Gre Words, B

Front 1

baleful

Back 1

full of menacing or malign influences; pernicious.

Front 2

balk

Back 2

(1) unplowed strip of land
(2) hesitate

Front 3

balmy

Back 3

(1) mild and refreshing; soft; soothing
(2) producing balm

Front 4

banal

Back 4

lacking originality, freshness, or novelty : trite

Front 5

baneful

Back 5

productive of destruction or woe : seriously harmful

Front 6

baroque

Back 6

extravagantly ornate, florid, and convoluted in character or style (an obviously simplified definition)

Front 7

barrage

Back 7

1. Military. a heavy barrier of artillery fire to protect one's own advancing or retreating troops or to stop the advance of enemy troops.
3. Civil Engineering. an artificial obstruction in a watercourse to increase the depth of the water, facilitate irrigation, etc.

Front 8

barrister

Back 8

1. (in England) a lawyer who is a member of one of the Inns of Court and who has the privilege of pleading in the higher courts. Compare solicitor (def. 4).
2. Informal. any lawyer.

Front 9

barter

Back 9

to trade by exchange of commodities rather than by the use of money.

Front 10

bate

Back 10

moderate or restrain; lessen or diminish; abate

Front 11

batten

Back 11

1. to feed gluttonously or greedily; glut oneself.
or
2.1. a small board or strip of wood used for various building purposes, as to cover joints between boards, reinforce certain doors, or supply a foundation for lathing.
3. 6. to furnish or bolster with battens.
7. Nautical. to cover (a hatch) so as to make watertight (usually fol. by down).

Front 12

bauble

Back 12

1. a showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket; gewgaw.
2. a jester's scepter.

Front 13

beatific

Back 13

1. bestowing bliss, blessings, happiness, or the like: beatific peace.
2. blissful; saintly: a beatific smile.

Front 14

bedizen

Back 14

to dress in a gaudy manner

Front 15

beholden

Back 15

obligated; indebted

Front 16

behoove

Back 16

to be necessary or proper for, as for moral or ethical considerations; be incumbent on

Front 17

belabor

Back 17

1. to explain, worry about, or work at (something) repeatedly or more than is necessary

Front 18

bellicose

Back 18

inclined or eager to fight; aggressively hostile; belligerent; pugnacious

Front 19

benediction

Back 19

1.4. (usually initial capital letter) Also called Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. a service consisting of prayers, at least one prescribed hymn, censing of the congregation and the Host, and a blessing of the congregation by moving in the form of a cross the ciborium or monstrance containing the Host.
2. an utterance of good wishes.

Front 20

benighted

Back 20

1. intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened: benighted ages of barbarism and superstition.
2. overtaken by darkness or night.

Front 21

benign

Back 21

1. having a kindly disposition; gracious

Front 22

benison

Back 22

benediction

Front 23

bereave

Back 23

to deprive ruthlessly or by force

Front 24

berserk

Back 24

1. violently crazed
2. Scandinavian Legend. Also, ber·serk·er. an ancient Norse warrior who fought with frenzied rage in battle, possibly induced by eating hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Front 25

besmirch

Back 25

1. to soil; tarnish; discolor.

Front 26

bemuse

Back 26

to bewilder or confuse (someone)

Front 27

betroth

Back 27

1. to arrange for the marriage of; affiance (usually used in passive constructions)

Front 28

bicameral

Back 28

having two branches, chambers, or houses, as a legislative body.

Front 29

biennial

Back 29

1. happening every two years: biennial games.
2. lasting or enduring for two years: a biennial life cycle.
3. Botany. completing its normal term of life in two years, flowering and fruiting the second year, as beets or winter wheat.

Front 30

bifurcate

Back 30

to divide into two branches

Front 31

blanch

Back 31

to white (by removing color)

Front 32

blandishment

Back 32

Often, blandishments. something, as an action or speech, that tends to flatter, coax, entice, etc.: Our blandishments left him unmoved. We succumbed to the blandishments of tropical living.

Front 33

blaspheme

Back 33

1. to speak impiously or irreverently of (God or sacred things).
2. to speak evil of; slander; abuse.

Front 34

blasé

Back 34

indifferent to or bored with life; unimpressed, as or as if from an excess of worldly pleasures. (from F: blaser, to cloy)

Front 35

blatent

Back 35

tastelessly conspicuous: : the blatant colors of the dress.

Front 36

blazon

Back 36

1. to depict (heraldic arms or the like) in proper form and color.
2. a genre of poems that praised a woman by singling out different parts of her body and finding appropriate metaphors to compare them with

Front 37

blight

Back 37

1. noun: Any of numerous plant diseases resulting in sudden conspicuous wilting and dying of affected parts, especially young, growing tissues.
2. verb: To cause (a plant, for example) to undergo blight.

Front 38

bludgeon

Back 38

1. Noun: 1. a short, heavy club with one end weighted, or thicker and heavier than the other.
2. Verb: to hit with a bludgeon; coerce

Front 39

bode

Back 39

to be an omen of; portend

Front 40

bogus

Back 40

not genuine; counterfeit; spurious; sham.

Front 41

boisterous

Back 41

rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained: the sound of boisterous laughter.

Front 42

bolster

Back 42

to support or uphold

Front 43

bombastic

Back 43

high-sounding; high-flown; inflated; pretentious

Front 44

boorish

Back 44

of or like a boor; unmannered; crude

Front 45

bootless

Back 45

without result, gain, or advantage; unavailing

Front 46

bowdlerize

Back 46

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

Front 47

brackish

Back 47

1. slightly salt; having a salty or briny flavor. You could cut the brackish winds with a knife/Here in Nantucket" (Robert Lowell)
2. distasteful; unpleasant.

Front 48

braggadocio

Back 48

1. empty boasting; bragging.
2. a boasting person; braggart.

Front 49

bravado

Back 49

a pretentious, swaggering display of courage.

Front 50

brazen

Back 50

1. shameless or impudent: brazen presumption.
2. made of brass.

Front 51

brash

Back 51

1. impertinent; impudent; tactless: a brash young man.
2. hasty; rash; impetuous.

Front 52

breach

Back 52

1. the act or a result of breaking; break or rupture.
2. a gap made in a wall, fortification, line of soldiers, etc.; rift; fissure.

Front 53

breviary

Back 53

1. Roman Catholic Church. a book containing all the daily psalms, hymns, prayers, lessons, etc., necessary for reciting the office.

Front 54

brindled

Back 54

gray or tawny with darker streaks or spots

Front 55

bristle

Back 55

noun: 1. one of the short, stiff, coarse hairs of certain animals, esp. hogs, used extensively in making brushes.
verb: 4. to erect the bristles, as an irritated animal (often fol. by up): The hog bristled up.
5. to become rigid with anger or irritation: The man bristled when I asked him to move.

Front 56

billingsgate

Back 56

coarsely or vulgarly abusive language

Front 57

bivouac

Back 57

noun 1. a military encampment made with tents or improvised shelters, usually without shelter or protection from enemy fire.

Front 58

broach

Back 58

noun: 1. Machinery. an elongated, tapered, serrated cutting tool for shaping and enlarging holes.
verb: 1. to tap or pierce.
2. to mention for the first time

Front 59

brocade

Back 59

fabric woven with an elaborate design, esp. one having a raised overall pattern.

Front 60

brooch

Back 60

a clasp or ornament having a pin at the back for passing through the clothing and a catch for securing the point of the pin.

Front 61

brusque

Back 61

abrupt in manner; blunt; rough

Front 62

bucolic

Back 62

1. of or pertaining to shepherds; pastoral.
2. of, pertaining to, or suggesting an idyllic rural life.
3. a pastoral poem

Front 63

bullion

Back 63

1. gold or silver considered in mass rather than in value.
2. gold or silver in the form of bars or ingots.

Front 64

bulwark

Back 64

1. a wall of earth or other material built for defense; rampart
2. any person or thing giving strong support or encouragement in time of need, danger, or doubt: Religion was his bulwark.

Front 65

bumptious

Back 65

offensively self-assertive

Front 66

bungle

Back 66

to do clumsily and awkwardly; botch

Front 67

buskin

Back 67

Also called cothurnus. the high, thick-soled shoe worn by ancient Greek and Roman tragedians.

Front 68

burgeon

Back 68

to grow or develop quickly; flourish

Front 69

burlesque

Back 69

a humorous and provocative stage show featuring slapstick humor, comic skits, bawdy songs, striptease acts, and a scantily clad female chorus.