212 
'SEA 
BED 
B E A 
fine, spun cotton, which comes from Jerusa- 
lem, whence it is also called Jerusalem cot- 
ton. 
BAZENDGES, the name of a vegetable 
substance used by the T inks, and other eastern 
nations in the scarlet dying. Thev mix it for 
this purpose with cochineal and tartar, in the 
proportion of two parts of bazendges to one 
of cochineal. 
BDELLIUM, a gum resin somewhat re- 
sembling myrrh in appearance, brought from 
the Levant. It is met with in single drops, 
ot a very irregular size, some of which are as 
large as a hazel nut. Its colour is dusky, and 
its taste bitter. 
There is much uncertainty concerning 
both the plant from which it proceeds, and 
the place- of its production. The smell of 
this gum is fragrant, and its taste bitter and 
pungent. It readily burns, giving out smoke 
and a crackling noise. It is partly soluble in 
alcohol, and partly in water, or completely 
in diluted spirit. It was formerly used as a 
stimulating remedy, chietiy for external ap- 
plication, and is still retained in the Paris 
dispensatories. 
BEACON, a public signal, to give warn- 
ing against rocks, shelves, invasions. Sec. It 
is made sometimes by putting pitch-barrels 
upon a long pole, and fixing them up on an 
eminence, so that they may be seen at a dis- 
tance ; for the barrels being fired, the llame 
in the night time, and the smoke in the day, 
give notice, and in a few hours may alarm the 
whole kingdom, upon an approaching inva- 
sion, &c. 
BEACONAGE, a tax or farm paid for 
the use and maintenance of a beacon. The 
Trinity-house is empowered to levy this tax, 
by act of parliament. 
BEAD. The common black glass of which 
beads are made for necklaces, &c. is colour- 
ed with manganese only. 
Bead, in architecture, a round moulding, 
commonly made upon the edge of a piece of 
stuff, in the Corinthian and Roman orders, 
cut or carved in short embossments, like 
beads in necklaces. Sometimes a plain bead 
is set on the edge of each fascia of an archi- 
trave, and sometimes likewise an astragal is 
thus cut. Ahead. is often placed on the lin- 
ing-board of a door-case, and on the upper 
edges of skirting boards. 
Bead -proof, among distillers and venders of 
liquors, a fallacious mode of determining the 
strength of spirits, from the continuance of 
the bubbles, or beads, raised by shaking a 
.small quantity of them in a phial. 
Bead -roll, among papists, a list of such 
persons for the rest of whose souls thev are 
obliged to repeat a certain number of prayers, 
which they count by means of their beads. 
BEAGLE. See Canis. 
BEAK, the bill or nib of a bird. See Bill. 
Beak, in architecture, the small fillet left 
on the head of a larmier, which forms a ca- 
nal, and fnakes a kind of pendant. 
Beak, or Beak-head, of a ship, that part 
without a ship, before the forecastle, which 
is fastened to the stern, and is supported by 
tiie main knee. 
BEAKED, in heraldry, a term used to ex- 
press the beak or bill of a bird. When the 
beak and legs of a fowl are of a different tinc- 
ture from the body, we say beaked and 
membered’of such a tincture. 
BEAM, in architecture, the largest piece 
of wood in a building, which lies across the 
walls, and serves to support the principal 
rafters of the roof, and into which the feet 
of these rafters are framed. N o building lias 
less than two of these beams, viz. one at each 
end. Into these the girders of the garret 
roof are also framed ; and if the building is 
of timber, the teazle tenons of the posts are 
framed into them. The proportions of beams 
in or near London are fixed, by statute, as 
follows: a beam 15 foot long must be seven 
inches on one side its square, and five on the 
other ; if it is 16 feet long,- one side must be 
eight inches, the other six ; and so propor- 
tionably to their lengths. In the country, 
where wood is more plenty, tiiey usually 
make their beams stronger. 
Beams of a ship are the great main cross- 
timbers which hold the sides of the ship from 
falling together, and which also support the 
decks anu orlops. The main beam is next 
the main mast, and from it they are reckon- 
ed by first, second, third beam, &c. The 
greatest beam of all is called the mid-ship 
beam. See Ship. 
BEAM-cojnpass, an instrument consisting of 
a square wooden or brass beam, having slid- 
ing sockets, that carry steel or pencil points ; 
they are used for describing large circles,- 
where the common compasses are useless. 
Beam, in heraldry, the term used to ex- 
press the main horn of a hart or buck. 
Beam -filling, in building, the filling up of 
the vacant space between the raison and roof, 
with stones or bricks laid between the rafters 
on the raison, and plaistered on with loam, 
where the garrets are not pargeted, or plais- 
tered, as in country places. 
Beam of an anchor, the longest part of it, 
called also the shank. 
Beam also denotes the lath, or iron, of a 
pair of scales ; sometimes the whole apparatus 
for weighing of goods is so called : thus we 
say, it weighs so much at the king’s beam. 
Beam of a plough, that in which all the 
parts of the plough-tail are fixed. It is com- 
monly made of ash, and is eight feet long; but 
in the four-coultered plough it is ten feet long. 
Beam, or roller, among weavers, along 
and thick w T ooden cylinder, placed length- 
wise on the back part of the loom of those 
who work with a shuttle. That cylinder on 
which the stuff is rolled as it is weaved, is also 
called the beam, or roller, and is placed on 
the fore part of the loom. 
BEAN. See Vicia, and Phaseolis. 
BEAR. See Ursus. 
Bear, in astronomy, a name given to two 
constellations, called the greater and lesser 
bear, or ursa major and minor. 
Bear, a species of barley cultivated in 
Scotland and Ireland, and the northern parts 
of England. It is not esteemed so good for 
malting as the common barley. 
Bear, in heraldry. He that has a coat of 
arms is said to bear in it the several charges 
or ordinaries that are in his escutcheon. 
BEAR’S breech. See Acanthus. 
BEARER, in architecture, a post, or brick 
wall, trimmed up between the two ends of a 
piece of timber, to shorten its bearing, or to 
prevent its bearing with the whole weight at 
the ends only. 
BEARING, in navigation and geography, 
the situation of one place from another, with 
regard to the points of the compass ; or the 
angle which a line drawn through the two 
places makes with the meridians of each. The 
bearings of places on the ground are usually 
determined from the magnetic needle, in the 
managing- of which consists the principal part 
of surveying ; since the hearing or distanc e of 
a second point from a first being found, the 
place of that second is determined; or the 
bearings of a third point from two others,- 
whose distance is known, being found, the 
place of the third is determined instrumen- 
tally ; but to calculate trigonometrically, 
there must be mere data. 
Bearing, in the sea language. When a 
ship sails towards the shore, before t lie w ind, 
site is said to bear in w ith the land or har- 
bour. To let the ship sail more before the 
wind, is to- bear up. To put her right before 
the wind, is to bear round. A ship that keeps 
off from the land is said to bear off. When 
a ship that was to windward comes under an- 
other ship’s stern, and so gives her the wind, 
she is said to bear under her lee, &c. There 
is another sense of this word, in reference to 
the burden of a ship; for they say a ship 
bears, when having too slender or lean a 
quarter, she will sink too deep into the water 
with an over-light freight, and thereby earn 
carry but a small quantity of goods. 
Bearin g oj a piece nj timber, among car- 
penters, the space either between the tw-o 
fixed extremes thereof, when it has no other 
support, which they call bearing at length, 
or between one extreme and a post, brick 
wall, See. trimmed up between the ends to- 
shorten its bearings. 
BEAST, /a bite, among gamesters, a game 
at cards, played in this maimer : '1 he best 
cards are the king, queen, &c. whereof they 
make three heaps, the king, the play, and 
triolet. Three, four,- or five, may play ; and 
to every one are dealt live cards. However, 
before the play begins, every one stakes to 
the three heaps. He that wins most tricks, 
takes up the heap called the play ; he that 
has the king, takes up the heap so called; 
and he that has three of any sort, that is, 
three fours, three fives, three sixes, See. takes 
up the triolet heap. 
BEAT of drum, in the military art, is to 
give notice by beat of drum, of a sudden 
danger; or, that scattered soldiers may re- 
pair to their arms and quarters, is to beat an 
alarm, or to arms ; also to signify, by differ- 
ent manners of sounding a drum, that the 
soldiers are to fall on the enemy; to retreat 
before, in, or after, an attack ; to move, or 
march, from one place to another ; to treat 
upon terms, or confer with the enemy ; to 
permit the. soldiers to come out of their 
quarters at break of day ; to order to repair to 
their colours, &c. is to beat a charge, a re- 
treat, a march. Sec. 
BEAVER, in zoology. See Castor. 
BECAH, or Bekah, in Hebrew antiquity, 
a Jewish coin, equal to thirteen and eleven 
sixteenths pence of our money. 
BED. All beds that are for sale must be 
filled with one sort of stuffing only, on the 
pain of forfeiture ; as the mixing of feathers, 
down, scalded feathers, dry pulled feathers, any 
w r ays together, is conceived to be injurious to 
a man’s body to lie on. Also bed-quilts, mat- 
tresses, and cushions, stuffed with horse-hair, 
fen-down, goat’s-hair, and ueat’s-hair, which 
are dressed in lime, and in which the heat of 
a man’s body will exhale, and cause them to 
yield a noxious smell, are prohibited by statute. 
