blication can also be purchased separately.

Most foreign countries have a distinctive colour for the binding of
their official publications. That of the United Slates varies, but
foreign diplomatic correspondence is bound in red. The United States
government publications are not only on sale (as a rule) but are widely
supplied gratis, with the result that important publications soon get
out of print, and it is difficult to obtain access to many valuable
reports or other information, except at a public library. German
official publications are bound in white; French, in yellow; Austrian,
in red; Portuguese, in white; Italian, in green; Spanish, in red;
Mexican, in green; Japanese, in grey; Chinese, in yellow.

BLUESTOCKING, a derisive name for a literary woman. The term originated
in or about 1750, when Mrs Elizabeth Montagu (q.v.) made a determined
effort to introduce into society a healthier and more intellectual tone,
by holding assemblies at which literary conversation and discussions
were to take the place of cards and gossip. Most of those attending were
conspicuous by the plainness of their dress, and a Mr Benjamin
Stillingfleet specially caused comment by always wearing blue or worsted
stockings instead of the usual black silk. It was in special reference
to him that Mrs Montagu's friends were called the Bluestocking Society
or Club, and the women frequenting her house in Hill Street came to be
known as the "Bluestocking Ladies" or simply "bluestockings." As an
alternative explanation, the origin of the name is attributed to Mrs
Montagu's deliberate adoption of blue stockings (in which fashion she
was followed by all her women friends) as the badge of the society she
wished to form. She is said to have obtained the idea from Paris, where
in the 17th century there was a revival of a social reunion in 1590 on
the lines of that formed in 1400 at Venice, the ladies and men of which
wore blue stockings. The term had been applied in England as early as
1653 to the Little Parliament, in allusion to the puritanically plain
and coarse dress of the members.

BLUFF (a word of uncertain origin; possibly connected with an obsolete
Dutch word, _blaf_, broad), an adjective used of a ship, meaning broad
and nearly vertical in the bows; similarly, of a cliff or shore,
presenting a bold and nearly perpendicular front; of a person,
good-natured and frank, with a rough or abrupt manner. Another word
"bluff," perhaps c