Chapter Balderdash to Bambino of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Balloon (A pilot) Metaphorically, a feeler, sent to ascertain public opinion.

"The pilot balloon sent from ... has shown [the sender] the direction of the wind, and he now trims his sails accordingly." - Newspaper paragraph, January, 1886.

Balloon Post During the siege of Paris, in 1871, fifty-four balloon posts were dispatched, carrying two-and-a-half million letters, weighing ten tons.

Balm (French, baume) Contraction of balsam (q.v.). The Balm of Gilead = the balsam of Gilead.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no remedy, no consolation, not even in religion?

Balmawhapple A stupid, obstinate Scottish laird in Scott's Waverley, a novel (1805).

Balmérino (Lord) was beheaded, but the executioner at the first stroke cut only half through the neck, and (we are told) his lordship turned round and grinned at the bungler.

Balmung or Gram The sword of Siegfried, forged by Wieland, the Vulcan of the Scandinavians. Wieland, in a trial of merit, clove Amilias, a brother smith, through steel helmet and armour, down to the waist; but the cut was so fine that Amilias was not even aware that he was wounded till he attempted to move, when he fell into two pieces. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Balmy "I am going to the balmy " - i.e. to "Balmy sleep;" one of Dick Swiveller's pet phrases. (Dickens: Old Curiosity Shop.)

Balmy-stick (To put on the). In prison slang means to feign insanity; and the "Balmy Ward" is the prison ward in which the insane, real or feigned, are confined.

Balnibarbi A land occupied by projectors. (Swift: Gulliver's Travels.)

Balthazar One of the kings of Cologne - i.e. the three Magi, who came from the East to pay reverence to the infant Jesus. The two other magi were Melchior and Casper.

Baltic The Mediterranean of the north (Swedish, balt; Danish, balte; Latin, balteus; English, belt), the sea of the "Belts."

Balwhidder (The Rev. Micah). A Scotch Presbyterian minister, full of fossilised national prejudices, but both kind-hearted and sincere. (Galt: Annals of the Parish, a novel (1821).)

Bambino A picture or image of the infant Jesus, swaddled (Italian, bambino, a little boy). The most celebrated is that in the church of Sts. Maria, in the Ara Cœli of Rome.