Single-source entries: B (76)

Blue Island

a city of Illinois in Cook co. It is on the Illinois Central, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, the Chicago and Grand Trunk, and the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal railroads. The city is a suburb of Chicago and is about 2 miles south of the limits of that city. It is an important industrial center and has stone quarries, wire works, smelting works, etc. Pop. (1910) 8,043; (1920) 11,424.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Blue Mantle

one of the English pursuivants at arms, connected with the Heralds' College. beautiful

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Blue Mountains

the central mountain range of Jamaica, the main ridges of which are from 6,000 to 8,000 feet high. Aslo a mountain chain of New South Wales, part of the great Dividing Range. The highest peaks rise over 4,000 feet above the sea. The range is now traversed by a railway, which attains a maximum height of 3,494 feet.

a wooded range of mountains in Oregon, from 8,000 to 9,000 feet high, which, with the Powder River Mountains, separate the Columbia valley from the Great Basin.

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Blue Pill

a pill made by rubbing two ounces of mernorthward, also called the skip mack-cury with three of confection of roses till the globules disappear, and then adding one of licorice root to form a mass. It is given when the secretion of the liver is defective as a purgative.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Blue Point

the S. extremity of Patchogue Bay, Long Island, N. Y., which lends its name to the well known oysters-blue points.

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Blue Ridge

the most easterly range of the Allegheny Mountains. It forms the continuation of the chain called South Mountain in Pennsylvania and Maryland. It is known as the Blue Ridge till it crosses the James river; thence to North Carolina as Allegheny Mountains; and in North Carolina again as Blue Ridge.

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Blue Tit

or BLUE TITMOUSE, a bird, called also blue tomtit, blue cap, blue bonnet, hick mall, billy biter and ox eye. It is the parus cæruleus of Linnæus. It has the upper part of the head light blue, encircled with white; a band around the neck and the spaces before and behind the eye of a duller blue; back light, yellowish green, the lower parts pale, grayish yellow; the middle of the breast dull blue. The male is more brightly colored than the female. It builds its nest in the chink of a wall, under eaves or thatch, or in a hole of a tree, and lays from 6 to 8 eggs of a reddish color.

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Bluebird

one of the most delightful orchard and lawn birds of America. It is related to the thrush. It is about seven inches in length. The male is bright blue above, with cinnamon sides and a white belly. "With the earth tinge on his breast and the sky tinge on his back," says Burroughs. It ranges from the Gulf to Hudson Bay , wintering from the Ohio Valley southward. In winter it feeds largely on the berries of the mistletoe. So many bluebirds perished in the great freeze of 1895--the same that ruined the Florida orange groves--that bluebirds were noticeably scarce in their usual summer homes for several years. The blue-bird prefers to nest in a bird house, but its old home is a hollow tree. Eggs, four to six, white or tinged with blue. There are five distinct species corresponding to the various regions of North America . The bluebird is gentle, and when not molested loses half its shyness. Its welcome arrival in early spring is alluded to by Lowell in The bluebird, shifting his light load of song From post to post along the cheerless fence, and by Aldrich in Hark! 'tis the bluebird's venturous strain High on the old fringed elm at the gate, Sweet-voiced, valiant on the swaying bough, . . . . . Alert, elate, Dodging the fitful spits of snow-- New England's poet laureate Telling us spring has come again!

Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia

Bluecoat Boys

or Bluecoat School. See Christ'S Hospital

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Bluefield

a city of West Virginia in Mercer co. It is on the Norfolk and Western railroad. It is an important industrial center and has railway shops, flour mills, and several wholesale houses. The city is the distributing center for the Pocahontas coal fields. It is the seat of the State Normal School and has two sanitariums, an opera house, a Federal building, and other public buildings. Pop. (1910) 11,188; (1920) 15,282.

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Bluefields

town, seaport, and capital of the former Mosquito Indian Reservation; now the department of Zelaya, Nicaragua, on the Atlantic coast near the mouth of the Bluefields river, and 165 miles E. of Managua. The reservation lies along the Atlantic coast extending S. almost to Greytown. For many years Great Britain maintained a protectorate over the reservation, which at one time belonged to Honduras. In 1893, No , when the war broke out between Nicaragua and Honduras, the United States Government sent a war vessel to Bluefields to protect the large American commercial interests there. Early in the following year Nicaragua took possession of the town and proclaimed martial law. Chief Clarence protested to Great Britain against the usurpation of his rights and British war vessels were sent to the reservation and re-established Clarence in authority. During 1893-1896 the reservation and its capital were the subjects of much controversy between the United States, Great Britain, Nicaragua, and the natives of the reservation. Pop. about 5,000.

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Bluestone

A soft blue stone, sometimes used for reducing brass and gold before polishing. It must not be confounded with blue vitriol, sometimes called bluestone.

Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler

Bluff Hal

or Harry, a nickname given to Henry VIII of England. See Henry Viii

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Bluffton

a city of Indiana, the county-seat of Wells co. It is on the Lake Erie and Western, the Toledo, St. Louis and Kansas City, and other railroads, and on the Wabash river. It is the center of an important agricultural region and has a large trade in grain. Its industries include foundry and machine shops, a piano factory, manufactures of barrels, clay pottery, tile, etc. Pop. (1910) 4,987; (1920) 5,391.

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Bluing

The changing of the color of steel by heat.

Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler

Blum

ROBERT, a German Liberal leader, born in very humble circumstances at Cologne, Nov. 10, 1807; was secretary and treasurer of a theater at Cologne, and subsequently at Leipsic, until 1847, when he established himself as bookseller and publisher. His leisure was devoted to literature and politics, and in 1840 he founded at Leipsic the Schiller Society, which celebrated the poet's anniversary, as a festival in honor of political liberty. When the revolutionary movement broke out in 1848, Blum was one of its most energetic leaders. He was elected one of the Vice- Presidents of the Provisional Parliament at Frankfort, and as such_ruled that turbulent assembly. In the National Assembly he became leader of the left, and was one of the bearers of a congratulatory address from the Left to the people of Vienna, when they rose in October. At Vienna he joined the insurgents, was arrested, and was shot on Nov. 9, 1848. BLÜMLISALP (blüm'les-älp), a group of mountain peaks in the Bernese Oberland in the S. of Switzerland, S. W. of the Jungfrau. The highest peak, the Blümlisalphorn, is about 12,000 feet in altitude.

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