blunt manner, alledging a warrant to stop them. Wotton

'Tis not enough your counfel fill be true; Blunt truths more mifchiefs than nice falfehoods

do.

Pope.

4. Abrupt; not elegant.-To ufe too many circumftances, ere one come to the matter, is wearifome; to use none at all, is blunt. Bacon. 5. Hard to penetrate. This ufe is improper.--I find my heart hardened, and blunt to new impreffions; it will fearce receive or retain affections of yesterday. Pope.

(2.) BLUNT, 2. f. in fencing, a foil. *To BLUNT. v. a. [from the noun.] dull the edge or point.

1. To

So ficken waining moons too near the fun,
And blunt their crefcents on the edge of day.
Dryden.
Earthly limbs and grofs allay,
Blunt not the beams of heav'n, and edge of day.
Dryden.
He had fuch things to urge against qur mar-
riage,

As, now declar'd, would blunt my fword in
battle,

And daftardize my courage.

Dryden.

2. To reprefs, or weaken any appetite, defire, or power of the mind.

Blunt not his love;

Nor lofe the good advantage of his grace,
By feeming cold.

Shakespeare.

BLUNTISH, adj. Somewhat blunt.
* BLUNTLY. adv. [from blunt.] 1. In a blunt
manner; without fharpncis. 2. Coarfely; plain-
ly; roughly.I can keep honeft counfels, marr a
curious tale in telling it, and deliver a plain mef-
fage bluntly. Shakespeare.-

A man of honeft blood,
Who to his wife, before the time affign'd
For childbirth came, thus bluntly spoke his mind.
Dryden..
BLUNTNESS. n. f. [from blunt.] 1. Want
of edge or point; dulnefs; obtufenefs; want of
Tharpness.-

The crafty boy, that had full oft effay'd
To pierce my ftubborn and refifting breast,
But fill the bluntnefs of his darts betray'd.

Suckling. 2. Coarfenefs; roughness of manners; rude finerity. His filence grew wit, his bluntnefs integrity, his beaftly ignorance, virtuous fimplicity. Sidney. -Manage difputes with civility; whence fome readers will be affifted to difcern a difference be twixt bluntnefs of fpeech and ftrength of reafon. Boyle

Falfe friends, his deadlieft foes, could find no way,

But fhows of honest bluntness to betray. Dryd. BLUNTSHAM, a village in Huntingdonfhire, S. of Erith.

* BLUNTWITTED. adj. [from 5lunt and wit.] Dull; ftupid.-

Blunt witted lord, ignoble in demeanour. Shakespeare. * BLUR. n. f. [borra, Span. a blot, Skinner.] A blot; a ftain; a spot.—Man, once fallen, was thing but a great blur; a total univerfal pelluSouth.

But time hath nothing blurr'd thofe lines of fa Shake peare. Concerning innate principles, I defire there men to fay, whether they can, or cannot, by education and cuftom, be blurr'd and blotted out? 2. To blot; to itain; to fully.

Hudibras.

Sarcalms may eclipfe thine own, But cannot blur my loft renown. BLURHICH, a diftrict in Dumbartonshire. *To BLURT. v. a. (without etymology.] To fpeak inadvertently; to let fly without thinking; commonly with out intenfive.-Others caft out bloody and deadly fpeeches at random, and cannot hold, but blurt out thofe words, which afterwards they are forced to eat. Hakewill.-They had fome belief of a Deity, which they, upon furprizal, thus blurt out. Gov. of the Tongue.

They blath if they blurt out, ere well aware, A fwan is white, or Queensbury is fair. Young. · BLURTON, a village in Staffordshire, 2 miles S. E. of Newcaitle under Lyne.

(1.) * BLUSH. n.f. [from the verb.] 1. The colour in the cheeks, raised by flame or confufion.

The virgin's wish, without her fears, impart, Excufe the blush, and pour out all the heart.

Pope. 2. A red or purple colour. 3. Sudden appealance; a fignification that feems barbarous, yet ufed by good writers.-All purely identical propofitions, obviously, and at firft blush, appear to contain no certain inftruction in them. Locke.

(2.) BLUSH OF A BUSINESS, is one of the ma ny bombastic metaphors, which modern affectation has of late introduced into the English language. The late Prof. BEATTIE has juftly expofed this, along with many fimilar fashionable innovations, in his humorous dialogue between Dean Swift, a London bookieller, and Mercury. After introducing the bookfeller as "fpeaking English of the very newest and best pattern," he makes the dean apply to Mercury" to interpret fome of this learned perfon's gibberishi :"-whereupon the god, among other directions " to make English as well nearly as this learned bookfeller," tells him," Always when you can, prefer figurative to proper expreffion, and be not nice in the choice of your fi gures, nor give yourfelt much trouble about their confidency."-Thus "inftead of-He spoke an hour on various topicks, you mult fay, He was an hour upon his legs, and went into a variety of matter: an idiom which is now very common and much admired, because it is figurative, verboje, and ambiguous: three qualities of tyle, which are now, among fashionable writers and speakers, indifpenfable. Inftead of-He undervalues his enemies, fay, He fets no flore by thofe who are inimical to him.Inftead of-At firft view, you must say, At the firft Blush of the business," &c. (1.) To BLUSH. v. a.

ufed.

To make red. Not

Pale

ed perfons; now called Bua, an ifland in the Adriatic, joined to the continent and to Tragurium, now Tran, by a bridge.

(II.) Boa, in zoology, a genus of ferpents, belonging to the order of amphibia. Mr Chambers fays, the name is derived from fome of the fpecies following cows and fucking their teats. The characters are, that the belly and tail are both furZithed with fcuta. Their bite is not poisonous. See SERPENT. There are 10 fpecies, viz.

1. BOA CANINA, has 203 fcuta on the belly, and 77 on the tail; it is greenifh, and variegated with white belts. It is a native of America, lodges in the hollow trunk of trees, and is about two feet long.

2. BOA CENCHRIA, has 263 fcuta on the belly, and 57 on the tail. It is of a yellow colour, with white eye-like fpots. It is a native of Surinam.

3. BOA CONSTRICTOR, has 240 fcuta on the belly, and 60 on the tail. This is an immenfe animal: it often exceeds 36 feet in length; the body is very thick, of a dufky white colour, and its back is interfperfed with 24 large pale irregular fpots; the tail is of a darker colour; and the fides are beautifully variegated with pale fpots. Befides the whole body is interfperfed with fmall brown spots. See Pl. XLI. fig. 9. The head is covered with finall feales, and has no broad laminæ betwixt the eyes, but has a black belt behind them. It wants the large dog fangs. The tongue is flefhy, and very little forked. Above the eyes, on each fide, the head rifes high. The feales of this ferpent are all very small, roundish and fmooth. The tail does not exceed one 8th of the whole length of the animal. The Indians, who adore this monfrous animal, ufe the fkin for cloaths, on account of its smoothnefs and beauty. There are several of these skins of the above dimenfions preferved, and to be feen in the different mufeums of Europe, particularly in the library and botanic garden of Upfal in Sweden, which has of late been greatly enriched by count Grilliuborg. The Heth of this ferpent is eat by the Indians and the negroes of Africa. Pifo, Margraave, and Kempfer, give the following account of its method of living and catching its prey. It frequents caves and thick forefts, where it conceals itfelf, and fuddenly darts out upon ftrangers, wild beafts, &c. When it chootes a tree for its watching place, it fupports itself by tv ifting its tail round the trunk or a branch, and darts down upon fheep, goats, tigers, or any animal that comes within its reach. When it lays hold of animals, efpecially any of the larger kinds, it twifts itfelf feveral times round their body, and by the vast force of its circular muscles bruifes and breaks all their bones. After the bones are broke, it licks the skin of the animal all over, befmearing it with a glutinous kind of faliva. This operation is intended to facilitate deglutition, and is a preparation for fwallowing the whole animal. If it be a fag, or any horned animal, it begins to fwallow the feet first, and gradually fucks in the body, and laft of all the head. When the horns happen to be large, it has been obferved to go about for a long time with them fticking out from its mouth. As the animal digefts, the horns putrify and fall

After this fepent has fwallowed a tug or a

tiger, it is unable for fome days to move; the hunters who are well acquainted with this circum ftance, always take this opportunity of deftroying it. When irritated, it makes a loud hiffing noite. It is faid to cover itself over with leaves in fuch places as ftags or other animals frequent, in order to conceal itfelf from their fight, and that it may the more eafily lay hold of them. One of them, which was killed in the reign of Claudius, was found with a child whole in its belly.

4. BOA CONTORTRIX, has 150 fcuta on the belly, and 40 on the tail: the head is broad, very convex, and has poifon-bags in the mouth, but no fang, for which reafon its bite is not rec koned poisonous: the body is ath-coloured, interfperfed with large dufky fpots; and the tail is about one 3d of the length of the body. This ferpent is found in Carolina.

5. BOA ENYDRIS, has 270 fcuta on the belly, and 105 on the tail. The colour is a dufky white, and the teeth of the lower jaw very long. It is a native of America.

6. BOA HIPNALE is of a dull yellow colour, and is found in Afia. It has 179 fcuta on the belly, and 120 on the tail.

7. BOA HORTULANA, has 290 fcuta on the belly, and 128 on the tail. It is of a pale colour, interfperfed with, livid wedge-like fpots. It is a native of America.

8. BOA MURINA, has 254 fcuta on the belly, and 65 on the tail. The colour of it is a light blue, and round ipots on the back. It is a native of America.

9. BOA OPHRIAS, has 281 fcuta on the belly, and 64 on the tail; the colour is nearly the fame with that of the conftrictor, (N. 3.) but browner. The place where this ferpent is to be found is not known.

10. BOA SCYTALE has 250 fcuta on the belly, and 70 on the tail. The body is afh coloured and bluth, with round black fpots on the back, and black lateral rings edged with white. It is a native of America; and, like the conftrictor, (N. 3-)| though not fo long, twilts itfelf about sheep, goat, &c. and fwallows them whole.

BOADADA BASHAW, in the Turkish military orders, an officer of the janizaries, whofe bufinets it is to walk every day about the principal parts of the city, with a number of janizaries, to keep order, and to fee that all things are regular, even to the drefs. This office is for 3 months, and from this the perfon is ufually advanced to be a ferach.

BOADICEA, or VOADICEA, a valiant British queen in the time of Nero the emperor, wife to Prafutagus king of the Iceni in Britain, who by his will left the emperor and his own daughters co-heirs to his great treafures, in expectation of procuring by that means Nero's protection for his family and people: but he was no fooner dead, than the emperor's officers feized all. Boadicea oppoted thefe unjuft proceedings; which was refented to fuch a pitch of brutality, that they ordered the lady to be publicly whipped, and her daughters to be ravifhed by the foldiers. The Britons took arms, to the number of 120,000, with Boadicea at their head, to shake off the Roman yoke; and made a general and loody maffaure of about

ed perfons; now called Bua, an ifland in the A- tiger, it is unable for fome days to move; the driatic, joined to the continent and to Tragurium, hunters who are well acquainted with this circumnow Tran, by a bridge. ftance, always take this opportunity of deftroying it. When irritated, it makes a loud hiffing noife. It is faid to cover itfelf over with leaves in fuch places as ftags or other animals frequent, in order to conceal itself from their fight, and that it may the more eafily lay hold of them. One of them, which was killed in the reign of Claudius, was found with a child whole in its belly.