Helen Fenton

Black hole: Definition and part of speech

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Black hole

  1. A dungeon or dark cell in a prison; a military lock-up or guardroom; — now commonly with allusion to the cell (the Black Hole) in a fort at Calcutta, into which 146 English prisoners were thrust by the nabob Suraja Dowla on the night of June 20, 17656, and in which 123 of the prisoners died before morning from lack of air.

The word meanings were obtained from OPTED(The Online Plain Text English Dictionary), which is based on “The Project Gutenberg Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary” which is in turn based on the 1913 US Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (See Project Gutenburg), as a text file.

Black-jack: Definition and part of speech

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Black-jack

  1. n. The ensign of a pirate.
  2. n. A name given by English miners to sphalerite, or zinc blende; — called also false galena. See Blende.
  3. n. Caramel or burnt sugar, used to color wines, spirits, ground coffee, etc.
  4. n. A large leather vessel for beer, etc.
  5. n. The Quercus nigra, or barren oak.

The word meanings were obtained from OPTED(The Online Plain Text English Dictionary), which is based on “The Project Gutenberg Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary” which is in turn based on the 1913 US Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (See Project Gutenburg), as a text file.

Blackleg: Definition and part of speech

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Blackleg

  1. n. A disease among calves and sheep, characterized by a settling of gelatinous matter in the legs, and sometimes in the neck.
  2. n. A notorious gambler.

The word meanings were obtained from OPTED(The Online Plain Text English Dictionary), which is based on “The Project Gutenberg Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary” which is in turn based on the 1913 US Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (See Project Gutenburg), as a text file.

Black letter: Definition and part of speech

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Black letter

  1. The old English or Gothic letter, in which the Early English manuscripts were written, and the first English books were printed. It was conspicuous for its blackness. See Type.

The word meanings were obtained from OPTED(The Online Plain Text English Dictionary), which is based on “The Project Gutenberg Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary” which is in turn based on the 1913 US Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (See Project Gutenburg), as a text file.

Black-letter: Definition and part of speech

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Black-letter

  1. a. Of or pertaining to the days in the calendar not marked with red letters as saints’ days. Hence: Unlucky; inauspicious.
  2. a. Written or printed in black letter; as, a black-letter manuscript or book.
  3. a. Given to the study of books in black letter; that is, of old books; out of date.

The word meanings were obtained from OPTED(The Online Plain Text English Dictionary), which is based on “The Project Gutenberg Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary” which is in turn based on the 1913 US Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (See Project Gutenburg), as a text file.