Badminton
a popular game, closely resembling lawn tennis, played with battledore and shuttlecock on a rectangular portion of a lawn. The ground is divided crosswise by a strip of net, not less than three inches wide, suspended from poles at a height of five feet. As in lawn ten tennis, the ground on either side of the net is divided lengthwise into right and left courts. The first player, standing on a specified part of his right court, must strike the shuttlecock so as to fall across the net into the back section of the right court opposite. The opponent strikes it back, then it is returned by the first player, and so on till the first player misses the shuttlecock. After the first stroke, it suffices that the shuttlecock be sent across the net, if it does not fly beyond the boundaries.
BADRINATH (-at'), a peak of the main Himalaya range, in Garhwal district, Northwestern Provinces, India; 23,210 feet above the sea. On one of its shoulders, at an elevation of 10,400 feet, stands a celebrated temple of Vishnu, which some years attracts as many as 50,000 pilgrims.
BAEDEKER (bā'de-ker), KARL, a German publisher, born in 1801; originator of a celebrated series of guidebooks for travelers. He died in 1859.