📖 B — The English dictionary · page 6

balmoral — Everyday, meaning 1: Balmoral Castle is a large castle in the Highlands of Scotland, a private holiday home of the British royal family.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (clothing) A balmoral is a flat Scottish cap, or a kind of laced boot.↗ Example: The royal family spends the summer holidays at Balmoral.↗ · Balmoral Castle is in the Scottish Highlands.↗ · The queen loved walking her dogs at Balmoral.↗ · Balmoral is surrounded by hills, forests and rivers.↗ · Visitors can see the gardens at Balmoral in some months.↗ · The piper wore a balmoral cap.↗

balmy — Everyday, meaning 1: Balmy describes weather or air that is warm, soft and gentle, pleasant to be outside in.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) Balmy can also mean silly or mad, as in «balmy ideas».↗ Example: The evening air was balmy and sweet.↗ · We ate our tea outside on a balmy night.↗ · The breeze was soft and balmy, scented with roses.↗

balsam — Everyday, meaning 1: A sweet-smelling sticky oil or resin that comes from certain trees and is used in creams and medicines.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A soothing cream or ointment, like a balm.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A tree that gives this resin, such as the balsam fir.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A garden plant with bright flowers whose seed pods burst open when touched (also called impatiens or busy Lizzie).↗ Example: Grandma rubs balsam on her sore knees.↗ · The Christmas tree was a balsam fir that smelled lovely.↗ · The cough sweets taste of balsam and honey.↗ · Himalayan balsam grows thickly along the river bank.↗ · When I touched the balsam pod, it popped and threw out its seeds.↗ · The shop sells balsam shampoo.↗ · Pine and balsam scents filled the cabin.↗ · And even if he could make shoes to perfection they would be no use without the soothing balsam.'↗ · Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy traffickers; they traded for thy merchandise wheat of Minnith, and balsam, and honey, and oil, and balm.↗ (Prophets EZK.27.17, JPS 1917)↗

baltic — Everyday, meaning 1: The Baltic Sea is a sea in northern Europe, surrounded by countries such as Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Denmark.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The Baltic states are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, three countries on its eastern shore.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Baltic describes things from that region.↗ e.g. Baltic amber, Baltic languages (Latvian and Lithuanian).↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (UK, slang) «It's Baltic!» means it is freezing cold.↗ Example: The Baltic Sea is less salty than the ocean.↗ · Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are called the Baltic states.↗ · Amber from the Baltic often has tiny insects trapped inside.↗ · Ferries cross the Baltic between Sweden and Finland.↗ · (slang, UK) Shut the door, it's Baltic in here!↗ · (slang, Scotland) It was absolutely Baltic at the bus stop this morning.↗ · Parts of the Baltic freeze over in winter.↗ · Lithuanian is a Baltic language.↗ · On the Baltic Sea, near the Danish shore'--↗

balustrade — Everyday, meaning 1: A balustrade is a low railing along the edge of a balcony, bridge or staircase, held up by short posts called balusters.↗ Example: She leaned on the balustrade and looked down at the garden.↗ · The stone balustrade ran all along the terrace.↗ · Children must not climb over the balustrade on the bridge.↗

bamboo — Everyday, meaning 1: Bamboo is a very tall, fast-growing plant, a kind of giant grass, with hard hollow stems divided into sections.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Bamboo is also the strong, light material made from those stems, used for building, furniture, fishing rods and even toothbrushes.↗ Example: Pandas eat bamboo almost all day.↗ · Bamboo is a kind of giant grass.↗ · Some bamboo can grow very fast in a single day.↗ · We grew beans up bamboo canes in the school garden.↗ · My new toothbrush is made of bamboo.↗ · The bamboo stem is hollow inside.↗ · The bamboo bent in the storm but did not snap.↗ · They built a raft from bamboo poles.↗ · Long, long ago, there lived an old bamboo wood-cutter.↗

ban — Everyday, meaning 1: To ban something is to officially say that it is not allowed.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A ban is a rule that stops something from being done.↗ Example: Phones are banned in class.↗ · The town banned plastic bags.↗ · He was banned from playing for two games.↗ · There is a ban on smoking in the park.↗ · Ball games are banned on the grass.↗ · The school banned fizzy drinks.↗ · Fishing is banned in this lake.↗ · They came from Rome with a papal decree--a ban, or bull, against the widow who had dared to offend the pious bishop.↗ · For My sword hath drunk its fill in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of My ban, to judgment.↗ (Prophets ISA.34.5, JPS 1917)↗

banana — Everyday, meaning 1: A banana is a long curved fruit with a yellow skin that you peel; inside it is soft and sweet.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A banana plant is the large plant that bananas grow on, in a bunch.↗ Example: I eat one banana from the table.↗ · Student: two bananas and one pear↗ · A bunch has 6 bananas.↗ How many bananas are in 3 bunches?↗ · Ali bought 8 bananas and ate 2.↗ · Peel the banana before you eat it.↗ · These bananas are still green, so they are not ripe.↗ · Mum made banana bread with the old bananas.↗ · The monkey grabbed a banana from the tree.↗ · Don't leave a banana skin on the floor; someone could slip.↗ · Early in the morning Rikki-tikki came to early breakfast in the veranda riding on Teddy’s shoulder, and they gave him banana and some boiled egg.↗

band — Everyday, meaning 1: A band is a group of musicians who play together: a rock band, a school band.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A band is a thin strip of material that goes round something: a rubber band, a hair band, a wedding band.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A band is a stripe of colour or a range between two limits: a band of cloud, an age band.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A band is a group of people who do something together: a band of robbers.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: To band together means to join as a group to do something.↗ Example: My brother plays drums in a band.↗ · The school band played at assembly.↗ · Put a rubber band around the cards.↗ · She tied her hair back with a band.↗ · A band of rain is moving across the country.↗ · Robin Hood led a band of outlaws.↗ · The neighbours banded together to clean the park.↗ · Don’t you envy our pranceful bands?↗ · And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the tunic, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the skilfully woven band of the ephod.↗ (Torah EXO.29.5, JPS 1917)↗ · And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in the forepart thereof, close by the coupling thereof, above the skilfully woven band of the ephod.↗ (Torah EXO.39.20, JPS 1917)↗ · And the skilfully woven band, which is upon it, wherewith to gird it on, shall be like the work thereof and of the same piece: of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.↗ (Torah EXO.28.8, JPS 1917)↗ · Or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?↗ (Writings JOB.39.5, JPS 1917)↗ · Will the bands of fishermen make a banquet of him?↗ (Writings JOB.40.30, JPS 1917)↗ · Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.↗ (Writings 1CH.12.19, JPS 1917)↗

bandage — Everyday, meaning 1: A bandage is a strip of cloth or soft material wrapped around a part of the body to cover and protect a wound or support an injury.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To bandage means to wrap a bandage around a part of the body.↗ Example: The nurse put a bandage round my sprained ankle.↗ · Dad bandaged my knee after I fell off my bike.↗ · Don't wrap the bandage too tightly.↗ · The first aid kit has bandages and plasters.↗ · His arm was in a bandage and a sling.↗ · The mummy in the museum was wrapped in bandages.↗ · We practised bandaging each other in first aid club.↗ · She took the bandage off after a week.↗ · If Nana had been with them, she would have had a bandage round Michael’s forehead by this time.↗

bandit — Everyday, meaning 1: A bandit is a robber, often one of a gang, who attacks travellers and steals from them, usually in wild or lonely places.↗ Example: Three bandits hid in the forest and waited for travellers.↗ · The bandit took the traveller's gold.↗ · The village was afraid of the bandits in the hills.↗

bandmaster — Everyday, meaning 1: A bandmaster is the person who leads and trains a band of musicians, and often writes or chooses the music they play.↗ Example: The bandmaster tapped his baton and the band began.↗ · Our bandmaster teaches us to play in time.↗ · The bandmaster wrote a new march for the school band.↗

bandwagon — Everyday, meaning 1: (idiom) Something that suddenly becomes popular, which many people join just because others do: «jump on the bandwagon».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A large cart that carried a band playing music in a parade.↗ Example: When the toy became popular, everyone jumped on the bandwagon.↗ · The advert used the bandwagon trick: «Everyone has one!»↗ · Don't just join the bandwagon; decide what you think.↗ · In old parades the band rode on a bandwagon.↗ · Lots of fans jumped on the bandwagon once the team started winning.↗ · The fidget spinner bandwagon didn't last long.↗

bandy — Everyday, meaning 1: Bandy describes legs that curve outward, so that the knees are apart when the feet are together.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (verb) To bandy words means to exchange them, especially in an argument.↗ Example: The little man had bandy legs and a loud voice.↗ · The mole kicked the boy with his bandy legs.↗ · The two farmers bandied angry words across the fence.↗

bane — Everyday, meaning 1: A bane is a person or thing that causes trouble, ruin or death.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (old use) A bane is a deadly poison or a cause of death, as in «rat bane».↗ Example: The dragon's bane was a brave hero.↗ · Noise was the bane of his life.↗ · The cold proved the bane of the old king.↗

bang — Everyday, meaning 1: A bang is a sudden very loud noise, like an explosion or a door slamming.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To bang is to hit something hard, often making a loud noise.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To bang a part of your body is to hit it by accident.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Bangs (American) are hair cut short and straight across the forehead (British: a fringe).↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Bang (informal) means exactly: bang on time.↗ Example: The door shut with a loud bang.↗ · Someone was banging on the door.↗ · I banged my knee on the table.↗ · The fireworks went off with a bang.↗ · Scientists think the universe began with the Big Bang.↗ · She cut her bangs too short.↗ · You're bang on time!↗ · “Then I refuse,” he cried, banging the barrel in front of Hook.↗

banger — Everyday, meaning 1: (UK, informal) A sausage.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) A firework that makes a loud bang.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (UK, informal) An old car in bad condition that often makes noises.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (slang) A really good, exciting song, usually loud and catchy.↗ Example: We had bangers and mash for tea.↗ · Dad's old banger broke down on the motorway again.↗ · The neighbours set off bangers at midnight and the dog hid.↗ · Never hold a banger in your hand after it is lit.↗ · This new song is an absolute banger!↗ · The school canteen serves veggie bangers on Fridays.↗ · Uncle Pete drove a rusty banger with no radio.↗

banish — Everyday, meaning 1: To send someone away from a country or place as a punishment and forbid them to come back.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To get rid of something completely, such as a feeling or a thought.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To order someone to leave a place, often as a joke.↗ Example: The king banished the knight from the kingdom.↗ · Napoleon was banished to the island of Elba.↗ · A warm drink can banish the winter chills.↗ · Mum banished the dog to the garden for stealing the sausages.↗ · She tried to banish her fears before the test.↗ · In the story the witch was banished forever.↗ · "Banish that thought!" said the teacher with a smile.↗ · The real Nightingale was banished from the kingdom.↗

banishment — Everyday, meaning 1: Banishment is being sent away from your country or home as a punishment and not allowed to come back.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Banishment can mean getting rid of something completely.↗ Example: The king sentenced the traitor to banishment.↗ · Napoleon's banishment to St Helena lasted until his death.↗ · Adam and Eve's banishment from Eden is told in Genesis.↗ · The Queen of Hearts threatened banishment and beheading.↗ · After banishment he could never return home.↗ · The banishment of mobile phones from class pleased the teacher.↗ · With the defeat of Cronus and his banishment from his dominions, his career as a ruling Greek divinity entirely ceases.↗

banister — Everyday, meaning 1: A banister is the rail along the side of a staircase that you hold on to.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Banisters can also mean the rail together with the posts that hold it up.↗ Example: Hold the banister when you walk down the stairs.↗ · Please don't slide down the banister!↗ · The cat jumped onto the banister.↗ · The old house had a carved wooden banister.↗ · Grandad needs the banister to climb the stairs.↗ · We hung Christmas lights along the banister.↗ · Some sit on the banisters of steep stairs, others on the outer rails of lofty towers, or spring like squirrels along the ridges of the mountains.↗