Bryson•s Dictionary for Writers and Editors

lazon / Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus
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Something that is flagrant is shocking and reprehensible (“a flagrant
miscarriage of justice”). If I tell you that I regularly travel
to the moon, that is a blatant lie, not a flagrant one. If you set
fire to my house, that is a flagrant act, not a blatant one.
blazon means to display or proclaim in an ostentatious manner.
Trails are blazed, not blazoned.
Bleecker Street, New York City.
Blériot, Louis. (1872–1936) French aviator.
blitzkrieg. (Ger.) “Lightning war”; an overwhelming attack.
Blixen, Karen, Baroness. (1885–1962) Danish writer, who used the
pseudonym Isak Dinesen.
Bloemfontein, South Africa, capital of Orange Free State.
Bloomberg, Michael. (1942–) American businessman and politician,
mayor of New York City (2002–).
blueprint as a metaphor for a design or plan is much overworked. At
least remember that a blueprint is a completed plan, not a preliminary
one.
Blumberg, Baruch S(amuel). (1926–) American scientist, joint winner
of 1976 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
BMW. Short for Bayerische Motoren Werke.
B’nai B’rith. Jewish organization.
Boadicea. (d. ad 62) Traditional spelling for queen of the Iceni, a
British Celtic tribe, but now more often spelled Boudicca.
Boboli Gardens, Florence, Italy.
Boccaccio, Giovanni. (1313–1375) Italian writer.
bocce, boccie. Bowling game.
Bodensee. The German name for Lake Constance.
Bodhisattva. In Buddhism, an enlightened one.
Bodleian Library, Oxford University; pronounced bodd-lee-un.
Boeotia. Region of ancient Greece, centered on Thebes.
Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus. (c. 480–c. 524) Roman statesman
and philosopher.