86z BEL 
his piiShire, and many large gold medals, He was a mem. 
ber of the Royal Society of London, and of the academies 
of Berlin and Peterfburgh; and died in 1749, at fixty-fix 
years of age, 
Bel, or Belus, the fnpreme god of the ancient Chal¬ 
deans or Babylonians. He was the founder of the Baby¬ 
lonian empire ; and is fup'pofed to be the Nimrod of Scrip¬ 
ture, and the fame as the Phoenician Baal. This god had 
a temple ereQed to him in the city of Babylon, on the ve¬ 
ry uppermoft range of the famous tower of Babel, or Ba¬ 
bylon, wherein were many flatties of this deity, one of 
which was of maffy 'gold, forty feet high. The whole 
furniture of this magnificent temple was of the fame me¬ 
tal, and valued at 800 talents of gold. This temple, with 
its riches, was in being till the time of Xerxes, who, re¬ 
turning from his unfortunate expedition into Greece, de- 
molifhed it, and carried off the immenfe wealth it con¬ 
tained. It was the ftatue of this god that Nebuchadnez¬ 
zar, being returned to Babylon after the end of the Jew- 
ifh war, let up and dedicated in the plain of Dura; the 
ftory of which is related in the third chapter of Daniel. 
BEL-and the Dragon is an apocryphal and uncanonical 
book of Scripture. It was always rejedled by the Jewifh 
church, and is extant neither in the Hebrew nor Chaldee 
language, nor is there any proof that it ever was fo. St. 
Jerome gives it no better title than the ‘ Fable of Bel and 
the Dragon.’ It is however permitted to be read, as well 
as the other apocryphal writings, for the inftrudtion and 
improvement of manners. 
To BELA'BOUR, v. a. [from be and labour. To beat; 
to thump : a word in low Jpeec/i : 
He fees virago Nell belabour, 
With his own ftaff, his peaceful neighbour. Swift. 
BELA'BRE, a town of France, in the department of 
the Indre, and chief place of a canton, in the dillribt of 
le Blanc-en-Berry : two leagues fouth-eaft-of le Blanc, 
and eight and a half fouth-weft Chateauroux. Lat.46. 
33. N. Ion. 18.49. E. Ferro. 
D BEI.A'CE, w. a. [afea-term.] To fallen; as, To 
belace a rope. 
BELALCACAN', or BELAi.CAfAN, a town of Spain, 
in the province of Andalufia, on the frontiers of Ellrania- 
dura, nine leagues from Cordova. 
BELAMI'E,/! [Fr. It fiiould be fpelt without the final 
e, unlefsa fhe-friend be underftood.] A friend ; an intimate : 
Wife Socrates 
Pour’d out his life, and laft philofophy, 
To the fair Critias, his deareft belamie. Fairy Queen. 
BELAMOUR',/ [Fr.] Gallant; confort; paramour: 
Lo, lo, how brave lhe decks her bounteous bow’r, 
With filken curtains, and gold coverlets, 
Therein to fliroud her fumptuems belamour. Fairy Queen. 
BELA'SI, a town of Germany, in the Tyrolefe, eight 
miles weft of.Bolzano. 
BELA'TED, adj. [from be and late.'] Benighted; out 
of doors late at night. 
BELATUCA'DRUS, the Mars of the ancient Cam¬ 
brians. 
To BELAY', v. a. [from be and lay ; as, to waylay, to 
lie in wait, to lay wait for. ] To block up; to (top the 
paffage ; to place in ambufh : 
’Gainft fuch ftrong caftles needeth greater might, 
Than thofe fmall forces ye Were wont belay. Shakefpcare. 
To Belay a Rope, [a fea-term.J To fp 1 ice; to mend 
a rope, by laying one end over another. 
BELAY'E, a town of France, in the department of the 
Lor, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrifl of Lau- 
zerte, one league fouth-eaft of Puy l’Eveque. 
BEL'BA, a town of Egypt, on the coaft of the Medi¬ 
terranean, eighteen miles eaft of Tinch. 
BELBE'IS, a town of Egypt, thirty-five miles north- 
eaft of Cairo, and.forty-five north-weft of Suez. Lat. 30. 
aa.N. Ion. 49. 41. E. Ferro. 
BEL 
BEL'BO, a river of Italy, which rifes about two miles 
eaft ot Ceva, and runs into the Tanaro fix miles fouth-weft 
ot Alexandria. 
BELBUCH', a town of Germany, in the circle of Up¬ 
per Saxony, in Pomerania, one mile, north eaft of Ne.w 
Treptow. 
BELCA'IRE, a town of France, in the department of 
the Aude, and chief place of a canton, in the diftriit of 
QjuUan, three leagues and a half fouth-weft of Qmllan. 
BELCAS'TRO, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of 
Naples, and province of Calabria Ultra, ten miles north- 
eaft of St. Severina. 
To BELCH, v,n. [bealcan, Sax.] To eje£l the wind 
from the ftomach ; to cruet.—The lymptoms are, a four 
fmell in their faeces, belchings, and diftenlions of the bow¬ 
els. Arbuthnot. —To iline out, as by eradiation : 
lhe waters boil, and, belching from below, 
Black fands as from a forceful engine throw. Dryden. 
To Belch, v. a. To throw out from the ftomach; ro 
eject from any hollow place. It is a word implying coarfe- 
nefs, hatefuinefs, or horror: 
The bitternefs of it I now belch from my heart. S/ia/ief. 
When I an am’rous kifs defign’d, 
I belch'd an hurricane of wind. Swift. 
Belch, f. The act of eradiation. A cant term for malt 
liquor.—A hidden reformation would follow, among all 
forts of people ; porters would no longer be drunk with 
belch. Dennis. 
BELCH'ERS, a duller of iflands in Hudfon’s Bay., 
Lat. 56. 10. N. Ion. 80. 33. W. Greenwich. 
BEL'Ci-llTE, a town of Spain, in tire country of Ar- 
ragon, eight leagues fouth of Saragolfa. 
BEL'D AM,/ [belle dame, which, in old French, figni- 
fied probably an old woman, as belle age, old age.] An 
old woman: generally a term of contempt, marking the 
laft degree of old age, with all its faults and miferies. A hag: 
Why, how now, Kecat ? you look angerly,— 
•—Have I not re'afon, beldams, as you are, 
Saucy and overbold ? Shakefpcare. 
BEL'DECK, a town of Hungary, fifteen miles fouth 
of Zatmor. 
BELDI'RAN, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the pro¬ 
vince of Caramania, twenty-eight miles fouth of Cogni. 
To BELEA'GUER, v. a. [ beleggeren, Dutch.] To be- 
fiege; to block up a place ; to lie before a town : 
Againft beleaguer'd lreav’n the giants move : 
Hills pil’d on hills, on mountains mountains lie, 
To make their mad approaches to the (ky. Dryden'. 
BELE A'GUERER,/! One that befieges a place. 
BELEBEEV', a town of Ruftia, in the government of 
Upha, on the Dema, fixty-miles fouth-weft of Upha, and 
880 eaft-foutli-eaft of Peterfburgh. Lat.54.o.N. Ion. 
72. o. E. Ferro. 
To B ELEE', v. a. [a term in navigation. ] To place in 
a direction unfuitable to the wind; 
BELEKIS', a town of Sclavonia, ten miles north-weft 
of Belgrade. 
RE'LEM, a town of Portugal, in the province of Ef- 
tramadura, on the north fide of the Tagus, with a con- 
fiderable inonaftery, and a royal palace. In the church 
many kings and princes of the blood have been interred. 
It is three miles well of Lifbon. 
Belem, a town of North America, in the country of 
New Navarre, 180 miles north-weft of Cinaloa. 
Belem, or Bellem, a town of Germany, in the circle 
of Weftphalia, and bifhopric of Ofnabruck, three miles 
eaft of Ofnabruck. 
Belem, or Para, a fea-port town of South America, 
in the country of Brafil, lituated at the conflux of the ri¬ 
vers Gnama and Capim, near the fouth coaft of the river 
Para. Lat. 1.30. S. Ion. 32. 10. W. Ferro. 
BELEMNI'TES,/ [from /StA'©-, a dart or arrow, be- 
- caufe 
