a. That may be abused. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Abuse. [ Obs. ] Whately (1634). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. abus, L. abusus, fr. abuti. See Abuse, v. t. ] 1. Improper treatment or use; application to a wrong or bad purpose; misuse; as, an abuse of our natural powers; an abuse of civil rights, or of privileges or advantages; an abuse of language. [ 1913 Webster ]

Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power. Madison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Physical ill treatment; injury. “Rejoice . . . at the abuse of Falstaff.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the abuses in the civil service. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abuse after disappeared without a struggle.. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling. [ 1913 Webster ]

The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Violation; rape; as, abuse of a female child. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Or is it some abuse, and no such thing? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abuse of distress (Law), a wrongful using of an animal or chattel distrained, by the distrainer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Invective; contumely; reproach; scurrility; insult; opprobrium. -- Abuse, Invective. Abuse is generally prompted by anger, and vented in harsh and unseemly words. It is more personal and coarse than invective. Abuse generally takes place in private quarrels; invective in writing or public discussions. Invective may be conveyed in refined language and dictated by indignation against what is blameworthy. C. J. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Abused p. pr. & vb. n. Abusing. ] [ F. abuser; L. abusus, p. p. of abuti to abuse, misuse; ab + uti to use. See Use. ] 1. To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity. Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To use ill; to maltreat; to act injuriously to; to punish or to tax excessively; to hurt; as, to abuse prisoners, to abuse one's powers, one's patience. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To revile; to reproach coarsely; to disparage. [ 1913 Webster ]

The . . . tellers of news abused the general. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To dishonor. “Shall flight abuse your name?” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To violate; to ravish. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To deceive; to impose on. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To maltreat; injure; revile; reproach; vilify; vituperate; asperse; traduce; malign. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of abuse; abusive. [ R. ] “Abuseful names.” Bp. Barlow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abuses [ in the various senses of the verb ]. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. abusion, abusioun, OF. abusion, fr. L. abusio misuse of words, f. abuti. See Abuse, v. t. ] Evil or corrupt usage; abuse; wrong; reproach; deception; cheat. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. abusif, fr. L. abusivus. ] 1. Wrongly used; perverted; misapplied. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am . . . necessitated to use the word Parliament improperly, according to the abusive acceptation thereof. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Given to misusing; also, full of abuses. [ Archaic ] “The abusive prerogatives of his see.” Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Practicing abuse; prone to ill treat by coarse, insulting words or by other ill usage; as, an abusive author; an abusive fellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Containing abuse, or serving as the instrument of abuse; vituperative; reproachful; scurrilous. “An abusive lampoon.” Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Tending to deceive; fraudulent; cheating. [ Obs. ] “An abusive treaty.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Reproachful; scurrilous; opprobrious; insolent; insulting; injurious; offensive; reviling. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an abusive manner; rudely; with abusive language. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being abusive; rudeness of language, or violence to the person. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pick out mirth, like stones out of thy ground,
Profaneness, filthiness, abusiveness. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Aëro- + bus. ] An aëroplane or airship designed to carry passengers. Now called a passenger plane or commercial airliner. [ obsolescent ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. [ F. embuscade, fr. It. imboscata, or Sp. emboscada, fr. emboscar to ambush, fr. LL. imboscare. See Ambush, v. t. ] 1. A lying in a wood, concealed, for the purpose of attacking an enemy by surprise. Hence: A lying in wait, and concealed in any situation, for a like purpose; a snare laid for an enemy; an ambush. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A place in which troops lie hid, to attack an enemy unexpectedly. [ R. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mil.) The body of troops lying in ambush. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Ambuscaded p. pr. & vb. n. Ambuscading ] 1. To post or conceal in ambush; to ambush. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To lie in wait for, or to attack from a covert or lurking place; to waylay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To lie in ambush. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Ambuscade. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. Posted in ambush; ambuscaded. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. embûche, fr. the verb. See Ambush, v. t. ] 1. A disposition or arrangement of troops for attacking an enemy unexpectedly from a concealed station. Hence: Unseen peril; a device to entrap; a snare. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege
Or ambush from the deep. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A concealed station, where troops or enemies lie in wait to attack by surprise. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bold in close ambush, base in open field. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The troops posted in a concealed place, for attacking by surprise; liers in wait. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The ambush arose quickly out of their place. Josh. viii. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

To lay an ambush, to post a force in ambush. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Ambushed p. pr. & vb. n. Ambushing. ] [ OE. enbussen, enbushen, OF. embushier, embuissier, F. embûcher, embusquer, fr. LL. imboscare; in + LL. boscus, buscus, a wood; akin to G. bush, E. bush. See Ambuscade, Bush. ] 1. To station in ambush with a view to surprise an enemy. [ 1913 Webster ]

By ambushed men behind their temple laid,
We have the king of Mexico betrayed. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To attack by ambush; to waylay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To lie in wait, for the purpose of attacking by surprise; to lurk. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor saw the snake that ambushed for his prey. Trumbull. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One lying in ambush. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. embuschement. See Ambush, v. t. ] An ambush. [ Obs. ] 2 Chron. xiii. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ambustio. ] (Med.) A burn or scald. [ Obs. ] Blount. [ 1913 Webster + AS ]

n. [ L. arbuscula small tree, shrub, dim. of arbor tree. ] A dwarf tree, one in size between a shrub and a tree; a treelike shrub. Bradley. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a dwarf tree; shrublike. Da Costa. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. arbustivus, fr. arbustum place where trees are planted. ] Containing copses of trees or shrubs; covered with shrubs. Bartram. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Arquebus. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. arquebusade shot of an arquebus; eau d'arquebusade a vulnerary for gunshot wounds. ] 1. The shot of an arquebus. Ash. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A distilled water from a variety of aromatic plants, as rosemary, millefoil, etc.; -- originally used as a vulnerary in gunshot wounds. Parr. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ F. arquebuse, OF. harquebuse, fr. D. haak-bus; cf. G. hakenbüchse a gun with a hook. See Hagbut. ] A sort of hand gun or firearm a contrivance answering to a trigger, by which the burning match was applied. The musket was a later invention. [ Written also harquebus. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. arquebusier. ] A soldier armed with an arquebus. [ 1913 Webster ]

Soldiers armed with guns, of whatsoever sort or denomination, appear to have been called arquebusiers. E. Lodge. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A tribe of plants comprising the bamboos.
Syn. -- tribe Bambuseae. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Either fr. blunder + D. bus tube, box, akin to G. büchse box, gun, E. box; or corrupted fr. D. donderbus (literally) thunder box, gun, musket. ] 1. A short gun or firearm, with a large bore, capable of holding a number of balls, and intended to do execution without exact aim. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A stupid, blundering fellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. bumblebees.
Syn. -- genus Bombus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

(Bot.) The bramble, or a collection of brambles growing together. [ 1913 Webster ]

He jumped into a bramble bush
And scratched out both his eyes. Mother Goose. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. fragrant rounded shrub of SW US and adjacent Mexico having brittle stems and small crowded blue-green leaves and yellow flowers; produces a resin used in incense and varnish and in folk medicine.
Syn. -- brittle bush, incienso, Encelia farinosa. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ Hind. & Per. bando-bast tying and binding. ] System; discipline. [ India ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He has more bundobust than most men. Kipling. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Abbreviated from omnibus. ] An omnibus. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an electrical conductor that makes a common connection between several circuits.
Syn. -- busbar, bus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Busbies (Mil.) A military headdress or cap, used in the British army. It is of fur, with a bag, of the same color as the facings of the regiment, hanging from the top over the right shoulder. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Sp., a searcher, fr. buscar to search. ] One who searches for ores; a prospector. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bosch, busch, buysch, bosk, busk; akin to D. bosch, OHG. busc, G. busch, Icel. būskr, būski, Dan. busk, Sw. buske, and also to LL. boscus, buscus, Pr. bosc, It. bosco, Sp. & Pg. bosque, F. bois, OF. bos. Whether the LL. or G. form is the original is uncertain; if the LL., it is perh. from the same source as E. box a case. Cf. Ambush, Boscage, Bouquet, Box a case. ] 1. A thicket, or place abounding in trees or shrubs; a wild forest. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This was the original sense of the word, as in the Dutch bosch, a wood, and was so used by Chaucer. In this sense it is extensively used in the British colonies, especially at the Cape of Good Hope, and also in Australia and Canada; as, to live or settle in the bush. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A shrub; esp., a shrub with branches rising from or near the root; a thick shrub or a cluster of shrubs. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bind a bush of thorns among sweet-smelling flowers. Gascoigne. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree; as, bushes to support pea vines. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (as sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself. [ 1913 Webster ]

If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 't is true that a good play needs no epilogue. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Hunting) The tail, or brush, of a fox. [ 1913 Webster ]

To beat about the bush, to approach anything in a round-about manner, instead of coming directly to it; -- a metaphor taken from hunting. --
Bush bean (Bot.), a variety of bean which is low and requires no support (Phaseolus vulgaris, variety nanus). See Bean, 1. --
Bush buck, or
Bush goat (Zool.), a beautiful South African antelope (Tragelaphus sylvaticus); -- so called because found mainly in wooden localities. The name is also applied to other species. --
Bush cat (Zool.), the serval. See Serval. --
Bush chat (Zool.), a bird of the genus Pratincola, of the Thrush family. --
Bush dog. (Zool.) See Potto. --
Bush hammer. See Bushhammer in the Vocabulary. --
Bush harrow (Agric.) See under Harrow. --
Bush hog (Zool.), a South African wild hog (Potamochœrus Africanus); -- called also bush pig, and water hog. --
Bush master (Zool.), a venomous snake (Lachesis mutus) of Guinea; -- called also surucucu. --
Bush pea (Bot.), a variety of pea that needs to be bushed. --
Bush shrike (Zool.), a bird of the genus Thamnophilus, and allied genera; -- called also batarg. Many species inhabit tropical America. --
Bush tit (Zool.), a small bird of the genus Psaltriparus, allied to the titmouse. Psaltriparus minimus inhabits California. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To branch thickly in the manner of a bush. “The bushing alders.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bushed (b&usdot_;sht); p. pr. & vb. n. Bushing. ] 1. To set bushes for; to support with bushes; as, to bush peas. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To use a bush harrow on (land), for covering seeds sown; to harrow with a bush; as, to bush a piece of land; to bush seeds into the ground. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ D. bus a box, akin to E. box; or F. boucher to plug. ] 1. (Mech.) A lining for a hole to make it smaller; a thimble or ring of metal or wood inserted in a plate or other part of machinery to receive the wear of a pivot or arbor. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the larger machines, such a piece is called a box, particularly in the United States. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Gun.) A piece of copper, screwed into a gun, through which the venthole is bored. Farrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To furnish with a bush, or lining; as, to bush a pivot hole. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. any of several agile long-tailed nocturnal African lemurlike primates of the genus Galago with dense woolly fur and large eyes and ears; -- called also galago. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. See Bushman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. antelope with white harnesslike markings and twisted horns.
Syn. -- guib, Tragelaphus scriptus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

pred. adj. very tired from exertion.
Syn. -- all in(predicate), beat(predicate), dead(predicate), dead tired(predicate), knocked out(predicate). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. buschel, boischel, OF. boissel, bussel, boistel, F. boisseau, LL. bustellus; dim. of bustia, buxida (OF. boiste), fr. pyxida, acc. of L. pyxis box, Gr. pyxi`s. Cf. Box. ] 1. A dry measure, containing four pecks, eight gallons, or thirty-two quarts. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The Winchester bushel, formerly used in England, contained 2150.42 cubic inches, being the volume of a cylinder 181/2 inches in internal diameter and eight inches in depth. The standard bushel measures, prepared by the United States Government and distributed to the States, hold each 77.6274 pounds of distilled water, at 39.8° Fahr. and 30 inches atmospheric pressure, being the equivalent of the Winchester bushel. The imperial bushel now in use in England is larger than the Winchester bushel, containing 2218.2 cubic inches, or 80 pounds of water at 62° Fahr. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A vessel of the capacity of a bushel, used in measuring; a bushel measure. [ 1913 Webster ]

Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not to be set on a candlestick? Mark iv. 21. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A quantity that fills a bushel measure; as, a heap containing ten bushels of apples. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the United States a large number of articles, bought and sold by the bushel, are measured by weighing, the number of pounds that make a bushel being determined by State law or by local custom. For some articles, as apples, potatoes, etc., heaped measure is required in measuring a bushel. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A large indefinite quantity. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The worthies of antiquity bought the rarest pictures with bushels of gold, without counting the weight or the number of the pieces. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The iron lining in the nave of a wheel. [ Eng. ] In the United States it is called a box. See 4th Bush. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Busheled p. pr. & vb. n. Busheling. ] [ Cf. G. bosseln. ] (Tailoring) To mend or repair, as men's garments; to repair garments. [ U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]