said to be the Baalam-basket or box.
1827. Blackw. Mag., xxi., 34O. Several dozen letters on the same subject now in our Balaam-box.
1873. Hall, Modern English, p. 17. An essay for the Edinburgh Review, in 'the old unpolluted English language,' would have been consigned by the editor to his Balaam-basket.
1877. Notes and Queries, 5 S., vii., 270, 2. At the risk of getting into your Balaam-box, I venture to record the whole contents of my bundle as they lie before me.
Balaclava-Day, subs. (military).—A
soldier's pay day. Balaclava,
in the Crimean War [1854-6],
was the base of supply for the
English troops; and, as pay
was drawn, the men went down
to make their purchases.
Balance, subs. (American).—A
balance properly is that which
balances or produces equilibrium.
It is the difference
between two sides of an account—the
amount of which
is necessary to make the one
equal to the other. It is not
the rest or the remainder, yet
we continually hear of the
balance of this or that thing.
In the sense of 'rest,' 'residue,'
or 'remainder,' balance is the
purest slang.
1846. Albany Journal, Jan. 7. The yawl returned to the wreck, took ten or eleven persons and landed them, and then went and got the balance from the floating cabin. [b.]
1861. Boston Transcript, Dec. 27. 'We listened to Wendell Phillips for about half an hour, and having an engagment elsewhere, we were forced to leave, and so lost the balance of his oration.' [de v.]
The word is thus used very much like the Scottish lave (what is left), employed by Burns in the line—
'I'll get a blessing with the lave, And never miss it.'
In some parts of Virginia the word 'shank' is quaintly used for the same purpose, and one friend will say to another, 'Suppose you come in and spend the shank of the evening with me?' The vulgarism is becoming common in England, as witness the following:—
1875. Blackwood's Magazine, April, 443. Balance, long familiar to American ears, is becoming so to ours. In an account of a ship on fire we read 'Those saved remained the balance of the night watching the burning wreck. [m.]
1883. P. Fitzgerald, Recreations of a Literary Man, 170. Everyone is away shooting or riding; a balance of the ladies is left. [m.]
Balbus, subs. (University).—A
Latin prose composition. In
Arnold's well-known text book,
Latin Prose Composition, balbus
turns up at every corner; he is
here, there, and everywhere; he
appears to be willing and able
to do anything, and go anywhere;
in fact it is balbus
this, and balbus that, until the
wonder is whether balbus was
not something of a prig or bore,
or both. At all events those
who used the text book in
question, cannot fail to remember
that doughty old
fossil of a Roman to their
dying day.
1870. Quarterly Review. Balbus was in constant use.
Balderdash, subs. (old).—1. Adulterated
wine; a mixture of
liquors such as wine and beer,
milk and beer, etc.
