n. [ L. alabaster, Gr. 'ala`bastros, said to be derived fr. Alabastron, the name of a town in Egypt, near which it was common: cf. OF. alabastre, F. albâtre. ] 1. (Min.) (a) A compact variety or sulphate of lime, or gypsum, of fine texture, and usually white and translucent, but sometimes yellow, red, or gray. It is carved into vases, mantel ornaments, etc. (b) A hard, compact variety of carbonate of lime, somewhat translucent, or of banded shades of color; stalagmite. The name is used in this sense by Pliny. It is sometimes distinguished as oriental alabaster. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A box or vessel for holding odoriferous ointments, etc.; -- so called from the stone of which it was originally made. Fosbroke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Alabastrine. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of, pertaining to, or like, alabaster; as alabastrine limbs. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Alabastra [ NL. ] (Bot.) A flower bud. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. barbastelle. ] (Zool.) A European bat (Barbastellus communis), with hairy lips. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. bæst; akin to Icel., Sw., Dan., D., & G. bast, of unknown origin. Cf. Bass the tree. ] 1. The inner fibrous bark of various plants; esp. of the lime tree; hence, matting, cordage, etc., made therefrom. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A thick mat or hassock. See 2d Bass, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖interj. [ It. ] Enough; stop. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. bastard, bastart, F. b&unr_;tard, prob. fr. OF. bast, F. b&unr_;t, a packsaddle used as a bed by the muleteers (fr. LL. bastum) + -ard. OF. fils de bast son of the packsaddle; as the muleteers were accustomed to use their saddles for beds in the inns. See Cervantes, “Don Quixote, ” chap. 16; and cf. G. bankert, fr. bank bench. ] 1. A “natural” child; a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate child; one born of an illicit union. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ By the civil and canon laws, and by the laws of many of the United States, a bastard becomes a legitimate child by the intermarriage of the parents at any subsequent time. But by those of England, and of some states of the United States, a child, to be legitimate, must at least be born after the lawful marriage. Kent. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Sugar Refining) (a) An inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from the sirups that have already had several boilings. (b) A large size of mold, in which sugar is drained. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A sweet Spanish wine like muscatel in flavor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brown bastard is your only drink. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A writing paper of a particular size. See Paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Begotten and born out of lawful matrimony; illegitimate. See Bastard, n., note. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lacking in genuineness; spurious; false; adulterate; -- applied to things which resemble those which are genuine, but are really not so. [ 1913 Webster ]

That bastard self-love which is so vicious in itself, and productive of so many vices. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Of an unusual or irregular make or proportion; as, a bastard musket; a bastard culverin. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Print.) Abbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bastard ashlar (Arch.), stones for ashlar work, roughly squared at the quarry. --
Bastard file, a file intermediate between the coarsest and the second cut. --
Bastard type (Print.), type having the face of a larger or a smaller size than the body; e. g., a nonpareil face on a brevier body. --
Bastard wing (Zool.), three to five quill feathers on a small joint corresponding to the thumb in some mammalia; the alula. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To bastardize. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An act that debases or corrupts. [ chiefly Brit. ]
Syn. -- bastardization. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. Same as bastardize. [ chiefly Brit. ] [ PJC ]

n. The state of being a bastard; bastardy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An act that debases or corrupts.
Syn. -- bastardisation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bastardized (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Bastardizing. ] 1. To make or prove to be a bastard; to stigmatize as a bastard; to declare or decide legally to be illegitimate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The law is so indulgent as not to bastardize the child, if born, though not begotten, in lawful wedlock. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To beget out of wedlock. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. to change something (for example, art forms) so that its value declines; to debase.
Syn. -- bastardise. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. (Arts) deriving from more than one source or style. impure (vs. pure) --- (combined with extraneous elements) [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Bastardlike; baseborn; spurious; corrupt. [ Obs. ] -- adv. In the manner of a bastard; spuriously. [ Obs. ] Shak. Donne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The state of being a bastard; illegitimacy. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The procreation of a bastard child. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Basted; p. pr. & vb. n. Basting. ] [ Cf. Icel. beysta to strike, powder; Sw. basa to beat with a rod: perh. akin to E. beat. ] 1. To beat with a stick; to cudgel. [ 1913 Webster ]

One man was basted by the keeper for carrying some people over on his back through the waters. Pepys. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Cookery) To sprinkle flour and salt and drip butter or fat on, as on meat in roasting. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To mark with tar, as sheep. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OE. basten, OF. bastir, F. b&unr_;tir, prob. fr. OHG. bestan to sew, MHG. besten to bind, fr. OHG. bast bast. See Bast. ] To sew loosely, or with long stitches; -- usually, that the work may be held in position until sewed more firmly. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ F. bastille fortress, OF. bastir to build, F. bâtir. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Feud. Fort.) A tower or an elevated work, used for the defense, or in the siege, of a fortified place. [ 1913 Webster ]

The high bastiles . . . which overtopped the walls. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. “The Bastille”, formerly a castle or fortress in Paris, used as a prison, especially for political offenders; hence, a rhetorical name for a prison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Bastinado, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To bastinado. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Bastinadoes [ Sp. bastonada (cf. F. bastonnade), fr. baston (cf. F. bâton) a stick or staff. See Baston. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A blow with a stick or cudgel. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A sound beating with a stick or cudgel. Specifically: A form of punishment among the Turks, Chinese, and others, consisting in beating an offender on the soles of his feet. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bastinadoed p. pr. & vb. n. Bastinadoing. ] To beat with a stick or cudgel, especially on the soles of the feet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Loose temporary stitches.
Syn. -- baste, tacking. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Cookery) The act or process of moistening a roast as it is cooking. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. bastion (cf. It. bastione), fr. LL. bastire to build (cf. F. bâtir, It. bastire), perh. from the idea of support for a weight, and akin to Gr. basta`zein to lift, carry, and to E. baston, baton. ] (Fort.) A work projecting outward from the main inclosure of a fortification, consisting of two faces and two flanks, and so constructed that it is able to defend by a flanking fire the adjacent curtain, or wall which extends from one bastion to another. Two adjacent bastions are connected by the curtain, which joins the flank of one with the adjacent flank of the other. The distance between the flanks of a bastion is called the gorge. A lunette is a detached bastion. See Ravelin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Furnished with a bastion; having bastions. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Sp. ] The ace of clubs in quadrille and omber. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. baston, F. bâton, LL. basto. See Bastion, and cf. Baton, and 3d Batten. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A staff or cudgel. [ Obs. ] “To fight with blunt bastons.” Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Her.) See Baton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An officer bearing a painted staff, who formerly was in attendance upon the king's court to take into custody persons committed by the court. Mozley & W. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. bombace cotton, LL. bombax cotton, bombasium a doublet of cotton; hence, padding, wadding, fustian. See Bombazine. ] 1. Originally, cotton, or cotton wool. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A candle with a wick of bombast. Lupton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Cotton, or any soft, fibrous material, used as stuffing for garments; stuffing; padding. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

How now, my sweet creature of bombast! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Doublets, stuffed with four, five, or six pounds of bombast at least. Stubbes. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Fig.: High-sounding words; an inflated style; language above the dignity of the occasion; fustian. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yet noisy bombast carefully avoid. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. High-sounding; inflated; big without meaning; magniloquent; bombastic. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ He ] evades them with a bombast circumstance,
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor a tall metaphor in bombast way. Cowley. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To swell or fill out; to pad; to inflate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not bombasted with words vain ticklish ears to feed. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Characterized by bombast; high-sounding; inflated. -- Bom*bas"tic*al*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

A theatrical, bombastic, windy phraseology. Burke. [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Turgid; tumid; pompous; grandiloquent. [1913 Webster]

n. Swelling words without much meaning; bombastic language; fustian. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bombastry and buffoonery, by nature lofty and light, soar highest of all. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

See Bombast. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. demi- bastion. ] (Fort.) A half bastion, or that part of a bastion consisting of one face and one flank. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. em- + bastardize. ] To bastardize. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To bastardize; to debase. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. inter- + baste to sew. ] Patchwork. [ Obs. ] Dr. J. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. Same as lambaste. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ Lam + baste to beat. ] To beat severely; specifically, to beat with a cane. [ Low ] Nares.
Syn. -- cane, flog, lambaste. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. to scold, reprimand, or berate harshly.
Syn. -- rebuke, rag, reproof, reprimand, jaw, dress down, scold, chide, berate, bawl out, jaw at, remonstrate with, chew out, chew up, have words with, lambast. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Beneath the stars or heavens; terrestrial. Bp. Warburton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Somewhat astringent. [ 1913 Webster ]