Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 135 results in 135 entries
1. air balloon, n. View full entry 1749
...A type of firework; = balloon3. Obs....
2. asteroid, adj. and n. View full entry 1802
...Star-shaped, star-like....
3. balloon, n. View full entry 1591
...A game played with a large inflated ball of strong double leather, struck to and fro with the arm protected by a wooden bracer. Also attrib. in balloon ball...
4. banger, n.1 View full entry 1657
...He who or that which bangs; slang, an astounding lie, a ‘thumper’....
5. Bengal, n. View full entry c1680
...Applied to piece goods (apparently of different kinds) exported from Bengal to England in the 17th c.: cf. Bengal stripes....
6. bottle, n.2 View full entry c1375
...A vessel with a narrow neck for holding liquids, now usually made of glass; originally of leather....
7. bouncing, n. View full entry 1582
...Striking, knocking, banging, thumping....
8. bouquet, n. View full entry 1717
...A bunch of flowers, a nosegay; also fig....
9. breaker, n.1 View full entry c1175
...One who breaks, crushes, or destroys; so breaker off, etc.; and with defining n. as housebreaker, ship-breaker, etc., q.v....
10. ˈbrilliant, n.1 View full entry 1690
...A diamond of the finest cut and brilliancy....
11. brimstone, n. View full entry a1300
...Formerly the common vernacular name for sulphur Now used chiefly when referring to its inflammable character, and to the biblical use in Gen. xix. 24 and Rev....
12. Brock's benefit, n. View full entry 1920
...From the spectacular display of fireworks held annually at the Crystal Palace from 1865 to 1936: fireworks;a brilliant illumination at night, esp. in war, from searchlights,...
13. calcium, n. View full entry 1808
...A chemical element, one of the ‘metals of the alkaline earths’, being the basis of lime; though one of the most widely diffused of elements, it is found in nature only in...
14. cartouche, n. View full entry 1611
...Mil....
15. ˈcart-wheel, n. View full entry c1386
...The wheel of a cart....
16. cascade, n. View full entry c1660
...A waterfall....
17. case, n.2 View full entry a1300
...A thing fitted to contain or enclose something else; a receptacle or holder; a box, chest, bag, sheath, covering, etc.; spec. in very early use (as in Old French) a...
18. Catherine wheel, n. View full entry 1584
...The figure of a wheel with spikes projecting from its circumference (in reference to the legend of St. Catherine's martyrdom). esp. in Heraldry....
19. choke, n.1 View full entry 1562
...What chokes or impedes respiration:...
20. choke, v. View full entry 1303
...trans. To suffocate by external compression of the throat; to throttle, strangle; to produce a sensation of strangling. (Still the ordinary word for this sense in Scotland.)...
