130 B L O 
BLOO'MY, adj. Full of blooms ; flowery : 
O nightingale ! that on yon bloomy fpray 
Warbled at eve, when all the woods are dill. Milton. 
BLOOT (Peter), a Flemifh painter, whofe works are 
highly edeemed. The fubjedts he chofe were rnofily ta¬ 
ken from low life : Inch as boors drinking, feaffing, dan¬ 
cing, or quarrelling ; fhepherds piping, and village wed¬ 
dings. He was a faithful imitator of nature ; never de¬ 
parting from the adtions, attitudes, or draperies, Of his 
models. He had a delicate manner of penciling, and his 
colouring was mellow ; but he had no idea of elegance : 
yet his pictures have in many refpedts great merit, and his 
defects feem rather imputable to the tafte of his country 
than to his own genius. He died in 1667. 
BLORE, / [from blow. ] Adt of blowing ; blad an 
exprejjive word , but not new vfed : 
Out rufh’d, w.ith an unmeafur’d roar, 
Tliofe two winds, tumbling clouds on heaps, ufliers to 
either’s blore. Chapman. 
BLORE HEATH, a place in England, in the county 
of Stafford, On the borders of Shropfhire, where a bloody 
battle was fought between the Yorkids and Lancaftrians, 
Sept. 23, 14.59. It is between Drayton and Ecclefhall. 
BLOS'SOM,/ [blofme, Sax.] The flower that grows 
on any plant previous to the feed or fruit. We generally 
call thofe flowers blojjoms which are not much regarded in 
themfelves, but as a token of fome following production : 
Thus are my blnjfoms blafted in the bud, 
And caterpillars eat my leaves away. Shakefpeare. 
To BLOS'SOM, v. n. To put forth blofloms.—Al¬ 
though the fig-tree (hall not bloj/om, neither fliall fruit be 
in the vines, yet will I rejoice in the Lord. Habb.'m. 17. 
This is the (fate of man : to-day he puts forth 
The tender leaves of hope ; to-morrow bloffoms , 
And bears his blufhing honours thick upon him. S/iakefp. 
BLOS'SOMING of PLANTS,/. The aft of blowing, 
or putting forth flowers or blofloms, called flowering. 
The blolfoming of the Glaftonbury thorn pioufly on Chrifl- 
mas-day-morning, is a vulgar error ; owing to this, that 
the plant, befides its ufual bloflbming in the fpring, fome- 
times puts forth a few white tranfient blofloms in the mid¬ 
dle of winter. For the blofToming of the rofe of Jericho, 
on the fame 1 day as it is commonly held in England, or in 
the time of midnight rnafs as it was held in France, is 
fomewhat more than an error, being really a fraud on one 
fide, and a fuperftition on the other. This rofe, whofe 
leaves are only clofed and (hrivelled up in winter, will at 
any time, upon fetting its pedicle in water, expand and 
bloflom a-new ; becauie the pedicle, being fpongy, imbibes 
the fluid apace, and thus fills and fwellsout the fhrivelled 
leaves: which prdperty fome of tire monks turned to good 
account. 
To BLOT, v. a. [from bleltir , Fr. to hide.] To oblite¬ 
rate ; to make writing invifible by covering it with ink. 
To efface ; to erafe : 
O Bertram, oh no more my foe, but brother ! 
One aid like this blots out a thoufand crimes. Dryden. 
To make black fpots on a paper; to blur.—Heads over¬ 
full of matter be like pens overfull of ink, which will 
fooner blot than make’any fair letter. Afcham. —To dif- 
grace ; to disfigure: 
Unknit that threat’ning unkind brow ; 
It blots thy beauty, as frod bites the meads. Shaktfp. 
To darken : 
He fung how earth blots the moon’s gilded wane, 
Whilfl foolifh men beat founding brafs in vain. Cowley. 
BLOT,/ An obliteration of fomething written. A 
blur; a fpot upon paper. A fpot in reputation : a dain ; 
a difgrace ; a reproach.—A lie is a foul blot in a man ; yet 
d is continually in themouth of the untaught. Led. xx, 24. 
B L O 
[At backgammon.] When a (ingle man lies open to be 
taken up ; whence, to hit a blot .—He is too great a mader 
of his art, to make a blot which may fo eaflly be hit. Dryd. 
BLOT L’EGLISE, or Blot le Roche, a town of 
France, in the department of the Allier: ten miles well 
of Gannat. 
BLOTCH,/ A fpot or puflule upon the (kin.—Spots 
and blotches, of feveral colours and figures, draggling o- 
ver the body; fome are red, others yellow, or black. 
Harvey. 
To BLOTE, v. a. To fmoke, or diy by.tjfe fmoke; as 
bloted herrings, or red.herrings. ,. i \ 
BLO'TELING or Blooteling ( Abraham), a cele¬ 
brated engraver, who flourifhed about the year 1672. He 
was a native of Amflerdqna, and defigned as well as en¬ 
graved. From the ftyle of his etchings, which have great 
merit, he is fuppofed to have frequented the fchool of the 
Vilfthers. 111168-5, he publifhed at'Amfferdam the gems 
of Leonardo Auguftino, and etched the plates himfelf. 
BLOT'NO, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of 
Wilna : fixteen miles north of Lida. 
BLOUNT (Thomas), a learned Englifh writer of the 
17th century, born at Bordefley in Worcederfhire. He 
had not the advantage of an univerfity education; but, 
by flrength of genius and great application, he made a 
confiderable progrefs in literature. Upon the breaking 
out of the popifh plot in the reign of Charles II. being 
much alarmed on account of his being a zealous Roman- 
catholic, he contracted a palfy; and died in December 
1679, aged fixty-one. He wrote, 1. The Academy of 
Eloquence, containing a complete Englifh Rhetoric. 2. 
Glolfographica, or a Dictionary interpreting fnch hard 
Words, whether Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, &c„ 
that are now ufed in our refined Englifh Tongue, See. 3. 
Bofcobel ; or the Hiftory of his Majefty.’s Efcape after the 
Battle of Worceder. 4. A Law Dictionary. 5. Animad- 
verlions upon Sir Richard Baker’s Chronicale. 6. Frag- 
menta Antiquitatis ; and other works, 
BLOUNT (Sir Henry), an Englifh writer, born at Tit- 
tenhanger in Hertfordfhire in 1602. After a regular edu¬ 
cation, he fet out on his travels in 1634; and becoming 
acquainted with a janiflary at Venice, he accompanied 
him into the Turkifh dominions: having been abroad two 
years, he returned and publifhed his travels in the Levant, 
which went through many editions. He was knighted by 
Cliarles I. and was at the battle of Edgehill, at which 
time he is fuppofed to have had the charge of the young 
princefs ; but, after the king’s death, was employed by 
the parliament, and by Cromwell. Yet, after the refto- 
ration, he was appointed high fneriff of the county of 
Hertford, and from that time lived as a private gentleman 
above twenty years. He publifhed, 1. An Account of 
his Travels. 2. Six comedies written by John Lilly, un¬ 
der the title of Court Comedies. 3. The Exchange. 
Walk, a fatire ; and 4. An Epiftle in Praife of Tobacco. 
He died October 9, 1682. 
BLOUNT (Sir Thomas Pope), an eminent writer, and 
elded fon of the above; was born at Upper Holloway, in 
Middlefex, September 12, 1649. He was educated un¬ 
der the eye of his father; and always diftinguifhed him- 
lelf as a lover of liberty, a fincere friend to his country, 
and a true patron of learning. He was advanced to the 
degree of baronet by Charles II. in whofe reign he was 
eledled burgefs for St. Albans in two parliaments, and 
was knight of the (hire in three parliaments after the re¬ 
volution. He wrote in Latin, 1. A Critique on the molt 
celebrated Writers. 2. Eflays on feveral Subjects. 3. 
A Natural Hiftory, extracted out of the bed modern wri¬ 
ters ; and, 4. Remarks upon Poetry, with Characters-and 
Cenfures of the mod confiderable Poets, whether ancient 
or modern. He died June 30, 1697. 
BLOUNT (Charles), younger brother of Sir Thomas 
Pope Blount, had alfo an excellent capacity, and was an 
eminent writer. His Anima Mundi, or An Hidorical Nar¬ 
ration of the Opinions of the Ancients, concerning Man’s 
Soul 
