Part 481

2. pl. The whole class of divinities to whom the name Baal was applied. Judges x. 6.

Ba"al*ism (-z'm), n. Worship of Baal; idolatry.

{ Ba"al*ist (&?;), Ba"al*ite (&?;), } n. A worshiper of Baal; a devotee of any false religion; an idolater.

||Ba"ba (&?;), n. [F.] A kind of plum cake.

Bab"bitt (&?;), v. t. To line with Babbitt metal.

Bab"bitt met`al (&?;). [From the inventor, Isaac Babbitt of Massachusetts.] A soft white alloy of variable composition (as a nine parts of tin to one of copper, or of fifty parts of tin to five of antimony and one of copper) used in bearings to diminish friction.

Bab"ble (bb"b'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Babbled (-b'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Babbling.] [Cf.LG. babbeln, D. babbelen, G. bappeln, bappern, F. babiller, It. babbolare; prob. orig., to keep saying ba, imitative of a child learning to talk.] 1. To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds; as, a child babbles.

2. To talk incoherently; to utter unmeaning words.

3. To talk much; to chatter; to prate.

4. To make a continuous murmuring noise, as shallow water running over stones.

In every babbling brook he finds a friend. Wordsworth.

Hounds are said to babble, or to be babbling, when they are too noisy after having found a good scent.

Syn. -- To prate; prattle; chatter; gossip.

Bab"ble, v. t. 1. To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat, as words, in a childish way without understanding.

These [words] he used to babble in all companies. Arbuthnot.

2. To disclose by too free talk, as a secret.

Bab"ble, n. 1. Idle talk; senseless prattle; gabble; twaddle. "This is mere moral babble." Milton.

2. Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.

The babble of our young children. Darwin.

The babble of the stream. Tennyson.

Bab"ble*ment (&?;), n. Babble. Hawthorne.

Bab"bler (&?;), n. 1. An idle talker; an irrational prater; a teller of secrets.

Great babblers, or talkers, are not fit for trust. L'Estrange.

2. A hound too noisy on finding a good scent.

3. (Zoöl.) A name given to any one of a family (Timalinæ) of thrushlike birds, having a chattering note.

Bab"ble*ry (&?;), n. Babble. [Obs.] Sir T. More.

Babe (bb), n. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]

1. An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby.