BOR 



BOS 



the male part, they make a channel, or 

 small groove in n, at a proper distance 

 from the end ; and, in the female part, 

 bore u. small hole to n't over this channel; 

 they then bore through their poles, suck- 

 ing up great nails at each end, 10 guide 

 them right; out they commonly bore a 

 pole at both ends, so that if it be crooked 

 one way, ihey can nevertheless bore it 

 through, and not spoil it. 



BORONJA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Ociandm Monogynia class and order. 

 Cat) x four-parted ; petals four ; anthers 

 pedicelied below the summits of the fila- 

 ments; style, from the top of the germ, 

 very short ; stigma capitate ; capsule 

 four-united; seeds coated. There are 

 four species, natives of New South Wales. 



BOROUGH, or BURGH, in a general 

 sense, signifies a town, or a corporation, 

 which is not a city. The word, in its ori- 

 ginal signification, is by some supposed to 

 have meant a company, consisting often 

 families, which were bound together at 

 each other's pledge. Afterwards, as 

 Yerstegan has it, borough came to signi- 

 fy a town, having a wall, or some kind 

 of enclosure, around it. And all places 

 that in old times had the name of bo- 

 rough, it is said, were fortified, or fenced 

 in some shape or other. Borough is a 

 place of safety and privilege ; and some 

 are called free burghs, and the tradesmen 

 in them free burgess js, from a freedom 

 they had granted to them originally, to 

 buy and sell without disturbance, and ex- 

 empt them from toll. 



Borough is now particularly appropri- 

 ated to such towns or villages as send 

 burgesses or representatives to parlia 

 ment, whether they may be incorporated 

 or not. 



They are distinguished into those by 

 charier or siatute, and those by prescrip- 

 tion or custom ; the numoer in England 

 is one hundred and forty-nine, some of 

 which send one, but the most of them two 

 representatives. 



BOUOUGHS, royal, in Scotland, are cor- 

 porations made for the advantage of 

 trade, by charters granted by several of 

 their kings, having the privilege of send- 

 ing commissioners to represent them in 

 parliament, besides other peculiar immu- 

 nities. They form a body of themselves, 

 and send commissioners each to an an- 

 nual convention at Edinburgh, to con- 

 sult for the benefit of trade, and their ge- 

 neral interest 



BOHOUGH, English, a customary descent 

 of lands or tenements, in certain places, 

 by which they descend to the youngest 



instead of the eldest son ; or, if the 

 owner have no issue, to the younger in- 

 stead of the elder brother. The custom 

 goes with the land, although there be a 

 devise or feofi'ment at the common law to 

 the contrary. The reason of this custom, 

 says Littleton, is, because the youngest is 

 presumed, in law, to be least able to pro- 

 vide for himself. 



BOKOUGIMIKAD, or headborough, called 

 also borough-holder, or burshulder, the 

 chief man of the decenna, or hundred, 

 chosen to speak and act in behalf of the 

 rest. 



Headborough also signifies a kind of 

 head constable, where there are several 

 chosen as his assistants, to serve war- 

 ranis, &c. 



BORROWING, when money, corn, 

 gram, gold, or other commodity, merely 

 esteemed according to its price, is bor- 

 rowed, it is repaid by returning an equal 

 quantity of the same thing', or an equal 

 value in money. If money is borrowed, 

 it is always understood that interest is 

 payable, and it is by law demandable ; but 

 when a house, or a horse, &c. is borrow- 

 ed, the restoration of the identical pro- 

 perty is always understood ; or if a thing 

 be used for any other or more purposes, 

 than those for which it was borrowed, or 

 be lost, the parly may have his action on 

 the cast for it. 



BOS, in zoology, the ox, a genus of 

 quadrupeds of the order of Fecora. The 

 generic character is, horns concave, turn- 

 ed ouuvards, lunated, smooth ; front teeth 

 eight in the lower jaw ; canine leeth none. 

 B. laurus, the bison, from which the se- 

 veral races of common cattle have been 

 gradually derived, is found wild in many 

 parts, both of the old and the new conti- 

 nent ; inhabiting 1 woody regions, and ar- 

 riving at a size far larger than that of the 

 domestic or cultivated animal. In this its 

 native state of wiklness, the bison is dis- 

 tinguished not only by his size, but by 

 the superior depth and snagginess of 

 his hair, which, about the head, neck, and 

 shoulders, is sometimes of such a length 

 as almost to touch the ground. His horns 

 are rather short, sharp-pointed, extreme- 

 ly strong, and stand distant from each 

 other at their bases, like those of the com- 

 mon bull. His colour is sometimes of a 

 dark blackish brown, and sometimes ru- 

 fous brown; his eyes large ami fierce ; his 

 limbs extremely strong, and his whole as- 

 pect in a degree savage and gloomy. See 

 Plate III. Mammalia, fig-. 2. 



The principal European regions where 

 this animal is at present found are, the 



