Word Meanings - BLACKGUARD - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. The scullions and lower menials of a court, or of a nobleman's household, who, in a removal from one residence to another, had charge of the kitchen utensils, and being smutted by them, were jocularly called the "black guard"; also, the servants

Additional info about word: BLACKGUARD

1. The scullions and lower menials of a court, or of a nobleman's household, who, in a removal from one residence to another, had charge of the kitchen utensils, and being smutted by them, were jocularly called the "black guard"; also, the servants and hangers-on of an army. A lousy slave, that . . . rode with the black guard in the duke's carriage, 'mongst spits and dripping pans. Webster . 2. The criminals and vagrants or vagabonds of a town or community, collectively. 3. A person of stained or low character, esp. one who uses scurrilous language, or treats others with foul abuse; a scoundrel; a rough. A man whose manners and sentiments are decidedly below those of his class deserves to be called a blackguard. Macaulay. 4. A vagrant; a bootblack; a gamin.

Related words: (words related to BLACKGUARD)

• BELLMAN
  A man who rings a bell, especially to give notice of anything in the streets. Formerly, also, a night watchman who called the hours. Milton.
• BELIAL
  An evil spirit; a wicked and unprincipled person; the personification of evil. What concord hath Christ with Belia 2 Cor. vi. 15. A son of Belial, a worthless, wicked, or thoroughly depraved person. 1 Sam. ii. 12.
• BESCRATCH
  To tear with the nails; to cover with scratches.
• BEASTLIHEAD
  Beastliness. Spenser.
• BEWRAP
  To wrap up; to cover. Fairfax.
• CALLOSUM
  The great band commissural fibers which unites the two cerebral hemispheres. See corpus callosum, under Carpus.
• BERGOMASK
  A rustic dance, so called in ridicule of the people of Bergamo, in Italy, once noted for their clownishness.
• BEVELMENT
  The replacement of an edge by two similar planes, equally inclined to the including faces or adjacent planes.
• BESCATTER
  1. To scatter over. 2. To cover sparsely by scattering ; to strew. "With flowers bescattered." Spenser.
• CALLOW
  1. Destitute of feathers; naked; unfledged. An in the leafy summit, spied a nest, Which, o'er the callow young, a sparrow pressed. Dryden. 2. Immature; boyish; "green"; as, a callow youth. I perceive by this, thou art but a callow maid. Old Play .
• BELEAVE
  To leave or to be left. May.
• BETSO
  A small brass Venetian coin.
• BESCORN
  To treat with scorn. "Then was he bescorned." Chaucer.
• CALLE
  A kind of head covering; a caul. Chaucer.
• BELLADONNA
  An herbaceous European plant with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries. The whole plant and its fruit are very poisonous, and the root and leaves are used as powerful medicinal agents. Its properties are largely due
• BETOKEN
  1. To signify by some visible object; to show by signs or tokens. A dewy cloud, and in the cloud a bow . . . Betokening peace from God, and covenant new. Milton. 2. To foreshow by present signs; to indicate something future by that which is seen
• BECHE DE MER
  The trepang.
• BETROTHAL
  The act of betrothing, or the fact of being betrothed; a mutual promise, engagement, or contract for a future marriage between the persons betrothed; betrothment; affiance. "The feast of betrothal." Longfellow.
• BESLUBBER
  To beslobber.
• BENIM
  To take away. Ire . . . benimeth the man fro God. Chaucer.
• COMBER
  1. One who combs; one whose occupation it is to comb wool, flax, etc. Also, a machine for combing wool, flax, etc. 2. A long, curling wave.
• GABBER
  1. A liar; a deceiver. 2. One addicted to idle talk.
• HAIRBELL
  See HAREBELL
• ORBED
  Having the form of an orb; round. The orbèd eyelids are let down. Trench.
• WILLOWER
  A willow. See Willow, n., 2.
• GERBE
  A kind of ornamental firework. Farrow.
• LAMBERT PINE
  The gigantic sugar pine of California and Oregon (Pinus Lambertiana). It has the leaves in fives, and cones a foot long. The timber is soft, and like that of the white pine of the Eastern States.
• WINDFLOWER
  The anemone; -- so called because formerly supposed to open only when the wind was blowing. See Anemone.
• WATER-BEARER
  The constellation Aquarius.
• GABELER
  A collector of gabels or taxes.
• GYMNASTICALLY
  In a gymnastic manner.
• CORYMBED
  Corymbose.
• ABERRATE
  To go astray; to diverge. Their own defective and aberrating vision. De Quincey.