B L U 
is ■praflifed for mourning: buckles, fwords, and the like. 
The manner is thus: Take a piece of whet-done, and 
rub hard on the work, to take off the black fcurf from 
it: then heat it in the fire ; and, as it grows hot, the co¬ 
lour changes by degrees, coming firft to light, then to a 
darker gold colour,"and laflly to a blue. Sometimes they 
grind indigo and fallad-oil together, and rub the mixture 
on the work with a woollen-rag, while it is heating, leaving 
it to cool of itfelf. Among fculptors we alfo find mention 
of bluing a flqvre of bronze, by which is meant the heating 
of it, to prepare it for the application of gold-leaf, be- 
caufe of the bluiflt cart it acquires in the operation. 
BLU'ISH, adj. Blue in a fmall degree : 
Here, in full light, the ruffet plains extend ; 
There, wrapt in clouds, the bluijk hills afcend. Pope. 
BLU’ISHNESS, f. A fmall degree of blue colour. 
BLUKS'VELT BAY, a bay on the eaft coaft of Nica¬ 
ragua, in North America. Lat. 12. 30. N. Ion. 66 . 20. W, 
Ferro. 
BLU'MENFELD, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Swabia: twenty-one miles north-weft of Conftance, and 
eight north-north-eaft of Schaffhaufen. 
BLU'MENTHAL, a town of Silelia, in the principa¬ 
lity of Neyfze : four miles fouth-weft of Neyfze. 
BLU'MENTHAL, 01 Plumenthai,, a town of Ger¬ 
many, in the circle of Bavaria : two miles fouth of Aicha. 
To BLUN'DER, v. n. \_blundcrcn, Dut. perhaps from 
blind.] To mifiake grofsly ; to err very widely; to mif- 
take ftupidly. It is a word implying contempt.—The gran¬ 
dees and giants in knowledge, who laughed at all belides 
themfelves, as barbarous and infignificant, yet blundered, 
and (fumbled, about their principal concern. South. —To 
flounder; to (tumble : 
He who now to fenfe, now nonfenfe leaning, 
Means not, but blunders round about a meaning. Pope. 
To BLUN'DER, v. a. To mix fooliflily or blindly.—He 
feems to underftand no difference between titles of refpedt 
and ads of worfhip ; between expreflions of efteem and de¬ 
votion ; between religious and civil worfhip : for he blun¬ 
ders and confounds all thefe together; and whatever 
proves one, he thinks, proves all the reft. Stilling fleet. 
BLUN'DER, f. A grofs or ftiameful miftake.—It is 
our ow n ignorance that makes us charge thofe works of 
the Almighty as defeds or blunders, as ill-contrived or ill- 
made. Derham. 
BLUN'DER BUSS,/. A gun that is charged with ma¬ 
ny bullets, fo that, without any exad aim, there is a 
chance of hitting the mark. 
BLUN'DERER,/ A man apt to commit blunders ; a 
blockhead. 
BLUN'DERHEAD,/. A ftupid fellow'.—At the rate 
of this thick-(killled blunderhead, every plow-jobber fhall 
take upon him to read upon divinity. L’Fflrange. 
BLUNT, adj. [etymology uncertain.] Dull on the edge 
or point; not (harp.—Thanks,to that beauty, which can 
give an edge to the bluntefl fwords. Sidney. —Dull in un- 
derftanding ; not quick : 
Valentine being gone, I’ll quickly crofs, 
By fome fly trick, blunt Thnrio’s dull proceeding. Shake/. 
Rough; not delicate; not civil.—Whitehead, a grave 
divine, was of a blunt ftoical nature. One day the queen 
happened to fay, 1 like thee the better, becaufe thou lived 
unmarried. He anfwered, Madam, 1 like you the worfe. 
Bacon,-. —Abrupt; not elegant.—To ufe too many ciroum- 
ftances, ere one come to the matter, is wearifome ; to ufe 
none at all, is blunt. Bacon. —Hard to penetrate. This ufe 
is improper. —I find my heart hardened and blunt to new 
impreftions; it will fcarce receive or retain affedions of 
yefterday. Pope. 
To BLUNT, v. a. To dull the edge or point r 
To (icken waining moons too near the fun, 
And blunt. their crefcrnts on the edge of day. Dryden. 
VOL. III. Mo. IZX, 
B L U r ?5 
To reprcfs or weaken any appetite, de/ire, or power, of 
the mind: 
Blunt not his love ; 
Nor lofe the good advantage of his grace, 
By- feenving cold. Shakefpeqre. 
BLUNT'LY, adv. In a. blunt manner; without Iharp- 
nefs. Coarfely; plainly; roughly.—I can keep honed 
counfels, marr a curious, tale in telling it, and deliver 
plain mefiage bluntly. Shakeflpeare. 
BLUNT'NESS,/. Want of edge or point; dulnefs; 
obtufenefs; want of ftiarpnefs : 
The crafty boy, that had full oft effay’d 
To pierce my ftubborn and refilling bread, 
But (fill the bluntnrfls of his darts betray’d. Suckling. 
Coarfenefs ; rougimefs of manners; rude fincerity.—Ma¬ 
nage difputes with civility ; whence fome will be aftifted 
to difeern a difference betwixt bluntnefs of fpeech and 
(Length of reafon. Boyle. 
BLUNT'WITTED, adj. Dull ; ftupid_ Bluntwitted 
lord, ignoble in demeanour. Shakefpeare. 
BLUR,/, \_borra. Span, a blot, Skinner.] A blot; a 
(Iain ; a (pot.—Man, once fallen, was nothing but a great 
blur ; a total univerfal pollution. South. 
To BLUR, v. a. To blot; to obfeure; without quite 
effacing. To (Iain ; to fully : 
Such an a£f, 
That blurs the grace and blufh of modefty, 
Calls virtue hypocrite. Shakefpeare. 
To BLURT, v. a. To fpeak inadvertently; to let fly 
without thinking 1 commonly with out intenfive.—Others 
caft out bloody and deadly fpeeches at random ; and can¬ 
not hold, but blurt out, thofe words, which afterwards 
they are forced to eat. Hakcwill. 
To BLUSH, v. n. [ b/oflen, Dut.] To redden in the face, 
either by reafon of modefty, fhame, or furprife : 
A thoufand blufliing apparitions 
Start into her face ; a thoufand innocent fhames, 
In angel whitenefs, bear away thofe blulhes. Shakefpeare. 
To carry a red colour, or any foft and bright colour.—• 
Along thofe blufliing borders, bright with dew. Tkompfon. 
—It lias at before the caufe of ftiame.—You have not yet 
loft all your natural modefty, but blufli at your vices. Calamy. 
To BLUSH, v. a. To make red. Not ufled : 
Pale and bloodlefs, 
Being all defeended to the lab’ring heart, 
Which with the heart there cools, and ne’er returneth 
To blufli and beautify the cheek again. Shakefpeare. 
BLUSH,/ The colour in the cheeks, railed by (hame 
orconfufion: 
The virgin’s wifh, without her fears, impart; 
Excu(e the blufli, and pour out all the heart. Pope. 
A red or purple colour. Sudden appearance : a fignifica- 
tion that feems barbarous, yet ufed by good w'riters.—Ait. 
purely indentical propofttions, obvioufly, and at firft blufli, 
appear to contain no certain inftruftion in them. Locke. —■ 
The caufe of blufliing is fuppofed to be produced from a 
kind of confent or fympathy between fcveral parts of the 
bod,y, occaftoned by the fame nerve being extended to 
them,all. Thus the fifth pair of nerves being branched 
from the brain to the eye, ear, mufcles of the lips, cheeks, 
palate, tongue, and nofe; a thing feen or heard that is 
ftiameful affeiRs the cheeks with blulhes, driving the 
: blood into the minute veffels thereof, at the fame time that 
■it affefts the eye and ear. For the fame reafon it is, that 
a favoury tiling feen or fmelt affedts the glands and parts 
of the mouth : if a thing heard be pleating, it afledls the 
mufcles off the face with laughter ; if melancholy, it ex¬ 
erts itfelf on the glands of the eyes, and occaflons weep¬ 
ing, See. And to the fame caufe Dr. Willis aferibes the 
pleafure of Rifling. 
BLUSU'Y, 
M iw 
