An old style Letter B

Elizabethan Words beginning with the Letter B
The following dictionary contains old Elizabethan words and their meanings beginning with Letter B. If you find some words amusing click the following link to have FUN with some insults from the Shakespearean Insults Generator.

Elizabethan Words beginning with the Letter B

BACCARE 
keep back 
BACKWARD 
the hinder part; hence, when applied to time, the past 
BAFFLE 
embarrass 
BALKED 
heaped, as on a ridge 
BALLOW 
a cudgel 
BALM 
the oil of consecration 

BAN 
to curse 
BANK 
to sail by the banks 
BARM 
yeast 
BARN 
a child 
BARNACLE 
a shellfish, supposed to produce the sea-bird of the same name 
BASE 
a game, sometimes called Prisoners' base 

BASES 
an embroidered mantle worn by knights on horseback, and reaching from the middle to 
below the knees 
BASILISK 
a kind of ordnance 
BASTA 
enough 
BATE 
to flutteras a hawk,abate 
BAT-FOWLING 
catching birds with a clap-net by night 
BATLET 
a small bat, used for beating clothes 
BATTLE 
army 
BAVIN 
used as an a piece of waste wood, applied contemptuously to anything worthless 
BAWCOCK 
a fine fellow 
BAWD 
procurer 
BAY 
the space between the main timbers of the roof 

BEADSMAN 
one who bids bedes, that is, prays prayers for another 
BEARING-CLOTH 
a rich cloth in which children were wrapt at their christening 
BEAT 
to flutter as a falcon, to meditate, consider earnestly 
BEAVER 
the lower part of a helmet 
BEETLE 
a mallet 
BEING 
dwelling, inasmuch as 
BE-METE 
to measure 
BE-MOILED 
daubed with dirt 
BENDING 
stooping under a weight 
BENVENUTO 
welcome (Italian)
BERGOMASK 
a rustic dance 
BESHREW 
evil befal 
BESTRAUGHT 
distraught, distracted 
BETEEM 
to pour out 
BETID 
happened 
BEZONIAN 
a beggarly fellow 
BIDING 
abiding-place 
BIGGEN 
a night-cap 
BILBERRY 
the whortleberry
BILBO 
a sword, from Bilboa, a town in Spain where they were made 
BILBOES 
fetters or stocks 
BILL 
a bill-hook, a weapon 
BIN 
been, are 
BROCK 
a badger, a term of contempt 
BROKE 
to act as a procurer 
BROKEN 
having lost some teeth by age 

BROKEN MUSIC 
the music of stringed instruments 
BROKER 
an agent 
BIRD-BOLT 
a bolt to be shot from a crossbow at birds 
BISSON 
blind 
BLANK 
the white mark in the middle of a target; hence, metaphorically, that which is 
aimed at 
BLENCH 
to start aside, flinch 
BLENT 
blended
BLOOD-BOLTERED 
smeared with blood 
BLOW 
to inflate 
BOARD 
to make advances to; accost 
BOB 
a blow, sarcasm 
BODGE 
to botch, bungle 
BODIKIN 
a corrupt word used as an oath. 'Od's Bodikin,' God's little Body 
BOITIER VERT 
green box 
BOLD 
to embolden 
BOLLEN 
swollen 
BOLTED 
sifted, refined 
BOLTER 
a sieve 
BOLTING-HUTCH 
a hutch in which meal was sifted
BOMBARD 
a barrel, a drunkard 
BOMBAST 
padding 
BONA-ROBA 
a harlot 

BOOK 
a paper of conditions 
BOOT 
to help, to avail 
BOOTLESS 
without boot or advantage, useless 
BORE 
calibre of a gun; hence, metaph. size, weight, importance 
BOSKY 
covered with underwood 
BOSOM 
wish, heart's desire 
BOTS 
worms which infest horses 
BOURN 
a boundary A brook 
BRACE 
armour for the arm, state of defence 
BRACH 
a hound bitch 
BRAID 
deceitful 
BRAVE 
handsome, well-dressed 
BRAVERY 
finery Boastfulness 
BRAWL 
a kind of dance 
BREAST 
voice 
BREATHING 
exercising 
BREECHING 
liable to be whipt 
BREED-BATE 
a breeder of quarrels 
BREESE 
the gadfly 
BRIBE-BUCK 
a buck given away in presents 
BRING 
to attend one on a journey 
BROTHERHOOD 
trading company 
BRUIT 
noise, report, rumour 
BRUSH 
rude assault 
BUCK 
suds or lye for washing clothes in 
BUCK-BASKET 
the basket in which clothes are carried to the wash 
BUCKING 
washing 
BUCK-WASHING 
washing in lye 

BUG 
a bugbear, a spectre 
BULLY-ROOK 
a bragging cheater 
BURGONET 
a kind of helmet 
BURST 
to break 
BUSKY 
bushy 
BUTT-SHAFT 
a light arrow for shooting at a target 
BUXOM 
obedient