Bar Tender. An Americanism for barman or barkeeper.
Bartholomew Close. The site of the ancient cloisters of St Bartholomew’s Priory, connected with the neighbouring church, which is the oldest in London.
Bartholomew Fair. The famous fair which for centuries survived the mediæval mart that had given rise to it in the neighbouring street, still known as Cloth Fair. It was held on the Feast of St Bartholomew.
Barton Street. A street in Westminster built by Barton Booth, the eminent actor of Drury Lane Theatre.
Bashaw. Properly “Pashaw.” See “[Pasha].”
Basinghall Street. From the mansion and grounds of the Basings, whose ancestor, Solomon Basing, was Lord Mayor of London in 1216.
Bassano. The better known, indeed to most people the only proper, name of the famous Italian artist, Jacopa da Ponte, who signed all his pictures “Il Bassano,” having been born at Bassano in the state of Venice.
Bass’s Straits. Discovered by Matthew Flinders. These straits were named by him after a young ship’s surgeon, who, with a crew of only six men, in a small vessel, accompanied him on the expedition.
Bath Chair. First introduced at Bath, the great health resort of a bygone day.
Bath Street. From a Bagnio, or Turkish Bath, established here in the seventeenth century.