battue 
Hence 2. Any beat-up or thorough search, 
or undiscrimiuating slaughter, especially of de- 
fenseless or unresisting crowds. 3. The game 
driven from cover by the battue method, 
batture (ba-tur'), n. [F., a sand-bank, a shoal, 
< battre, beat, beat as waves: see bate 1 , batter 1 , 
and cf. batter 3 .] An alluvial elevation of the 
bed of a river; in particular, one of those por- 
tions of the bed of the Mississippi river which 
are dry or submerged according to the season. 
In September, 1S07, occurred the "batture riots." The 
batture was the sandy deposits made by the Mississippi 
in front of the Faubourg Ste. Marie [in New Orleans]. 
The noted jurist, Edward Livingston, representing private 
claimants, took possession of this ground, and was opposed 
by the public in two distinct outbreaks. 
6. W. Cable, C'reoles of Louisiana, xxiii. 
battuta (bat-to'ta), n. [It., < battere, beat. Cf. 
battue.] In music: (a) A beat in keeping time. 
(6) A bar or measure. See a battuta and a 
tempo, (c) In medieval music, a forbidden pro- 
gression of the outer voice-parts of a harmony 
from a tenth on the up-beat to an octave on 
the down-beat. 
batty 1 (bat'i), a. [< baft + -y 1 .] Of or resem- 
bling a bat; battish. 
Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep 
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep. 
Shak., M. N. D., lii. 2. 
batty 2 (bat'i), re. ; pi. batties (-iz). [Anglo-Ind., 
used in southern India for northern paddy, 
rice; < Canarese batta, bhatta, rice: see batta 1 
and paddy 2 . Cf. bat, a weight.] 1. Rice while 
growing. 2. A measure for rice in India, 
equal to 120 pounds. McElrath, Com. Diet. 
batweed (bat'wed), n. The burdock, Arctium 
Lappa. 
batz, batzen (bats, bat'sen), n. [Formerly 
also bats, taken as plural, with an assumed 
sing., bat, < MHO. batze, Or. batzen, bazen, the 
coin so called, (. MHG. betz, G. batz, petz, a 
bear, the bear being the arms of Bern, where 
the coin was first issued.] A small billon coin 
Obverse. Reverse. 
Batz of St. Gall, Switzerland. British Museum. (Size of original.) 
worth four kreutzers (about three cents), first 
issued toward the end of the fifteenth century 
by the canton of Bern, and afterward by other 
Swiss cantons, which placed their respective 
arms upon it. The name came to be applied 
also to certain small German coins, 
baubee, n. See bawbee. 
bauble 1 (ba'bl), n. and a. [Early mod. E. bable, 
babel, < ME. bable, babylle, babulle, babel, < OF. 
babel, baubel(witk dim. baubelet, beubelet, > early 
ME. beaubelet), a child's toy, plaything, trinket. 
Origin doubtful; cf. mod. F. babiole, a toy. 
gewgaw, It. babbola, a toy, appar. connected 
with It. babbeo, a fool, blockhead (babbano, 
silly), = Pr. baban, a fool, < ML. babulus, a bab- 
bler, fool. Cf. babble. The forms, if from the 
same source, show imitative variation. Bauble 1 
in this sense was early confused with bauble 2 , 
appar. of different origin.] I. n. If. A child's 
plaything or toy. 2. A trifling piece of finery ; 
that which is gay or showy without real value ; 
a gewgaw. 
O, trinkets, sir, trinkets a bauble for Lydia ! 
Sheridan, The Rivals, v. 2. 
Are all these worlds, that speed their circling flight 
Dumb, vacant, soulless bawbles of the night? 
O. W. Holmes, The Secret of the Stare. 
3. A trifle ; a thing of little or no value ; a 
childish or foolish matter or affair. 
II. t a. Trifling; insignificant; contemptible. 
The sea being smooth, 
How many shallow, bauble boats dare sail 
Upon her patient breast ! Shak., T. and C., L 3. 
Also spelled bawble. 
bauble 1 !, . i. [< bauble 1 , n.] To trifle. 
bauble 2 (ba'bl), n. [Early mod. E. bable, babel, 
< ME. bable, babulle, babel, a fool's mace, also 
(appar. the same word) a stick with a heavy 
weight at the end, used for weighing, < ME. 
babelen, bablen, waver, swing to and fro, appar. 
a freq. form from same source as bob 1 , bob 1 . 
Bauble may thus be regarded as for "bobble. 
But the word was early confused with bauble*, 
480 
q. v.] Primarily, a sort of scepter or staff of 
office, the attribute of Folly personified, car- 
ried by the jesters of kings and 
great lords in the middle ages, 
and down to the seventeenth cen- 
tury. It is generally represented as 
crowned with the head of a fool or zany, 
wearing a party-colored hood with asses' 
ears, and with a ring of little bells, like 
sleigh-bells. At the other end there was 
sometimes a ball or bladder inflated with 
air, with which to belabor people. Also 
spelled bawble. 
The kynges foole 
Sate by the fire upon a stoole, 
As he that with his bauble plaide. 
Gower, Conf. Amaut., vii. 
Fools, who only wanted a party-col- 
oured coat, a cap, and a bawble, to pass 
for such amongst reasonable men. 
Dryden, Post, to Hist, of League. 
rool s Bauble. 
baublery!, . [Early mod. E. also 
bablerie, babelry; < bauble 1 + -ry.] Childish 
trifling; a trifling matter, 
baubling! (ba'bling), a. [< bauble 1 , v., + -ing 2 .] 
Contemptible; paltry. 
A baubling vessel was he captain of. Shak., T. N., v. 1. 
bauch, baugh (bach), a. [Sc., perhaps < Icel. 
bagr, uneasy, poor, hard up ; cf . bagr, awkward, 
clumsy.] Weak; pithless; shaky. [Scotch.] 
bauchee-seed (ba'che-sed), n. Same as baw- 
ehan-seed. 
bauchle 1 , bachle 1 (bach'l), n. [Sc.; origin un- 
known. Cf. bauch.] 1. An old shoe worn 
down at the heel, or one with the counter 
turned down and worn as a slipper. 2. A 
slovenly, pithless, or shiftless person ; a sham- 
bling good-for-nothing. [Scotch.] 
He'll be but a bauchle in this world, and a backsitter in 
the neist. Hogg, Shep. CaL, II. 195. (N. E. D.) 
bauchle 2 !, v. t. [Sc. : see baffle.] To maltreat ; 
baffle. 
bauchly (bach'li), adv. [Sc., < bauch + -ly 2 .] 
Weakly; indifferently; poorly. [Scotch.] 
baud 1 !, n. See bawd 1 . 
baud 2 !, v. t. See bawd 2 . 
baud 3 !, TO. See bawd 3 . 
baud 4 (bad), . [Origin obscure. Cf. bawd 3 .] 
The fish otherwise called the rockling. [Local 
Eng. (Cornish).] 
baude!, a. [ME., < OF. baud, < OLG. bald, 
bold, lusty, = E. bold. See bawd 1 .] Joyous; 
riotously gay. Boni. of the Rose. 
baudekin, baudkin (ba'de-kin, bad'kin), n. 
[Obsolete, except in historical use ; early mod. 
E. also irreg. bodkin ; < ME. baudkin, baudekin, 
etc., < OF. baudekin, baudequin (ML. baldaki- 
nus), < It. baldacchino, > also E. baldakin, bal- 
dachin: see baldachin.] A rich embroidered 
or brocaded silk fabric woven originally with a 
warp of gold thread, and properly called cloth 
of baudekin. It was used for garments, sacred vest- 
ments, altar -cloths, canopies, etc., and is first mentioned 
in English history in connection with the knighting of 
William of Valence in 1247 by Henry III. It was proba- 
bly known on the continent before that date. Later the 
name was applied to any rich brocade, and even to shot 
silk. It is not found in use after the middle of the six- 
teenth century. Also called baldachin. 
There were no fewer than " Thirty albs of old cloth of 
bawdkyn," that is, cloth of gold, at Peterborough. 
Quoted in Rock, Church of our Fathers, i. 431. 
baudekyn!, TO. See baudekin. 
baudelaire!, TO. See badelaire. 
baudkin, TO. See baudekin. 
baudrey! (bad'ri), TO. A variant form of baldric. 
baudrickt, n. See baldric. 
baudrons (bad'ronz), TO. [Sc., also badrans, 
bathrons; of unknowrij perhaps Celtic, origin.] 
A name for the cat (like reynard for the fox, 
bruin for the bear, etc.). [Scotch.] 
Auld baudrons by the ingle sits, 
An' wi' her loot her face a washin'. 
Burns, Willie Wastle. 
The neebor's auld baudrons. 
T. Martin, tr. of Heine's " Mein Kind, wir waren Kinder." 
baudy 1 !, baudy 2 !, a. See bawdy 1 , bawdy 2 . 
baufrey!, . [Origin obscure ; perhaps a form 
of belfry.] A beam. 
bauge (bozh), . [F. ; of uncertain origin.] 
1 . A kind of coarse drugget made in Burgundy, 
France. 2. Mortar made of clay and straw. 
baugh, a. See bauch. 
Bauhinia (ba-hiu'i-a), . [NL., named in hon- 
or of Jean and Gaspard Bauhin, eminent Swiss 
botanists (died in 1613 and 1624 respectively), 
because the leaves generally consist of two 
lobes or parts, and were thus taken as sym- 
bolic of the two brothers.] A genus of plants, 
natural order Leguminosee. The species are usually 
twining plants, found in the woods of hot countries, often 
bavardage 
stretching from tree to tree like cables. The tough fibrous 
bark of the Maloo climber, B. Valdii, of India, is used fin- 
making ropes and bridges, and is suitable for paper-mak- 
ing. The wood of B. 
varitgata is one of the 
varieties of ebony, and 
its bark is used in dye- 
ing and tanning. Other 
species are equally use- 
ful. 
Bauhinian (ba- 
hin'i-an), a. Ke- 
lating to the Swiss 
anatomist and bot- 
anist Gaspard Bau- 
hin (1560-1624). 
Bauhinian valve, 
valvula Bauhlnla, 
the ileocsecal valve. 
See tteoccKcal. 
bauk (bak), n. A 
Scotch form of 
balk 1 . 
bauld (bald), a. A 
Scotch form of bold. 
. See 
. 
baldric. 
baulea (ba'le-a), n. [E. Ind.] A round-bot- 
tomed passenger-boat, having a mast and sail, 
but generally propelled by oars, used on the 
shallower parts of the Ganges. 
baulite (ba'Ht), n. [< Baula, a mountain in 
Iceland, + -ite 2 . The mountain prob. derives 
its name from Icel. baula, a cow, an imitative 
name ; cf. mod. Icel. baula, low as a cow : see 
bawl 1 .] A white transparent mineral, found 
in the matter ejected by the volcano of Krabla 
in Iceland. It is a variety of glassy feldspar 
or sanadine. Also called krablite. 
baulk, n. and v. See balk 1 . 
baulmet, n. See balm. 
baulter!, v. See baiter. 
baumt, n. See balm. 
baunscheidtism (boun'shit-izm), n. [From 
the inventor. Karl Baunscheidt, a German 
mechanician.] A form of acupuncture, in 
which about 25 needles, set in a metal disk and 
dipped in an irritant oil, are thrust into the skin 
by a spring. Its action seems to bo accordant 
with that of ordinary counter-irritants. 
bauset, v. t. [Appar. a var. of bass 6 , q. v.] To 
kiss. Marston. [A doubtful sense.] 
bauson (ba'sn), w. and a. [Early mod. E. also 
bawson, bauzon, etc., and corruptly boson, bore- 
son, < ME. bauson, bawson, baucyn, bausen, a 
particular application of the adj. bauson, 
white-spotted, in ME. bausand, mod. bausond, 
etc. : see bausond. The adj. is rarely found in 
ME., but must have preceded the noun use. 
The badger has received other names in allu- 
sion to the white mark on its face : see bad- 
ger 2 .] I. TO. An old name of the badger: some- 
times applied ludicrously or in contempt to a 
fat or pertinacious person. 
His mittens were of bawson's skin. 
Drayton, Dowsabell, st. 10 (1593). 
II. a. Same as bausond. 
bausond (ba'snd), a. [Early mod. E. also baw- 
sonde, bawsand, mod. dial, bawsont, bawsand. 
also (erroneously written as if a participle) 
bauson'd, bassen'd, baws'nt, etc. ; < ME. bausand 
(also, as a noun, bauson, bawson, bausen, etc.), < 
OF. bausant, baussant, bausent, bauzant, baucant, 
balcent, bauchant, etc. (with appar. unorig. -t), 
also bauzan, bausen, bausain (> ML. bausendus, 
bausennus) = Pr. bausan = It. balzano, white- 
spotted; cf. mod. F. (from It.) balzan, a black 
or bay horse with white feet. Origin un- 
known; possibly connected with the equiv. 
Celtic words mentioned as the source of E. 
ball 3 , q. v.] Having white spots on a black or 
bay ground; having a white strip down the 
face, or a patch on the forehead : applied -to 
animals. [Scotch.] 
His honest, sonsie, bawa'nt face 
Aye gat him friends in ilka place. 
Burns, The Twa Dogs, 1. 31. 
bauson-faced (ba'sn-fast), a. Having a white 
mark on the face, like a badger ; bausond. 
bauteroll. . See boterol. 
bauxite (bo'zlt), n. [< Baux (see def . ) + -ite 2 .] 
A clay found at Les Baux, near Aries in France, 
and elsewhere, in concretionary grains or oolit- 
ic. It contains about one half of its weight of alumina, 
with iron and water, and silica as an impurity. It is used as 
a source of alum, of the metal aluminium, and to some ex- 
tent in the preparation of crucibles. Also spelled beauxite. 
bavardage (ba-var-dazh'), n. [F., < bavarder, 
chatter, < bavard, talkative, < bave, drivel, sa- 
liva: see bavette.] Idle talk; chatter. [Rare.] 
