Part 717

Syn. -- Noise; boisterousness; tumult; turbulence; confusion; boasting; swaggering; bullying.

Blus"ter*er (&?;), n. One who, or that which, blusters; a noisy swaggerer.

Blus"ter*ing, a. 1. Exhibiting noisy violence, as the wind; stormy; tumultuous.

A tempest and a blustering day. Shak.

2. Uttering noisy threats; noisy and swaggering; boisterous. "A blustering fellow." L'Estrange.

Blus"ter*ing*ly, adv. In a blustering manner.

Blus"ter*ous (&?;), a. Inclined to bluster; given to blustering; blustering. Motley.

Blus"trous (&?;), a. Blusterous. Shak.

Bo (&?;), interj. [Cf. W. bw, an interj. of threatening or frightening; n., terror, fear, dread.] An exclamation used to startle or frighten. [Spelt also boh and boo.]

Bo"a (b"), n.; pl. Boas. [L. boa a kind of water serpent. Perh. fr. bos an ox.] 1. (Zoöl.) A genus of large American serpents, including the boa constrictor, the emperor boa of Mexico (B. imperator), and the chevalier boa of Peru (B. eques).

The name is also applied to related genera; as, the dog-headed boa (Xiphosoma caninum).

2. A long, round fur tippet; -- so called from its resemblance in shape to the boa constrictor.

Bo"a con*strict"or (&?;). [NL. See Boa, and Constrictor.] (Zoöl.) A large and powerful serpent of tropical America, sometimes twenty or thirty feet long. See Illustration in Appendix.

It has a succession of spots, alternately black and yellow, extending along the back. It kills its prey by constriction. The name is also loosely applied to other large serpents which crush their prey, particularly to those of the genus Python, found in Asia and Africa.

||Bo`a*ner"ges (&?;). [Gr. &?;, fr. Heb. bn hargem sons of thunder. -- an appellation given by Christ to two of his disciples (James and John). See Mark iii. 17.] Any declamatory and vociferous preacher or orator.

Boar (br), n. [OE. bar, bor, bore, AS. br; akin to OHG. pr, MHG. br, G. bär, boar (but not bär bear), and perh. Russ. borov' boar.] (Zoöl.) The uncastrated male of swine; specifically, the wild hog.

Board (brd), n. [OE. bord, AS. bord board, shipboard; akin to bred plank, Icel. borð board, side of a ship, Goth. ftu-baurd footstool, D. bord board, G. brett, bort. See def. 8. √92.] 1. A piece of timber sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth as compared with the thickness, -- used for building, etc.

When sawed thick, as over one and a half or two inches, it is usually called a plank.

2. A table to put food upon.

The term board answers to the modern table, but it was often movable, and placed on trestles. Halliwell.

Fruit of all kinds . . . She gathers, tribute large, and on the board Heaps with unsparing hand. Milton.

3. Hence: What is served on a table as food; stated meals; provision; entertainment; -- usually as furnished for pay; as, to work for one's board; the price of board.

4. A table at which a council or court is held. Hence: A council, convened for business, or any authorized assembly or meeting, public or private; a number of persons appointed or elected to sit in council for the management or direction of some public or private business or trust; as, the Board of Admiralty; a board of trade; a board of directors, trustees, commissioners, etc.

Both better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that board. Clarendon.

We may judge from their letters to the board. Porteus.

5. A square or oblong piece of thin wood or other material used for some special purpose, as, a molding board; a board or surface painted or arranged for a game; as, a chessboard; a backgammon board.

6. Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard; as, to bind a book in boards.

7. pl. The stage in a theater; as, to go upon the boards, to enter upon the theatrical profession.