Part 503

||Bal*bu"ti*es (&?;), n. (Med.) The defect of stammering; also, a kind of incomplete pronunciation.

Bal"con (&?;), n. A balcony. [Obs.] Pepys.

Bal"co*nied (&?;), a. Having balconies.

Bal"co*ny (bl"k*n; 277), n.; pl. Balconies (-nz). [It. balcone; cf. It. balco, palco, scaffold, fr. OHG. balcho, palcho, beam, G. balken. See Balk beam.] 1. (Arch.) A platform projecting from the wall of a building, usually resting on brackets or consoles, and inclosed by a parapet; as, a balcony in front of a window. Also, a projecting gallery in places of amusement; as, the balcony in a theater.

2. A projecting gallery once common at the stern of large ships.

"The accent has shifted from the second to the first syllable within these twenty years." Smart (1836).

Bald (bld), a. [OE. balled, ballid, perh. the p. p. of ball to reduce to the roundness or smoothness of a ball, by removing hair. √85. But cf. W. bali whiteness in a horse's forehead.] 1. Destitute of the natural or common covering on the head or top, as of hair, feathers, foliage, trees, etc.; as, a bald head; a bald oak.

On the bald top of an eminence. Wordsworth.

2. Destitute of ornament; unadorned; bare; literal.

In the preface to his own bald translation. Dryden.

3. Undisguised. " Bald egotism." Lowell.

4. Destitute of dignity or value; paltry; mean. [Obs.]

5. (Bot.) Destitute of a beard or awn; as, bald wheat.

6. (Zoöl.) (a) Destitute of the natural covering. (b) Marked with a white spot on the head; bald-faced.

Bald buzzard (Zoöl.), the fishhawk or osprey. -- Bald coot (Zoöl.), a name of the European coot (Fulica atra), alluding to the bare patch on the front of the head.

Bal"da*chin (&?;), n. [LL. baldachinus, baldechinus, a canopy of rich silk carried over the host; fr. Bagdad, It. Baldacco, a city in Turkish Asia from whence these rich silks came: cf. It. baldacchino. Cf. Baudekin.] 1. A rich brocade; baudekin. [Obs.]

2. (Arch.) A structure in form of a canopy, sometimes supported by columns, and sometimes suspended from the roof or projecting from the wall; generally placed over an altar; as, the baldachin in St. Peter's.

3. A portable canopy borne over shrines, etc., in procession.

Bald" ea"gle (&?;). (Zoöl.) The white-headed eagle (Haliæetus leucocephalus) of America. The young, until several years old, lack the white feathers on the head.

The bald eagle is represented in the coat of arms, and on the coins, of the United States.

Bal"der (&?;), n. [Icel. Baldr, akin to E. bold.] (Scan. Myth.) The most beautiful and beloved of the gods; the god of peace; the son of Odin and Freya. [Written also Baldur.]

Bal"der*dash (&?;), n. [Of uncertain origin: cf. Dan. balder noise, clatter, and E. dash; hence, perhaps, unmeaning noise, then hodgepodge, mixture; or W. baldorduss a prattling, baldordd, baldorddi, to prattle.] 1. A worthless mixture, especially of liquors.

Indeed beer, by a mixture of wine, hath lost both name and nature, and is called balderdash. Taylor (Drink and Welcome).

2. Senseless jargon; ribaldry; nonsense; trash.

Bal"der*dash (&?;), v. t. To mix or adulterate, as liquors.

The wine merchants of Nice brew and balderdash, and even mix it with pigeon's dung and quicklime. Smollett.

Bald"-faced` (&?;), a. Having a white face or a white mark on the face, as a stag.

Bald"head` (&?;), n. 1. A person whose head is bald. 2 Kings ii. 23.