Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • abbreviation Physics barn
  • abbreviation bel
  • abbreviation bottom quark
  • abbreviation breadth
  • noun The second letter of the modern English alphabet.
  • noun Any of the speech sounds represented by the letter b.
  • noun The second in a series.
  • noun Something shaped like the letter B.
  • noun The second best or second highest in quality or rank.
  • noun The seventh tone in the scale of C major or the second tone in the relative minor scale.
  • noun A key or scale in which B is the tonic.
  • noun A written or printed note representing this tone.
  • noun A string, key, or pipe tuned to the pitch of this tone.
  • noun One of the four major blood groups in the ABO system. Individuals with this blood group have the B antigen on the surface of their red blood cells, and the anti-A antibody in their blood serum.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • The second letter in order in the English alphabet, as it was in the Phenician, and has been in most other alphabets derived from the Phenician. (See A.)
  • As a numeral, B was used by the Hebrews and Greeks, as now by the Arabians, for 2.
  • As a symbol: In music, the seventh tone, or “leading tone,” of the model diatonic scale, or scale of C.
  • In chem., the symbol of boron.
  • In ornithology, the accessory femorocaudal muscle, one of the chief classificatory muscles of the leg.
  • In mathematics, see A, 2 .
  • In abstract reasoning, suppositions, etc., the second or other person or thing mentioned: as, if A strike B.
  • In general, the second in any series: as, Company B (of a regiment), schedule B, etc.; in the form b, or b, the second column of a page, in a book printed in columns.
  • As an abbreviation, B. stands for— Bachelor (or Middle Latin Baccalaureus), in B. A. or A. B., B. C. E., B. D., B. L., B. M., etc. See these abbreviations. In dates, before, as in B. C. or B. C., and born, as in b. 1813. In a ship's log-book, in the form b., blue sky. In hydrometric measurements, Baumé: as, 8° B. See Baumé's hydrometer, under hydrometer. Also .
  • or

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • is the second letter of the English alphabet. (See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 196, 220.) It is etymologically related to p, v, f, w, and m, letters representing sounds having a close organic affinity to its own sound; as in Eng. bursar and purser; Eng. bear and Lat. ferre; Eng. silver and Ger. silber; Lat. cubitum and It. gomito; Eng. seven, Anglo-Saxon seofon, Ger. sieben, Lat. septem, Gr."epta`, Sanskrit saptan. The form of letter B is Roman, from the Greek B (Beta), of Semitic origin. The small b was formed by gradual change from the capital B.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The second letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
  • noun voiced bilabial plosive
  • noun The second letter of the English alphabet, called bee and written in the Latin script.
  • noun The ordinal number second, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called bee and written in the Latin script.
  • abbreviation Alternative form of b..
  • noun astronomy latitude in the galactic coordinate system
  • noun physics barn
  • noun computing bit
  • noun cricket bye

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun aerobic rod-shaped spore-producing bacterium; often occurring in chainlike formations; found primarily in soil
  • noun the blood group whose red cells carry the B antigen
  • noun originally thought to be a single vitamin but now separated into several B vitamins
  • noun the 2nd letter of the Roman alphabet
  • noun a logarithmic unit of sound intensity equal to 10 decibels
  • noun a trivalent metalloid element; occurs both in a hard black crystal and in the form of a yellow or brown powder
  • noun (physics) a unit of nuclear cross section; the effective circular area that one particle presents to another as a target for an encounter

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Modification of capital letter B by dropping its upper loop, from Greek letter Β (B, "Beta").

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Examples

  • The division-frame itself is closed by having two sheets of zinc run into it as shown in fig. 2, the one marked _b b b b_, and partly drawn out, being of solid sheet zinc; and _a a_, the other in the frame, of perforated zinc; _d_, being the screw-nut (like those in the bee-frames) by means of which it can be drawn out into the observation-frame, &c.

    A Description of the Bar-and-Frame-Hive With an Abstract of Wildman's Complete Guide for the Management of Bees Throughout the Year William Augustus Munn

  • Or again, he noticed that if b is the length of the side of a square, then b² represents its area, and b³ the volume of the cube with edge equal to b.

    The Fourth Dimension Simply Explained 1910

  • Demz b speshul sunglarsis wif teh mirrer sew u cna sii hoo is following u n teh blak van…..b caerful!

    *sigh* - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2010

  • ˜The boy sang™ is simply ˜Sang (b)™, where ˜b™ is a an unstructured symbol that stands for the boy in question (and presents him in a certain way).

    Logical Form Pietroski, Paul 2009

  • ˆ« M pm (s, t ‰ | a, b ‰) (st ‰) dρ and likewise when (a, b²),

    Bell's Theorem Shimony, Abner 2009

  • When the wave is switched off, the photon propagates in the zeroth order of diffraction to polarization analyzers respectively oriented at angles a and b, and when it is switched on the photons propagate in the first order of diffraction to polarization analyzers respectively oriented at angles a² and b².

    Bell's Theorem Shimony, Abner 2009

  • Different experiments can be performed on each system, those on 1 designated by a, a², etc. and those on 2 by b, b², etc.

    Bell's Theorem Shimony, Abner 2009

  • Nevertheless, in a suitable conversational setting, the phrases (b) and (b²) can be properly used to designate any of the three events: the act that turned on the light, the onset of illumination in the light, and whole process whereby the light has come to be turned on.

    Action Wilson, George 2007

  • But we can see that the number of chains in which b is combined with a is equal to the number of chains in which b is not combined with a. In fact we have that P (b | a) = P (~b | ~a) =

    Backward Causation Faye, Jan 2005

  • The plates themselves are shaped as depicted in Fig. 55, _a, b, c, a_ and _b_ curved to meet the outlines of the shoe, and _c_ shaped so as to wedge tightly over the posterior ends of the side plates, and between them and the shoe.

    Diseases of the Horse's Foot Harry Caulton Reeks

  • Meanwhile, holidays are “holibobs”, and the wine formerly known as sauvignon blanc is “savvy b”– best paired with a jacky p (jacket potato) for a comforting dinner that’s not too “spenny” (expensive).

    ‘Genny lec’ and ‘cozzie livs’. And who can afford 'savvy b'? British slang is daft, but it is breaking taboos | Coco Khan Coco Khan 2024

  • In this language, the cost of living crisis is the “cozzie livs”; the upcoming general election is the “genny lec”, and a mental breakdown is a “menty b”.

    ‘Genny lec’ and ‘cozzie livs’. And who can afford 'savvy b'? British slang is daft, but it is breaking taboos | Coco Khan Coco Khan 2024

Comments

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  • B. Chemical element symbol for Boron.

    December 16, 2007

  • noun. Modern United States slang: Short for bitch or boi.

    May 11, 2018

  • Short for bilby in civilised countries.

    May 11, 2018