The Facts on File Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases (Writers Reference) (11 page)

bayonet (bayanet) FRENCH [after Bayonne, France, where such weapons were first made] noun a steel blade
that may be attached to the muzzle of a
rifle for use in close combat: "The regiment advanced with fixed bayonets." -verb
to stab an enemy with a bayonet.

bayou (biyoo, bio) FRENCH [creek,
Louisiana French from Choctaw bayuk
small stream] noun a marshy creek
or small river: "On Saturday, early in the
morning, the beauty of the place graced our
cabin, and proud of her fair freight the gallant little boat glided up the bayou" (Mark
Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1883).

bazaar (bazah) PERSIAN [bazar market] noun an oriental market and,
by extension, a department store or
arcade of shops; can also refer to a fair
for the sale of miscellaneous or secondhand goods (often to raise money
for charity): "We visited the charming
book bazaar in Istanbul."

bearnaise (bayarn , bairn)
FRENCH [after Bearn, France] noun
a rich sauce made with egg yolks,
butter, wine, vinegar, and seasonings.
'adjective a dish prepared with such
a sauce.

beau (bo) FRENCH [beautiful, from
Latin bellus pretty] noun (plural beaus
or beaux, boz) a woman's male
escort or boyfriend; occasionally also
used to refer to a fashionable man
who prides himself on his appearance
or clothing: "The other girls did not think
very much of their friend's latest beau."

beau geste (bo zhest) FRENCH [fine
gesture] noun phrase (plural beau gestes
or beaux gestes) a noble deed or
generous gesture.

beau ideal (bo ideeal) FRENCH [beau
ideal ideal beauty] noun phrase (plural
beau ideals) a model or conception
of perfect beauty.

beau monde (bo mond) FRENCH [fine
world] noun phrase (plural beaumondes, bo mondz, or beaux
mondes, bo mond) the world of
fashion and high society: "The Countess Lidia Ivanovna was a friend of her
husband's, and the center of that one
of the coteries of the Peterburg beau
monde with which Anna was, through
her husband, in the closest rapport" (Leo
Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, 1874-76).

beaux arts (bo zah), beaux-arts
FRENCH [beautiful arts] plural noun
the fine arts: "Over the decades he has
carefully nurtured a reputation as a connoisseur of les beaux arts."

bechamel (bayshamel) FRENCH [after
its creator, the 18th-century French
courtier Louis de Bechamel, steward
of Louis XIV] noun a rich white
sauce, often flavored with carrots,
onions, and seasoning: "The meat was
served in a simple bechamel sauce."

bedouin (bedooin), beduin FRENCH
[from Arabic badawi desert-dweller]
noun a nomadic Arab of the desert regions of North Africa, Syria, or the
Arabian Peninsula: "The story was that
she had been kidnapped by bedouin tribesmen, but her parents refused to believe any
such thing."

begum (bigam) HINDI [begam] noun
a Muslim noblewoman; also used as
a courtesy title for a married Muslim
woman: "He went to India with his capital,
and there, according to a wild legend in
our family, he was once seen riding on an
elephant, in company with a Baboon; but
I think it must have been a Baboo or a
Begum" (Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1849-50).

behemoth (baheemath, beeamath)
HEBREW [beasts] noun a creature or
something else of monstrous dimensions or strength: "And the hippopotami
heard my call, and came, with the behemoth, unto the foot of the rock, and
roared loudly and fearfully beneath the
moon" (Edgar Allan Poe, "Silence ---A
Fable," 1845).

beige (ba),zh) FRENCH noun a yellowish brown color (similar to that of
undyed wool). adjective of or relating
to such a color: "She selected a beige dress
for her mother's inspection"

bel canto (bel kanto) ITALIAN [beautiful singing] noun phrase a style of
operatic singing in which emphasis is
given to purity and smoothness of tone
as well as excellence of technique.

belladonna (beladona) ITALIAN [bella
donna fair lady; the juice was formerly
used cosmetically to enlarge the
pupils] noun the deadly nightshade
plant, or the drug produced from it,
which contains atropine.

belle (bel) FRENCH [beautiful, the
feminine of beau beautiful, fine, from
Latin bellus beautiful] noun a beautiful girl or woman: "That evening she was
definitely the belle of the ball."

Belle Epoque (bel eptk) FRENCH
[beautiful epoch] noun phrase the
golden age, the fine age (usuall), referring to life in France or England,
loosely spanning the last decade of
the 19th century and the first decade
of the 20th century): "His memories of
the Belle Epoque were dominated by his
recollections of hours spent in an intimate
Paris bistro."

belles-lettres (bel letra), belles lettres
FRENCH [fine letters] plural noun phrase
the world of literature, especially
writing of a serious or sophisticated
nature: `And notwithstanding, moreover,
a certain habitual contempt for his understanding, especially on affairs of genius
and taste, on which Blattergowl was apt to
be d ffuse, from his hope of one day fighting his way to a chair of rhetoric or belles
lettres.. (Walter Scott, The Antiquary,
1816).

belvedere (belvedeer) ITALIAN [fair
sight, from bel beautiful and vedere to see] noun a structure, such as a
summerhouse, that is positioned so as
to provide a fine view.

Benedictus (benidiktas) LATIN [praise
be, blessed, past participle of benedicere to commend, bless] the song or
hymn of thanksgiving (Luke 1:68-79)
uttered by Zacharias at the birth of his
son John the Baptist.

bene esse (hence essee) LATIN [to be
well] noun phrase well-being, welfare, or prosperity.

bento (bento) JAPANESE [boxed meal]
noun a container with separate compartments, used for take-out Japanese
food.

ben trovato (ben trovahto) ITALIAN
[well found] adjective phrase appropriate, characteristic, even if not actually true (of stories, etc.): "It was a
good anecdote, although I suspect it was ben
trovato rather than factually accurate."

berceuse (bairsaZ) FRENCH [feminine
form of berceur one who rocks a cradle, from bercer to rock to sleep] noun
a lullaby.

beret (berg) FRENCH [from Gascon
berret cap] noun a round peakless flat
soft woolen cap of a type traditionally
worn by French peasants and workers,
but since widely adopted as an item of
military uniform and appropriated by
high fashion: "The outfit was completed with various accessories in pink and a red
beret worn at a jaunty angle."

berg (berg) AFRIKAANS [from Dutch
berg] noun a mountain: "The leader of
the expedition eyed the distant bergs with
misgivings."

beri-beri (bereeberee) SINHALESE
[from beri weakness] noun a tropical disease caused by a deficiency of
thiamine, resulting in inflammation
of the nerves, paralysis, edema of the
extremities, and heart failure.

berserk (barzerk) OLD NORSE [from
berserkr, itself from bjorn bear and serkr
shirt, a reference to ancient Viking
warriors who worked themselves into
a frenzy before going into battle
convinced of their invulnerability]
adjective frenzied, wild, mad: "The
young man's berserk behavior at the airport surprised his friends."

beta (l46, beeta) GREEK [second
letter of the Greek alphabet] noun
the second letter of the Greek alphabet, used to indicate the second in a
sequence or ranking.

Me noire (bet mvahr, bayt nwahr)
FRENCH [black beast] noun phrase (plural betes noires, bet nwahrz, bayt
nwahrz) a person or thing that is
greatly detested or feared by a particular individual or body: "The question of
Europe has been the British government's
bete noire for several years now."

bhaji (bahjee) HINDI [fried vegetables, bhrajj to fry] noun in Indian
cuisine, a fritter made with onions or
other vegetables: "She was disappointed
that the dinner for two did not include
onion bhajis."

bhangra (bangra) PANJABI noun a
traditional Punjabi folkdance or alternatively a genre of popular dance
music combining traditional Punjabi
musical styles with modern funk or
rock music.

bhindi (bindee) HINDI [okra] noun
(in Indian cuisine) another name for
okra.

bi- (bi) LATIN [from his twice, two]
prefix two or twice, e.g., bicoastal,
bimonthly

bibelot (beebalo) FRENCH [trinket,
be] beautiful] noun (plural bibelots,
beebaloz) a trinket, curio, or small

decorative object: "...the thrill Of snapping up a jewel or a bibelot or a new
model' that one's best friend wanted."
(Edith Wharton, Glimpses of the Moon,
1922).

bibliomania (bibleeomneea) GREEK
[book passion, biblio book and mania
enthusiasm] noun an obsessive interest in collecting books: "One look inside
the old man's library confirmed her suspicion that she was dealing with an advanced
case of bibliomania."

biceps ()iceps) LATIN [two-headed]
noun (plural biceps) a muscle with
two heads, especially the large muscle
at the front of the upper arm: "The
lifeguard was flexing his biceps to impress
the women at the beach."

bidet (beef) FRENCH [small horse,
bider to trot] noun a bathroom fixture used for washing the genital and
anal regions: "His grandmother neverfigured out what the bidet was really for and
used it to wash her underwear in."

bien entendu (beean(g) ontondoo)
FRENCH [well heard] adverb phrase
naturally, of course, it goes without
saying.

bijou (beezhoo) FRENCH [from Breton bizou ring] adjective delicate,
small but elegant: "I soon found Briony
Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden
at the back, but built out in front right
up to the road, two stories." (Arthur Conan Doyle, "A Scandal in Bohemia"
from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,
1891).

bildungsroman (bildungsroman) GERMAN [Bildung education and Roman
book] noun a novel in which the
psychological and spiritual development of a youthful central character is
the main subject.

billabong (bild)ong) AUSTRALIAN
ABORIGINAL [after the Billibang (Bell)
River, billa water and bang channel]
noun a side channel of a river, a stagnant backwater, or a dry streambed
that fills with water only at certain
times: "The search party following the
footprints in the mud through a maze of
marshy billabongs."

billet-doux (bilee doo, bilay doo)
FRENCH [sweet note] noun (plural
billets-doux, bilay dooz, bilee dooz)
a love letter: "She kept all her billetsdoux, tied up in blue ribbon."

biltong (biltong) AFRIKAANS [from
Dutch hil rump and tong tongue]
noun strips of dried meat.

bimbo ()imbo) ITALIAN [baby] noun
(plural bimbos or bimboes) a slang
term for a physically attractive but
apparently unintelligent young woman
(or, more rarely, young man): Any
woman who succeeds as a top model has to
work hard to convince the press not to label
her a bimbo."

bio- (bio) GREEK [from bios life]
prefix relating to life, e.g., biography,
biology.

biretta (bareta), beretta, birretta
ITALIAN [from beretta, ultimately
from Latin birrus cloak with a hood]
noun a stiff square cap of a type worn
by Roman Catholic and other clergy:
"Beautiful!' remarked Bickley `but why
don't you put on your surplice and biretta?'
(Being very High-Church Bastin did wear
a biretta on festival Sundays at home)." (H.
Rider Haggard, When the World Shook,
1919).

biriyani (bireeanee), biryani, biriani
URDU [from Persian biriyan fried,
grilled] noun in Indian cuisine, a dish
of spiced meat or vegetables, served
with rice.

bistro (beestro, bistro) FRENCH
[cafe] noun a cafe, small restaurant,
or wine bar: `Judy knows all the fashionable bars and bistros in town."

bivouac (bivooak, bivawak, bivwack)
FRENCH [extra watch, from Swiss
German biwacht, from bi by and
wacht guard, referring originally to
the patrols voluntarily undertaken
by citizens of Aargau and Zurich in
Switzerland during the 18th century]
noun a rudimentary encampment in
the open air (usually without a tent or
more substantial shelter): "We reckoned
the improvements of the art of war among
the triumphs of science, and yet Napoleon conquered Europe by the bivouac, which
consisted of falling back on naked valor,
and disencumbering it of all aids." (Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Essays, 1841). verb
to make a bivouac shelter or to spend
time in such an encampment.

bizarre (bazahr, bizahr) FRENCH [from
Italian bizzarro angry] adjective extraordinary, odd, weird, eccentric, outlandish, peculiar, grotesque: `His posture
combines a surreal exaggerated style with a
bizarre sense of humor." -noun something
of a bizarre nature.

blancmange (blamonJ, blamonzh)
FRENCH [blanc manger white food] noun
a gelatinous milk-based dessert dish.

blanquette (blonket) FRENCH [blanc
white] noun a meat or fish stew prepared in a white sauce: "They serve a very
good blanquette of veal at that restaurant."

blase (blahz4), blase FRENCH [satiated, exhausted, past participle of
blaser to exhaust, to satiate] adjective
unconcerned, indifferent, apathetic:
"One gets pale, and old, and sadly fagged
out, with all this dissipation, pleasant as
it is. I feel quite blase, already" (Louisa
May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl,
1870).