B E A
B E A
BEARING, {Cyd.) gejtatio, in the antient gyrnnaftic phyfic, was a fperies of cxercife ufed by weak perfons in tedious difeafes. P/h7f.Lex.Ant T. i. p. 867.
Bearing of an organ pipe, denotes an error or variation from the juft found it ought to yield. IVallis, in Phil. Tranf. N° 10. p. 253. See Temperature.
Bearing of an arch, or vault, denotes the effort which the ftones make to burft open the piers, or pkdrohs. This amounts to the fame with what the French call poufsee. Mem. Acad. Scicnc. 17 1 2. p. t; r .
Bearing down of the matrix, a diforder in pregnant women, be- ing a fenfation of a weight at the bottom of the abdomen, or preflure on the neck of the womb, fo as to hinder the perfon from walking without pain ; and fometim.es alfo occafioning difficulty of urine, numbnefs of the hips, uneafinefs in going to ftool, and in the end abortion. Vid. Shaw, New PracT Phyf. p. 464, fcq.
-Bearing branches in agriculture and gardening. See Bearers.
Bearing claws, among cock-fighters, denote the foremoft toes, on which the bird goes ; which if they be hurt or gravelled, he cannot fight, Ruff. Di£. T. 1 -
Armorial Bearikg is fometimes ufed to exprefs what we more Amply call arms. See Bearings in heraldry, infra. _ Armorial bearings, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, were fingle and plain, confifting only of few figures. Charges, dif- ferences, quarterings, &c. are the inventions of later times. Nisb. of Armory, c. 3. p. 31-
Bearing of a flag is ufed in refpe£t of the ftate of his head, or the croches which he bears on his horns.
If you be asked what a flag bears, you are only to reckon the croches, and never to exprefs an odd number; as if he have four croches on his near horn, and five on his far, you muft fay he bears ten ; a falfe right on his near horn : if but four on the near horn, and fix on the far horn, you muft fay he bears twelve ; a double falfe right on the near horn. Cox, Gent. Rec. P. 1. p. 12.
To Bear fail well is faid of a fhip, when fhe is a ftiff-guided fhip, and will not couch down on a fide with a great deal of fail. Manw. Sea Di£t. p. 6.
"When a fhip is faid to bear out her ordnance, it is meant, that her ordnance lie fo high, and fhe will go fo upright, that, in reafonable fighting weather, fhe will be able to keep out her lower tire, and not be forced to fhut in her ports. Id. ibid. A fhip is faid to overbear another, when it is able, in a great gale of wind, to carry out more fails, viz. a top-fail more, or the like. Id. ibid.
Bearing c^"is when a fhip would not come near a land, or an- other fhip j but goes more roomer than her courfe lies. Manw. Sea Dia. p. 7.
Bearing off is alfo ufed by feamen, generally in bufinefs be- longing to fhipping, for thrujl off. Manw. Sea Dicl. p. 7. Thus, in hoifting any thing into the fhip, if it bath hold by any part of the fhip or ordnance, or the like, they fay, bear it off from theJhip'sfide.So, if they would have the breech or mouth of a piece of ordnance, or the like, put from one, they fay, bear off, or bear about the breech.
Bearings, in heraldry, a term ufed to exprefs a coat of arms, "' or the figures of armories, by which the nobility and gentry are diftinguifhed from the vulgar, and from one another. Thefe figns of nobility with us, are evidently a copy of the ftatues and images among the antient Romans, which they ufed to expofe before their houfes on public days, and carried before the body at a funeral of a great perfon. Thefe ftatues among them were the refemblances of their noble anceftors. (See Imagi- num Jus.) And as our coats of arms evidently were brought up in the place of them, it feems very natural to date the rife and origin of heraldry in England, as now pradtifed, from the time of the fubverfion of the Roman empire by the Goths and Vandals ; who, as they deftroyed many liberal arts, fo they feem, in return, to have given birth to this of heraldry. The original cuftom with us feems to have come from the practice of thefe northern fierce people of painting on their fhields, and other parts of their armour, the figures of fome furious beaft, to reprefent their own fierce difpofition. Thus, wolves, lions, bears, and the like, became common military distinctions ; and when the perfon who firft wore them became fignalized in battle, they were continued down to his pofterity, as marks of the glory he had won. Thefe were called teffera: gentilitia, or injignia gentilitia. They were after this called by fome arma, and the title gentilitia added to it ; and hence our word arms, tho 1 we have dropped the epithet.
Thefe warlike nations, having fubdued the mighty Roman empire, and raifed their glory by military fcrvice, became very fond of the atchievements of their anceftors and great men, and derived their enfigns and titles of honour from what concerned a foldier. They firft, therefore, diftinguifhed the whole community into three ranks, which they named, accord- ing to the different orders of military men, miles, eques, and fcutifer ; and their pofterity, willing to commemorate their honours, referved to themfelves their feveral military enfigns ; and thefe became what we call bearings, or arms, the marks of gentility, or of houfes, fome one of which had once de- ferved an elevation above the common rank of men. While the Hirefl defcendent of this honourable perfon carried his enfigns 5
of honour for his diftiuction, the callateral branches alfo Were ambitious of preferving the memory of their having belonged to fuch an honourable houfe ; and therefore affumed the fame figures, but with fome difference, to diftinguifh the diftance from the original claim. In procefs of time, other families, who had deferved as well of their prince and country, whether in civil or military affairs, became defirous of the fame fort of diftin&ion, by way of eternal memorial of their fervicesj and upon this occafion many other devices were formed into arms, and continued down to pofterity in the feveral families. Bu- dtsus, Pande£t. Nisb. Heraldry, p. 5.
BEARN-Sr^z*. See Phosphorus.
BEAST (Cyd.)— Authors make this difference between leajls of the forejls and of chafe, that the firft zte fihejlres tantum, the latter campejlres tantum. Beajls of the foreft make their abode all the day time in the great coverts and fecret places of the woods ; and in the night feafon, they repair into the lawns, meadows, paftures, and pleafant feeding-places: whence their denomination fihejlres, q. d. beajls of die wood. Beajls of the chafe refide all the day-time in the fields, and on the mountains afar off, to prevent furprize ; but, on night's approach, they feed as the reft in meadows, &e. whence their appellation campejlres, q. d. beajls of the field. Cox, Gent. Recr. P. 1. p. 5.
No other, according to Manwood, are accounted beajls or fowls of warren, than hares, coneys, pheafants, and partridges. The lord Coke is of another opinion ■*, diftinguifhing beajls of the warren from fowls of the warren. Under the former, he includes hares, coneys, and roes : the latter he divides into fihejlres, campejlres, and aquati'es. To the firft belong th» pheafant, woodcock, iffc. to the fecond the partridge, quail, rail, efff. to the third the mallard, hern, &c b .— [ a Com. on Littlci. p. 233. b Cox, loc. cit.]
Beast of burthen is underftood of all quadrupeds employed in carrying goods on their backs. The chief of thefe are the elephant, dromedary, camel, horfe, mule, and afs : to which may be added the fhecp in Mexico and Peru. On fome parts of the coafts of Africa they ufe oxen, and in Flanders large dogs, for the fame purpofe. Savar. Diet. Comm. T. 1, p,
3 2 3> fe q-
Beast at ombre is, where the player, or perfon that undertakes the game, Jofes it to the other two ; the penalty of which is 3 forfeiture equal to the ftake played for. Vid. Comp. Gameft. p. 24.
The player is beajled, unlefs he win five of the nine tricks, or at leaft four; with this further circumftance, that the other five be fo divided between the two other gamefters, that one makes three tricks, the other two.
If the player win no more tricks than one of the other game- fters, it is called repuefto. If one of the gamefters win more tricks than the player, the latter is not fimply faid to be beajl- ed, but to lofe codille. Diet. Trev. T. 1. p. 1003. Beast, la bete, is alfo the name of a French game at cards. V.
Comp!. Gameft. p. 97. BEAT, or Undulation, in mufic. See Undulation, Beat is applied to the mufic of the drum, where it anfwers to what in other inftruments is called the tune, air, or fong. The chief beats or beatings on the drum are, the general, thf affembly, the march, the reveille, the retreat, effe. Beat, in fencing, denotes a blow or ftroke given with th* fword. See Beating.
There are two kinds of beats ; the firft performed with the foible of a man's fword on the foible of his adverfary's, which in the fchools is commonly called baierie, from the French baire, and is chiefly ufed in a purfuit, to make an open upon the adver- fary. The fecond and beft kind of beat is performed with the fort of a man's fword upon the foible of his adverfary's, not with a fpring, as in binding, but with a jerk, or dry beat; and is therefore moft proper for the parades without or within the fword, becaufe of the rebound a man's fword has thereby from. his adverfary's, whereby he procures to bimfelf the better and furer opportunity of rifpofling. Hope, New Meth. Fenc. c. 4. p. 116. Beat in the manege. A horfe is faid to beat the dStft, when, at each ftroke or motion, he does not take in ground or way enough with his fore-legs.
He is more particularly faid to beat the. duft at terra a terra, when he does not take in ground enough with his fhoulders, making his ftrokes or motions too fhort, as if he made them all in one place.
He beats the dujl at curvets, when he does them too precipi- tantly, and too low.
He beats upon a walk, when he walks too fhort, and thus rids but little ground, whether it be in ftreight lines, rounds, or paffings. ■ &all. Gent. Dia. P. 1. Beat upon the hand, in the manege. See Chack. BEATER is applied, in matters of commerce, to divers forts of workmen, whofe bufinefs is to hammer or flatten certain mat- ters, metals, or the like.
In this fenfe we meet with plajler-beatgr, cement -beater, mortar- beater, &c. GW-Beaters are artifans who, by beating gold and filver with a hammer on a marble, in moulds of vellum and bul- locks guts, reduce them to thin leaves fit for gilding, or filver-
