating a legislative road, the single blaze a settlement or neighborhood road." (Carlton) In a blaze, on fire; burning with a flame; filled with, giving, or reflecting light; excited or exasperated. Like blazes, furiously; rapidly. "The horses did along like blazes tear." In low language in the U. S, blazes is frequently used of something extreme or excessive, especially of something very bad; as, blue as blazes. Synonym: Blaze, Flame. A blaze and a flame are both produced by burning gas. In blaze the idea of light rapidly evolved is prominent, with or without heat; as, the blaze of the sun or of a meteor. Flame includes a stronger notion of heat; as, he perished in the flames. Origin: OE. Blase, AS. Blaese, blase; akin to OHG. Blass whitish, G. Blass pale, MHG. Blas torch, Icel. Blys torch; perh. Fr. The same root as E. Blast. Cf. Blast, Blush, Blink. 1. To mark (a tree) by chipping off a piece of the bark. "I found my way by the blazed trees." (Hoffman) 2. To designate by blazing; to mark out, as by blazed trees; as, to blaze a line or path. "Champollion died in 1832, having done little more than blaze out the road to be traveled by others." (Nott) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| blazing | Burning with a blaze; as, a blazing fire; blazing torches. Blazing star. A comet. A brilliant center of attraction. <botany> A name given to several plants; as, to Chamaelirium luteum of the Lily family; Liatris squarrosa; and Aletris farinosa, Synonym: colicroot and star grass. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| blea | The part of a tree which lies immediately under the bark; the alburnum or sapwood. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bleaberry | <botany> See Blaeberry. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bleach | To make white, or whiter; to remove the colour, or stains, from; to blanch; to whiten. "The destruction of the colouring matters attached to the bodies to be bleached is effected either by the action of the air and light, of chlorine, or of sulphurous acid." (Ure) "Immortal liberty, whose look sublime Hath bleached the tyrant's cheek in every varying clime." (Smollett) Origin: OE. Blakien, blechen, v. T. & v. I, AS. Blacian, blcan, to grow pale; akin to Icel. Bleikja, Sw. Bleka, Dan. Blege, D. Bleeken, G. Bleichen, AS. Blac pale. See Bleak. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bleached | Whitened; make white. "Let their bleached bones, and blood's unbleaching stain, Long mark the battlefield with hideous awe." (Byron) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bleached wax | Yellow wax bleached by being rolled very thin and exposed to the light and air, or bleached by chemical oxidants; same uses as yellow wax. Synonym: bleached wax, white beeswax. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bleaching | The act or process of whitening, by removing colour or stains; especially. The process of whitening fabrics by chemical agents. Bleaching powder, a powder for bleaching, consisting of chloride of lime, or some other chemical or chemicals. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bleaching powder | A mixture of varying proportions of complexes of chlorine with calcium oxide and calcium hydroxide. Contains 24-37% available chlorine. Decomposes in moist conditions to liberate chlorine. Strong irritant due to chlorine vapors. Used for disinfecting drinking water, sewage etc.; in the bleaching of wood pulp, linen, cotton, straw, oils, soaps, and laundry; as an oxidiser; in destroying caterpillars; and as a decontaminant for mustard gas and similar substances. Synonym: bleaching powder. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bleak | <marine biology> A small European river fish (Leuciscus alburnus), of the family Cyprinidae; the blay. Alternative forms: blick. The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is used in the manufacture of artificial pearls. Origin: From Bleak, cf. Blay. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bleareye | <ophthalmology> A disease of the eyelids, consisting in chronic inflammation of the margins, with a gummy secretion of sebaceous matter. Blepharitis accompanied by a viscid discharge that tends to cause the lid edges to cling together. Synonym: lippitude, lippitudo. (06 Mar 2000) |
| bleary eye | Sore, runny, watery eye with an associated lackluster appearance and, by extension, dimness of vision. (05 Mar 2000) |