biography bi-ŏg -ra-phỷ, *bi-ô-grăph ́-I-a, s. [In Ger. & Fr. biographie: Port. biographia; Ital. & Sp. biografia. From Gr. bios-course of life such as man leads, as opposed to zoe, that led by the inferior animals. Bios is used also to mean biography. Graphy is from Gr. graphe a delineation, a writing, a description; graph to grave, to write.] The written life of an eminent person. It is supposed to be fuller than memoirs, which simply record the more memorable scenes in his history. The word biography is quite recent. As Trench shows, it came into the language first as biographia. This latter term, though it looks Greek, or Latin borrowed from Greek, is really in neither tongue, though it occurs in Portuguese, and analogous words exist in French, Italian, and Spanish. [See etym.] Though the term biography is modern, the kind of literature which it describes is ancient. In the Book of Genesis there are biographies, or at least memoirs, of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, may be Joseph, and others. Homer's "Odyssey considered to be an extended biography of Ulysses, limited, however, to the most interesting period of his life-that of his wanderings. Though the "Iliad" may be loosely called a history of the Trojan war, yet, more accurately, it is a chapter from the biography of Achilles, describing calamities he brought upon the Greeks by the revenge which he took on Agamemnon for carrying off his female captive Briseis. The most elaborate ancient Greek biography was Plutarch's Parallel Lives (Bioi Paralleloi) consisting of forty-six memoirs of Greek, Roman, and other celebrities; it was published about A. D. 80. In B. C. 44, Cornelius Nepos had sent forth a biographical work, his Vito Imperatorum, Lives of Commanders. In more modern times very extended biographies have been attempted. Thus France has its Biographie Universelle in fifty-two volumes, published between 1810 and 1828, and England, among other works, possesses its Biographia Britannica, five volumes (1747-1766), its English General Biographical Dictionary, eleven volumes (1762), and Chalmers' Biographical Dictionary, thirty-two volumes (1812-1817), which was but a larger edition of the before-mentioned General Biographical Dictionary. Among works of more limited aim may be noted various Lives of the Saints, For's Book of Martyrs, various Lives of the Poets, Boswell's Life of Johnson, and finally, Men of the Time, in which last work are memoirs of living instead of dead heroes. One branch of biography is autobiography, in which a person gives his own life or memoirs, Casar's Commentaries is a most valuable example of this kind of writing. Biography is properly a department of history which should be a history not solely of eminent personages, but of the people also over whom they rule. The more prominent a person has been, the more nearly does his biography become identical with history in the ordinary sense. A life or memoir of Martin Luther, Napoleon I., Washington, or Lincoln, is, in all essential particulars, history, and that not of a solitary nation, but of the world." Biography is used(1) As a simple word. "Biographia, or the history of particular men's lives, comes next to be considered."-Dryden. no species of writing seems more worthy of cultivation than biography, since none can more certainly enchain the heart by irresistible interest, or more widely diffuse instruction to every diversity of condition."Johnson: Rambler, No. 60. (2) As a compound, in the term autobiographer (q. v.). bi-o-log ́-1-cal, a. [In Fr. biologique; from Gr. bios course of life, and logikos pertaining to ... a disspeech or reason; logos=a word, course; suff. -al.] Phys. Science: Pertaining or relating to the science of biology. 44 the stato of biological science Allen Thomson: Brit, Assoc. Rep. (1871), pt. ii., 114. biological research "-Ibid. "-Dr. bi-ŏl -ð-gist, ș. [Gr. bios=course of life, and logistes a calculator, a reasoner; logizomai=to count, reckon; from logos=a word, a discourse.] Phys. Science: One who cultivates the science of biology. the problems and argumentations familiar to the professed biologist, ."-Professor Rolleston: Brit. Assoc. Rep. (1870), pt. ii., 92. bi-ŏl -ð ģÿ, 8. [In Fr. biologie; from Gr. bios course of life (BIOGRAPHY), and logos= course.] dis Phys. Science: A term, first introduced by Treviranus of Bremen, recently adopted by the leading English-speaking naturalists, and now obtaining universal currency. It is used in two senses (1) (In a more restricted sense): Physiology. the word Biology is at present used in two senses, the one wider, the other more restricted. In this latter sense the word becomes equivalent to the older and still more currently used word 'Physiology.'"-Professor Rolleston: Brit. Assoc. Rep. (1870), pt. ii., 96. boil, boy; pout, jowl; cat, 493 (2) (In a wider sense): The science of life in its widest acceptation. It specially addresses itself to scientific inquiries into the first origin of life and the changes it has undergone from the earliest traceable period until now. "It is in the wider sense that the word is used when speaking of this as being the section of Biology; and this wider sense is a very wide one, for it comprehends, first, animal and vegetable physiology and anatomy; secondly, ethnology and anthropology; and, thirdly, scientific zoology and classificatory botany, inclusive of the distribution of species."-Professor Rolleston: Brit. Assoc. Rep. (1870), pt. ii., 96. bi-ồ-phỹ -tům, s. [Gr. bios-life, and phyton=a plant, phyo-to bring forth.] Bot. A genus of plants belonging to the order Oxalidaceae (Oxalids). The Biophytum sensitivum (Sensitive Biophytum) has pinnated leaves, irritable or sensitive. It is a very pretty annual. bî-o-plăşm, s. [Gr. bios=life, course of life, and plasma that which is capable of being fashioned, an image; from plasso to form, mold, or shape.] Biol. A term introduced by Prof. L. S. Beale, an English scientist, to designate forming, living, or germinal matter; the living matter of living beings. The term protoplasm had been previously used in an analogous sense, but Dr. Beale felt precluded from adopting it by the fact that it was used by most writers, and notably by Professor Huxley, in a widely extended sense, so as to require the introduction of a word more limited in signification. It is distinguished from formed matter; indeed, the extension of the one and that of the other occur under different and often opposite conditions. All the organs of the body come from bioplasm. (Beale: Bioplasm, 1872.) bi-o-plast, s. [Gr. bios course of life, and plastos formed, molded; from plassō to form, to mold.] Biol.: A little nucleus of germinal matter, many of which are scattered through the tissues of the body. It is from these that the growth of new matter proceeds. In the process of healing of a wound near the surface of the body, "lymph" is poured out, in which may be found bioplasts which have descended from white blood corpuscles. Of these, some produce epithelium, others fibrous connective tissue, unless they be too freely nourished, in which case they grow and multiply rapidly, and no kind of tissue whatever results, but pus is alone formed. (Beale: Bioplasm, § 43, 133.) bi-o-tine, bi-ồ-tī-na, s. [Ital. biotina. From Biot, a French naturalist.] A mineral, called also Anorthite (q. v.). bi-o-tite, s. [Named after Biot, a French natu- Min.: A hexagonal and an optically unaxial min- bi-par-těd, †by-par-ted, a. [Lat. prefix bi= Warner: Albion's England, bk. iv. Example: A bipartient number: The same as B. substan- B. As substantive: A number which divides an- bi-par-tite, a. [In Ital. bipartito; from Lat. bipes parts; prefix bi-two, and partio-to share, to part; pars=a part. In Fr. biparti.] Divided into two, biparted. Used 1. Spec.: Of things material. "His [Alexander's] empire was bipartite into Asia and Syria."-Gregory: Posthuma, p. 159. 2. Fig.: Of things not material. "The divine fate is also bipartite; some theists supposing God both to decree and to do all things in us (evil as well as good), or by His immediate influence to determine all actions, and so make them alike necessary to us."Cudworth: Intellectual System, Pref., p. 1. Bot.: Parted in two from the apex almost but not quite to the base. Applied to leaves, &c. fbi-par-ti-tion, s. [In Fr. bipartition; from Lat. bipartitum, supine of bipartio to divide into two parts; prefix bi-two, and partio-to share, to part; pars a part.] The act or operation of dividing into two parts. The state of being so divided. †bi-pā -tent, a. [From Lat. prefix bi-two, and Eng. patent.] Open on both sides. (Glossog. Nova.) *bi-peche, bi-pe-chen (pa. par. bipehte), v. t. [A. S. bepacan; pa. par. bepaht to deceive or seduce.] To deceive. (0. Eng. Hom., i. 91.) bi-pěc-tin-āte, a. [From Lat. prefix bi=two, and pectinatus=sloped two opposite ways, like a comb; pecten a comb; pecto to comb.} Bot., &c. Having two margins, each pectinate, i. e., toothed like a comb. bi pěd, a. & s. [In Fr. bipède; Port. bipede. From Lat. prefix bi-two, and pes, genit. pedis= foot.] A. As adjective: Having two feet. "By which the man, when heavenly life was ceased, Became a helpless, naked, biped beast." Byron: An Epistle. (Richardson.) B. As substantive: A man or other being walking on two feet, as contradistinguished from a quadruped walking on four. "No serpent or fishes oviparous, have any stones at all, neither biped nor quadruped oviparous have any exte riorly."-Browne: Vulgar Errors. bi-pěd-al, bip'-ěd-al, a. [In Fr. bipédal; from Lat. bipes, genit. bipedis-two-footed.] [BIPED.] Having two feet. in this case it would have become either more Pt. I., ch. iv. Zool. Cuvier's name for a family of Crustaceans, one of two making up the order Stomapoda. It was so called because the testa is divided into two buck lers, whereas in the other family, the Unipeltata, Zool. Having a covering like two small shields, or like a double shield. = bi-pěn'-nāte, bi-pěn-nă -těd, a. [From Latin prefix bi, and pennatus feathered, winged. Compare also bipennis having two wings; bi=two, and penna a feather, a wing.] 1. Zool. Having two wings. "All bipennated insects have poises joined to the body." -Derham. *2. Bot.: The same as BIPINNATED (q. v.). bi-pěn-nǎt-i-par-těd, a. [From Latin prefix bi=two, and Eng. pennatiparted (q. v.).] Bot.: Twice pennatiparted, doubly divided into partings or partitions applied to the venation of a leaf and its lobings. (Lindley: Introd. to Bot.) bi-pĕn-năt-1-sěc'-těd, a. [From Lat. pref. bi= two, and Eng. pennatisected (q. v.).] The same as bipennati-parted, except that the double divisions are into segments instead of into partitions. (Lindley: Introd. to Bot.) bi-pěn -nis, 8. [Lat. bipennis, as adj.=having two edges; as subst.=an ax with two edges, a battle-ax; from prefix bi, and penna a feather; another form of pinna=a feather, a wing.] A twoedged ax, a battle-ax. bi-peş, s. [Lat. bipes=two-footed; from prefix bi-two, and pes=foot.] 1. Ord. Lang.: A name given to a lizard from the Cape of Good Hope-the Anguis bipes of Linnæus, the Scelotes bipes of Gray. 2. Zool.: A genus of reptiles, belonging to the order Sauria, and the family Gymnophthalmida. The hinder legs are imperfect, and thus the first step is taken toward their disappearance in the Ophidia (Serpents), to which these lizards are closely akin. Some species are now transferred to the genus Pygopus (q. v.). Example: Bipes lepidopodus, Lacepède, now Pygopus lepidopodus. It is from Australia. sin, go, gem; thin, this; aş; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. &c. = bel, del. -ble, -dle, -sious shus. -cious, = zhăn. -tious, -gion çell, chorus, çhin, bench; = bipetalous bi-pět -al-ous, a. [From prefix bi-two, and Lat. petalum a metal plate. From Gr. petalon=a leaf, a petal, a plate of metal.] [PETAL.] Bot.: Having two petals in the flower. bi-phor-a, bi-phor-es, s. pl. [From Lat. prefix bi, and Gr. phero; the same as Lat. fero-to bear.] Zool.: An order of Tunicated Molluscoids, consisting of free-swimming animals, transparent on glass, and having an aperture at each end of their tubular bodies, the one for the ingress and the other for the exit of water. The typical genus is Salpa. The nearest affinity of the Biphora is with the Ascidians. [ASCIDIA.] bi-pin-nāte, bi-pin-nā -těd, a. [From Lat. prefix bi, and Eng. pinnated. Lat. prefix bi=two, and pinnatus = feathered; pinna a feather.] Bot.: The term used when the leaflets of a pinnate leaf are themselves pinnate. A great many of the Acacias, which constitute so marked a feature in tropical jungles, have beautifully bipinnate leaves; so also have their near allies, the Mimosas. bi-pin-nǎt-I-fid, pěn-năt-i-fid, a. Lat. prefix bi-two; and Eng. pinnatifid, pennatifid (q.v.).] *bi[From Bot.: Twice pinnatifid. The term used when the lobes or sinuations of a pinnatifid leaf are themselves pinnatifid. Bipinnate Leaf. bi-pli-cate, a. [From Lat. prefix bi-two, and plicatus folded; pa. par. plico-to fold.] Bot.: Twice folded together. (Henslow.) tbi-pliç'-I-ty, s. [From Lat. biplex, genit. biplicis =double, and Eng. suffix -ity.] The state of being twice folded, reduplication. (Roget.) bi-pō'-lar, a. [From prefix bi-two, and polar (q. v.).] Doubly polar. (Coleridge.) Bi-pont, Bi-pon -tine, a. [From Lat. bipontinus pertaining to Bipontium, now Zweibrücken, in Bavaria.] Biblio. Relating to books published at Zweibrücken, or Deux Ponts, as the town was called by the French. (Etym.) *bi-pré-nan, v. t. [A. S. pref. bi, and preon=a clasp, a bodkin.]. To pin, to tag. (Old Eng. Mis cellany, ed. Morris., 101.) (Stratmann.) bi-pă ǹc-tāte, a. [From Lat. prefix bi-two, and punctatus-punctus-a puncture, with suffix -ate.] [PUNCTATE.] Entom., &c.: Having two punctures. bi-punc-tu-al, a. [From Lat. prefix bi-two, and punctus a puncture, a point, with suffix al.] [PUNCTURE.] Having two points. (Maunder.) . bi-pa-pil-late, a. [From Lat. prefix bi-two, and pupilla (1) an orphan girl; (2) the pupil of the eye.] Entom. Having two pupil-like markings, differing in color, in the ocellus of a butterfly's wing. bi-quad-rate, s. [In Ger. biquadrat. Lat. prefix bi-two, and quadratus=squared, square; quadro to make square; quadrum-a square; quatuor= four.] The fourth power of a number or quantity, [BIQUADRATIC.] "Biquadrate, the fourth power in Algebra, arising from the multiplication of a square number or quantity by itself."-Glossog. Nova. bi-quad-rat-ic, a. & s. [In Fr. biquadratique; Port.biquadrado.] [BIQUADRATE.] A. As adjective (Arith., Alg., &c.): Twice squared, i. e., squared, and then squared again; raised to the fourth power; containing such a fourth power, or pertaining to that which does so. [See the compound terms which follow.] B. As substantive (Arith., .1lg., dc.): The fourth power; that is, the square multiplied by the square. Thus 4 is the biquadratic of x, and a4+4a3b+6a2b2 + 4ab3+ 64 is the biquadratic of a+b. biquadratic equation. An equation containing the fourth power of the unknown quantity in it, whether with or without the powers less than the fourth. Thus x4+3x+4=2x2-x8 is a biquadratic equation. biquadratic parabola. A curve of the third order, having two infinite legs tending in the same direction. biquadratic root. The square root of a square root; the square root of a number, and then its square root again extracted. Thus 2 is the biquadratic root of 16, because 16 is=4, and y4=2. 494 *bi-quash, v. i. [QUASH.] To be rent in pieces. "And al biquasshed the roche."-P. Plowman, 12,571. *bi-quě st, s. [BEQUEST.] to speak or moan in grief, to mourn, to lament.] *bi-que-then, v. t. [From A. S. be, and cwithan To bewail. "And smeren, and winden and biquethen, Story of Genesis and Exodus, 2,448-9. bi-quin'-tile, s. [Lat. bi-two, and quintilis= pertaining to the fifth month of the old Roman year, afterward July; quintus the fifth; quinque= five.] Kepler, when their distance from each other is of Astrol.: An aspect of the planets, first noted by a circle, i. e., 144. (Glossog. Nova.) *bl-quua'd, pret. of v. [From pref. bi, and A. S. cwethan to say, tell.] [BEQUEATH.] Ordered, appointed. "God biquuad watres here stede." Story of Genesis and Exodus, 117. *bir, *bur, s. [O. Icel. byrr.] Rage, fury. "To him he stirt with bir ful grim." Iwaine and Gawaine, 1,661. bi-ra-dl-ate, bi-ra-di-a-těd, a. [From Lat. bi two, and radiatus, pa. par. of radio-to furnish with spokes or rays; radius = a spoke, a ray.] Having two rays. birch, *birçhe, *berche, *bürçhe, *birke (Eng.), birk (Scotch), s. & a. [A. S. beorc, birce, byrce; O. Icel. biörk; Sw. björk; Dan. birk, birketræ; Dut. berk; (N. H.) Ger. birke; M. H. Ger. birche, birke; O. H. Ger. bircha, piricha; Russ. bereza; Pol. brzoza; Serv. breza; Lith. berzas; all birch. Skeat quotes from Benfey Sansc. bhurja= a kind of birch, the leaves or bark of which were used for writing on.] [BYRCHE.] A. As substantive: 1. The English name of the trees and shrubs belonging to the botanical genus Betula (q. v.). acute, doubly serrate leaves. Its flowers are in catThe Common Birch (Betula alba) has ovate-deltoid, kins, which come forth in April and May. It grows best in heathy soils and in alpine districts. The Drooping or Weeping Birch B. pendula) is a variety of this tree. It grows wild on the European continent and in Asia. The wood of the birch is tough and white. It is used for making brooms; it is often burned into charcoal; twigs are by many employed for purposes of castigation. The oil obtained from the white rind is used in tanning Russia leather. [BIRCH-OIL.] The Russians turn it to account also as a vermifuge and as a balsam in the cure of wounds. In some countries the bark of the birch is made into hats and drinking-cups. The Betula nana, or Dwarf Birch, grows in the Highlands of Scotland, in Lapland, &c. It is a small shrub, one or two feet high. The Laplander uses the wood for fuel, and the leaves, spread over with a reindeer's skin, for a bed. B. lenta is the Mahogany Birch, Mountain Mahogany, Sweet Birch, or Cherry Birch of North America. Its leaves are fragrant, and have been used as a substitute for tea. The Canoe Birch, of which the North American Indians construct their portable canoes, is the B. 2. A rod of birch used for castigation. "Why not go to Westminster or Eton at once, man, and take to Lilly's Grammar and Accidence, and to the birch, too, if you like it ?"-Scott: Rob Roy, ch. ii. papyracea. B. As adjective or in composition: Of or belonging to the tree described under A. (See the compounds which follow.) Lady Birch: A name for Betula alba, Lin. [BIRCH. (Lyte, Prior, &c.) Silver Birch: Betula alba, Lin. (Lyte, Prior.) West Indian Birch: A terebinthaceous tree, Bursera gummifera. (Treas. of Botany.) birch-besprinkled, a. Besprinkled with birch. (Used poetically of cliffs.) birch-camphor, birch camphor, s. A resinous substance obtained from the bark of the Black Birch (Betula nigra). birch-oil, s. An oil extracted from the bark of the birch-tree. It is used in the preparation of Russia leather, to which it imparts a certain fragrance, while at the same time protecting it from becoming moldy or being attacked by insects. birch-wine, birchen-wine, s. Wine made from the vernal juice of the birch. "She boasts no charms divine, T. Warton: Progress of Discontent. bird birçhed, pa. par. & a. [BIRCH, v.] tbir çhen (Eng.), bir-ken (Scotch), a. [A. S. beorcen, bircen, byrcen; Dut. berken; Ger. birken.) being supplied by the substantive birch used adjecPertaining to birch; composed of birch; made of birch. (Gradually becoming obsolete, its place tively.) [BIRKEN.] "She sate beneath the birchen tree." Scott: The Lady of the Lake, iv. 27. *bir-chin, a. The same as BIRCHEN (q. v.). birch -ing, pr. par., a., & s. [BIRCH, v.] A. & B. As pr. par. & participial adj.: In a sense corresponding to that of the verb. C. As subst.: The act of chastising with a birch twig. birch -wood, 8. & a. [Eng. birch; wood.] A. As substantive: 1. A wood consisting of birches. "Foyers came headlong down through the birchwood with the same leap and the same roar."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xiii. 2. The wood of the birch-tree. B. As adjective: 1. Pertaining to a wood or forest of birch. "Strewn o'er it thick as the birchwood leaves." Hemans: Battle of Morgarten. 2. Made of, or in any way pertaining to, the wood of the birch-tree. birch -wõrts, s. [Eng. birch, and worts, pl. suff.] [WORT.] Bot. The name given by Lindley to his order Betulaceæ (q. v.). bird (1), *byrde, *berde, *bridde, *bryd (Eng.), bird, *beird, burd, *brid (Scotch), s. & a.. [A. S. brid, bridd the young of any bird or animal, a brood. Cognate with beran to bear. (Bosworth.) Probably a thing bred, from A. S. bredan-to breed. (Mahn, Skeat, &c.) Bosworth defines bredan: "To nourish, cherish, keep warm. . ."] [BROOD.] A. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. Literally: (1) In the Anglo-Saxon sense of the term: The young of any animal; a brood. (a) The young of any feathered flying biped; a chicken. "As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird, (b) The young of any other animal. *(c) A child. "With my brestes my brid I fed." Holy Rood (ed. Morris), p. 133. (2) A feathered flying biped. (a) Gen.: Any feathered flying biped, great or small, old or young. and all the birds of the heavens were fled."Jeremiah iv. 25. tinguished from a large one, the latter being called (b) Spec.: A small feathered flying biped, as disa fowl. Also especially applied in sporting phraseology to game-e. g., partridges. (Colloquial.) 2. Fig. As a term of endearment or otherwise. (1) A lady. Spec., a young lady, a girl, so called probably, not only from her youth [A 1. (1)], but also from her beauty, her lightness of movement, her ability to sing sweetly, and her liveliness of demeanor. (Chiefly Scotch.) "Lord John stood in his stable door, Jamieson: Popular Ballads, i. 117. (2) An appellation for a man from a woman who loves him. [C. Bird of Arabia.] (3) An appellation given to a man by one who believes him too soaring in his ambition. [C. Bird of the Mountain.] II. Technically: Zool. The English designation of the Aves, the second class of the sub-kingdom Vertebrata, standing between the Mammalia (Mammals) above, and the Reptilia (Reptiles) below. While in their warm blood they are more closely akin to the former than to the latter, they approach the latter rather than the former in various points of anatomical structure,especially in their lower limbs. [ORNITHOSCELIDA ] They agree also with Reptiles, Amphibia, and Fishes in being oviparous, while the Mammalia time. Birds are feathered bipeds, with wings, used bring forth their young alive and suckle them for a by all but a few aberrant species, for flight. To facilitate this, air cells communicating with the lungs permeate the larger bones, and even the huge bills of the hornbill, toucan, &c., the effect being greatly to diminish their weight. The circulation pine, pit, sïre, sîr, marine; gō, pět, ¶ Other obvious compounds with birch as a basic word are: Birch-broom, birch-canoe (Longfellow: Song of Hiawatha, xiii.), birch-grove, birch-leaf (Ibid., iii.), birch-rod, birch-tree, &c. birch, v. t. [From birch, s.] To chastise with a birch rod; to flog. fate, fat, färe, amidst, what, fall, father; we, wět, here, camel, her, thêre; |