A method has been lately invented and practised for bending pieces of timber, so as to make the wheels of carriages without joints. The bending of boards, and other pieces of timber for curved works in joinery, is effected by holding them to the fire, then giving them the figure required, and keeping them in this figure by tools for the purpose.
BENEFICIARII, in ancient military history, denotes soldiers who attend the chief officers of the army, being exempted from all other duty. In the American service called waiters; each commissioned officer being allowed one.
Beneficiarii were also soldiers discharged from the military service or duty, and provided with beneficia to subsist on.
BERM, in fortification, is a little space or path, of about 3, 4, 6, or 8 feet broad, according to the height and breadth of the works, between the ditch and the parapet, when made of turf, to prevent the earth from rolling into the ditch; and serves likewise to pass and repass.
To BESIEGE, to lay siege to or invest any place with armed forces.
BESIEGERS, the army that lays siege to a fortified place.
BESIEGED, the garrison that defends the place against the army that lays siege to it. See [Siege].
To BETRAY, to deliver perfidiously any place or body of troops into the hands of the enemy. To discover that which has been entrusted to secrecy.
BETTY, a machine used for forcing open gates or doors. See [Petard].
BICOQUE, Fr. a term used in France to signify a place ill-fortified and incapable of much defence. It is derived from a place on the road between Lodi and Milan, which was originally a gentleman’s country house surrounded by ditches. In the year 1522, a body of Imperial troops were stationed in it, and stood the attack of the whole French army, during the reign of Francis I. This engagement was called the battle of Bicoque.