| A | B |
|---|
| baba | a leavened rum cake, usually made with raisins |
| Babbitt | a narrow-minded, self-satisfied person with an unthinking attachment to middle-class values and materialism |
| babel | a confusion of sounds or voices; a scene of noise and confusion |
| Babism | a 19th c. outgrowth of Shiism that sought to reform Islam by advocating egalitarianism and forbidding polygamy |
| babu also baboo (3) | used as a Hindi courtesy title for a man, equiv to "Mr."; a hindu clerk who is literate in English; (offensive) a native Indian who has some superficial education in English |
| baby bond | a bond issued in an amount less than $1000 |
| baby bust | from 1961-1981 (opp. of baby boom) |
| Babylon | a place of great luxury, sensuality, and often vice and corruption; a place of captivity or exile |
| baccarat | card game |
| baccate (2) | resembling a berry; bearing berries |
| bacchanalia | a riotous, boisterous, or drunken festivity; a revel |
| bacilary | shaped like a rod or rods; consisting of small rods |
| backbite | to speak slanderously about someone |
| back formation | a new word created by removing an affix from an already existing word, e.g. vacuum clean from vacuum cleaner |
| backlog (2) | a reserve supply or source; an accumulation esp. of unfinished work |
| backroom | the meeting place used by an inconspicuous controlling group, e.g. "backroom politics (adj.)" |
| backset | a setback or reversal |
| backslide | to revert to sin or wrongdoing, especially in religious practice |
| backstairs | furtively carried on; clandestine e.g. "backstairs gossip" |
| backstop | to support or bolster "the firm lacks a topflight arm to backstop its technology gurus" |
| backwater | a place or situation regarded as isolated, stagnant, or backward |
| bacteriogenic | caused by bacteria |
| bacteriostasis | the inhibition of growth, but not the killing, of bacteria |
| Bactria (n) | an ancient country of southwest Asia, was a province of the Persian Empire, destroyed 130 B.C. |
| baculiform | rod-shaped |
| badinage | light, playful banter |
| Baedeker | a guidebook to countries |
| baffle | to impede the force or movement of |
| bafflegab | (slang) gobbledygook |
| bagatelle (2) | an unimportant or insignificant thing, a trifle; a short light piece of verse or music |
| bagnio | a brothel (italian) |
| baguette | a gem cut in the form of a rectangle |
| Baha'i (Bahaism) | religion in 1863 Persia emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind |
| bailiwick | a person's specific area of interest, skill, or authority |
| bairn | (scottish) a child |
| Bajan | (BAH-jin) of or characteristic of Barbados |
| baksheesh | a gratuity, tip, or bribe paid to expedite service, especially in some Near Eastern countries |
| Bakunin | his theories of anarchy are said to be the antithesis of Marx's communism |
| balbriggan | a knitted, unbleached cotton fabric for underwear |
| baldachin | a rich fabric of silk and gold brocade |
| bale (adj) (2) | evil: "tidings of b----- she brought"; mental suffering, anguish: "relieve my spirit from the bale that bows it down" |
| baleful vs. baneful | baleful applies to something that is menacing or foreshadows evil; baneful usually describes that which is actually harmful |
| balkline | the lie one breaks behind in billiards |
| balky (2) | given to stopping and refusing to go on; difficult to operate or start |
| ballast (n. & vb.) | something that gives stability, esp. in character; to stabilize or provide with ballast |
| ballistics (2) | the study of the dynamics of projectiles; study of firearms |
| balloon mortgage | a short-term mortgage in which small payments are made until the completion of the term, at which time the balance is due as a single lump-sum payment |
| bal musette | a dance hall in France, with the music provided by an accordion band |
| balneal | relating to baths or bathing |
| balsa | a raft consisting of a frame fastened to buoyant cylinders of wood or metal |
| balsamic | restorative, curative |
| Baltic States | Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, independent after WWI and gain in 1991 after fall of USSR |
| balustrade | a rail and the row of balusters or posts that support it (like in a spiral staircase) |
| bambino (2) | a child or baby; a representation of the infant Jesus |
| banal-ity | (buh-NAL, BAY-nil, or buh NAHL) drearily commonplace and often predictable, trite: "blunt language cannot hide a b----- conception" |
| banausic | merely mechanical, routine: "a sensitive, self-conscious creature in sad revolt against uncongenially b------- employment" |
| bandeau (2) | a narrow band for the hair; a bra |
| banderole | a representation of a ribbon or scroll bearing an inscription |
| banger (British) | a sausage |
| bankers' hours (slang) | a short working day |
| banner (adj) | unusually good "a b----- year for the company" |
| banns or bans | an announcement, esp. in a church, of an intended marriage |
| banshee or banshie | a female spirit in Gaelic folklore believed to presage, by wailing, a death in the family |
| banter (n. & vb.) | good humored, playful conversation; to speak in such a way |
| banzai and mansei | may you live ten thousand years; Jap. comes from the Chinese |
| baptism of fire (2) | a soldier's first experience of actual combat conditions; a severe ordeal experienced for the first time |
| barbate | having a beard |
| barbette | an armored protection cylinder around a revolving gun turret on a warship |
| barbican | atower or other fortification on the approach to a caste or town, especially one at a gate or drawbridge |
| bard (2) | a poet, esp. lyric poet; a piece of armor that protects a horse |
| barefaced (2) | without disguise, unconcealed; undisguisedly bold, brazen |
| into the bargain | exceeding what is expected, in addition |
| barge (2) | a boat reserved for the use of an admiral; also a large pleasure boat used for parties, etc. |
| bariatrics | the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity |
| bark | a small vessel propelled by oars and sails |
| barker | an employee who stands before the entrance at a show, and solicits customers through shouts |
| barlow | an inexpensive, one or two bladed pocketknife |
| barmy | eccentric, daft |
| barnstorm (2) | to travel around the countryside making political speeches, giving lectures or other performance; to travel around an area appearing at exhibition sports events |
| barometer | something that registers or responds to fluctuations, an indicator |
| baron-ial (2) | Br. or Jap. nobleman of the lowest rank; one having great wealth, power, and influence in a sphere |
| baronage | the peers of a kingdom considered as a group, barons considered as a group |
| baronet | a commoner, the highest level of knighthood except for the Garter, right below the baron |
| baroque (2) | art: early 17th to mid 18th c., emphasized dramatic, often strained effect and typified by bold, curving forms, elaborate ornamentation, and overall balance of disparate parts; extravagant, complex, or bizarre, esp. in ornamentation |
| barrack (vb.) | (Br.) to jeer or shout at a player, speaker or team |
| barrage | a heavy curtain of artillery fire directed in front of friendly troops to protect them, or just a whole lot of fire |
| barrage (non-gun) | (BAR-ij) an artificial obstruction such as a dam or irrigation channel, built to increase its depth or divert its flow |
| barranca | a deep ravine or gorge, a bluff |
| barratry (2) | (BAR-uhtree) the offense of persistently instigating lawsuits, typically groundless ones; sale or purchase of positions in church or state |
| on the barrel | granting or requesting no credit "paid cash on the b----- for the car" |
| over a barrel | in a very awkward position from which extrication is difficult "had us over a b-----" |
| barrio | a chiefly Span.-speaking community in a U.S. city |
| sculpted "Liberty Enlightening the World" | Frederic Bartholdi, presented to us in 1886 |
| barytone | a word that has a heavy stress or pitch accent on its penultimate syllable |
| basal | of primary importance, basic |
| base | havingor showing a contemptible or selfish lack of human decency: "a b-----, degrading way of life"; containing inferior substances "a base metal" |
| baseborn (3) | ignoble, contemptible; born of unwed parents; of humble birth |
| BASIC | Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code |
| basilect | a variety of speech that is most remote from the prestige variety, esp. where a creole is spoken |
| basilisk | a legendary serpent or dragon with lethal breath and glance |
