Baculite, bak′ū-līt, n. a genus of fossil shells, allied to the ammonites, having a shell of perfectly straight form, tapering to a point. [L. baculum, a stick.]
Bad, bad, adj. ill or evil: wicked: hurtful: incorrect, faulty: unfavourable: painful:—comp. Worse; superl. Worst.—adj. Bad′dish, somewhat bad: not very good.—adv. Bad′ly.—ns. Bad′ness.—Bad blood, angry feeling; Bad coin, false coin; Bad debts, debts that cannot be recovered; Bad shot, a wrong guess.—To go bad, to decay; To go to the bad, to go to ruin; To the bad, to a bad condition: in deficit.—With bad grace, unwillingly. [Ety. very obscure. The M. E. badde is referred by Zupitza to A.S. bæddel, a hermaphrodite, bædling, an effeminate fellow.]
Bade, bad, pa.t. of Bid.
Badge, baj, n. a mark or sign by which a person or object is known or distinguished. [M.E. bage—Low L. bagia, bagea, connected by Skeat with Low L. baga, a golden ring, from L. bacca, baca, a berry, also the link of a chain.]
Badger, baj′ėr, n. a burrowing, nocturnal, hibernating animal about the size of a fox, eagerly hunted by dogs.—v.t. to pursue with eagerness, as dogs hunt the badger: to pester or worry.—ns. Badg′er-bait′ing, the sport of setting dogs to draw out a badger from its hole; Badg′er-dog, a long-bodied and short-legged dog used in drawing the badger—the Ger. dachshund.—adj. Badg′er-legged, having legs of unequal length, as the badger was vulgarly supposed to have.—adv. Badg′erly, like a badger: grayish-haired, elderly.—To overdraw one's badger, to overdraw one's banking account. [Prob. from Badge and suffix -ard, in reference to the white mark borne like a badge on its forehead. Derivations connecting the word with O. Fr. blaier, thus meaning 'little corn hoarder,' in allusion to a popular notion about the animal's habits, seem to be erroneous.]
Badinage, bad′in-äzh, n. light playful talk: banter. [Fr. badinage—badin, playful or bantering.]
Badminton, bad′min-ton, n. a cooling summer drink compounded of claret, sugar, and soda-water: a predecessor of lawn-tennis, played with shuttlecocks. [From Badminton in Gloucester, a seat of the Duke of Beaufort.]
Baff, bäf, v.t. (golf) to strike the ground with a club in playing, and so to send the ball up in the air.
Baffle, baf′fl, v.t. to check or make ineffectual: (obs.) to cheat, hoodwink, bewilder, bring to nought: (obs.) to disgrace publicly.—ns. Baf′fle (obs.), confusion, check; Baf′fler, a bewilderer, confounder.—To baffle out of (obs.), to juggle out of anything. [Prob. Scotch and connected with bauchle; but cf. Fr. beffler, from O. Fr. befe, mockery. Paul Meyer suggests a derivation from Prov. baf, interj. of disdain.]
Baft, baft, n. a coarse fabric, originally Oriental, now manufactured in and shipped from England. [Pers. baft, woven.]