The people gathered manna, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it. Numbers. They did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it. Exodus. They save the laborious work of beating of hemp, by making the axeltree of the main wheel of their corn mills longer than ordinary, and placing of pins in them, to raise large hammers like those used for paper and fulling mills, with which they beat most of their hemp. Mortimer. Nestor furnished the gold, and he beat it into leaves, so that he had occasion to use his anvil and hammer. Broome, 5. To strike bushes or ground, or make a motion to rouse game. It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak, and how many other matters they will beat over to come near it. Bacon. When from the cave thou risest with the day To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey. Prior. Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert, yield. Pope. 6. To thrash; to drive the corn out of the husk. She gleaned in the field, and beat out that she had gleaned. Ruth. 7. To mix things by long and frequent agitation. By long beating the white of an egg with a hump of alum, you may bring it into white curds. 8. To batter with engines of war. Boyle. And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city. Judges. 9. To dash as water, or brush as wind. With tempests beat, and to the winds a scorn. While winds and storms his lofty forehead The common fate of all that's high or great. Denham. VOL. I As when a lion in the midnight hours, Beat by rude blasts, and wet with wintry show'rs, Descends terrifick from the mountain's,brow. 10. To tread a path. Pope While I this unexampled task assay, Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way, Celestialdove! divine assistance bring. Blackmore: II. To make a path by marking it with tracks. He that will know the truth of things, must leave the common and beaten track. Loche 12. To conquer; to subdue; to vanquish. If Hercules and Lichas play at dice, Which is the better man? The greater throw May turn by fortune from the weaker hand: So is Alcides beaten by his page. Shakspeare. You souls of geese, That bear the shapes of men, how have you run From slaves that apes would beat! Shakspeare. Five times, Marcius, I have fought with thee; so often hast thou beat me. Shakspeare Dryden. The common people of Lucca are firmly persuaded, that one Lucquese can beat five Florentines. Addison. Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, joining his ships to those of the Syracusans, beat the Carthaginians Arbuthnot. I have discern'd the foe securely lie, Too proud to fear a beaten enemy. at sea. 13. To harass; to overlabour. It is no point of wisdom for a man to beat his brains, and spend his spirits, about things impossible. Hakewill And as in prisons mean rogues beat Hemp, for the service of the great; So Whacum beat his dirty brains T' advance his master's fame and gains. Hudib Why any one should waste his time, and beat his head, about the Latin grammar, who does not intend to be a critick. Locke 14. To lay, or press, as standing corn by hard weather. Her own shall bless her; Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn, And hang their heads with sorrow. Shakspeares, 15. To depress; to crush by repeated opposition: usually with the particle down. Albeit a pardon was proclaimed, touching any speech tending to treason, yet could not the boldness be beaten down either with that severity, or with this lenity be abated. Hayward. Our warriours propagating the French language, at the same time they are beating down their power. Addison Such an unlook'd-for storm of ills falls on me, It beats down all my strength. Addison. Your brow, which does nofear of thunder know, Sees rowling tempests vainly beat below. Dryden. One sees many hollow spaces worn in the hottoms of the rocks, as they are more or less able to resist the impressions of the water that beats against them. Addison. 3. To knock at a door. The men of the city beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house. Judges. 4. To move with frequent repetitions of the same act or stroke. Shakspeare. . To try different ways; to search: with about. I am always beating about in my thoughts for something that may turn to the benefit of my dear countrymen. Addison. To find an honest man I beat about, And love him, court him, praise him, in or out. Pope. . To act upon with violence. The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die. Jonah. 9. To speak frequently; to repeat ; to enforce by repetition: with upon. We are drawn on into a larger speech, by rea son of their so great earnestness, who beat more and more upon these last alleged words. Hooker. How frequently and fervently doth the scrip ture beat upon this cause! Hake will 10. To beat up; as, to beat up for soldiers. The word up seems redundant, but en forces the sense; the technical term be ing, to raise soldiers. BEAT. part. passive. [from the verb.] BEAT. n. s. [from the verb.] 2. Manner of striking. Albeit the base and treble strings of a viol be tuned to an unison, yet the former will still make a bigger sound than the latter, as making a broader beat upon the air. Grew He, with a careless beat, Struck out the mute creation at a heat. Dryden, 3. Manner of being struck; as, the beat of the pulse, or a drum. BEATEN. part. adj. [from To beat.] Dryden. What makes you, sir, so late abroad Without a guide, and this no beaten road? BE'ATER, n. s. [from beat.] 1. An instrument with which any thing is comminuted or mingled. Beat all your mortar with a beater, three or four times over, before you use it; for thereby you incorporate the sand and lime well together. Moxon 2. A person much given to blows. The best schoolmaster of our time was the greatest beater. Ascham's Schoolmaster. BEATIFICAL. adj. [beatificus, low Lat. BEATIFICK. from beatus, happy.]That has the power of making happy, or com pleting fruition; blissful. It is used only of heavenly fruition after death. Admiring the riches of heaven's pavement; Than aught divine or holy else, enjoy'd In vision beatifick. Milton. It is also their felicity to have no faith; for, enjoying the beatifical vision in the fruition of the object of faith, they have received the full evacuation of it. Brown's Vulgar Erreurs. We may contemplate upon the greatness and strangeness of the beatifick vision; how a created eye should be so fortified, as to bear all those glories that stream from the fountain of uncreated light. South. BEATIFICALLY. adv. [from beatifical.] In such a manner as to complete happiness. Beatifically to behold the face of God, in the fulness of wisdom, righteousness, and peace, is blessedness no way incident unto the creatures beneath man. Hakewill. BEATIFICATION. 7. s. [from_beatifick.] A term in 'the Romish church, distinguished from canonization. Beatifica tion is an acknowledgment made by the pope, that the person beatified is in hea ven, and therefore may be reverenced as blessed; but is not a concession of the honours due to saints, which are confer. red by canonization. To BEATIFY. v. a. [beatifico, Lat.] 1. To make happy; to bless with the completion of celestial enjoyment. The use of spiritual conference is unimagin able and unspeakable, especially if free and wm Testrained, bearing an image of that conversation which is among angels and beatified saints. Hammond. We shall know him to be the fullest good, the nearest to us, and the most certain; and consequently, the most beatifying of all others. Brown. I wish I had the wings of an angel, to have ascended into Paradise, and to have beheld the forms of those beatified spirits, from which I might have copied my archangel. Dryden. 2. To settle the character of any person, by a public acknowledgment that he is received in heaven, though he is not invested with the dignity of a saint. Over against this church stands an hospital erected by a shoe-maker, who has been beatified though never sainted. Addison. BEATING. n. s. [from beat.] Correction; punishment by blows. Playwright, convict of publick wrongs to men, Takes private beatings, and begins again. Ben Jonson. BEA'TITUDE, n. s. [beatitudo, Lat.] 1. Blessedness; felicity; happiness: commonly used of the joys of heaven. The end of that government, and of all men's aims, is agreed to be beatitude, that is, his being completely well. Digby. This is the image and little representation of heaven: it is beatitude in picture. Taylor. He set out the felicity of his heaven, by the delights of sense; slightly passing over the accomplishment of the soul, and the beatitude of that part which earth and visibilities too weakly affect. Brown's Vulgar Errours. 2. A declaration of blessedness made by What will not beaux attempt to please the fair? The water nymphs are too unkind Prior. You will become the delight of nine ladies in ten, and the envy of ainety-nine beaux in a hundred. Swift: BE'AVER. n. s. [bievre, French; fibre.] I. An animal, otherwise named the castor, amphibious, and remarkable for his art in building his habitation; of which many wonderful accounts are delivered by travellers. His skin is very valuable on account of the fur. The beaver being hunted, biteth off his stones, knowing that for them only his life is sought. Hakerill. They placed this invention upon the beaver, for the sagacity and wisdom of that animal; indeed from its artifice in building. Brown. A hat of the best kind, so called from being made of the fur of beaver. You see a smart rhetorician turning his hat, moulding it into different cocks, examining the lining and the button during his harangue: a deaf man would think he was cheapening a beaver, when he is talking of the fate of a naAddison. The broker here his spacious beaver wears, Upon his brow sit jealousies and cares. Gay. tion, host, And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps. Shaks. He was slain upon a course at tilt, the splinters of the staff going in at his beaver. Bacons BEAVERED. adj. [from beaver.] Covered with a beaver; wearing a beaver. His beaver'd brow a birchien garland bears, Dropping with infants blood and mothers tears. Pope BEAU'ISH. adj. [from bean.] Befitting a beau; foppish. BEAUTEOUS, adj. [from beauty.] Fair; elegant in form; pleasing to the sight; beautiful. This word is chiefly poeti cal. I can, Petruchio, help thee to a wife, With wealth enough, and young, and beauteous Alas! not hoping to subdue, I only to the flight aspir'd; Shakspeart. Prior To keep the beauteous foe in view, Was all the glory I desir'd. BEAUTEOUSLY. adv. [from beauteous.] In a beauteous manner; in a manner pleasing to the sight; beautifully. Look upon pleasures not upon that side that is next the sun, or where they look beauteously; that is, as they come towards you to be enjoyed. Taylor BEAUTEOUSNESS. n. s. [from beauteous.] The state or quality of being beauteous; beauty. From less virtue and less beauteousness, The gentiles fram'd them gods and goddesses. Donnes BEAUTIFUL. adj. [from beauty and full.] Fair; having the qualities that consti tute beauty. He stole away and took by strong hand all the beautiful women in his time. Raleigh The most important part of painting, is to know what is most beautiful in nature, and most proper for that art; that which is the most beau tiful, is the most noble subject: so, in poetry, tragedy is more beautiful than comedy, because the persons are greater whom the poet instructs, and consequently the instructions of more be nefit to mankind. Dryden. Beautiful looks are rul'd by fickle minds, And summer seas are turn'd by sudden winds. Prior BEAUTIFULLY. adv. [from beautiful.] In a beautiful manner. No longer shall the boddice, aptly lac'd, From thy full bosom to thy slender waist, That air and harmony of shape express, Fine by degrees, and beautifully less. Prior. BEAUTIFULNESS. n. s. [from beautiful.] The quality of being beautiful; beauty; excellence of form. TO BEAUTIFY. v. a. [from beauty.] To adorn; to embellish; to deck; to grace; to add beauty to. Never was sorrow more sweetly set forth; their faces seeming rather to beautify their sor row, than their sorrow to cloud the beauty of their faces. Hayward. Sufficeth not that we are brought to Rome, Blackmore. There is charity and justice; and the one serves to heighten and beautify the other. Atterbury. To BEAUTIFY. v. n. To grow beautiful; to advance in beauty. to something else, or to heighten some beauty; a foil; a patch. The filthiness of swine makes them the beauty BECAFI'Co. n. s. [becafigo, Span.} A spot of the animal creation., Grew. bird like a nightingale, feeding on figs and grapes; a figpecker. Pineda. The robin-redbreast, till of late, had rest, To one that was, or would have been, a peer. It must be a prospect pleasing to God himself, To BECA'LM. v. a. [from calm.] 1. That assemblage of graces, or propor- Your beauty was the cause of that effect, Beauty is best in a body that hath rather dignity of presence than beauty of aspect. The beautiful prove accomplished, but not of great spirit, and study for the most part rather beha viour than virtue. Bacon. The best part of beauty is that which a picture cannot express. Bacon. Of the beauty of the eye I shall say little, leaving that to poets and orators: that it is a very pleasant and lovely object to behold, if we consider the figure, colour, splendour of it, is the least I can say. Ray. He view'd their twining branches with delight, And prais'd the beauty of the pleasing sight. Pope. 2. A particular grace, feature, or orna The moon shone clear on the becalmed flood. 2. To keep a ship from motion. . A man becalmed at sea, out of sight of land, in a fair day, may look on the sun, or sea, or ship, a whole hour, and perceive no motion. Locke. 3. To quiet the mind. Soft whisp'ring airs, and the lark's matin song, Then woo to musing, and becalm the mind Perplex'd with irksome thoughts. Philips. Banish his sorrows, and becalm his soul Addison. Perhaps prosperity becalm'd his breast. Perhaps the wind just shifted from the east. Pope. 4. To becalm and to calm differ in this, that to calm is to stop motion, and to becalm is to withhold from motion. BECAUSE. conjunct. [from by and cause.] BECA'ME. The preterit of become. 1. For this reason that; on this account that; for this cause that. It makes the first part of an illative proposition, either expressly or by implication, and is answered by therefore; as, I fled because I was afraid; which is the same with, because I was afraid, therefore I fled. How great soever the sins of any person are, Christ died for him, because he died for all; and he died for those sins, because he died for all sins; only he must reform. Hammond. Men do not so generally agree in the sense of these as of the other, because the interests, and lusts, and passions, of men are more concerned in the one than the other. Tillotson. 2. It has, in some sort, the force of a preposition; but, because it is compounded of a noun, has of after it. Infancy demands aliment, such as lengthens fibres without breaking, because of the state of accretion. Arbuthnot. TO BECHA'NCE. v.n.[from be and chance.] To befal; to happen to a word proper, but now in little use. My sons, God knows what has bechanced them. All happiness bechance to thee at Milan. Sbak. head.] To make a sign with the head. To BɛCK. v. a. To call or guide, as by a motion of the head. Bell, book, and candle, shall not drive me back. I. A sign with the head; a nod. Neither the lusty kind shewed any roughness, nor the easier any idleness; but still like a wellobeyed master, whose beck is enough for discipline. Sidney. Then forthwith to him takes a chosen band Of spirits, likest to himself in guile, To be at hand, and at his beck appear. I cannot joy, until I be resolv'd 1. Applied to persons, to appear in a If I become not a cart as well as another man, a plague on my bringing up. Shakspeare. Why would I be a queen? because my face Would wear the title with a better grace; If I became it not, yet it would be Milton. The menial fair, that round her wait, At Helen's beck prepare the room of state. Pope. TO BECKON. v. n. To make a sign without words. Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people. Acts. When he had raised my thoughts by those transporting airs, he beckoned to me, and, by the waving of his hand, directed me to approach. Addison. Sudden you mount, you beckon from the skies; Clouds interpose, waves roar, and winds arise. Pape. To BECKON. v. a. [from beck, or beacn, Sax. a sign.] To make a sign to. With her two crooked hands she signs did make, And beckon'd him. Fairy Queen. It beckons you to go away with it, As if it some impartment did desire To you alone. Shakspeare. With this his distant friends he beckons near, Provokes their duty, and prevents their fear. Dryden. To BECLIP. v. a. [of be clyppan, Sax.] To embrace. Dict. TO BECOME. v. n. pret. I became; comp. pret. I have become. [from by and come.] 1. To enter into some state or condition, by a change from some other. The Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Genesis. And unto the Jews I became a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. 1 Corinth. A smaller pear, grafted upon a stock that beareth a greater pear, will become great. Bacon. My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not fear'd, But still rejoic'd; how is it now become Milton. So the least faults, if mix'd with fairest deed, Of future ill become the fatal seed. Prier. 2. To become of To be the fate of; to be the end of; to be the subsequent or final condition of. It is observable, that this word is never, or very seldom, used but with what, either indefinite or interrogative. What is then become of so huge a multitude, as would have overspread a great part of the continent? Raleigh. Perplex'd with thoughts what would become Of me, and all mankind. Milton. The first hints of the circulation of the blood were taken from a common person's wondering what became of all the blood that issued out of Graunt. the heart. What will become of me then? for, when he is free, he will infallibly accuse me. Dryden. What became of this thoughtful busy creature, when removed from this world, has amazed the vulgar, and puzzled the wise. Rogers. 3. In the following passage, the phrase, where is he become? is used for, what is become of him? Part of your duty then to flatter me. Dryden. 2. Applied to things, to be suitable to the person; to befit; to be congruous to the appearance, or character, or circumstances, in such a manner as to add grace; to be graceful. She to her sire made humble reverence, Become your time of day; and your's, and your's, Your dishonour Mangles true judgment, and bereaves the state Of that integrity which should become it. Sbak. Wicherly was of my opinion, or rather I of his: for it becomes me so to speak of so excellent Dryden. a poet. He utterly rejected their fables concerning their gods, as not becoming good men, much less those which were worshipped for gods. Stillingf. BECO'MING. particip. adj. [from become.] That pleases by an elegant propriety; graceful. It is sometimes used with the particle of; but generally without any government of the following words. Of thee, kind boy, I ask no red and white, To make up my delight; No odd becoming graces, Black eyes, or little know not what, in faces. Their discourses are such as belong to their age, their calling, and their breeding: such as are be coming of them, and of them only. Dryden, Yet some becoming boldness I may use; I've well deserv'd, nor will he now refuse. Dryd. Make their pupils repeat the action, that they may correct what is constrained in it, till it be perfected into an habitual and becoming easiness. Locke. BECO'MING. n. s. [from become.] Ornament. Not in use. 1 Sir, forgive me, Since my becomings kill me when they not Eye well to you. Shakspeare. BECOMINGLY. adv. [from becoming.] After a becoming or proper manner. BECOMINGNESS. n. s. [from becoming. See To BECOME.] Decency; elegant congruity; propriety. Nor is the majesty of the divine government greater in its extent, than the becomingness here of is in its manner and form. Grenu. BED. n. s. [bed, Sax.] 1. Something made to sleep on, Lying not erect, but hollow, which is in the making of the bed; or with the legs gathered op, which is in the posture of the body; is the more wholesome. Rigour now is gone to bed, Bacon. Milton. |