beaver 
Its food consists of the Irark of trees, leaves, roots, and 
berries The favorite haunts of the beavers are rivers 
and lakes which are bordered by forests. When they Bnd 
a stream not sufficiently deep for their purpose, they throw 
across it a dam constructed with great ingenuity of wood, 
stones, and mud, gnawing down small trees for the' pur- 
pose, and compacting the mud by blows of their- power- 
ful tails. In winter they live in houses, which are from :i 
to 4 feet high are built mi the water's edge with suhaqtie 
oils entrances, and afford them protection from wolves and 
other wild animals. They formerly abounded throughout 
northern America, but are now found only in unsettled or 
thinlv populated regions. Several slightly different varie- 
ties of the European beaver have received special names. 
The North American beaver is somewhat larger than the 
European and exhibits some slight cranial peculiarities; 
496 
Beaver-rat (Hydromys chrysogaster). 
the water-vole of Europe, Arvicola amphibius, or the musk- 
rat of America. 
2. A name of the ondatra, muskrat, or mus- 
quash of North America, Fiber zibethicus. 
beaver-root (be'ver-rot), n. The yellow pond- 
lily, Nuphar advena. 
beaverteen (be'ver-ten), n. [< beaveri + -teen, 
after velveteen.] 1. A cotton twilled fabric in 
which the warp is drawn up into loops, form- 
ing a pile, which is left uncut. 2. A strong 
cotton twilled fabric for men's wear, it is a 
kind of smooth fustian, shorn after being dyed. If shorn 
before dyeing, it is called moleskin. E. H. Knight. 
beaver-tongue (be'ver-tung), . Same as cost- 
niary. 
it is commonly rated as a distinct species or conspecies, beaver-tree (be'ver-tre), n. The sweet-bay of 
under the name of Castor canadmni. The so-called fossil t , Unite(i States, Magnolia glauca. 
**, H avor ' jf " Objete forms of 6ea - 
rer\ beaver*. 
Beaver (Castor Jilitr). 
2. The fur of the beaver. 3. (a) A hat made 
of beaver fur. 
Th 
This day I put on my half cloth black stockings and my 
w coate of the fashion, which pleases me well, and with 
bam, foam, froth, saliva : see bavette.] In medi- 
eval armor, originally a protection for the lower 
beballyt, a. [Late ME., a corruption of OF. 
(AF.) "bipalle, < bi-, two, twice, + "patte, 
__.. , party par-pale : a term of blazon" (Cotgrave).] 
my beixr I was, after office was done, ready to go to my J n j^ er divided into two parts by a vertical 
Lord Mayor's feast. 230. line . party per pa l e : said of an escutcheon. 
Hence (6) A hat of the shape of a beaver hat, bebeastt (be-best'), v. t. [< fee- 1 + beast.] To 
but made of silk or other material, in imitation make a beast of ; consider as a beast ; treat as 
of the fur. The modern stiff silk hat was com- a beast. 
monly called a beaver until recently. 4. A bebeeric (be-be'rik), a. [< bebeeru + -ic.] Of 
glove made of beaver's fur. Miss Austen. 5. O r derived from bebeerin. Also written bebiric. 
A thick and warm cloth used for garments by Bebeeric add, a white, crystalline, volatile acid ex- 
both sexes. The thickest quality is used for tracted from the seeds of Nectandra Radio*. 
overcoats bebeerin, bebeerine (be-be'nn), n. [< feefecerw, 
II a. Made of beaver or of the fur of the bea- q. v.] The active principle of the bark of the 
ver: as, a beaver hat ; beaver gloves. bebeeru or greenheart-tree of Guiana, it is said 
Hoair2 VhB'vprl fEar-lv mod E also feerer to be identical with buxine, C, 8 H 2 NO3, and is used as a 
beaver" ( De ver;, n. Liwiriy mpu. a,. aiso v i er, bjtter tonic and febrifuge chiefly in the , orm of tne crude 
beevor, etc., altered, by confusion With beaver 1 , 8U i p i, a te. Also written bebearine, biberine, bibirine, be- 
in "beaver hat," from earlier fearer, bavier, < beeria, etc. 
late ME. baviere, < OF. baviere (= Sp. babera = bebeeru (be-be'ro), n. [Native name, also 
It. baviera), beaver of a helmet, prop, a bib, < spelled bebe'aru, bibiru.] A tree of British Gui- 
ana, Nectandra Bodicei, natural order Lauracea?, 
the timber of which is known to wood-mer- 
chants by the name of greenheart, and is large- 
ly imported into England for the building of 
ships and submarine structures, being remark- 
ably hard and durable, and not subject to injury 
from the ship-worm (Teredo navalis). Its bark 
contains bebeerin, and is used as a febrifuge. 
bebization (be-bi-za'shon), n. In music, the 
system of indicating the tones of the scale, for 
reference or practice, by the syllables la, be, 
ce, de, me, fe, ge, proposed in 1628 by Daniel 
Hitzler, and apparently applied not to the 
scale in the abstract, but to the scale beginning 
on A. See habitation, solmization, etc. 
bebleedt (be-bled'), v. t. [< ME. bebleden; < 
working on pivots and capable of being raised to cover the face : ff, t_ i _i_ hJ0/,',1 1 rp.. TymVp VilnnHv f^ltn'Uffr 
beaver? Both are examnfes of the middle of the i 4 th century. (From <>e->- r- 0(e6((.J 1 maK6 DlOOtty. CCT, 
Viollet-le-Duc's " Diet, du Mobilier francais.") Knight's Tale, 1. 1144. 
beblott (be-blof), v. t. [< fee-1 + blofl.] To 
blot all over ; stain. 
Bebluttc it with thi teeris eke a lyte. 
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1027. 
In this form it was worn throughout the fifteenth century , V1 ,, ,,- vl v/._j|\ r / i,, -i i j.j,.j. 
with headpieces other than the armet. In English armor beblubbered (be-blub erd), a. [< fee- 1 + blub- 
it was the movable protection for the lower part of the bered.] Befouled or bleared, as with weeping, 
face, while the vizor covered the upper part ; it is there- Her all ^Uubbered with tears, 
fore nearly the same as the aventaile (which see). In the Shelton, tr. of Don Quixote, I. iii. 13. 
sixteenth century the movable beaver was confounded ,,, *** itnii n 
beblurt, r. t. [< fee- 1 + blur.] To blur all over, 
bebung (ba'bung), n. [G., a trembling, < be- 
ben, tremble.] A certain pulsation or trembling 
effect given to a sustained note, in either vo- 
cal or instrumental music, for the sake of ex- 
pression. Grove. 
bec 1 t, n. An obsolete form of feecfc 1 . 
bee (oek), n. |_.r ., beak: see uecK*, oeatc .J A 
beak; in music, a mouthpiece for a musical in- 
strument. 
becafico, becafigo (bek-a-fe'ko, -go), . Same 
r. Beaver fixed to the corselet : B, vizor ; C, beaver, y, Beavci 
working on pivots and capable of being raised to cover the face : R, 
part of the face and cheeks, fixed securely to 
the armor of the neck and breast, and suffi- 
ciently large to allow the head to turn behind it. 
with the vizor. 
So beene they both at one, and doen upreare 
Their bevers bright each other for to greet. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 29. 
He wore his beaver up. Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. 
Their armed staves in charge, their beavers down, 
Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel. 
ien. IV., iv. 
beaverSf, . i and y See tawr*. 
beavered (be'verd), a. [< beaver* + -erf.] 
Provided with or wearing a beaver. 
His beaver'd brow a birchen garland wears. 
Pope, Dunciad, iv. 141. 
beaver-poispn (be'ver-poi"zn), n. The water- 
hemlock, Cicuta maculata. 
beaver-rat (be'ver-rat), . 1. The name in 
Australia of the marine rodents of the family . . . 
MuriO^e and genus Hydromys (which see). They becalm' (be-kam'), v. t. [< fee- 1 + calm.] 
are aquatic animals of Australia and Tasmania, inhabiting Tn maVp palm nr still makpnnipt- palm 
the banks bordering both salt and fresh water, swimming U1 ' maKe < l ulet ' cl Un - 
and diving with ease, and in general economy resembling The moon shone clear on the becalmed flood. Dryden. 
as beccafico 
ecall (b |_ka,l'), . t [< ME. Ucallen, bikal- 
\ en , < bi-,'be-, + callen, caU: see fee- 1 and call.] 
i t To accuse. 2f. To caU upon; call forth; 
challenge. St. To call; summon. 4. To call 
names' miscall. N. E. D. 
' 1. 
beccaflco 
lianish his sorrows and becalm his soul with easy dreams. 
Addition. 
2. Naut., to deprive (a ship) of wind; delay by 
or subject to a calm. 
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. Loclre. 
becalming (be-kii'ming), n. The state of being 
becalmed ; a calm at sea. [Rare or obsolete.] 
other unlucky accidents oftentimes happen in these 
seas, especially in becalmings. 
Sir T. Herbert, Travels in Africa, p. 6. 
becalmment (be-kam'ment), n. [< becalm + 
-ment.] The state of being becalmed. [Rare.] 
became (be-kam')- Preterit of become. 
becap (be-kap'), t'. t. ; pret. and pp. becapped, 
ppr. beca'pping. [< fee- 1 + cop 1 .] To cover 
with a cap. 
becard (bek'iird), n. [< F. *becard, < bee, beak: 
see feeaJ- 1 and -ard.] A name of sundry insec- 
tivorous birds of Central and South America, 
such as those of the genera Tityra and J'saris, 
given on account of their large or hooked bill. 
becarpeted (be-kar'pet-ed), a. [< fee- 1 + car- 
pet + -erf 2 .] Furnished or covered with a car- 
pet or carpets ; carpeted. [Rare.] 
Is there another country under the sun so becushioned, 
becarveted, and becurtained with grassV 
The Century, XXVII. 110. 
becarve (be-karv')> v. t. [< ME. bekerven, < AS. 
bcceorfan, cut off, < fee- priv. + ceorfan, cut. In 
mod. use, < fee- 1 + carve.] If. To cut off. 2f. 
To cut up or open (land). 3. To cut to pieces. 
N. E. D. 
becasse (be-kas'), . [< F. becasse, a woodcock, 
< feec, a beak : see beak 1 .] The European wood- 
cock, Scolopax rusticula. 
becassine (be-ka-sen'), [< F. becassine, < be- 
casse: see because.] The European snipe, Gal- 
linago media. 
because (be-kaz'), adv. and con/., orig. prep. phr. 
[Early mod. E. also by cause; < ME. because, bi- 
cause, bycause, also and prop, written apart, be 
cause, bi cause, by cause, being the prep, fey with 
the governed noun cause. The phrase by cause 
of, or because of (cf. the similar phrase by reason 
of), was used as equiv. to a prep., and the phrase 
by cause that, or because that, afterward short- 
ened to because (colloq. and dial, cause), as a 
conj.] I. adv. 1. By reason (of ); on account 
(of) : followed by of. 
The spirit is life, because of righteousness. Rom. viii. 10. 
Let no self-reproach weigh on you because of me. 
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, vii. 3. 
2f. For the sake (of) ; in order (to). 
II. conj. 1 . For the reason (that) ; since. 
These wickets of the soule are plac'd on hie 
Because all sounds doe lightly mount aloft. 
Sir J. Davies, Nosce Teipsum. 
Why is our food so very sweet? 
Because we earn before we eat. Cotton, Fables, i. 
Men who could never be taught to do what was right be- 
cause it was right, soon learned to do right because it was 
a becoming thing in them, as knights and nobleSjto do so. 
Stilti, Stud. Med. Hist., xii. 
2f. To the end that; in order that. 
And the multitude rebuked them, because they should 
hold their peace. Mat. xx. 31. 
\Beeawie introduces a clause stating some particular cir- 
cumstance, from which, (a) by virtue of a general truth 
not usually mentioned, the truth of the preceding clause 
necessarily follows, or (6) in consequence of a general 
purpose, the agent is led to perform the act, or bring 
about the state of things, mentioned in the previous clause. 
Because is not properly used to introduce a general prin- 
ciple or major premise. ]=Syn. 1. See since. 
becca(bek'a),w.; pi. 6ecco;(-se). [NL.: seefeecfc 4 , 
feeafc 1 .] 1. The long point of a hood, especial- 
ly in the fifteenth century, when such points 
reached below the waist behind. 2. A long 
scarf or streamer attached to a turban-shaped 
cap in the fifteenth century. Fairholt. 
beccabunga (bek-a-bung'ga), n. [NL. ML., < 
LG. beckebunge (t). beekbunge = G. baettbunge), 
brooklime, < becke (= D. beck = G. bach = E. 
beck 1 ), a brook, + bunge = OHG. biingo, a bunch, 
bulb. Cf. Icel. bingr, a bolster, a heap: see 
bing 1 .] The brooklime, Veronica Beccabunga. 
beccae, n. Plural of becca. 
becoaflco (bek-a-fe'ko), n. [Also written beca- 
fico, beccafica, beccafigue, etc. (cf. F. becfgue}, 
< It. beccafico, < beccare = F. becquer (Cotgrave), 
also becqueter, peck with the beak (< feeeco = 
F. bee, > E. feecfcl, feeajfc 1 ), + fico, a fig, < L. Jicus, 
a fig: see fig and^co.] 1. An old and disused 
name of sundry small European birds, chiefly 
of the family Hylriida:, or warblers, which peck 
figs, or were supposed to do so. The application 
of the word is indeterminate; but it has been, perhaps, 
most frequently used in connection with the garden-war- 
bler, Sylria hortcnsis (Bechstein), Curruca hortensis of 
some authors. 
