Part 668

Bit"ter*sweet`, n. 1. Anything which is bittersweet.

2. A kind of apple so called. Gower.

3. (Bot.) (a) A climbing shrub, with oval coral-red berries (Solanum dulcamara); woody nightshade. The whole plant is poisonous, and has a taste at first sweetish and then bitter. The branches are the officinal dulcamara. (b) An American woody climber (Celastrus scandens), whose yellow capsules open late in autumn, and disclose the red aril which covers the seeds; -- also called Roxbury waxwork.

Bit"ter*weed` (&?;), n. (Bot.) A species of Ambrosia (A. artemisiæfolia); Roman worm wood. Gray.

Bit"ter*wood` (&?;), n. A West Indian tree (Picræna excelsa) from the wood of which the bitter drug Jamaica quassia is obtained.

Bit"ter*wort` (&?;), n. (Bot.) The yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea), which has a very bitter taste.

Bit"tock (&?;), n. [See Bit a morsel.] A small bit of anything, of indefinite size or quantity; a short distance. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

{ Bit"tor Bit"tour } (&?;), n. [See Bittern] (Zoöl.) The bittern. Dryden.

Bitts (&?;), n. pl. [Cf. F. bitte, Icel. biti, a beam. &?;87.] (Naut.) A frame of two strong timbers fixed perpendicularly in the fore part of a ship, on which to fasten the cables as the ship rides at anchor, or in warping. Other bitts are used for belaying (belaying bitts), for sustaining the windlass (carrick bitts, winch bitts, or windlass bitts), to hold the pawls of the windlass (pawl bitts) etc.

Bi*tume" (&?;), n. [F. See Bitumen.] Bitumen. [Poetic] May.

Bi*tumed" (&?;), a. Smeared with bitumen. [R.] "The hatches caulked and bitumed." Shak.

Bi*tu"men (&?;), n. [L. bitumen: cf. F. bitume. Cf. Béton.] 1. Mineral pitch; a black, tarry substance, burning with a bright flame; Jew's pitch. It occurs as an abundant natural product in many places, as on the shores of the Dead and Caspian Seas. It is used in cements, in the construction of pavements, etc. See Asphalt.

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2. By extension, any one of the natural hydrocarbons, including the hard, solid, brittle varieties called asphalt, the semisolid maltha and mineral tars, the oily petroleums, and even the light, volatile naphthas.

Bi*tu"mi*nate (b*t"m*nt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bituminated; p. pr. & vb. n. Bituminating.] [L. bituminatus, p. p. of bituminare to bituminate. See Bitumen.] To treat or impregnate with bitumen; to cement with bitumen. "Bituminated walls of Babylon." Feltham.

Bi*tu`mi*nif"er*ous (&?;), a. [Bitumen + -ferous.] Producing bitumen. Kirwan.

Bi*tu`mi*ni*za"tion (&?;), n. [Cf. F. bituminisation.] The process of bituminizing. Mantell.

Bi*tu"mi*nize (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bituminized (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Bituminizing.] [Cf. F. bituminiser.] To prepare, treat, impregnate, or coat with bitumen.

Bi*tu"mi*nous (&?;), a. [L. bituminosus: cf. F. bitumineux.] Having the qualities of bitumen; compounded with bitumen; containing bitumen.

Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flamed. Milton.

Bituminous coal, a kind of coal which yields, when heated, a considerable amount of volatile bituminous matter. It burns with a yellow smoky flame. -- Bituminous limestone, a mineral of a brown or black color, emitting an unpleasant smell when rubbed. That of Dalmatia is so charged with bitumen that it may be cut like soap. -- Bituminous shale, an argillaceous shale impregnated with bitumen, often accompanying coal.

Bi"u*ret (&?;), n. [Pref. bi- + urea.] (Chem.) A white, crystalline, nitrogenous substance, C2O2N3H5, formed by heating urea. It is intermediate between urea and cyanuric acid.

Biv"a*len*cy (&?;), n. (Chem.) The quality of being bivalent.

Biv"a*lent (&?;), a. [L. bis twice + valens, p. pr. See Valence.] (Chem.) Equivalent in combining or displacing power to two atoms of hydrogen; dyad.

Bi"valve (&?;), n. [F. bivalve; bi- (L. bis) + valve valve.] 1. (Zoöl.) A mollusk having a shell consisting of two lateral plates or valves joined together by an elastic ligament at the hinge, which is usually strengthened by prominences called teeth. The shell is closed by the contraction of two transverse muscles attached to the inner surface, as in the clam, -- or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca.

2. (Bot.) A pericarp in which the seed case opens or splits into two parts or valves.

Bi"valve (&?;), a. [Pref. bi- + valve.] (Zoöl. & Bot.) Having two shells or valves which open and shut, as the oyster and certain seed vessels.

Bi"valved (&?;), a. Having two valves, as the oyster and some seed pods; bivalve.