Bethlehem. Hebrew for “house of bread.” Hence Bethlehem Hospital, the original name for a lazar or poor house.
Bethnal Green. Anciently Bednal Green, but corrupted from the family name of the Bathons, who resided here, temp. Edward I.
Bevis Marks. Properly Bury’s Marks, from the posts to define the limits of the ground belonging to the town house of the Abbots of Bury.
Bideford Postman. The sobriquet of Edward Capern, the poet, who was a letter-carrier at Bideford in Devon.
Big Ben. After Sir Benjamin Hall, Bart., M.P., one of the designers of the New Houses of Parliament, and Chief Commissioner of Works.
Big Bend State. Tennessee, which name expresses the Indian for “river of the great bend.”
Bilbo. The old name for a Spanish sword blade made at Bilboa.
Bilboes. The irons with which mutinous sailors are manacled together. From Bilboa, Spain, their place of origin.
Bilker. A corruption of Balker, one who balks or outwits another. In our day one hears mostly of the “Cab bilker”; formerly the “Tavern bilker” was an equally reprehensible character.
Billingsgate. After Belin, a Saxon lord, who had a residence beside the old Roman water-gate on the north bank of the Thames.