Part 511

Bal"us*trade` (-trd`), n. [F. balustrade, It. balaustrata fr. balaustro. See Baluster.] (Arch.) A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.

Bam (bm), n. [Prob. a contr. of bamboozle.] An imposition; a cheat; a hoax. Garrick.

To relieve the tedium, he kept plying them with all manner of bams. Prof. Wilson.

Bam, v. t. To cheat; to wheedle. [Slang] Foote.

||Bam*bi"no (bäm*b"n), n. [It., a little boy, fr. bambo silly; cf. Gr. bambali`zein, bambai`nein, to chatter.] A child or baby; esp., a representation in art of the infant Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Bam*boc`ci*ade" (&?;), n. [It. bambocciata, fr. Bamboccio a nickname of Peter Van Laer, a Dutch genre painter; properly, a child, simpleton, puppet, fr. bambo silly.] (Paint.) A representation of a grotesque scene from common or rustic life.

Bam*boo" (bm*b"), n. [Malay bambu, mambu.] (Bot.) A plant of the family of grasses, and genus Bambusa, growing in tropical countries.

The most useful species is Bambusa arundinacea, which has a woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem, and grows to the height of forty feet and upward. The flowers grow in large panicles, from the joints of the stalk, placed three in a parcel, close to their receptacles. Old stalks grow to five or six inches in diameter, and are so hard and durable as to be used for building, and for all sorts of furniture, for water pipes, and for poles to support palanquins. The smaller stalks are used for walking sticks, flutes, etc.

Bam*boo", v. t. To flog with the bamboo.

Bam*boo"zle (-z'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bamboozled (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Bamboozling (&?;).] [Said to be of Gipsy origin.] To deceive by trickery; to cajole by confusing the senses; to hoax; to mystify; to humbug. [Colloq.] Addison.

What oriental tomfoolery is bamboozling you? J. H. Newman.

Bam*boo"zler (bm*b"zlr), n. A swindler; one who deceives by trickery. [Colloq.] Arbuthnot.

||Ban (bn), n. A kind of fine muslin, made in the East Indies from the fiber of the banana leaf stalks.

Ban (bn), n. [AS. bann command, edict; akin to D. ban, Icel. bann, Dan. band, OHG. ban, G. bann, a public proclamation, as of interdiction or excommunication, Gr. fa`nai to say, L. fari to speak, Skr. bhan to speak; cf. F. ban, LL. bannum, of G. origin. √86. Cf. Abandon, Fame.] 1. A public proclamation or edict; a public order or notice, mandatory or prohibitory; a summons by public proclamation.

2. (Feudal & Mil.) A calling together of the king's (esp. the French king's) vassals for military service; also, the body of vassals thus assembled or summoned. In present usage, in France and Prussia, the most effective part of the population liable to military duty and not in the standing army.

3. pl. Notice of a proposed marriage, proclaimed in church. See Banns (the common spelling in this sense).

4. An interdiction, prohibition, or proscription. "Under ban to touch." Milton.

5. A curse or anathema. "Hecate's ban." Shak.

6. A pecuniary mulct or penalty laid upon a delinquent for offending against a ban; as, a mulct paid to a bishop by one guilty of sacrilege or other crimes.

Ban of the empire (German Hist.), an imperial interdict by which political rights and privileges, as those of a prince, city, or district, were taken away.

Ban, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Banned (bnd); p. pr. & vb. n. Banning.] [OE. bannen, bannien, to summon, curse, AS. bannan to summon; akin to Dan. bande, forbande, to curse, Sw. banna to revile, bannas to curse. See Ban an edict, and cf. Banish.] 1. To curse; to invoke evil upon. Sir W. Scott.

2. To forbid; to interdict. Byron.

Ban, v. i. To curse; to swear. [Obs.] Spenser.

Ban, n. [Serv. ban; cf. Russ. & Pol. pan a master, lord, Per. ban.] An ancient title of the warden of the eastern marches of Hungary; now, a title of the viceroy of Croatia and Slavonia.

Ban"al (&?;), a. [F., fr. ban an ordinance.] Commonplace; trivial; hackneyed; trite.

Ba*nal"i*ty (&?;), n.; pl. Banalities (&?;). [F. banalité. See Banal.] Something commonplace, hackneyed, or trivial; the commonplace, in speech.

The highest things were thus brought down to the banalities of discourse. J. Morley.

Ba*na"na (b*nä"n; 277), n. [Sp. banana, name of the fruit.] (Bot.) A perennial herbaceous plant of almost treelike size (Musa sapientum); also, its edible fruit. See Musa.