*eat*

n. [ L. ablaqueatio. ] The act or process of laying bare the roots of trees to expose them to the air and water. [ Obs. ] Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. aculeatus, fr. aculeus, dim. of acus needle. ] 1. (Zool.) Having a sting; covered with prickles; sharp like a prickle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Having prickles, or sharp points; beset with prickles. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Severe or stinging; incisive. [ R. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a sharp point; armed with prickles; prickly; aculeate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Aftergrass. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. aleatorius, fr. alea chance, die. ] (Law) Depending on some uncertain contingency; as, an aleatory contract. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Allineation. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. Alignment; position in a straight line, as of two planets with the sun. Whewell. [ 1913 Webster ]

The allineation of the two planets. C. A. Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. ad + lineatus, p. p. of lineare to draw a line. ] To align. [ R. ] Herschel. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. alveatus hollowed out. ] Formed or vaulted like a beehive. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) A salt formed by the combination of ambreic acid with a base or positive radical. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. amphitheatralis: cf. F. amphithéâtral. ] Amphitheatrical; resembling an amphitheater. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ L. amphitheatrum, fr. Gr. &unr_;; 'amfi` + &unr_; theater: cf. F. amphithéâtre. See Theater. ] 1. An oval or circular building with rising tiers of seats about an open space called the arena. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The Romans first constructed amphitheaters for combats of gladiators and wild beasts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything resembling an amphitheater in form; as, a level surrounded by rising slopes or hills, or a rising gallery in a theater. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. amphitheatricus. ] Of, pertaining to, exhibited in, or resembling, an amphitheater. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In the form or manner of an amphitheater. [ 1913 Webster ]

prep. & adv. [ Pref. a- + neath for beneath. ] Beneath. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) One of several species of edentates and monotremes that feed upon ants. See Ant-bear, Pangolin, Aard-vark, and Echidna. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. aureatus, fr. aureus golden, fr. aurum gold. ] Golden; gilded. Skelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + weather. ] (Naut.) On the weather side, or toward the wind; in the direction from which the wind blows; -- opposed to alee; as, helm aweather! Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. baccalaureatus, fr. LL. baccalaureus a bachelor of arts, fr. baccalarius, but as if fr. L. bacca lauri bayberry, from the practice of the bachelor's wearing a garland of bayberries. See Bachelor. ] 1. The degree of bachelor of arts (B.A. or A.B.), the first or lowest academical degree conferred by universities and colleges. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A baccalaureate sermon. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to a bachelor of arts. [ 1913 Webster ]

Baccalaureate sermon, in some American colleges, a sermon delivered as a farewell discourse to a graduating class. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. A pie; baked food. [ Obs. ] Gen. xl. 17. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. balneare to bathe, fr. L. balneum bath. ] The act of bathing. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. balneatorius. ] Belonging to a bath. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. Beat; p. p. Beat, Beaten p. pr. & vb. n. Beating. ] [ OE. beaten, beten, AS. beátan; akin to Icel. bauta, OHG. bōzan. Cf. 1st Butt, Button. ] 1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat grain, in order to force out the seeds; to beat eggs and sugar; to beat a drum. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou shalt beat some of it [ spices ] very small. Ex. xxx. 36. [ 1913 Webster ]

They did beat the gold into thin plates. Ex. xxxix. 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To punish by blows; to thrash. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of rousing game. [ 1913 Webster ]

To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

A frozen continent . . . beat with perpetual storms. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To tread, as a path. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish, defeat, or conquer; to surpass or be superior to. [ 1913 Webster ]

He beat them in a bloody battle. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

For loveliness, it would be hard to beat that. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; -- often with out. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble. [ 1913 Webster ]

Why should any one . . . beat his head about the Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic? Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Mil.) To give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound by beat of drum; as, to beat an alarm, a charge, a parley, a retreat; to beat the general, the reveille, the tattoo. See Alarm, Charge, Parley, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. to baffle or stump; to defy the comprehension of (a person); as, it beats me why he would do that. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. to evade, avoid, or escape (blame, taxes, punishment); as, to beat the rap (be acquitted); to beat the sales tax by buying out of state. [ 1913 Webster ]

To beat down, to haggle with (any one) to secure a lower price; to force down. [ Colloq. ] --
To beat into, to teach or instill, by repetition. --
To beat off, to repel or drive back. --
To beat out, to extend by hammering. --
To beat out of a thing, to cause to relinquish it, or give it up. “Nor can anything beat their posterity out of it to this day.” South. --
To beat the dust. (Man.) (a) To take in too little ground with the fore legs, as a horse. (b) To perform curvets too precipitately or too low. --
To beat the hoof, to walk; to go on foot. --
To beat the wing, to flutter; to move with fluttering agitation. --
To beat time, to measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot. --
To beat up, to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to beat up an enemy's quarters. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump; baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; cudgel; belabor; conquer; defeat; vanquish; overcome. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly. [ 1913 Webster ]

The men of the city . . . beat at the door. Judges. xix. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move with pulsation or throbbing. [ 1913 Webster ]

A thousand hearts beat happily. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

They [ winds ] beat at the crazy casement. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die. Jonah iv. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To be in agitation or doubt. [ Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To still my beating mind. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Acoustics & Mus.) To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; -- said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison. [ 1913 Webster ]

A beating wind (Naut.), a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress. --
To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways. Addison. --
To beat about the bush, to approach a subject circuitously. --
To beat up and down (Hunting), to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag. --
To beat up for recruits, to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise. --
To beat the rap, to be acquitted of an accusation; -- especially, by some sly or deceptive means, rather than to be proven innocent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A stroke; a blow. [ 1913 Webster ]

He, with a careless beat,
Struck out the mute creation at a heat. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mus.) (a) The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit. (b) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Acoustics & Mus.) A sudden swelling or reënforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See Beat, v. i., 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat; analogously, for newspaper reporters, the subject or territory that they are assigned to cover; as, the Washington beat. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

6. A place of habitual or frequent resort. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat; also, deadbeat. [ Low ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Beat of drum (Mil.), a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc. --
Beat of a watch, or
Beat of a clock, the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the stroke is at equal or unequal intervals. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Quite beat, and very much vexed and disappointed. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One that beats, or surpasses, another or others; as, the beat of him. [ Colloq. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. The act of one that beats a person or thing; as: (a) (Newspaper Cant) The act of obtaining and publishing a piece of news by a newspaper before its competitors; also, the news itself; -- also called a scoop or exclusive. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

It's a beat on the whole country. Scribner's Mag. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(b) (Hunting) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively. “Driven out in the course of a beat.” Encyc. of Sport. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them. Encyc. of Sport. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(c) (Fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adj. capable of being defeated.
Syn. -- vanquishable, vincible. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Made smooth by beating or treading; worn by use. “A broad and beaten way.” Milton. “Beaten gold.” Shak. “off the beaten track.” [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Vanquished; defeated; conquered; baffled. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Exhausted; tired out. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Become common or trite; as, a beaten phrase. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Tried; practiced. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. worn by use into a deplorable condition. the beaten-up old Ford
Syn. -- battered, beat-up, bedraggled, broken-down, dilapidated, ramshackle, tumble-down, unsound. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, beats. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A person who beats up game for the hunters. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ AS. beðian to foment. ] To bathe; also, to dry or heat, as unseasoned wood. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Cf. F. béatifique, L. beatificus. See Beatify. ] Having the power to impart or complete blissful enjoyment; blissful. “The beatific vision.” South. -- Be`a*tif"ic*al*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

v. t. To beatify. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. béatification. ] The act of beatifying, or the state of being beatified; esp., in the R. C. Church, the act or process of ascertaining and declaring that a deceased person is one of “the blessed, ” or has attained the second degree of sanctity, -- usually a stage in the process of canonization. “The beatification of his spirit.” Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. (Roman Catholic Church) proclaimed one of the blessed and thus worthy of veneration.
Syn. -- blessed. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Beatified p. pr. & vb. n. Beatifying. ] [ L. beatificare; beatus happy (fr. beare to bless, akin to bonus good) + facere to make: cf. F. béatifier. See Bounty. ] 1. To pronounce or regard as happy, or supremely blessed, or as conferring happiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The common conceits and phrases that beatify wealth. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make happy; to bless with the completion of celestial enjoyment. “Beatified spirits.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (R. C. Ch.) To ascertain and declare, by a public process and decree, that a deceased person is one of “the blessed, ” and is to be reverenced as such, though not canonized. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of striking or giving blows; punishment or chastisement by blows. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pulsation; throbbing; as, the beating of the heart. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Acoustics & Mus.) Pulsative sounds. See Beat, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Naut.) The process of sailing against the wind by tacks in zigzag direction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. beatitudo: cf. F. béatitude. See Beatify. ] 1. Felicity of the highest kind; consummate bliss. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any one of the nine declarations (called the Beatitudes), made in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 3-12), with regard to the blessedness of those who are distinguished by certain specified virtues. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (R. C. Ch.) Beatification. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Blessedness; felicity; happiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a member of the Beat Generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. same as beaten-up.
Syn. -- battered, beaten-up, bedraggled, broken-down, dilapidated, ramshackle, tumble-down, unsound. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Zool.) (a) A bird of the genus Merops, that feeds especially on bees. The European species (Merops apiaster) is remarkable for its brilliant colors. (b) An African bird of the genus Rhinopomastes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Beef + eater; prob. one who eats another's beef, as his servant. Cf. AS. hlāf&aemacr_;ta servant, properly a loaf eater. ] 1. One who eats beef; hence, a large, fleshy person. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One of the yeomen of the guard, in England. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) An African bird of the genus Buphaga, which feeds on the larvæ of botflies hatched under the skin of oxen, antelopes, etc. Two species are known. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An apron or covering for the front of the person. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

prep. [ OE. benethe, bineoðen, AS. beneoðan, benyðan; pref. be- + neoðan, nyðan, downward, beneath, akin to E. nether. See Nether. ] 1. Lower in place, with something directly over or on; under; underneath; hence, at the foot of. “Beneath the mount.” Ex. xxxii. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Under, in relation to something that is superior, or that oppresses or burdens. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our country sinks beneath the yoke. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Lower in rank, dignity, or excellence than; as, brutes are beneath man; man is beneath angels in the scale of beings. Hence: Unworthy of; unbecoming. [ 1913 Webster ]

He will do nothing that is beneath his high station. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In a lower place; underneath. [ 1913 Webster ]

The earth you take from beneath will be barren. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Below, as opposed to heaven, or to any superior region or position; as, in earth beneath. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bequeathed p. pr. & vb. n. Bequeathing. ] [ OE. biquethen, AS. becweðan to say, affirm, bequeath; pref. be- + cweðan to say, speak. See Quoth. ] 1. To give or leave by will; to give by testament; -- said especially of personal property. [ 1913 Webster ]

My heritage, which my dead father did bequeath to me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To hand down; to transmit. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bequeath posterity somewhat to remember it. Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To give; to offer; to commit. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To whom, with all submission, on my knee
I do bequeath my faithful services
And true subjection everlastingly. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To Bequeath, Devise. Both these words denote the giving or disposing of property by will. Devise, in legal usage, is property used to denote a gift by will of real property, and he to whom it is given is called the devisee. Bequeath is properly applied to a gift by will or legacy; i. e., of personal property; the gift is called a legacy, and he who receives it is called a legatee. In popular usage the word bequeath is sometimes enlarged so as to embrace devise; and it is sometimes so construed by courts. [ 1913 Webster ]