BETWIXT & the Bureaucracy (This means that the question now is whether Parliament & King, or Parliament & Bureaucracy, shall rule, & this way of putting it should be substituted: The conflict was previously b. mob & Autocracy; but the question &c.). betwixt. See ARCHAISM. beverage. See PEDANTIC HUMOUR, & WORKING & STYLISH WORDS. beware is now used only where be would be the part required with ware regarded as cautious, i.e. in the imperative (B. of the dog!), infinitive (He had better b.), & pres. subjunctive (Unless they b.); bewaring, I beware or bewared, was beccared of, &c., are obsolete. bewilderedly. See -EDLY. bi- prefixed to English words of time (bi-hourly, bi-weekly, bi-monthly, bi-quarterly, bi-yearly) gives words that have no merits & two faults: they are unsightly hybrids, & they are ambiguous. To judge from the OED, the first means only twohourly; the second & third mean both two-weekly, two-monthly, & half-weekly, half-monthly; & the last two mean only half-quarterly, half-yearly. Under these desperate circumstances we can never know where we are. There is no reason why the bi- hybrids should not be allowed to perish, & the natural & unambiguous two-hourly & halfhourly, fortnightly & half-weekly, two-monthly & half-monthly, halfyearly & half-quarterly, two-yearly & half-yearly, of which several are already common, be used regularly in place of them & the words (biennial, bimestrial) on which they were fashioned; these latter have now almost become ambiguous themselves from the ambiguity of the mis-shapen brood sprung of them. biannual, probably invented to stand to biennial as half-yearly to two-yearly, is sometimes confused with & sometimes distinguished from it. Half-yearly is the right word; see BI-. bias. For inflexions see -s-, -ss-. biceps, triceps. wanted, it is best to say -cepses, the regular English formation; -cipites (the true Latin), both because it is too cumbrous, & because Latin scholars do not know the words as names of muscles; -ceps, which is a mere blunder; cf. FORCEPS, & see LATIN PLURALS 4. bid. 1. In the auction sense the past & p.p. are both bid (He bid up to £10; Nothing was bid). nor 2. In other senses, the past is usually spelt bade & pronounced båd (cf. ate); the p.p. is bidden, but bid is preferred in some phrases, esp. Do as you are bid. 3. Bid one go &c. has been displaced in speech by tell one to go &c., but lingers in literary use. 4. In the sense command, the active is usually followed by infinitive without to (I bade him go), but the passive by to (He was bidden to go). bide. Apart from archaism & poetic use, the word is now idiomatic only in b. one's time, & its past in this phrase is bided. bien entendu. See FRENCH WORDS. biennial. See BI-. bienséance. See FRENCH WORDS. big, great, large. The differences in meaning & usage cannot be exhaustively set forth; but a few points may be made clear. Roughly, the notions of mere size & quantity have been transferred from great to large & big; great is reserved for less simple meanings, as will be explained below; large & big differ, first, in that the latter is familiar & colloquial, & secondly, in that each has additional senseslarge its own Latin sense of generous, & big certain of the senses proper to great, in which it tends to be used sometimes as a colloquial & sometimes as a half-slang substitute. It will be best to classify the chief more BIG uses of great as the central word, with incidental comments on the other two. 1. With abstracts expressing things that vary in degree, great means a high degree of (g. care, ignorance, happiness, tolerance, charity, joy, sorrow, learning, facility, generosity, comfort); big is not idiomatic with any of these; & though large is used with tolerance, charity, & generosity, it is in a special sense-broad-minded or prodigal. With words of this kind that happen themselves to mean size or quantity (size, quantity, bulk, magnitude, amount, tonnage) large & big are sometimes used, though neither is as idiomatic as great, & big is slangy. 2. With words denoting persons or things such that one specimen of the class deserves the name more fully than another (e. g., one fool is more a fool, but one boot is not more a boot, than another), great does not imply size, but indicates that the specimen has the essential quality in a high degree; so a g. opportunity, occasion, friend, landowner, majority, schoolmaster, shot (shooter), nuisance, stranger, brute, fool, haul, race (contest), undertaking, success, linguist, age. Here large could be substituted with landowner, majority, haul, & undertaking, but merely because a large quantity of land, votes, fish, or money, is involved; big could stand with the same four on the same ground; it is slangily used also with most of the others; this is bad; a great fool should mean a very foolish fool, & a big fool one whose stature belies his wits. 3. A great has the meaning eminent, of distinction, & the g. the meaning chief, principal, especial (a g. man; g. houses; a g. family; the g. advantage, or thing, is); & from these comes the use of great as a distinctive epithet (the g. auk; G. Britain; Alexander the G.; the g, toe; go out by the g. gate), with the idea of size either absent or quite subordinate. In these senses large cannot be used, though it would stand with many of the same words in a different sense (a g. family has distinguished, but a l. family numerous, members); big is here again slangily & ambiguously substituted for great; a big man should refer to the man's size, or be extended only (as in the big men of the trade; cf. large with landowner &c. in 2) to express the quantity of his stock or transactions. The b. toe, however, & such examples as the b. gate, show that big may serve as a distinctive epithet instead of great without slangy effect when difference of size is the salient point of distinction ; & in such contexts it is now idiomatic. 4. Finally, great does sometimes mean of remarkable size-the sense that it has for the most part resigned to large & big-; but it is so used only where size is to be represented as causing emotion; large & big give the cold fact; great gives the fact coloured with feeling; e.g., He hit me with a great stick is better than with a large or big stick, if I am angry about its size; but in Perhaps a big or large stick might do it would be impossible to substitute great; similarly Big dogs are better out of doors, but I am not going to have that great dog in here; His feet are large or big, but Take your great feet off the sofa; What a great head he has! suggests admiration of the vast brain or fear of the formidable teeth it probably contains, whereas What a large head he has! suggests dispassionate observation. bi-hourly. See BI bike. See CURTAILED WORDS. bilbo. Pl. -oes; see -0(E)S 1. billet doux. Pronounce bi'lidoo'. The plural is billets doux, but should bi'lidoo'z. be pronounced FRENCH WORDS. See billion, trillion, quadrillion, &c. It should be remembered that these words do not mean in American (which follows the French) use what they mean in British English. For us they mean the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, &c., BI-MONTHLY power of a million; i.e., a billion is a million millions, a trillion a million million millions, &c. For Americans they mean a thousand multiplied by itself twice, three times, four times, &c.; i.e., a billion is a thousand thousand thousands or a thousand millions, a trillion is a thousand thousand thousand thousands or a million millions, &c. bi-monthly, bi-quarterly. See BI-. bird's nest, bird('s)-nest(ing). The noun should always have the 's, & is better without the hyphen as two words (pl. birds' nests) than with it (pl. bird's-nests). In the verb & gerund the 's is also usual, but is often omitted. bise. See WIND, n. bishopric. See SEE. bistre, -ter. See -RE & -ER. bivalve. For succulent b. see PEDANTIC HUMOUR. bivouac. Participles -cked, -cking ; see -C-, -CK-. bi-weekly, bi-yearly. See BI-. black(en). The short form is used when the intentional laying on of colouring-matter is meant, & otherwise the long; we black boots with blacking, grates with black lead, & faces with burnt cork; we blacken a reputation, oak blackens with age, & the ceiling is blackened with smoke; an exception is that we black, rather than blacken, a person's eye for him. See -EN VERBS. blague. See FRENCH WORDs. blam(e)able. Spell without the -e- ; see MUTE E. below (blessed) is for the purpose of the article only. The attributive adjective is regularly disyllabic (blessed innocence; what a blessed thing is sleep!; the blesséd dead; every blessed night; not a blessed one), & the plural noun with the, which is an absolute use of the adjective, is so also; but the monosyllabic pronunciation is sometimes used in verse, or to secure emphasis by the unusual, or in archaic phrases; the spelling is then blest:-our blest Redeemer ; that blest abode; the Isles, the mansions, of the Blest. The past tense, p.p., & predicative adjective, are regularly monosyllabic; the spelling is usually blessed in the past tense, blest in clearly adjectival contexts, & variable in the p.p. (He blessed himself; God has blessed me with riches; He is blessed, or blest, with good health, in his lot, &c.; Blessed, or blest, if I know; Those who win heaven, blest are they; It is twice blest); in the beatitudes & similar contexts, however, blesséd is usual. Blesséd makes sometimes -est; see -ER & -EST 4. blessedness. For single b., see WORN-OUT HUMOUR. blithesome is a NEEDLESS VARIANT of blithe; see -SOME. blizzard. For synonymy see WIND, n. blond(e). The -e should be dropped; the practice now usual is to retain it when the word is used either as noun or as adjective of a woman & drop it otherwise (the blonde girl; she is a blonde; she has a blond complexion; the blond races); but this is by no means universal, & the doubt between blond women & blonde women (with blondes women in the background) at once shows its absurdity. bloody, vb. For inflexions see VERBS IN IE &c., 6. bloom, blossom. Strictly, bloom n. & v. refers to the flower as itself the ultimate achievement of the plant, & blossom n. & v. to the flower BLOUSE as promising fruit; the distinction, as regards literal flowers, is perhaps rather horticultural than literary or general; at any rate it is often neglected; but The roses are in bloom, The apple-trees are in blossom, & other uses, confirm it; and in figurative contexts, the bloomingtime or bloom of a period of art is its moment of fullest development, when its blossoming-time or blossom is already long past. blouse. Pronounce blowz. blowzed, -sed, blowzy, -sy. OED spells with z. The bluebell. In the south this is the wild hyacinth, Scilla nutans; in the north, & esp. in Scotland, it is the flower called in the south harebell, Campanula rotundifolia, with fewer, larger, & thinner-textured flowers than the other. blu(e)ish. Spell without e. See MUTE E. bluey. See -EY & -Y. boatswain. The nautical pronunciation (bō'sn) has become so general that to avoid it is more affected than to use it. See PRONUNCIATION. bodeful is a modern stylish substitute for ominous; see WORKING & STYLISH WORDS, & SAXONISM. body, vb. For inflexions see VERBS IN IE &c., 6. bog(e)y, bogie. The OED prefers bogy for the bugbear, & bogie in coachbuilding; the golf word is usually spelt Bogey. bohea. Pronounce bōhe'. bolt, boult. The word of which the spelling varies is that meaning to sift. Of this the OED says:-The historical spelling of the word is boult: unfortunately the dictionaries have confounded it with ' [the other verb bolt] & authorized the spelling bolt'. It is perhaps, however, not too late to restore the better spelling boult in literary use at least. bombasine. The OED puts first the pronunciation bombazē'n. bona fide(s). Bona fide is a Latin ablative meaning in good faith; its original use is accordingly adverbial (Was the contract made bona fide ?); but it is also & more commonly used attributively like an adjective (Was it a bona fide, or bona-fide, contract?); in this attributive use the hyphen is correct, but not usual; in the adverbial use it is wrong. Bona fides is the noun (His bona fides was questioned); the mistake is sometimes made by those who know no Latin of using fide instead of fides: The fact that Branting accepted the chairmanship of the Committee should be sufficient evidence of its bona-fide. bonbon. See FRENCH words. bond(s)man. The two forms are properly distinct, bondsman meaning a surety & being connected with the ordinary bond & bind, & bondman meaning a villein, serf, or man in bondage, & having (like bondage) nothing to do with bond & bind; but bondsman is now rare in its true sense, & on the other hand is much more used than bondman in the sense proper to the latter. The confusion is not likely to be corrected, & is of no importance. Bon(e)y. See -EY, -IE, -Y. bonhomie. See FRENCH words. bon mot. See FRENCH WORDS. The plural is bons mots. bonne. See FRENCH WORDS. bonne bouche. The meaning of the phrase in French is not that which we have given it; but variation of meaning or form is no valid objection to the use of a phrase once definitely established; see à L'OUTRANCE. bonnes fortunes, bon ton, bon vivant. See FRENCH WORDS. bookcase. Pronounce boo'k-kās, not boo'kās. bookie, -y. See -EY, IE, -Y. bookman. See NOVELTY-HUNTING, SAXONISM. booze, -zy, bouse, -sy, bowse, -sy. The booz- forms are now established, & the others should be abandoned. born(e). The p.p. of bear in all senses except that of birth is borne BORNÉ (I have borne with you till now; Was borne along helpless); borne is also used, when the reference is to birth, (a) in the active (Has borne no children), & (b) in the passive when by follows (Of all the children borne by her one survives); the p.p. in the sense of birth, when used passively without by, is born (Was born blind; A born fool; Of all the children born to them; The melancholy born of sobitude; Born in 1898). See To follow both. 1. Both ... as well as. 2. Redundant both. 3. Common parts in both.. and phrases. 1. Both as well as. b. by as well as instead of and, as is often done either by inadvertence or in pursuit of the unusual, is absurd; how absurd is realized only when it is remembered that the as well of as well as is itself the demonstrative to which the second as is relative, & can stand in the place occupied by both instead of next door to as. In the following examples, either omit both or read and for as well as; as well, it will be seen, can be shifted into the place of both, if the object is to give timely notice that the carters' strike, the composer, or the adjective, is not the whole of the matter:-He has figured prominently b. in the carters' strike, in which many of his members were involved, as well as in the more recent railway strike./ The metrostyle will always be of exceeding interest, b. to the composer as well as to the public./Which differs from who in being used b. as an adjective as well as a noun. 2. Redundant both. The addition of both to equal(ly), alike, at once, between, or any other word that makes it needless, is at least a fault of style, & at worst (e.g. with between) an illogicality. In the ex amples, both should be omitted, unless the omission of the other word(s) in roman type is preferable or possible :-If any great advance is to be at once b. intelligible & interesting./The currents shifted the mines, to the equal danger both of friend & foe./We find b. Lord Morley & Lord Lansdowne equally anxious for a workable understanding./To the ordinary Protestant b. Latitudinarian & High-Churchman were equally hateful./The International Society is not afraid to invite comparisons between masters b. old & new. 3. Common parts in both .. and phrases. Words placed between the both & the and are thereby declared not to be common to both members; accordingly, B. in India & Australia is wrong; the right arrangements are (a) B. in India & in Australia, (b) In b. India & Australia; of these b sounds formal, & is often shrunk from as a remedy worse than the disease; but there is no objection to a, which should be used. Similarly, B. the Indians & the Australians is right & unobjectionable; B. the Indians & Australians is common but wrong; The b. Indians & Australians is theoretically right but practically impossible. boulevard. See FRENCH WORDS. boult. See BOLT. bounden is still used, & bound is not, with duty. It is also used alternatively with bound as the p.p. of bind in the sense oblige (I am much bounden, or bound, to you); but the whole verb, including the p.p., is a mere ARCHAISM in this sense. bounteous, -iful. See PLENTEOUS. bourgeois. See FRENCH WORDS. As the name of a printing TYPE, in which sense the word is English, it is pronounced berjoi's. bourn(e). There are two words, which were originally burn & borne, but are now not distinguished, consistently at any rate, either in spelling or in pronunciation. The first (which retains in Scotland & the |