Bessemer converter 
Bessemer converter, iron, process, steel, etc. 
See the nouns. 
Bessera (bes'e-ra), w. [NL., named after the 
Russian naturalist licsscr.] A genus of Mexi- 
can bulbous liliaceous plants, consisting of a 
single species, Ii. elegans, frequently cultivated. 
Its showy crimson flowers are borne in a termi- 
nal umbel. 
bessis (bes'is), H. Same as bes. 
bessognet, See bisogno. 
best (best), a. and n. (superlative of good). 
[Bee better, a., and good,] I.a. 1. Of the highest 
quality, excellence, or standing: said of both 
persons and things in regard to mental, moral, 
or physical qualities, whether inherent or ac- 
quired: as, the best writers and speakers; the 
lest families ; the best judgment ; the best years 
of one's life ; a house built of the best materials. 
When he is bent, he is a little worse than a man ; and 
when he is worst, he is little better than a beast. 
Shak., M. of V., i. 2. 
What she wills to do or say 
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, bent. 
Milton, P. L., viii. 550. 
2. Of greatest advantage, usefulness, or suita- 
bility for the purpose intended ; most advan- 
tageous, suitable, appropriate, or desirable: 
as, the best man for the place ; the best way to 
do anything. 
His best companions, innocence and health, 
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth. 
Goldsmith, Des. Vil., 1. 61. 
3. Most kind, beneficent, or good : applied to 
persons: as, the best husband imaginable ; which 
of your brothers is best to you ? 4. Largest ; 
greatest ; most : as, we spent the best part of 
three days in getting there Best man, the 
groomsman or chief attendant on the bridegroom at a 
wedding. 
I acted in the capacity of backer or best man to the 
bridegroom. Dickens. 
In our own marriages the best man seems originally 
to have been the chief abettor of the bridegroom in the 
act of capture. Darwin, Des. of Man, II. xx. 
Best work, in mining, the richest class of ore. To put 
one's best foot foremost. See/oot. 
II. n. 1. The highest possible state of ex- 
cellence; the best quality or property of a 
person or thing. 
Yf thou wylte leve in peas & Reste, 
Here, & see, & sey the beste. 
Prov. of Good Counsel, 52. 
But you, you, 
So perfect, and so peerless, are created 
Of every creature's best. Shak., Tempest, iii. 1. 
2. All that one can do, or show in one's self: 
often used in this sense with the possessive 
pronouns my, thy, his, their, etc. : as, I will do 
my best to advance your interests; she is bent 
on looking her best ; he did all he could to ap- 
pear at his best in that performance. 
Then gan I him to comfort all my best. 
Spenser, Daphnaida, 1. 190. 
Win shall I not, but do my best to win. 
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine. 
At best, in the utmost degree or extent applicable to the 
case : as, life is at best very short. 
The Law of England is at best but the reason of Parlia- 
ment. Milton, Eikonoklastes, x. 
For bestt, finally ; for good and all. 
Those constitutions ... are now established for best, 
and not to be mended. Milton. 
For the best, so as to secure the most advantageous re- 
sult; with the best intentions. The best, (a) The best 
people collectively ; those of the highest standing in any 
respect, but especially socially or intellectually. 
Throng, their rags and they, 
The basest, far into that council-hall 
Where sit the best and stateliest of the land. 
Tennyson, Lucretius. 
(i>) The best things, or a thing of the best quality : as, he 
always buys the best ; dressed in one's best. 
The lads and lassies in their best 
Were dressed from top to toe. 
E. Ransford, Gypsying. 
The best Of, the advantage in (a contest or proceeding) 
or over (a person) : as, from the start A. B. had the best of it. 
As far as dignity is concerned, Steele has certainly the 
best of the quarrel. A. Dobson, Introd. to Steele, p. xxxix. 
To make tbe best of, to use to the best advantage ; get 
all that one can out of. 
Let there be freedom to carry their commodities where 
they may make the best of them. Bacon. 
Often used in speaking of things or events that are not 
so good or favorable as was expected or was to be wished : 
as, to make the best of ill fortune or a bad bargain. To 
make the best of one's way, to travel or proceed with 
all possible speed. 
best (best), adv. (superlative of well). [See 
better, adv."] 1. In the most excellent or most 
suitable manner; with most advantage or suc- 
cess : as, he who runs best gets the prize ; the 
6e*t-behaved boy in the school ; the 
vated fields. 
Speak ye, who best can tell. 
Millnu, P. L., v. 180. 
Most solicitous how bent 
He may compensate for a day of sloth. 
Camper, Task, iv. 
He prayeth best who loveth best 
All things both great and small. 
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, vii. 23. 
2. In or to the highest degree ; to the fullest 
extent; most fully: as, those who know him 
best speak highly of him ; those best informed 
say so ; the 6c*i-abused man in town. 
Old fashions please me best. Shak., T. of the S., iii. 1. 
Tell whom thou lovest best. Shak., T. of the S., ii. 1. 
I relish best the free gifts of Providence. 
Hawthorne, Old Manse, I. 
best (best), v. t. [< best, a. or n.] 1. To get 
the better of ; outdo ; surpass. 
I cannot stand quiet and see the dissenters best the es- 
tablishment. Tra/ord, World in Ch., ii. 77. (S. E. D.) 
2. To overreach or outwit : as, to best a client. 
3. To defeat in a contest; do better than; 
beat; hence, in pugilism, to thrash soundly; 
drub ; defeat at fisticuffs. 
bestadt. An obsolete preterit corresponding to 
the past participle bestead?. 
bestain (be-stan'), v. t. [< be- 1 + stain.'] To 
mark with 'stains; discolor; spot. 
All with blood bestain his cheeks. 
Percy's lieliques, p. 134. 
bestand (bf-stand'), v. t. [< be- 1 + stand.'] To 
serve ; be of service to ; be ready to serve or 
aid. [Bare.] 
To such practical lessons as would always bestand them 
well. D. 0. Mitchell, Bound Together. 
best-best (best'best), a. The very best: some- 
times used in trade to indicate the very best 
quality. 
bestead 1 (be-sted'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. bestead- 
ed, bested, ppr. besteading. [< be- 1 + stead, v., 
support, help.] 1. To help; assist. 2. To 
profit; benefit; serve; avail. 
Remember this, Oil Bias, . . . pay your court to Signior 
Rodriguez, . . . his friendship will bestead you much. 
Smollett, tr. of Gil Bias, iii. 3. 
In this ship was great store of dry Newfoundland fish, 
. . . the same being so new and good as it did very greatly 
bestead us in the whole course of our voyage. 
Sir F. Drake, West India Voyage. 
Hence, vain deluding Joys, 
The brood of Folly without father bred ! 
How little you bested 
Or nil the fixed mind with all your toys ! 
Milton, II Penseroso, 1. 3. 
bestead 2 ! (be-sted'), v. t. [< be- 1 + stead, place.] 
To take the place of. 
Hys missing of the Vniuersitie Oratorship, wherein Doc- 
tor Perne besteaded him. 
Nash, Haue with you to Saffronwalden. 
bestead 3 , p. a. See 'bested. 
bested, bestead (be-sted'), p. a. [Prop, only 
as a pp. or p. a. ; but Spenser uses a pret. 
bestad and pp. besteaded, and other authors 
have adopted present forms; < ME. bested, 
bisted, commonly bestad, bistad, earliest forms 
bistathed, bisteathet, pp., without pres. or pret. 
(= Dan. bestedt), < be- + stad, stadd, later 
sted, etc., < Icel. staddr = Sw. stadd, circum- 
stanced, pp. oistedhja, fix, appoint, =AS. stoeth- 
than, set, set fast, plant, < staitlt, a place, re- 
lated to stede, a place, stead: see stead and 
steady.'] 1. Placed; situated: of things. 2. 
Placed or circumstanced as to condition, con- 
venience, benefit, and the like; situated: of 
persons. 
She saith that she shall not be glad, 
Till that she se hym so bestad. 
dower, Conf. Amant., i. 
Many far worse bestead than ourselves. Barrow. 
In old Bassora's schools I seemed 
Hermit vowed to books and gloom, 
111 belted for gay bridegroom. 
Emerson, Hermione. 
3f. Disposed mentally ; affected : as, "sorrow- 
fully bestad," Chaucer. 4f. Provided; fur- 
nished. 
The Ladie, ill of friends besteaded. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. i. 3. 
[This word is scarcely if at all used now, ex- 
cept in such phrases as ill or sore bested. ] 
Bestiae (bes'ti-e), n. pi. [NL., pi. of L. bestia, 
a beast : see beast.~] A suborder of the mam- 
malian order Insectivora, including the true in- 
sectivores as distinguished from the frugivo- 
rons Galeopithecidw, having the limbs fitted for 
walking, but not for flying (being devoid of a 
parachute), and the lower incisors not pecti- 
nate. The group contains the whole of the or- 
der, excepting the family just named. 
bestorm 
bestial (bes'tial), a. and n. [< L. bestialis, < 
bfstia, beastT see beast.] I. . 1. Belonging 
to a beast or to the class of beasts; animal. 
Of shape part hnman, part bextial. TnUrr, No. 49. 
2. Having the qualities of a beast ; brutal; be- 
low the dignity of reason or humanity ; carual : 
as, a bestial appetite. 
1 have lost the immortal part of myself, and what re- 
mains is bestial. Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 
Bestial automaton. See automaton. Bestial sign, 
in nntrol., a zodiacal sign denoted by a quadruped, Aries, 
Taurus, Leo, Sagittarius, or Capricornus. =Syn. Brutish, 
Ilestial, etc. (see brute); vile, depraved, sensual. 
II. n. [< LL. bcstiale, cattle, neut. of L. bes- 
tialis : see above.] 1. In Scots lav; the cattle 
on a farm taken collectively. 2f. A work on 
zoology. Brewer. 
bestiality (bes-tial'i-ti), n. [< LL. bustialitas, < 
best ialix : see bestial.] 1. The qualities or na- 
ture of a beast; conduct or mental condition 
unworthy of human nature ; beastliness. 
What can be a greater absurdity than to affirm bestial- 
ity to be the essence of humanity, and darkness the centre 
of light? Mill-Unit* Smblerus. 
2. Unnatural connection with a beast. 
bestialize (bes'tial-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. bes- 
tialized, ppr. bestializing. [< bestial, a., + -ize.~] 
To make like a beast ; bring or reduce to the 
state or condition of a beast. 
The process of bestializing humanity. Hare. 
bestially (bes'tial-i), adv. In a bestial man- 
ner; brutally ; "as a brute beast. 
bestiant (bes'tian), a. Of or belonging to the 
beast spoken of in the Apocalypse (Rev. xiii. 
xx.). 
bestianismt (bes'tian-izm), n. [< bestian + 
-ism.] The power of the beast. See bestian. 
bestiarian (bes-ti-a'ri-an), re. [< L. best/a, a 
beast, + -arian; suggested by humanitarian.'] 
One who is an advocate of the kind treatment 
of animals ; specifically, in Great Britain, an 
antivivisectionist. 
bestiary (bes'ti-a-ri), n. [< ML. bestiarium, 
neut. of L. bestiariw, pertaining to wild beasts 
(as a n., a beast-fighter), < bestia, a wild beast.] 
If. A fighter with wild beasts in the ancient 
Roman amphitheater. 2. A name formerly 
sometimes given to a book treating of animals. 
Mr. Watkins has, however, gone further back, and com- 
mences with Homer and Hesiod. His opening chapter, 
"A Homeric Bestiary," is one of the most characteristic 
and satisfactory portions of his work. 
N. and Q., 6th ser., XI. 260. 
bestiate (bes'ti-at), v. t. ; pret. and pp. besti- 
ated, ppr. bestiating. [< L. bestia, a beast, + 
-ate?.] To make beastly; bestialize. [Rare.] 
Drunkenness bestiates the heart. 
R. Junius, Sinne Stigmatized, p. 235. 
bestick (be-stik'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. bestuck, 
ppr. besticlcitig. [< be- 1 + stick 1 .] 1. To stick 
on the surface of ; cover over. 2. To pierce 
in various places ; pierce through and through. 
Truth shall retire, 
Bestuek with slanderous darts. 
Milton, P. L., xii. 536. 
In these little visual interpretations [valentines] no 
emblem is so common as the heart, . . . the bestuck and 
bleeding heart. Lamb, Valentine's Day. 
bestill (be-stil'), v. t. [< be- 1 + still 1 .] To 
make quiet or still. 
Commerce bestilled her many-nationed tongue. 
J. Cunningham, Elegiac Ode. 
[In the following passage uncertain : 
They, bestttl'd 
Almost to jelly with the act of fear, 
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. 
Shak., Hamlet, 1. 2. 
This is the reading of the folios ; the quartos and mod- 
ern editions read distilled.] 
bestir (be-ster' ), v. t. ; pret. and pp. bestirred, 
ppr. bestirring. [< ME. bestyrien, bestirien, be- 
sterien, bestir, < AS. bestyrian, heap up, pile up, 
< be- + styrian, stir: see be- 1 and stir.] To put 
into brisk or vigorous action; reflexively, move 
with life and vigor : as, bestir yourself. . 
You have . . . bestirred your valour. 
Shak., Lear, 11. 2. 
Come on, clowns, forsake your dumps, 
And bestir your hobnailed stumps. 
B. Jonson, The Satyr. 
Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. 
Milton, P. L., i. 334. 
bestness (best'nes), n. [< best + -ness.] The 
quality of being best. [Rare.] 
The bestness of a thing. 
Bp. Morton, Episcopacy Asserted, 4. 
bestorm (be-stoi-m'), . i. [< be- + storm ; not 
descended from AS. bestyrman = G. besturmen 
= Sw. bestorma = Dan. bestorme, attack with 
