Bam
(Bam) n. [Prob. a contr. of bamboozle.] An imposition; a cheat; a hoax. Garrick.
To relieve the tedium, he kept plying them with all manner of bams.
Prof. Wilson.
Bam
(Bam), v. t. To cheat; to wheedle. [Slang] Foote.
Bambino
(||Bam*bi"no) n. [It., a little boy, fr. bambo silly; cf. Gr. bambali`zein, bambai`nein, to chatter.]
A child or baby; esp., a representation in art of the infant Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Bambocciade
(Bam*boc`ci*ade") n. [It. bambocciata, fr. Bamboccio a nickname of Peter Van Laer, a
Dutch genre painter; properly, a child, simpleton, puppet, fr. bambo silly.] (Paint.) A representation of a
grotesque scene from common or rustic life.
Bamboo
(Bam*boo") n. [Malay bambu, mambu.] (Bot.) A plant of the family of grasses, and genus
Bambusa, growing in tropical countries.
The most useful species is Bambusa arundinacea, which has a woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed
stem, and grows to the height of forty feet and upward. The flowers grow in large panicles, from the
joints of the stalk, placed three in a parcel, close to their receptacles. Old stalks grow to five or six inches
in diameter, and are so hard and durable as to be used for building, and for all sorts of furniture, for
water pipes, and for poles to support palanquins. The smaller stalks are used for walking sticks, flutes,
etc.
Bamboo
(Bam*boo"), v. t. To flog with the bamboo.
Bamboozle
(Bam*boo"zle) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bamboozled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Bamboozling ] [Said
to be of Gipsy origin.] To deceive by trickery; to cajole by confusing the senses; to hoax; to mystify; to
humbug. [Colloq.] Addison.
What oriental tomfoolery is bamboozling you?
J. H. Newman.
Bamboozler
(Bam*boo"zler) n. A swindler; one who deceives by trickery. [Colloq.] Arbuthnot.
Ban
(||Ban) n. A kind of fine muslin, made in the East Indies from the fiber of the banana leaf stalks.
Ban
(Ban) n. [AS. bann command, edict; akin to D. ban, Icel. bann, Dan. band, OHG. ban, G. bann,
a public proclamation, as of interdiction or excommunication, Gr. fa`nai to say, L. fari to speak, Skr.
bhan to speak; cf. F. ban, LL. bannum, of G. origin. &radic86. Cf. Abandon, Fame.]
1. A public proclamation or edict; a public order or notice, mandatory or prohibitory; a summons by public
proclamation.
2. (Feudal & Mil.) A calling together of the king's (esp. the French king's) vassals for military service; also,
the body of vassals thus assembled or summoned. In present usage, in France and Prussia, the most
effective part of the population liable to military duty and not in the standing army.
3. pl. Notice of a proposed marriage, proclaimed in church. See Banns (the common spelling in this
sense).
4. An interdiction, prohibition, or proscription. "Under ban to touch." Milton.
5. A curse or anathema. "Hecate's ban." Shak.
6. A pecuniary mulct or penalty laid upon a delinquent for offending against a ban; as, a mulct paid to a
bishop by one guilty of sacrilege or other crimes.
