Part 67

I. Gonino (Perrot & Chipiez).

Baff (bf), v. t. & i. [Scot., prob. imitative; cf. G. baff, interj. imitating the sound of a shot.] To strike; to beat; to make a baff. [Scot. or Golf]

Baff, n. A blow; stroke; thud; specif. (Golf), a stroke in which the sole of the club hits the ground and drives the ball aloft. [Scot. or Golf]

Baf"fle, n. 1. (Engin.) (a) A deflector, as a plate or wall, so arranged across a furnace or boiler flue as to mingle the hot gases and deflect them against the substance to be heated. (b) A grating or plate across a channel or pipe conveying water, gas, or the like, by which the flow is rendered more uniform in different parts of the cross section of the stream; -- used in measuring the rate of flow, as by means of a weir.

2. (Coal Mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine. [Local, U. S.]

Baff"y (bf"), n. [See Baff, v. t.] (Golf) A short wooden club having a deeply concave face, seldom used.

{ ||Ba*ha"dur ||Ba*hau"dur } (?), n. [Written also bahawder.] [Hind. bahdur hero, champion.] A title of respect or honor given to European officers in East Indian state papers, and colloquially, and among the natives, to distinguished officials and other important personages.

Ba*hai" (b*h"), n.; pl. Bahais (-hz). A member of the sect of the Babis consisting of the adherents of Baha (Mirza Husain Ali, entitled "Baha 'u 'llah," or, "the Splendor of God"), the elder half brother of Mirza Yahya of Nur, who succeeded the Bab as the head of the Babists. Baha in 1863 declared himself the supreme prophet of the sect, and became its recognized head. There are upwards of 20,000 Bahais in the United States.

Ba*ha"ism (?), n. The religious tenets or practices of the Bahais.

||Bai`gnoire" (?), n. [Written also baignoir.] [F., lit., bath tub.] A box of the lowest tier in a theater. Du Maurier.

Bai"ly's beads (?). (Astron.) A row of bright spots observed in connection with total eclipses of the sun. Just before and after a total eclipse, the slender, unobscured crescent of the sun's disk appears momentarily like a row of bright spots resembling a string of beads. The phenomenon (first fully described by Francis Baily, 1774 -- 1844) is thought to be an effect of irradiation, and of inequalities of the moon's edge.

Bai*ram" (?), n. [Turk. baïrm.] Either of two Mohammedan festivals, of which one (the Lesser Bairam) is held at the close of the fast called Ramadan, and the other (the Greater Bairam) seventy days after the fast.

Bal"a*ta (?), n. [Sp., prob. fr. native name.] 1. A West Indian sapotaceous tree (Bumelia retusa).

2. The bully tree (Minusops globosa); also, its milky juice (balata gum), which when dried constitutes an elastic gum called chicle, or chicle gum.

||Ba`la`yeuse" (?), n. [F., lit., a female sweeper.] A protecting ruffle or frill, as of silk or lace, sewed close to the lower edge of a skirt on the inside.

Ball, n. (Baseball) A pitched ball, not struck at by the batsman, which fails to pass over the home base at a height not greater than the batsman's shoulder nor less than his knee.

Bal"lis*tite (?), n. [See Ballista.] (Chem.) A smokeless powder containing equal parts of soluble nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin.

Bal"lot*age (?), n. [F. ballottage.] In France, a second ballot taken after an indecisive first ballot to decide between two or several candidates.

Bal*op"ti*con (?), n. [Gr. &?; to throw + stereopticon.] See Projector, below.

||Bam*bi"no (?), n.; It. pl. -ni (#). [It.] A child or baby; specif., a representation in art of the infant Christ.

Ba*na"na so*lu"tion. A solution used as a vehicle in applying bronze pigments. In addition to acetote, benzine, and a little pyroxylin, it contains amyl acetate, which gives it the odor of bananas.

||Ban*cal" (?), n.; pl. - cales (#). [Sp., fr. banca, banco, bench. Cf. Bench.] An ornamental covering, as of carpet or leather, for a bench or form.

Ban*deau" (?), n.; pl. - deaux (#). [F.] A narrow band or fillet, as for the hair, part of a headdress, etc.

||Ban`de*ril"la (?), n. [Sp., dim. of bandera banner. See Banner, and cf. Banderole.] A barbed dart carrying a banderole which the banderillero thrusts into the neck or shoulder of the bull in a bullfight.

||Ban`de*ril*le"ro (?), n. [Sp.] One who thrusts in the banderillas in bullfighting. W. D. Howells.

Ban`jo*rine" (?), n. [From banjore banjo. See Banjo.] (Music.) A kind of banjo, with a short neck, tuned a fourth higher than the common banjo; -- popularly so called.

Bank, n. A group or series of objects arranged near together; as, a bank of electric lamps, etc.

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