Part 736

Bolt"sprit` (&?;), n. [A corruption of bowsprit.] (Naut.) See Bowsprit.

Bol"ty (&?;), n. (Zoöl.) An edible fish of the Nile (genus Chromis). [Written also bulti.]

Bo"lus (&?;), n.; pl. Boluses (&?;). [L. bolus bit, morsel; cf. G. &?; lump of earth. See Bole, n., clay.] A rounded mass of anything, esp. a large pill.

Bom (&?;), n. (Zoöl.) A large American serpent, so called from the sound it makes.

Bomb (&?;), n. [F. bombe bombshell, fr. L. bombus a humming or buzzing noise, Gr. &?;.]

1. A great noise; a hollow sound. [Obs.]

A pillar of iron . . . which if you had struck, would make . . . a great bomb in the chamber beneath. Bacon.

2. (Mil.) A shell; esp. a spherical shell, like those fired from mortars. See Shell.

3. A bomb ketch.

Bomb chest (Mil.), a chest filled with bombs, or only with gunpowder, placed under ground, to cause destruction by its explosion. -- Bomb ketch, Bomb vessel (Naut.), a small ketch or vessel, very strongly built, on which mortars are mounted to be used in naval bombardments; -- called also mortar vessel. -- Bomb lance, a lance or harpoon with an explosive head, used in whale fishing. -- Volcanic bomb, a mass of lava of a spherical or pear shape. "I noticed volcanic bombs." Darwin.

Bomb, v. t. To bombard. [Obs.] Prior.

Bomb, v. i. [Cf. Boom.] To sound; to boom; to make a humming or buzzing sound. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Bom"bace (&?;), n. [OF.] Cotton; padding. [Obs.]

Bom"bard (&?;), n. [F. bombarde, LL. bombarda, fr. L. bombus + -ard. Cf. Bumper, and see Bomb.] 1. (Gun.) A piece of heavy ordnance formerly used for throwing stones and other ponderous missiles. It was the earliest kind of cannon.

They planted in divers places twelve great bombards, wherewith they threw huge stones into the air, which, falling down into the city, might break down the houses. Knolles.

2. A bombardment. [Poetic & R.] J. Barlow.

3. A large drinking vessel or can, or a leather bottle, for carrying liquor or beer. [Obs.]

Yond same black cloud, yond huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. Shak.

4. pl. Padded breeches. [Obs.]

Bombard phrase, inflated language; bombast. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Bom"bard (&?;), n. [OE. bombarde, fr. F. bombarde.] (Mus.) See Bombardo. [Obs.]

Bom*bard" (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bombarded; p. pr. & vb. n. Bombarding.] To attack with bombards or with artillery; especially, to throw shells, hot shot, etc., at or into.

Next, she means to bombard Naples. Burke.

His fleet bombarded and burnt down Dieppe. Wood.

Bom`bar*dier" (&?;), n. [F. bombardier.] (Mil.) (a) One who used or managed a bombard; an artilleryman; a gunner. [Archaic] (b) A noncommissioned officer in the British artillery.

Bombardier beetle (Zoöl.), a kind of beetle (Brachinus crepitans), so called because, when disturbed, it makes an explosive discharge of a pungent and acrid vapor from its anal glands. The name is applied to other related species, as the B. displosor, which can produce ten or twelve explosions successively. The common American species is B. fumans.

Bom"bard*man (&?;), n. One who carried liquor or beer in a can or bombard. [Obs.]

They . . . made room for a bombardman that brought bouge for a country lady. B. Jonson.