The Prisoner of Zenda (26 page)

beadle
NOUN
a beadle was a local official who had power over the poor
But these impertinences were speedily checked by the evidence of the surgeon, and the testimony of the beadle
(
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens)

bearings
NOUN
the bearings of a place are the measurements or directions that are used to find or locate it
the bearings of the island
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

beaufet
NOUN
a beaufet was a sideboard
and sweet-cake from the beaufet
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)

beck
NOUN
a beck is a small stream
a beck which follows the bend of the glen
(
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë)

bedight
VERB
decorated
and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.
(
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens)

Bedlam
NOUN
Bedlam was a lunatic asylum in London which had statues carved by Caius Gabriel Cibber at its entrance
Bedlam, and those carved maniacs at the gates
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

beeves
NOUN
oxen or castrated bulls which are animals used for pulling vehicles or carrying things
to deliver in every morning six beeves
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

begot
VERB
created or caused
Begot in thee
(
On His Mistress
by John Donne)

behoof
NOUN
behoof means benefit
“Yes, young man,” said he, releasing the handle of the article in question, retiring a step or two from my table, and speaking for the behoof of the landlord and waiter at the door
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

berth
NOUN
a berth is a bed on a boat
this is the berth for me
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

bevers
NOUN
a bever was a snack, or small portion of food, eaten between main meals
that buys me thirty meals a day and ten bevers
(
Doctor Faustus 2.1
by Christopher Marlowe)

bilge water
NOUN
the bilge is the widest part of a ship's bottom, and the bilge water is the dirty water that collects there
no gush of bilge-water had turned it to fetid puddle
(
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë)