byssi 
byssi, . Plural of 
byssifer (bis'i-fer), 
Oue of the Jiyssifera. 
typified by the genus Buthiti-n. The head is large 
and wide, the vertical fins are united, and the ventrals re- 
duced to simple filaments composed of two rays each. 
by-time (bi'tim), . Odd time ; an interval of 
".eisure. [Scotch.] 
botanist D. S. A. Biittner (1724-68), + -ace<e.] 
A natural order of plants, properly included in 
the order Sterculiaceai (which see). The typi- 
mollusks, characterized 
byssus, 
selves 
Lamal 
feits, ami Aeiniii't. mm distributed among different fami- 
lies; but it was later renounced and Its genera referred by 
him to the families M,,tll, m , M,,ll m ,;- a , and Pcctemdcs. 
It was restricted by Ooldfuss (1820) to Malleus, I'ulsflla, 
and Pfnia, and is now synonyn:ous with Malleacea. 
byssiferous (bi-sif'e-rus), a. l< NL. byssifer. 
< L. byssus (see byssus) + fcrre = E. MOT 1 .] 
Producing or bearing a byssus. 
byssin, byssine (bis'in), a. [< L. byssinus, < 
Gr. pvaatvot, < jli'ootx;, byssus.] Made of bys- 
sus; having a silky or flax-like appearance. 
Coles, 1717. 
byssOgenOUS (bi-soj'e-nus), a. [< byssus + -gc- 
nous.} Secreting or producing the byssus: as, 
the byssogenous gland. 
Lamellibranchs generally exhibit more or less well- 
marked traces of this bi/fmijeiu>an apparatus. 
T. Gill, Smithsonian Report, 1885, p. 777. 
byssoid (bis'oid), a. [< Gr. /3i>o-o-of, byssus, + 
eMof, form.] Having the appearance of byssi ; 
in bot., byssaceous. 
byssolite' (bis'o-lit), . [< Gr. fti-aaof, byssus, walk. Dryden. 
+ Ai'0of, stone. J An olive-green variety of ac- by-walker (bi'wa"ker), 
744 Byzantinism 
Has he all that the world loves and admires and covets? 
... he must cast behind him their admiration, . . . and 
become a byword and a hissing. Em?rxnn. ('omiien-sation. 
= Syn. 1. Axiom, Maxim, etc. See aphorism. 
byzant (biz'ant or bi-zant'), n. Same as be- 
zant, 1. 
In Anglo-Saxon times gold byzants from Byzantium were 
used in England. 
Jemns, Money and Mech. of Exchange, p. 9/ . 
(now Ottawa), Canada, intermediate between Byzantian (bi-zan'shian), a. [< Byzanti-nm + 
anorthite and labradorite. -.] Same as Byzantine.^ 
Jyttneriacese (bit"ne-ri-a'se-e), . pi- [NL., Byzantine (biz'an-tin or bi-zan'tin), a. and . 
< Byttneria, a genus named'from the German r< LL. Byzantmiis (also Byzantiacus, L. Byzan- 
l. _ i__ "_i -TV a A T1.-.-.IJ /T7Oyl CQ\ -L. .,...,, 1 -> " " " ' " " -' ^ ' n * /O_ 
liiix, ( ir. BuCaiTiawif, Bufavnuf ), < Byzantium, < Gr. 
Biyivrrov, said to have been named after Bt'fay 
(BuCaFT-), its reputed founder.] I. a. Pertain- 
cal genus, Byttneria, consists of about 20 spe- ing to Byzantium, or Constantinople, an an- 
cies of tropical or subtropical herbs or climbing cient city of Thrace, situated on the Bosporus, 
shrubs. 
by-turning (bi'ter"ning), n 
leading off the main road. 
The many by-turninojs that may divert you from your 
way. Sir P. Sidney, Defence of Poesy. 
by-view (bi'vu), n. Private view ; self-inter- 
ested purpose. 
tinolite, in long, fine, capillary crystals, from 
St. Gotthard, Tyrol, and from Dauphin^. Also 
called amiantiis. 
byssus (bis'us), n.; pi. byssi (-i). [L., < Gr. 
Ut&aof (see def. 1). Of Oriental origin ; of. Heb. 
butz.~] 1. Among the ancients, 
originally, a fine yellowish flax, 
especially Indian and Egyptian, 
and the linen made from it, such 
as the Egyptian mummy-cloth ; 
afterward, also, cotton and silk 
(the latter, before its origin was 
known, being taken for a kind 
of cotton). 2. One of the byssi, 
a name formerly given by bota- 
nists to a heterogeneous collec- 
tion of filamentous cryptogamic 
plants. 3. In conch. , a long, del- 
icate, lustrous, and silky bunch 
of filaments, secreted by the foot, 
and serving as a means of attachment to other 
Objects. It is developed in various dissimilar bivalve 
mollusks, especially by species of the families Mytilitlo?, 
Pinnidce, Amculiiiae, Limidce, Arcidce, Tridacnidce, etc. 
That of the Pinna is capable of being woven. See Pinna, 
and also cuts under Dreixffenidtt; and Tridacnidce. 
bystander (bl'stan"der), n. 1. One who stands 
near ; a spectator ; a chance looker-on ; hence, 
one who has no concern with the business being 
highest order of 
No by-ineu'8 of his own shall mislead him. 
Atterbury, Sermons, II. iii. 
by-walk (bi'wak), n. A secluded or private 
One who walks by 
which became the capital of the Byzantine or 
A byway ; a road Eastern empire, or to the empire itself. By- 
zantium was founded by a Greek colony in the seventh 
century B. c., but was of no great importance until A. D. 
330, when the emperor Constantino the Great made it 
his capital, and changed its name to Constantinople, af- 
ter himself. Byzantine architecture, a style of archi- 
tecture developed from the classical under the Byzantine 
empire during the fourth and fifth centuries A. 1)., and, 
under various modifications, used till the final conquest of 
or aside; one who is not straightforward; a 
deceitful person. 
I have ript the matter now to the pill, and have told 
you of plain walkers, and of by-walkers. 
Latimer, 2d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549. 
by-wash (bi'wosh), n. A channel cut to con- 
vey the surplus water from a reservoir or an 
aqueduct, and prevent overflow. Also called 
by-lead. 
bywater (bi'wa-ter), a. Among diamond-deal- 
ers, showing a tinge of yellow; off color: ap- 
plied to diamonds. 
byway (bi'wa), n. A by-road; a secluded, pri- 
vate, or obscure way; an out-of-the-way path 
or course : as, highways and byways. 
Next he showed them the two by-ways, that were at the 
foot of the hill, where Formality and Hypocrisy lost them- 
selves. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 264. 
A vast and tangled maze, the byways of which our plan 
does not allow us to enter. 
Whewell, Hist. Scientific Ideas, ii. 
by-westt (bi-wesf), prep. [< ME. bi wcste, < 
AS. be westan, an adverbial phrase, at or in the 
west: lie, prep., by; westan, adv., west, from 
the west. Cf. benorth, besouth, etc.] Westward 
from ; to the west of. [Obsolete or provincial.] 
Whereupon grew that by-word used by the Irish, that 
they dwelt by-west the law which dwelt beyond the river 
of the Barrow. Sir J. Dames, State of Ireland. 
A secret stroke or sar- 
transacted. 2. One of the 
penitents in the discipline of the early church, by-wipet (bi'wip) n. 
See consistentes. easm 
by-Street (bl'stret), , A separate, private, or W he'refore should you begin with the Devil's name des- 
obscure Street ; a lane or byway. canting upon the number of your opponents? wherefore 
To avoid reproach, that conceit of Legion with a by-wipe? 
He seeks by-streets, and saves the expensive coach. Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst., Pref. 
Gay, Trivia, ii. 280. byword (bl'werd), . 
li.i.l .,,,,,.1,,, . ~ - . 
They roam together now, and wind among 
Its by-streets, knocking at the dusty inns. 
D. G. Rossetti, Sonnets, xliii. 
by-Stroke (bi'strok), . An incidental or sly 
stroke ; a side-blow ; a ruse. 
by-talk (bl'tak), n. 1. Gossip; scandal. 2. 
A subject of gossiping conversation ; a byword. 
Thou suddenly becam'st the by-talke of neighbours. 
Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, Ind., p. 8. 
by-term (bi't6rm), n. An irregular term or 
time; a term, as of a school, in which some- 
thing is done out of its regular course. Thus, 
in Cambridge University, England, to go out in 
a by-term is to take a B. A. degree at a time 
other than January. 
Bythites (bi-thi'tez), . [NL., < Gr. 0v6lTif, a 
deep-sea animal, < /3i>ftof, the deep.] A genus 
of brotuloid fishes, typical of the subfamily By- 
thitino!. 
Bythitinae (bith-i-ti'ne), . pi. [NL., < Bythi- 
tes + -ina:.] A subfamily of brotuloid fishes, 
[< ME. byworde, < AS. 
Siword (== OS. btwurti = OHG. biwort, also bi- 
wurti, MHG. biwort), a proverb, < bi-, by, + 
word, word. Ct.l)yspell.~] 1 . A word or phrase 
used proverbially ; especially, a saying used in 
mockery or disparagement ; a satirical or con- 
temptuous proverb. 
A wise man that had it for a by-word. Bacon. 
I agree with him fully in the last, and if I were forced 
to allow the first, I should still think, with our old coarse 
byword, that the same power which furnished all their 
restorateurs sent also their present cooks. 
Burke, A Regicide Peace. 
TSee also extract under bv-ioest.~\ - ^ . 
Hence-2. An object of general reproach or Byzantinism (biz an- or bi-zan tm-izm) , 
condemnation ; a common subject of derision [< Byzantine + -isni.] The spirit, principles, 
or opprobrium. ^ methods of the Byzantines, especially with 
I will make it [this house] to be a proverb and a^rd reference to literature and art ; the mamfesta- 
among all peoples. 2 Chron. vii. 20. tion of Byzantine characteristics. 
And bashful Henry, whose cowardice Byzantinism . . . regulated all forms of art by strictly 
Hath made us bywords to our enemies. conventional rules. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 1. C. C. Perkins, Italian Sculpture, Int., p. i. 
Byzantine Architecture. Church of St. Theodore. Athens. 
that empire by the Turks in A. D. 1453. It spread so widely 
that its influence even in Italy did not wholly decline he- 
fore the fifteenth century, and it may be considered as 
surviving still in Kussian architecture, and in aless marked 
degree in other eastern lands. An almost universal fea- 
ture of the style, in buildings of any pretension, is the in- 
crustation of brick or rough stonework with more precious 
materials ; large spaces are left void of bold architectural 
features, to be rendered in- 
teresting merely by surface 
ornament of polished mar- 
bles presenting natural 
beauty of hue, or of sculp- 
ture in very low relief, and 
confined in the main to 
vegetable or geometrical 
designs of clearly cut out- 
line. The style depends 
much on color for its ef- 
fect, and mosaics wrought 
on grounds of gold or of 
positive eolor are profusely 
introduced. The leading 
forms which characterize 
the Byzantine style are the 
round arch, the circle, the 
cross, and the dome sup- 
ported upon pendentives. 
The capitals of the pillars 
are of endless variety, and 
full of invention. While 
some are plainly founded 
on the Greek Corinthian, 
many resemble those of early rouud-arched western archi- 
tecture ; and so varied is their decoration that frequently 
no two sides of the same capital are alike. The ancient 
basilica of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, and the church 
of St. Mark, in Venice, are classical examples of Byzan- 
tine architecture. Byzantine historians, a series of 
historians and chroniclers of the affairs of the Byzantine 
empire, scattered through the whole period of its exis- 
tence. They are our only source of knowledge of Byzan- 
tine history. Their works have been several times printed 
complete in the original Greek, the latest edition being by 
Niebuhr and others, in 48 volumes. 
II. n. 1. A native or an inhabitant of By- 
zantium. Seel. 2. [/. c.] Same ^ as bezant, 1. 
Byzantine Capital. 
Church of San Virale, Ravenna. 
