ben

noun

1. (obsolete)A prayer; a petition.
2. (Northern-England, Scotland)The inner room of a two-room cottage (as opposed to the but); the ben room.

   “Bert Kerston was awakened by a steady tap on the ben window.”

3. A tree, Moringa oleifera or horseradish tree of Arabia and India, which produces oil of ben.
4. The winged seed of the ben tree.
5. The oil of the ben seed.
6. (capitalized, uncountable, usually)Son of (used with Hebrew and Arabic surnames).
7. A Scottish or Irish mountain or high peak.
8. (UK, obsolete, slang)A benefit (performance to raise funds).

   “In the Chronicles of the Stage, some curious particulars are given relating to Sir Henry Herbert and the well-known Sir William Davidson, by which we learn, amongst other things, that a “ben” or benefit at Drury Lane, two centuries ago, was worth a hundred pounds.”

9. (Ireland, alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of bin.
10. (US, slang)A US$100 bill, which bears a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Often used in the plural form to indicate large sums of money.

prep

1. (Northern-England, Scotland)In, into.

   “And he was waving to me to creep in, so I just did and then just to skip ben the front and then in the lobby.”

adv

1. (Northern-England, Scotland, not-comparable)Inside.

adj

1. Inner, interior.
2. (UK, alt-of, alternative, obsolete)Alternative spelling of bene; good.

   “A gage of ben Rom-bouse, / In a bousing-ken of Rom-vile, / Is benar than a Caster, / Pecke, pennam, lay, or popler, / Which we mill in deuse a vile.”

name

1. A shortening of the male given name Benjamin or, less often, of Benedict.

   “Ben wolved down a digestive biscuit, then stretched out on his stomach on the flagstones beside them.”

   “After a moment of comfortable silence, with Ben tenderly rubbing his thumb gently over the back of her hand, he asked, “So what do you want to do now that you’re all stuffed full of waffley goodness?””

   “When mathematicians face a question they cannot answer, they sometimes devise a less stringent question, in the hope that solving it will provide insights. This is the path that Tao took in 2004, in collaboration with Ben Green of Oxford.”

   “But Andy and Ben, they are lovers, not fighters … and they are going the battered sav.”

2. The capital city of Ben County, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran.
3. A county of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran.
4. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of Beng (“Mande language of Ivory Coast”).