More than one of these 7 encyclopedias carries each of the following subjects — but every one of them treats it in a sentence or two and then moves on. They are gathered here so the different accounts can sit side by side.
Blue Jay
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a common North American bird of the crow family, and occupying in the New World the place held by the jays (garrulus) of the Old. In the United States the blue jay is sometimes persecuted, sometimes protected. They are mischievous birds, but devour large numbers of injurious caterpillars. The common blue jay has a wide distribution, and there are several other North American species. The long-tailed blue jays belong to a rarer genus (Xanthura) found in Central and in South America.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Jay
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Blunderbuss
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a short, clumsy, large-barreled, bell-mouthed shotgun. It was loaded with a handful of slugs or buckshot and was used to repel burglars, or a boarding party at the ship's rail, or for any other purpose where a murderous fire of musketry could be delivered at short range. It was a distinctively English firearm. The barrel was made usually of brass and was liable to burst. The term blunderbuss is applied not infrequently to a clumsy or to an ill-advised political speaker, who discharges a volley of ill-considered eloquence, doing about as much harm to his own party as to his opponent. 2026 Editor's Note: The figurative use the entry notes is now the only one most people meet: a blunderbuss argument sprays in all directions and hits nothing squarely. The gun itself owes its odd afterlife to Thanksgiving illustration, where Pilgrims are habitually drawn carrying one — though the bell-mouthed weapon was not in fact typical of their arms. (Ed: BR 2026-07-16)
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a short gun, unrifled and of large bore, widening toward the muzzle. It is by no means to be ranked with arms of precision, but is loaded with many balls or slugs, which scatter when fired, so that there is a certainty of some one of them hitting the mark.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bombazine
Aiton's Encyclopedia: bum-ba-zen, a twilled dress fabric of which the warp is silk and the weft worsted. The name is from a Greek word signifying silk. Bombazine is somewhat wiry, and has a changeable, lustrous appearance due to the play of light on the different threads in its surface. It has been known in England since the time of Elizabeth. Bombazine has been made in colors, but it is usually black. It is worn by certain religious orders in Spain and South America , and is the material of the Spanish mantilla. Bombazine was at one time a favorite material for mourning gowns. 2026 Editor's Note: Bombazine had one overwhelming use the entry skirts: black bombazine was the fabric of Victorian mourning dress . Elaborate rules dictated how long a widow wore it, and Queen Victoria's forty years of mourning for Albert kept a whole industry — and the towns of Norwich and Coventry — busy weaving it. (Ed: BR 2026-06-06)
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a mixed silk and woolen twilled stuff, the warp consisting of silk and the weft of worsted. Black bombazine has been much in use for mourning garments. BOMBIDÆ, a family of hymenopterous insects, containing the humble or bumble bees.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Booby
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a sea bird of the gannet kind allied to the pelican and cormorant. It is found on subtropical coasts as far north as Cape Hatteras . It is a bird of powerful wing and lives on fish, which it takes by pouncing down on them. It is frequently forced to surrender its prey to the frigate or man-of-war bird ,--a pelican-like bird that ought to fish for itself. The booby nests on islets from Florida southward, laying a single egg in a low nest heaped with seaweed. It has a name for stupidity on account of the unsuspicious way in which, formerly at least, it allowed sailors to approach its nest or to knock it over with a stick. See Bird ; Cormorant 2026 Editor's Note: The bird's tameness — it would sit still while sailors clubbed it — earned the insult, and gave English "booby prize" and "booby trap" besides. Its most famous member is the blue-footed booby of the Galápagos, whose courtship consists of solemnly lifting one brilliant turquoise foot and then the other; the brighter the feet, the healthier the bird. (Ed: BR 2026-06-26)
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a name for a natatorial bird, the soland (i. e., solent), or channel goose, sula bassana. It is of the family pelicanidæ. These birds are found, as their specific Latin name imports, on the Bass rock, in the Frith of Forth, Scotland. They exist also in other places.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Bore (EAGRE a sudden influx)
Collier's New Encyclopedia: or EAGRE, a sudden influx of the tide into the estuary of a river from the sea, the inflowing water rising to a considerable height and advancing like a wall against the current. The most celebrated bores in the Old World are those of the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra. The last is said to rise to a height of 12 feet. In some rivers in Brazil it rises to the height of 12 to 16 feet. In Great Britain the bore is observed more especially in the Severn, Trent, Wye, and Solway.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Tide
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Breviary
Collier's New Encyclopedia: the book which contains prayers or offices to be used at the seven canonical hours of matins, prime, terce, sext, none, vespers, and compline by all in the orders of the Church of Rome, or in the enjoyment of any Roman Catholic benefice. It is not known at what time the use of the breviary was first enjoined, but the early offices offices were exhaustive from their great length, and under Gregory VII. (1073-1805) their abridgment was considered necessary, the origin of the breviary (Latin hence brevis, short). In 1568, Pius V. published that which has remained, with few modifications, to the present day. The Roman breviary, however, was never fully accepted by the Gallican Church until after the strenuous efforts made by the Ultramontanes from 1840 to 1864. The Psalms occupy a large place in the breviary; passages from the Old and New Testament and from the fathers have the next place. All the services are is very in Latin, and their their arrang arrangement Book of Common complex. The English Prayer is based on the Roman Breviary.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: bre'vi-a-ry, an abridged prayer book containing the daily offices of the Catholic clergy. It was arranged by Pius V about 1568. It contains the Psalms, passages from the Old and the New Testament, and passages from the church fathers,--all in Latin. The English Book of Common Prayer is modeled on the plan of the Roman breviary.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia