<B>buckler, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a small, round shield used to parry blows or thrusts. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a means of defense; protection; protector. <BR> <I>Ex. His faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler (Book of Common Prayer).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to act as a buckler to; shield; defend; protect. </DL>
<A NAME="buckminsterfullerene">
<B>buckminsterfullerene, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Chemistry.) <B>=buckyball.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. Scientists suspect that buckminsterfullerene has unusual properties that could lead to the development of new lubricants and catalysts (Peter J. Andrews).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="bucko">
<B>bucko, </B>noun, pl. <B>buckoes.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who domineers; a bully. </DL>
<A NAME="buckpasser">
<B>buck passer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a person who avoids responsibility by shifting it to someone else. </DL>
<A NAME="buckpassing">
<B>buck-passing, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) the act or practice of avoiding responsibility, blame, or work, by shifting it to someone else. </DL>
<A NAME="buckprivate">
<B>buck private,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) a common soldier below the rank of private first class. </DL>
<A NAME="buckra">
<B>buckra, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in the speech of black people of the West Indies and the southern United States) a white man. </DL>
<A NAME="buckram">
<B>buckram, </B>noun, adjective, verb, <B>-ramed,</B> <B>-raming.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a coarse cloth made stiff with glue or something like glue, used especially for stiffening garmets and binding books. <BR> <I>Ex. Four rogues in buckram let drive at me (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) stiffness of manner. <BR> <I>Ex. A fine, good-humoured, unaffected lad, no pride or buckram (Charles Cornwallis).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) a fine linen or cotton fabric. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>made of buckram. <BR> <I>Ex. ... his buckram shirt collar (Byron).</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>like buckram. <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) stiff; formal; haughty. <BR> <I>Ex. A wondrous buckram style, --the best he [Samuel Johnson] could get (Thomas Carlyle).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to pad or stiffen with buckram. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the starched, buckramed skirts of my female relatives (George A. Sala).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to make stiff. <BR> <I>Ex. His buckramed habit of clerical decorum (Hawthorne).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="bucksaw">
<B>bucksaw, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a saw set in a light frame and held with both hands. </DL>
<B>buckshot, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a large lead shot, used to shoot large animals, such as deer. </DL>
<A NAME="buckskin">
<B>buckskin, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a strong, soft leather, yellowish or grayish in color, made from the skins of deer or sheep. <BR> <I>Ex. moccasins of buckskin.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the skin of a buck. <BR> <I>Ex. a large buckskin stretched for tanning.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Western U.S.) a horse of the color of buckskin. <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=Buckskin.</B> <DD><I>adj. </I> made of buckskin. <BR> <I>Ex. buckskin gloves.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>buckskins,</B> </I>clothing made of buckskin. </DL>
<A NAME="buckskin">
<B>Buckskin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an American soldier in the Revolutionary War (many of whom wore buckskins). </DL>
<A NAME="buckskincloth">
<B>buckskin cloth,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a strong, twilled woolen cloth with a closely cut nap. <DD><B> 2. </B>a cotton cloth with a clear surface and napped back. </DL>
<A NAME="bucktail">
<B>bucktail,</B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Angling.) <DD><B> 1. </B>an artificial fly made of long fibers from the tails of deer. <DD><B> 2. </B>any similar artificial fly. </DL>
<A NAME="buckthorn">
<B>buckthorn, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small, thorny tree or shrub with clusters of black berries, each containing two to four tiny seeds. It belongs to the buckthorn family. <DD><B> 2. </B>a low, thorny tree of the sapodilla family with black, cherrylike fruit, that grows in the southern United States. </DL>
<A NAME="buckthornfamily">
<B>buckthorn family,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a family of trees and shrubs of wide distribution, including the buckthorn, the jujube, and the ceanothus. </DL>
<A NAME="bucktooth">
<B>bucktooth, </B>noun, pl. <B>-teeth.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a tooth that sticks out beyond the rest. </DL>
<A NAME="bucktoothed">
<B>bucktoothed, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a protruding tooth or teeth. </DL>
<A NAME="buckwheat">
<B>buckwheat, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a plant with black or gray, triangular seeds and fragrant, white flowers. <DD><B> 2. </B>the seeds, used as food for animals or ground into flour. <DD><B> 3. </B>meal, flour, or batter made from buckwheat, popular in the United States as an ingredient in griddlecakes. </DL>
<A NAME="buckwheatfamily">
<B>buckwheat family,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a group of dicotyledonous herbs, shrubs, and trees, having alternate and usually entire leaves with stipules which form a sheath around the base of the petiole. The family includes the buckwheat and rhubarb, as well as many weedy plants, such as dock and knotgrass. </DL>
<A NAME="buckyball">
<B>buckyball, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Chemistry). a highly stable molecule consisting of sixty carbon atoms arranged as interlocking pentagons and hexagons. <BR> <I>Ex. The molecular structure of buckyballs is so radically different that researchers hope this third form of carbon will lead to a whole new class of materials with multiple uses (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="buckytube">
<B>buckytube, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a microscopic carbon tube with a molecular structure similar to the buckyball; channel. <BR> <I>Ex. Ever since chemists discovered buckytubes, they've speculated that these hollow, nanometer-size carbon cylinders ... could prove the strongest fibers known (Science News).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="bucolic">
<B>bucolic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of shepherds; pastoral. <BR> <I>Ex. Bucolic poetry is seldom written by shepherds themselves.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>rustic; rural. <BR> <I>Ex. a bucolic setting, bucolic wit.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a poem about shepherds; eclogue; idyl. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Humorous.) a peasant; countryman. adv. <B>bucolically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="bucolical">
<B>bucolical, </B>adjective. =bucolic.</DL>
<A NAME="bucrane">
<B>bucrane, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an ornament, often sculptured, representing the skull of an ox. </DL>
<A NAME="bucranium">
<B>bucranium, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nia.</B> =bucrane.</DL>
<A NAME="bud">
<B>bud</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>budded,</B> <B>budding.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a small swelling on a plant that will grow into a flower, leaf, or branch. A bud is a mass of growing tissue. <BR> <I>Ex. Buds on the trees are a sign of spring.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a partly opened flower or leaf. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) anything in an undeveloped state or beginning stage. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>a child or young girl. <DD><B> b. </B>a young girl introduced into society; debutante. <DD><B> 5. </B>a small swelling or group of cells in certain simple plants or animals that grows into a new organ, a new animal, or a new plant of the same species; gemma. <BR> <I>Ex. The buds of new yeast plants grow very quickly.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>a minute, bud-shaped part or organ. <BR> <I>Ex. a taste bud.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to put forth buds. <BR> <I>Ex. The rosebush has budded.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to begin to grow or develop. <BR> <I>Ex. That boy is budding into a scientist.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to be like a bud in youth, beauty, or promise. <DD><B> 4. </B>(of birds) to eat buds. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to bring into bud; cause to bud. <DD><B> 2. </B>to put forth as buds. <DD><B> 3. </B>to graft a bud from one kind of plant into the stem of (a different kind), as a method of propagating a desired quality or variety. <DD><B> 4. </B>to produce by means of buds. <BR><I>expr. <B>in bud,</B> </I>in the time or condition of budding. <BR> <I>Ex. In spring the pear tree is in bud.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>nip in the bud,</B> </I>to stop at the very beginning; forestall. <BR> <I>Ex. The coach nipped the boys' argument in the bud before it really got started.</I> noun <B>budder.</B> </DL>
<B>Buddha, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a title applied to Siddhartha Gautama, 563?-483? B.C., called by his followers Gautama Buddha and regarded as a teacher possessing perfect enlightenment and wisdom. He was the founder of Buddhism. </DL>
<A NAME="buddhism">
<B>Buddhism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a religion based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha that teaches that right living will enable people to attain nirvana, the condition of a soul that does not have to live in a body and is free from all desire and pain. Buddhism developed in the 500's B.C., in northern India and spread over central, southeastern and eastern Asia. </DL>
<A NAME="buddhist">
<B>Buddhist, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a believer in Buddhism. <DD><I>adj. </I> having to do with Buddha or Buddhism. </DL>
<A NAME="buddhistic">
<B>Buddhistic, </B>adjective. =Buddhist.</DL>
<A NAME="buddie">
<B>buddie, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dies.</B> =buddy.</DL>
<A NAME="budding">
<B>budding, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> in process of development or emergence. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) a budding scientist, a budding crisis.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="buddle">
<B>buddle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a shallow, inclined trough for separating the metal in an ore from the earthy or valueless part by means of running water. </DL>
<A NAME="buddleia">
<B>buddleia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any plant of a genus of chiefly tropical ornamental shrubs or trees, bearing showy clusters of flowers in many shades and tones of purple, red, yellow, pink, and lavender, as well as white; butterfly bush and summer lilac. </DL>
<A NAME="buddy">
<B>buddy, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dies,</B> verb, <B>-died,</B> <B>-dying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a close friend; comrade; pal. <DD><B> 2. </B>a little boy. <DD><B> 3. </B>brother (used as a form of address). <DD><I>v.i. </I> to be or become close friends. <BR> <I>Ex. We were cussing the Germans ... and now we are buddying with them (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
