Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages). Noah Webster
µ The balsams are aromatic resinous substances, flowing spontaneously r by incision from certain plants. A great variety of substances pass under this name, but the term is now usually restricted to resins which, in addition to a volatile oil, contain benzoic and cinnamic acid. Among the true balsams are the balm of Gilead, and the balsams of copaiba, Peru, and Tolu. There are also many pharmaceutical preparations and resinous substances, possessed of a balsamic smell, to which the name balsam has been given.
2. (Bot.) (a) A species of tree (Abies balsamea). (b) An annual garden plant (Impatiens balsamina) with beautiful flowers; balsamine.
3. Anything that heals, soothes, or restores.
Was not the people's blessing a balsam to thy blood?
Tennyson.
Balsam apple (Bot.), an East Indian plant ( Momordica balsamina), of the gourd family, with red or orangeÐyellow cucumberÐshaped fruit of the size of a walnut, used as a vulnerary, and in liniments and poultices. ÐBalsam fir (Bot.), the American coniferous tree, Abies balsamea, from which the useful Canada balsam is derived. Ð Balsam of copaiba. See Copaiba. Ð Balsam of Mecca, balm of Gilead. Ð Balsam of Peru, a reddish brown, syrupy balsam, obtained from a Central American tree ( Myroxylon Pereir‘ and used as a stomachic and expectorant, and in the treatment of ulcers, etc. It was long supposed to be a product of Peru. Ð Balsam of Tolu, a reddish or yellowish brown semisolid or solid balsam, obtained from a South American tree ( Myxoxylon toluiferum.). It is highly fragrant, and is used as a stomachic and expectorant. Ð Balsam tree, any tree from which balsam is obtained, esp. the Abies balsamea. Ð Canada balsam, Balsam of fir, Canada turpentine, a yellowish, viscid liquid, which, by time and exposure, becomes a transparent solid mass. It is obtained from the balm of Gilead (or balsam) fir (Abies balsamea) by breaking the vesicles upon the trunk and branches. See Balm.
Bal¶sam (?), v.t. To treat or anoint with balsam; to relieve, as with balsam; to render balsamic.
Bal·samÏa¶tionÿ(?), n. 1. The act of imparting balsamic properties.
2. The art or process of embalming.
BalÏsam¶icÿ(?), BalÏsam¶icÏalÿ(?), } a. [Cf. F. balsamique.] Having the qualities of balsam; containing, or resembling, balsam; soft; mitigative; soothing; restorative.
Bal·samÏif¶erÏous (?), a. [Balsam + Ðferous.] Producing balsam.
Bal¶samÏineÿ(?), n. [Cf. F. balsamine, fr. Gr. ? balsam plant.] (Bot.) The Impatiens balsamina, or garden balsam.
Bal¶samÏous (?), a. Having the quality of balsam; containing balsam. ½A balsamous substance.¸
Sterne.
Bal¶terÿ(?), v. t. [Etymol. uncertain. Cf. Bloodboltered.] To stick together.[Obs.]
Holland.
Bal¶tic (?), a. [NL. mare Balticum, fr. L. balteus belt, from certain straits or channels surrounding its isles, called belts. See Belt.] Of or pertaining to the sea which separates Norway and Sweden from Jutland, Denmark, and Germany; situated on the Baltic Sea.
Bal¶tiÏmore bird· (?). Bal¶tiÏmore o¶riÏoleÿ(?). } (Zo”l.) A common American bird (Icterus galbula), named after Lord Baltimore, because its colors (black and orange red) are like those of his coat of arms; Ð called also golden robin.
Bal¶usÏter (?), n. [F. balustre, It. balaustro, fr. L. balaustium the flower of the wild pomegranate, fr. Gr. ?; Ð so named from the similarity of form.] (Arch.) A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.
Bam (?), n. [Prob. a contr. of bamboozle.] An imposition; a cheat; a hoax.
Garrick.
To relieve the tedium? he kept plying them with all manner of bams.
Prof. Wilson.
Bam, v.t. To cheat; to wheedle. [Slang]
Foote.
ØBamÏbi¶noÿ(?), n. [It., a little boy, fr. bambo silly; cf. Gr. ?, ?, to chatter.] A child or baby; esp., a representation in art of the infant Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes.
BamÏboc·ciÏade¶ÿ(?), n. [It. bambocciata, fr. Bamboccio a nickname of Peter Van Laer, a Dutch genre painter; properly, a child, simpleton, puppet, fr. bambo silly.] (Paint.) A representation of a grotesque scene from common or rustic life.
BamÏboo¶ (?), n. [Malay bambu, mambu.] (Bot.) A plant of the family of grasses, and genus Bambusa, growing in tropical countries.
µ The most useful species is Bambusa arundinacea, which has a woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem, and grows to the height of forty feet and upward. The flowers grow in large panicles, from the joints of the stalk, placed three in a parcel, close to their receptacles. Old stalks grow to five or six inches in diameter, and are so hard and durable as to be used for building, and for all sorts of furniture, for water pipes, and for poles to support palanquins. The smaller stalks are used for walking sticks, flutes, etc.
BamÏboo¶, v.t. To flog with the bamboo.
BamÏboo¶zle (?), v.t. [Imp. & p.p. Bamboozled (?); p.pr. & vb.n. Bamboozlingÿ(?).] [Said to be of Gipsy origin.] To deceive by trickery; to cajole by confusing the senses; to hoax; to mystify; to humbug. [Colloq.]
Addison.
What oriental tomfoolery is bamboozling you?
J.H.Newman.
BamÏboo¶zler (?), n. A swindler; one who deceives by trickery. [Colloq.]
Arbuthnot.
ØBan (?), n. [AS. bann command, edict; akin to D. ban, Icel. bann, Dan. band, OHG. ban, G. bann, a public proclamation, as of interdiction or excommunication, Gr. ? to say, L. fari to speak, Skr. bhan to speak; cf. F. ban, LL. bannum, of G. origin. ?. Cf. Abandon, Fame.] 1. A public proclamation or edict; a public order or notice, mandatory or prohibitory; a summons by public proclamation.
2. (Feudal & Mil.) A calling together of the king's (esp. the French king's) vassals for military service; also, the body of vassals thus assembled or summoned. In present usage, in France and Prussia, the most effective part of the population liable to military duty and not in the standing army.
3. pl. Notice of a proposed marriage, proclaimed in church. See Banns (the common spelling in this sense).
4. An interdiction, prohibition, or proscription. ½Under ban to touch.¸
Milton.
5. A curse or anathema. ½Hecate's ban.¸
Shak.
6. A pecuniary mulct or penalty laid upon a delinquent for offending against a ban; as, a mulct paid to a bishop by one guilty of sacrilege or other crimes.
Ban of the empire (German Hist.), an imperial interdict by which political rights and privileges, as those of a prince, city, or district, were taken away.
Ban, v.t. [imp. & p.p. Banned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Banning.] [OE. bannen, bannien, to summon, curse, AS. bannan to summon; akin to Dan. bande, forbande, to curse, Sw. banna to revile, bannas to curse. See Ban an edict, and cf. Banish.] 1. To curse; to invoke evil upon.
Sir W. Scott.
2. To forbid; to interdict.
Byron.
Ban, v.i. To curse; to swear. [Obs.]
Spenser.
Ban, n. [Serv. ban; cf. Russ. & Pol. pan a master? lord, Per. ban.] An ancient title of the warden of the eastern marches of Hungary; now, a title of the viceroy of Croatia and Slavonia.
Ban¶alÿ(?), a. [F., fr. ban an ordinance.] Commonplace; trivial; hackneyed; trite.
BaÏnal¶iÏty (?), n.; pl. Banalities (?). [F. banalit‚. See Banal.] Something commonplace, hackneyed, or trivial; the commonplace, in speech.
The highest things were thus brought down to the banalities of discourse.
J. Morley.
BaÏna¶na (?), n. [Sp. banana, name of the fruit.] (Bot.) A perennial herbaceous plant