ἄχαρις. [110] 20, [146] 12. Graceless. Lat. invenustus.
βαίνειν. [86] 1. To scan. Lat. scandere. Cp. Aristot. Metaph. xiii. 6, 1093 a 30 βαίνεται δὲ [τὸ ἔπος] ἐν μὲν τῷ δεξιῷ ἐννέα συλλαβαῖς, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἀριστερῷ ὀκτώ.—In [236] 4 βεβηκώς is used of a firm, regular tread: Lat. incedere.
βακχεῖος. [174] 23, [180] 12, [182] 19. Bacchius. The metrical foot – – ᴗ.
βαρύς. [126] 6, 8, 10, 16, [128] 5, 8. Grave (accent), low (pitch). Lat. gravis. Cp. Monro Modes of Ancient Greek Music p. 113: “Our habit of using Latin translations of the terms of Greek grammar has tended to obscure the fact that they belong in almost every case to the ordinary vocabulary of music. The word for ‘accent’ (τόνος) is simply the musical term for ‘pitch’ or ‘key.’ The words ‘acute’ (ὀξύς) and ‘grave’ (βαρύς) mean nothing more than ‘high’ and ‘low’ in pitch. A syllable may have two accents, just as in music a syllable may be sung with more than one note.” So βαρύτης [126] 13 = ‘low pitch.’—In [120] 23 and [236] 8 βάρος = ‘gravity’ (in the sense of ‘dignity’), Fr. gravité.
βάσις. [142] 13, [210] 22, [212] 16, [220] 4, [230] 31, [232] 4, [234] 7. Base. Lat. basis, fundamentum.—The word is specially used of a measured step or metrical movement,—of a rhythmical clause in a period and particularly of its rhythmical close (Lat. clausula). In [230] 30 and [232] 5 it is the iambic endings προγεγενημένων and διανοούμενον that are considered objectionable (ἀνέδραστοι, ἀπερίγραφοι: endings such as πορείαν and ἀκουσάντων would be regarded as ἀσφαλεῖς, de Demosth. cc. 24, 26). Terminations of this kind will be avoided in a style (like the γλαφυρὰ σύνθεσις) which desires τῶν περιόδων τὰς τελευτὰς εὐρύθμους εἶναι,—desires that the chutes of the periods should be nombreuses.—Further light on the meaning of βάσις will be found in de Demosth. cc. 24, 39, 43, 45.
βοστρυχίζειν. [264] 22. To curl, to dress the hair. Lat. crines calamistro convertere. Cp. the use of concinni in Cic. de Orat. iii. 25. 100.
βούλεσθαι. [220] 9, [234] 5, 14, 19, [236] 4, 7, etc. To aim, to aspire. Lat. studere. Cp. D.H. p. 187, Demetr. p. 271. This meaning (‘aims at being,’ ‘tends to be’) is, of course, Platonic and Aristotelian.
βραχυσύλλαβος. [168] 17. Consisting of short syllables. Lat. brevibus syllabis constans.