bagatelle (noun) = a trifling matter from the French bagatelle: a knick-knack (a small worthless object)
e.g. Compared to his frequent infidelities, she regarded his habit of burping at breakfast time as a mere bagatelle
bailiwick (noun) = a person’s area of authority or skill (literally meaning ‘the area over which a bailiff has power’) (pronounced ‘bay-lee-wik’) from the Old English bailiff: bailiff, and wic: village
e.g. Critics of Richard Dawkins say that theology is not his bailiwick, and he should stick to science
Balkanised (adj.) = (of a formerly larger entity) divided up into smaller parts that are mutually hostile (pronounced ‘bawl-kuh-nysed’) for full explanation, see box below
e.g. Europe must achieve full financial unity soon, say critics; or else, the continent will divide up into Balkanised segments
‘Balkanisation’ is a term invented to describe the division of the Balkan peninsula (formerly ruled by the Ottoman Empire) into several smaller states during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
After World War I, the term was used to refer to the new states that came about following the destruction of the Austro–Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire.
Since then, ‘Balkanisation’ has been used to describe many subjects, ranging from the subdivision of the Internet into enclaves (such as Facebook and Google), to the topic of Scottish independence.
banshee (noun) = a female who wails loudly for full explanation, see box below
e.g. When they strike the tennis ball with their racquet, some female players at Wimbledon emit a banshee wail
‘banshee’ is from the Irish ‘bean sidhe’, from ‘bean’: ‘woman’ and ‘sith’: ‘fairy’; in Irish mythology, the ‘banshee’ is a fairy woman who starts to wail if someone is about to die – hence the banshee was regarded as an omen of death.
The banshees wore white and had white hair, which they brushed with a silver comb. (And the fact that banshees used this comb gave rise to the story in Ireland that, if you see a comb on the ground, you shouldn’t pick it up – or else the banshees will take you.)
There have been numerous tales of banshees appearing at pivotal moments in history: for example, in 1437, King James I of Scotland was allegedly approached by a banshee who foretold his imminent murder.
to barnstorm (verb) = to travel around the country, making political speeches or taking part in sporting events for full explanation, see box below
e.g. In the run up to the Presidential election, Obama embarked on a multi-week barnstorming tour of America
The phrase originated from one particular theatrical troupe’s performances in upstate New York barns – usually featuring short action pieces – in 1815, which they supposedly ‘took by storm’; it was then extended to encompass any spectacular, from political rallies to plane stunts.
baroque (adj.) = very ornate and extravagant in style for full explanation, see box below
e.g. Fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot dead on 15 July 1997, aged 50, on the steps of his baroque Miami Beach mansion as he returned from a morning walk (days later, without revealing his motive, his murderer killed himself)
From the French, ‘baroque’: designating a pearl of elaborate shape; originally, baroque referred exclusively to a 17th- and 18th-century movement in European architecture, art and music that was marked by extreme ornateness: examples include the palace of Versailles, Caravaggio’s paintings and Handel’s music. In time, the term has come to refer to all elaborate objects and styles, from any century.
basilisk stare (set phrase) = a stare like a basilisk lizard’s (i.e. a look that is keen and malignant) (pronounced ‘bas-uh-lisk’) for full explanation, see box below
e.g. Bruce Lee’s reflexes were so sharp that he could snatch a coin off a person’s open palm before they could even close their hand – and leave a penny of his own behind; yet it was not Lee’s speed, but his basilisk stare that truly petrified opponents
A basilisk is a mythical reptile, believed to have been hatched from a toad’s egg placed underneath a cockerel; it had two heads (with the second one – a dragon’s head – at the end of its tail) and could kill with a single glance. According to legend, it would expire itself if it looked at itself in the mirror. In Shakespeare’s Richard III, one woman – desiring her enemy’s death – says she wishes she had the eyes of a basilisk, that she might kill him. And in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk is described as a large dragon, whose direct glare kills instanteously.
to beard (verb) = to confront aggressively from the Middle Dutch, baert: a beard, ultimately from the Latin barba: beard; ‘to beard’ literally meant ‘to seize by the beard’ in medieval times (along the lines of our modern slang, ‘to get in someone’s face’)
e.g. When he heard that details of Watergate had leaked out, Nixon bearded his aides, demanding an explanation
beatitude (noun) = ultimate blessedness from the Latin, beatitudo: blessedness
e.g. After a big dinner, there is nothing better than lighting a cigar to cement the feeling of self-satisfied beatitude
beau monde (noun) = fashionable society (pronounced ‘boe monde’) from the 17th-century French, beau monde: fine world
e.g. Dentists’ waiting rooms teem with magazines carrying paparazzi snaps of the beau monde of the famous
becalmed (adj.) = stuck from the English words, be- + calm; ‘becalmed’ is a nautical term in orgin, with a ‘becalmed’ ship one that is stuck owing to there being no wind to propel it (and hence one that has been ‘made calm’)
e.g. Following the recession of 2008, the normally buoyant New York housing market was becalmed
bête noire (noun) = something or someone that one particularly abhors (pronounced ‘bet nwar’) from the French, bête noire: black beast
e.g. The five-year-old Alfred Hitchcock was once sent by his father to the local police station – with a note asking the officer to lock him up for 10 minues as punishment for behaving badly; thereafter, the young Hitchcock viewed his father as a bête noire
biddable (adj.) = docile and ready to follow another’s bidding from the Old English beodan: to command
e.g. On their first date, he plied her with alcohol in the hope drink would make her more biddable
bien pensant (adj.) = holding generally accepted views (pronounced ‘bee-an pon-son’) from the French bien: well, and pensant, participle of penser: to think; ‘bien pensant’ literally means ‘right-thinking’
e.g. English actors who make it in Hollywood often turn into bien pensant tree-huggers
bildungsroman (noun) = a novel covering one person’s formative years (pronounced ‘bil-doongz-roh-mahn’) from the German bildung: education, and roman: a novel
e.g. J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye – which charts the gradual maturing of Holden Caulfield – is perhaps the most famous bildungsroman of modern times
billet-doux (noun) = (humorous in tone) love letter (pronounced ‘bill-ay dou’) from the French, billet doux: sweet note
e.g. The Peanuts cartoon strip – which made artist Charles M. Schulz over $1bn – was one long billet-doux to its canine inspiration: Schulz’s family dog, Spike, who loved ingesting metal pins
bleeding heart (noun) = (derogatory in tone) a person so sympathetic – or so politically liberal – that they are considered dangerously softhearted ‘bleeding heart’ was originally a direct evocation of Christ – specifically to the bleeding heart under the cross – and His ability to sympathise
e.g. Ben-Hur actor Charlton Heston was famously pro-gun ownership, and considered anyone with an opposing view to be a bleeding heart liberal
blowsy (adj.) = (of a woman) messy and red-faced (pronounced ‘blou-zee’) from the obsolete expression, blowze: a beggar’s female companion
e.g. Celebrity gossip magazines take photos of ageing female movie stars, then dissect their blowsy faces by circling spots and wrinkles with red ink
bogey (noun) = a person or thing that evokes fear (pronounced ‘boh-gee’) from the Middle English, bogge: a frightening ghost; ‘bogey’ was popularised in World War II as aviator slang to describe an aircraft that wasn’t 100 per cent identifiable, but was probably the enemy
e.g. Sad to say, since her divorce, her ex-husband has become her bogey
bosky (adj.) = covered with bushes (pronounced ‘bos-kee’) from the Middle English bosk, a variant of bush
e.g. In the film Remains of the Day, the butler, Stevens – played by Anthony Hopkins – spends much time in the country, driving down bosky lanes
brass neck (noun) = gall this simile evolved by drawing a comparison between confidence of behaviour and the hardness of brass (just as ‘bold as brass’ means ‘completely unabashed’)
e.g. In 1988 two gunmen wearing ski masks had the brass neck to break into the home of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, aiming to kidnap his wife Jean; but the attempt was foiled when the couple’s daughter, Jill, drove up to the house, scaring off the assailants
Brechtian (adj.) = (of a play) attempting to effect social change and audience participation by continually reminding the audience it is watching a play, and so never allowing the audience to relax (pronounced ‘brek-tee-on’) for full explanation, see box below
e.g. Most Hollywood film directors aim to create a fictional world for the audience to escape into – rather than to achieve a Brechtian alienation effect
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) was a famous German playwright whose plays are even more popular in Germany than Shakespeare’s (in terms of number of annual performances played). His most famous play is The Life of Galileo, which provided Brecht with a typically strong social theme: the conflict between Galileo (representing scientific evidence) and the Catholic Church (standing for dogmatism).
Brecht is famous for a theory of theatre called ‘the epic theatre’ that attempted to instil the need for social change. He differed from other playwrights in that he refused to allow the audience to identify with the actors on the stage, fearing that this would produce complacency (and hence no desire to effect social change). His plan was instead to get the audience to adopt a critical perspective so that they would be more alert to social injustice and so more likely to leave the theatre intent on enacting social improvements.
Various techniques were used by Brecht to remind the spectator that the play is a representation of reality (and not reality itself), such as having actors speak stage directions out loud, and showing the audience explanatory placards.
brickbat (noun) = an offensive comment from the English words, brick + bat; ‘brickbat’ originally referred to a piece of brick used as a missile, then, in the 17th century, it assumed its current, figurative usage
e.g. Evangelical Christians who stand on street corners and shout into tannoys, are often exposed to brickbats from passers-by
(to secure a) bridgehead (noun) = (to secure) an area within hostile territory, a base to hold on to, until further troops arrive as backup a ‘bridgehead’ literally refers to a post taken at the end of a bridge nearest to the enemy, both to ensure the bridge’s preservation, and to prevent the enemy from crossing
e.g. In the 1930s, the Nazis expanded into Brazil, believing that the one million German settlers there would make it easy to secure a bridgehead against US influence
(to) brocade (something) with (verb) = to weave (something) with a rich fabric (pronounced ‘broh-keyd’) from the Italian broccato: embossed cloth
e.g. Official biographers of Kim Jong Il brocaded the story of his birth with such details as a double rainbow spontaneously appearing across the sky at precisely that moment
bromide (noun) = a trite remark intended to pacify (pronounced ‘broh-myde’) ‘bromide’ originally referred to a sedative containing potassium bromide; the phrase then went on to assume the figurative meaning of a ‘soothing – but trite – expression’
e.g. After Ayrton Senna’s fatal crash, no amount of bromides from Brazil’s politicians could stem the country’s tide of grief: three million people, the largest ever gathering of mourners, flocked to the streets of Senna’s hometown, São Paulo
to bruit (verb) = (of a piece of information) to spread widely (pronounced ‘broot’) from the Old French, bruit: a noise, from bruire: to roar
e.g. Heath Ledger was a great chess player, winning Western Australia’s junior chess championship at the age of 10: a fact the self-deprecating actor chose not to bruit
buccaneer (noun) = bold, adventurous and, at times, reckless (pronounced ‘buk-uh-neer’) for full explanation, see box below
e.g. Even though he turned Apple into the biggest technology company in the world, Steve Jobs somehow managed to retain the air of a Silicon Valley buccaneer
‘buccaneer’ derives from the French ‘boucanier’: a user of a ‘boucan’ (a West Indian grill for roasting meat), specifically referring to those French hunters who, in the 1690s, stole pigs and cows from the modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic, roasting these animals on their grills. When the Spaniards, based in these parts, tried to drive out these troublesome French ‘boucaniers’, the latter turned to piracy, targeting Spanish ships.
With time, English settlers occupying Jamaica started using the word ‘buccaneer’ (adapting the French ‘boucanier’) to refer to these bold pirates.
(Incidentally, England – in defiance of her enemy, Spain – actually supported these buccaneers and their plundering, since this was an informal way of inflicting damage on Spain, England’s enemy: the English crown even went so far as to license the buccaneers with ‘letters of marque’, actually legitimising their operations in return for a share of the spoils plundered by the pirates from the Spanish ships.)
buckshee (adj.) = (informal in tone) free of any charge (pronounced ‘buk-shee’) for full explanation, see box below
e.g. Since the train was running one hour late, the ticket inspector arranged for everyone onboard to receive a buckshee Coke
‘buckshee’ was originally World War I soldiers’ slang, meaning ‘a small amount of money given as a tip or bribe’; ‘buckshee’ was a variant of the English word ‘baksheesh’ (which has an identical meaning, and which ultimately derived from the Persian ‘baksis’, from ‘baksidan’: to give).
to burnish (verb) = to perfect from the Old French burnir, a version of brunir: to make brown or bright by polishing, from brun: brown
e.g. When it was revealed that J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director, had personally requested an audit of The Grapes of Wrath author John Steinbeck’s taxes (just to annoy the writer), Hoover’s reputation as a difficult man was further burnished