Blackwood
(Black"wood) n. A name given to several dark-colored timbers. The East Indian black wood
is from the tree Dalbergia latifolia. Balfour.
Blackwork
(Black"work`) n. Work wrought by blacksmiths; so called in distinction from that wrought
by whitesmiths. Knight.
Bladder
(Blad"der) n. [OE. bladder, bleddre, AS. bldre, blddre; akin to Icel. blara, SW. bläddra, Dan.
blære, D. blaar, OHG. blatara the bladder in the body of animals, G. blatter blister, bustule; all fr. the
same root as AS. blawan, E. blow, to puff. See Blow to puff.]
1. (Anat.) A bag or sac in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some fluid; as, the urinary bladder; the
gall bladder; applied especially to the urinary bladder, either within the animal, or when taken out and
inflated with air.
2. Any vesicle or blister, especially if filled with air, or a thin, watery fluid.
3. (Bot.) A distended, membranaceous pericarp.
4. Anything inflated, empty, or unsound. "To swim with bladders of philosophy." Rochester.
Bladder nut, or Bladder tree (Bot.), a genus of plants (Staphylea) with bladderlike seed pods.
Bladder pod (Bot.), a genus of low herbs (Vesicaria) with inflated seed pods. Bladdor senna
(Bot.), a genus of shrubs with membranaceous, inflated pods. Bladder worm (Zoöl.), the larva of
any species of tapeworm found in the flesh or other parts of animals. See Measle, Cysticercus.
Bladder wrack (Bot.), the common black rock weed of the seacoast (Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus)
called also bladder tangle. See Wrack.
Bladder
(Blad"der), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bladdered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Bladdering.]
1. To swell out like a bladder with air; to inflate. [Obs.] G. Fletcher.
2. To put up in bladders; as, bladdered lard.
Bladderwort
(Blad"der*wort`) n. (Bot.) A genus (Utricularia) of aquatic or marshy plants, which usually
bear numerous vesicles in the divisions of the leaves. These serve as traps for minute animals. See
Ascidium.
Bladdery
(Blad"der*y) a. Having bladders; also, resembling a bladder.
Blade
(Blade) n. [OE. blade, blad, AS. blæd leaf; akin to OS., D., Dan., & Sw. blad, Icel. blað, OHG.
blat, G. blatt, and perh. to L. folium, Gr. fy`llon. The root is prob. the same as that of AS. blowan, E.
blow, to blossom. See Blow to blossom, and cf. Foil leaf of metal.]
1. Properly, the leaf, or flat part of the leaf, of any plant, especially of gramineous plants. The term is
sometimes applied to the spire of grasses.
The crimson dulse . . . with its waving blade.
Percival.
First the blade, then ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
Mark iv. 28.
2. The cutting part of an instrument; as, the blade of a knife or a sword.
3. The broad part of an oar; also, one of the projecting arms of a screw propeller.
4. The scapula or shoulder blade.
5. pl. (Arch.) The principal rafters of a roof. Weale.