The black Book is a sort of memorandum which is kept in every regiment, to describe the character and conduct of non-commissioned officers and soldiers; when and how often they have been reduced or punished, &c.
Every quarter-master belonging to the cavalry and infantry, has likewise a book which may not improperly be called a book or inventory of regimental stores, &c.
Practice Book. Every officer of the artillery ought to have a book in which he should note every useful fact that occurs in practice.
BOOM, in marine fortification, is a long piece of timber, with which rivers or harbors are stopped, to prevent the enemy’s coming in: it is sometimes done by a cable or chain, and floated with yards, topmasts, or spars of wood lashed to it.
BORE, in gunnery, implies the cavity of the barrel of a gun, mortar, howitzer, or any other piece of ordnance.
BOSSE, Fr. a term used in the French artillery, to express a glass bottle which is very thin, contains four or five pounds of powder, and round the neck of which four or five matches are hung under, after it has been well-corked. A cord, two or three feet in length, is tied to the bottle, which serves to throw it. The instant the bottle breaks, the powder catches fire, and every thing within the immediate effects of the explosion is destroyed.
BOTTES, Fr. boots.
Grosses Bottes, Fr. jack-boots.
BOTTINE, Fr. half-boots worn by the hussars and dragoons in foreign armies.
BOUCHE, Fr. means the aperture or mouth of a piece of ordnance, that of a mortar, of the barrel of a musket, and of every species of fire-arms from which a ball or bullet is discharged.