Part 675

Black"tail` (&?;), n. [Black + tail.] 1. (Zoöl.) A fish; the ruff or pope.

2. (Zoöl.) The black-tailed deer (Cervus or Cariacus Columbianus) of California and Oregon; also, the mule deer of the Rocky Mountains. See Mule deer.

Black"thorn` (&?;), n. (Bot.) (a) A spreading thorny shrub or small tree (Prunus spinosa), with blackish bark, and bearing little black plums, which are called sloes; the sloe. (b) A species of Cratægus or hawthorn (C. tomentosa). Both are used for hedges.

Black" vom"it (&?;). (Med.) A copious vomiting of dark-colored matter; or the substance so discharged; -- one of the most fatal symptoms in yellow fever.

{ Black" wash` (&?;) or Black"wash }, n. 1. (Med.) A lotion made by mixing calomel and lime water.

2. A wash that blackens, as opposed to whitewash; hence, figuratively, calumny.

To remove as far as he can the modern layers of black wash, and let the man himself, fair or foul, be seen. C. Kingsley.

Black"wood (&?;), n. A name given to several dark-colored timbers. The East Indian black wood is from the tree Dalbergia latifolia. Balfour.

Black"work` (&?;), n. Work wrought by blacksmiths; -- so called in distinction from that wrought by whitesmiths. Knight.

Blad"der (&?;), n. [OE. bladder, bleddre, AS. bl&?;dre, bl&?;ddre; akin to Icel. bla&?;ra, SW. bläddra, Dan. blære, D. blaar, OHG. bltara the bladder in the body of animals, G. blatter blister, bustule; all fr. the same root as AS. blwan, E. blow, to puff. See Blow to puff.]

1. (Anat.) A bag or sac in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some fluid; as, the urinary bladder; the gall bladder; -- applied especially to the urinary bladder, either within the animal, or when taken out and inflated with air.

2. Any vesicle or blister, especially if filled with air, or a thin, watery fluid.

3. (Bot.) A distended, membranaceous pericarp.

4. Anything inflated, empty, or unsound. "To swim with bladders of philosophy." Rochester.

Bladder nut, or Bladder tree (Bot.), a genus of plants (Staphylea) with bladderlike seed pods. -- Bladder pod (Bot.), a genus of low herbs (Vesicaria) with inflated seed pods. -- Bladdor senna (Bot.), a genus of shrubs (Colutea), with membranaceous, inflated pods. -- Bladder worm (Zoöl.), the larva of any species of tapeworm (Tænia), found in the flesh or other parts of animals. See Measle, Cysticercus. -- Bladder wrack (Bot.), the common black rock weed of the seacoast (Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus) -- called also bladder tangle. See Wrack.

Blad"der, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bladdered (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Bladdering.] 1. To swell out like a bladder with air; to inflate. [Obs.] G. Fletcher.

2. To put up in bladders; as, bladdered lard.

Blad"der*wort` (&?;), n. (Bot.) A genus (Utricularia) of aquatic or marshy plants, which usually bear numerous vesicles in the divisions of the leaves. These serve as traps for minute animals. See Ascidium.

Blad"der*y (&?;), a. Having bladders; also, resembling a bladder.

Blade (bld), n. [OE. blade, blad, AS. blæd leaf; akin to OS., D., Dan., & Sw. blad, Icel. blað, OHG. blat, G. blatt, and perh. to L. folium, Gr. fy`llon. The root is prob. the same as that of AS. blwan, E. blow, to blossom. See Blow to blossom, and cf. Foil leaf of metal.]

1. Properly, the leaf, or flat part of the leaf, of any plant, especially of gramineous plants. The term is sometimes applied to the spire of grasses.

The crimson dulse . . . with its waving blade. Percival.

First the blade, then ear, after that the full corn in the ear. Mark iv. 28.

2. The cutting part of an instrument; as, the blade of a knife or a sword.

3. The broad part of an oar; also, one of the projecting arms of a screw propeller.

4. The scapula or shoulder blade.

5. pl. (Arch.) The principal rafters of a roof. Weale.

6. pl. (Com.) The four large shell plates on the sides, and the five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell. De Colange.