BED 



130 



BEE 



or that part which bears the curb of the 

 bridle under the lower jaw or mandible, 

 on the outside and above the chin. i. 

 In attronomy, see COMET. 



BEAR'ER, that which supports. Among 

 builders, &c. whatever supports a body in 

 its place, as a post, a strut. Among heralds, 

 a figure in an achievement, placed by the 

 iide of a shield, and seeming to support 

 it; generally the figure of a beast. A 

 human figure similarly placed is called 

 a tenant. 



BEAR'ING, the situation of an object or 

 place with regard to another, as esti- 

 mated by the points of the compass ; as 

 A bears S. by SE. of B or the bearing 

 of A is, &c. In heraldty, whatever is 

 borne in, or fills the escutcheon is called 

 a bearing. Among builders, the bearing of 

 a piece of timber is the unsupported part 

 between two fixed extremities or sup- 

 ports, which are likewise called bearings. 

 When a wall or partition is made to sup- 

 port another, it is called a bearing-wall or 

 partition, and the supported wall, if built 

 in the same direction, is said to have a 

 solid bearing ; if built in a traverse di- 

 rection a false bearing, or as many false 

 bearings as there are intervals below the 

 wall or partition. 



BEAT. In the manage, a horse beats the 

 dust, when at each motion he does not take 

 in ground enough with his forelegs ; at cur- 

 vets, when he does them too precipitately 

 or too low. He beats upon a icalk when he 

 walks too short. In seamanship, a ship 

 beats up, when she sails against the direc- 

 tion of the wind, in a zigzag line. In 

 music, a beat is a small transient grace- 

 note, struck immediately before the note 

 it is intended to ornament. 



BEAU IDEAL, Fr. In painting, that beauty 

 which is freed from the deformity and the 

 peculiarity found in nature in all indivi- 

 duals of a" species. 



BEAVER, the Castor, Lin. A genus of 

 aquatic animals, highly interesting from 

 their habits, industry, and ingenuity. 

 The animal is about two feet long, its 

 body thick and heavy, and its fur, which 

 is in great demand with hatters, is of a 

 reddish brown colour, but sometimes 

 ' flaxen-coloured, and at others black, or 

 even white. The beaver is easily tamed, 

 lives on bark and other hard substances, 

 and builds huts on the banks of some soli- 

 tary river for winter habitation, each hut 

 serving for several families, which sepa- 

 rate in summer and live solitarily. See 

 CASTOR. 



BED. 1. In geology, a stratum of two 

 yards or more in thickness. 2. In ma- 

 sonry, the horizontal courses of a wall are 

 called beds : that at the under surface of 

 any particular stone is the under-bed, and 

 that at the upper surface, the upper-bed. 

 3. ID gunnery, the frame of timber in 



which cannon, mortars, &c. are placed to 

 give them a steady and even position. 



BED-CHAM'BER, Lords of the. Officers 

 of the royal household, under the groom 

 of the stole ; they are 12 in number. 



BED-MOULDING. In architecture, the 

 members of a cornice which are placed 

 below the coronet, consisting of an ogee, 

 a list, and boultine. 



BED-STRAW, a popular name. 1. Of the 

 Pharnaceum mollugo, an Indian shrub. 



2. Of all the plants of the genus Ga- 



lium, of which there are sixteen British 

 species, known by many other names, 

 as mug-wort, goose-grass, goose-share, 

 cleavers, hayriff, cheese-rennet, ladies' 

 bed-straw. 



BEE, a name common to all the insects 

 of the genus Apis, Lin., but particularly 

 applied to the Apis mellifica, Lin., or 

 honey-bee (Apis, Latreille). There are 

 several other species, however, which de- 

 serve the name nearly as well. The bee- 

 communities consist of neuters (barren 

 females), usually from 1500 to 2000, but 

 sometimes exceeding 3000, with 600 or 

 800 males, about 1000 drones, and com- 

 monly a single female styled king by the 

 ancients, and queen by us. "When the hive 

 becomes overstocked, a young colony is 

 sent out under the direction of a queen- 

 bee ; this is called swarming, and casting 

 in some parts of Scotland. 



BEE-BREAD, the pollen of flowers col- 

 lected by bees as food for their lartee or 

 young. 



BEE-EATKR, a bird of which there are 

 several species closely allied to the swal- 

 lows : it feuds on inserts, chiefly bees. The 

 name is common to all the species of the 

 genus Merops (Lin.), but especially de- 

 notes the apiaster. 



BE'LCE, a soft unctuous matter with 

 whieh bees cement the combs to the hives 

 and close up the cells : called also propolis. 



BEBCH. a name common to all the spe- 

 cies of the genus Jfagut (q. v.). The beech- 

 tree, well known in England as the Fagus 

 sylratica, a valuable forest-tree. The 

 name is Sax. becc.ftor, probably the name 

 of the bark, and this being used by our 

 ancestors as the material fot writing on, 

 the word came to signify a book. 



BEEF-EATERS. 1. The yeomen of the 

 Queen's guard, corrupted from Fr. bvffe- 

 tiers, of buffet, a sideboard, in allusion to 

 their being stationed by the sideboard at 



royal dinners. 2. A genus of African 



bird of one species (Buphaya Africana') , so 

 named from the popular notion, that, in 

 extracting the larvse of the cestrus, on 

 which it fee-is, from the skin of cattle, it 

 really feeds on the cattle themselves. The 

 bird is brownish, his a cuneiform tail, 

 and is as large as a thrush. 



BEER Fr. biire, Germ. bier. The fer- 





