6jz B A I 
BAI'RAM, or Bei'ram,/. aTurki/h word which fig- 
nifies a folemn feaft. The Mahometans have two bairams, 
the great and the little. The little bairam is properly 
that held at the clofe of the fa ft - Ramazan, beginning With 
the firlf full moon in the following month Shawal. This 
is called in Arabic Id al Fetz, or the feaft of breaking the 
fall; by European writers, the Turkijh Eajter, becaufe it 
fucceeds Ramazan, which is their Lent, more ufually the 
great bairam, becaufe obferved with great ceremony and 
rejoicing at Conftantinople, and through Turkey, for three 
days, and in Perlia for five or fix days, at leaft by the com¬ 
mon people, to make themfelves amends for the mortifica¬ 
tion of the preceding month. The great bairam is pro¬ 
perly that held by the pilgrims at Mecca, commencing on 
the tenth of Dhu ihajia, when the victims are (lain, and 
lading three days. This is called by the Arabs, Id al 
adha, that is, the feaft of facrifice, as being celebrated in 
memory of the facrifice of Abram, whole fon God redeem¬ 
ed with a great victim. By European writers it was called 
the lejjer bairam, as being lefs taken notice of by the gene¬ 
rality of the people, who are not llruck with it, becaufe 
the ceremonies are performed at Mecca, th? only feene of 
the folemnity. 
B AIR'MAN,yi A poor infolvent debtor, left bare and 
naked, who was obliged to fwear in court, that he was 
not worth more than five fhillings and five pence. 
BAISE, or Baize, a river of France, which runs into 
the Garonne, near Aiguillon. 
To BAIT, v. a. [baton, Sax. baitzen, Ger.] To put 
meat upon a hook, in fome place, to tempt filh, or other 
animals.—Many forts of fillies feed upon infeCts, as is well 
known to anglers, who bait their hooks with them. Ray. 
How are the fex improv’d in am’rous arts? 
What new-found fnares.they bail for human hearts! Cay. 
To give meat to one’s felf, or horfes, on the road: 
What fo ftrong, 
But, wanting reft, will alfo want of might ? 
The fun, that tneafures heaven all day long. 
At night doth bait his deeds the ocean waves among. 
Spenjer. 
To Bait, v.a. [from laltre, Fr. to beat.] To attack 
with violence. To harafs by the help of others; as, we 
bait a boar with maftiffs, or a bull with bull-dogs : 
I will not yield 
To kifs the ground before young Malcolm’s feet; 
And to be baited with the rabble’s curfe, Shakejpeare. 
Utility is pleaded in jollification of bull-baiting \ and this 
animal, till lately, was rarely killed without being firft 
baited ; the chaffing and exercife thereof makes his flefli 
tenderer and more digeftible. In truth, it difpofes it for 
putrefaction ; fo that, unlefs taken in time, baited flefli is 
foonloft. But a fpirit of barbarifm had the greateft fhare 
in fupporting this lport; bulls were kept on piirpofe, and 
exhibited as (landing fpectacles for the public entertain¬ 
ment. The poor beads, in this encounter, have not fair 
play : they are not only tied down to a flake, with a col¬ 
lar about their necks, and a fliort rope, which gives them 
not above four or five yards play ; but they are difarmed 
too, the tips of their horns being ufually cut off, or co¬ 
vered with leather, to prevent their hurting the dogs. In 
this fport, the chief aim of the dog is to catch the bull by 
the nofe, and hold him down; to which end he will even 
creep on his belly: the bull’s aim,-on the contrary, is, 
with equal induflry, to defend his nofe; in order to which, 
lie thrufts it clofe to the ground, where his horns are alfo 
in readinefs to tofs the dog. Bull-baiting was firft intro¬ 
duced into England as an amufement, in the reign of King 
John, about the year nog. 
To Bait, v. n. To flop at any place for refrefhment : 
perhaps this word is more properly bate, to abate fpeed : 
As one who on his journey baits at noon, 
Tko’ bent on fpeed: fo here th’ archangel paus’d. Milton, 
B A K 
To Bait, v.n. [as an hawk.] To clap the wings; to 
make an offer of flying; to flutter: 
All plum’d like eftridges, that with the wind 
Baited like eagles having lately bath’d ; 
Glittering in golden coats like images. Shakejpeare. 
Bait, J. Meat fet to allure fifh, or other animals, to 
a fnare: 
The pleafant’ft angling is to fee the fifh 
Cut with her golden oars the (liver ftream, 
And greedily devour the treacherous bait. Shakejpeare. 
A refrefhment on a journey. A temptation ; an entice¬ 
ment; allurement: 
Sweet words, I grant, baits and allurements fweet. 
But greateft hopes with greateft croffes meet. Fairfax. 
Fruit, like that 
Which grew in Paradife, the bait of Eve. Milton. 
BA'JULUS, f. An ancient officer in the court of the 
Greek emperors. There were feveral degrees of bajuli; 
as, the grand bajulus, who was preceptor to the emperor; 
and the Ample bajuli, who were fub-preceptors. The 
word is derived from the Latin word bajulare, to carry or 
bear a thing on the arms or flioulders; and the origin of 
the office is thus traced by antiquaries. Children, and 
efpecially tliofe of condition, had anciently, belide their 
nurfe, a woman called gerula, as appears from feveral paf- 
fages of Tertullian ; when weaned, or ready to be weaned, 
they had men to carry them about and take care of them,, 
who were called geruli and bajuli, a gerendo et bajulendo. 
Hence it is, that governors of princes and great lords 
were ftill denominated bajuli, and their charge or govern¬ 
ment bajulatio, even after their pupils were grown too big 
to be carried about. The word palled in the fame fenfe 
into Greece. Bajulus is alfo ufed by Latin writers in the 
feveral other fenfes wherein bailiff is ufed among us. Ba¬ 
julus was alfo the name of a conventual officer in the an¬ 
cient monafteries, to whom belonged the charge of ga¬ 
thering and diftributing the money and legacies left for 
maffes and obits; tyhence he was alfo denominated ba¬ 
julus obituum nevorum. 
BAIX', a town of France, in the department of the 
Ardeche, two leagues and a Half fouth-eaft of Privas. 
BAIZE, f. A coarfe woollen cloth, the manufacture 
of which was brought into England by fome Flemings or 
Dutch, who fettled at Colchefter in Effex, where it has 
fiouriftied ever lince. Thefe Flemings had peculiar pri¬ 
vileges granted them by an aft of parliament, 1 2 Charles 
II. 1660, which the baize-makers there ftill enjoy. 
Baize, a town of Germany, in the county of Tyrol, 
eight miles fouth of Trent. 
BA'KAL, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 
Upha, ninety-fix miles weft-north-weft of Upha. 
BA'KAN, a large town of Afia, in the kingdom of 
Burman, or Ava, fituated on the river Ava. 
To BAKE, v. a. participle paftive, baked or baken. 
[ bcecan, Sax. becken, Ger. fuppofed by Wachter to come 
from bee, which, in the Phrygian language, fignified 
bread.] To heat any thing in a clofe place; generally 
in an oven.—He will take thereof, and warm himfelf; 
yea he kindleth it, and baketh bread. Ifaiah. —To harden 
in the fire. — The work of the fire is a kind of bahingt, and 
whatfoever the fire baketh, time doth in fome degree dif- 
folve. Bacon. —To harden with heat: 
With vehement funs 
When dufty fummer bakes the crumbling clods. 
How pleafant is’t, beneath the twifted arch, 
To ply the fweet caroufe ! Philips. 
To Bake, v. A. To do the work of baking. — I keep his 
lioufe, and I warn, wring, brew, bake, fcour, drefs meat, 
and make the beds, and do all myfelf. Shakejpeare. —To 
be heated or baked : 
Fillet of a fenny fnake. 
In the cauldron boil and bake. Shakejpeare. 
“As 
