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An American Dictionary of the English Language

Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)

Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865

Entries
95,912
Pages
1,538
Illustrations
2,133

Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.

  1. Ŏb'ste-trī'ciōŭs, a.p. 903Serving to assist or facilitate childbirth; obstetric; hence, facilitating or encouraging production. [Obs.] Yet is all human teaching but maieutical, or obstetricious. Cudworth.
  2. Ob-stĕt'rĭcs, n. sing.p. 903The science of midwifery; the art of assisting women in parturition. [See Note under MATHEMATICS.]
  3. Ob-stēt'ri-cy, n.p. 903The same as OBSTETRICS. [Rare.] Dunglison.
  4. ŏb’sti-na-cy, n.p. 903A fixedness in opinion or resolution that can not be shaken at all, or not without great difficulty; firm and usually unreasonable adherence to an opinion, purpose, or system; a fixedness that will…
  5. Ŏb'sti-nate, a.p. 903Pertinaciously adhering to an opinion or purpose; fixed firmly in resolution; not yielding to reason, arguments, or other means; stubborn; pertinacious; — usually in a bad sense, implying…
  6. ŏb'sti-nate-ly, adv.p. 903In an obstinate manner; stubbornly; pertinaciously. “Inflexible to ill and obstinately just.” Addison.
  7. Ŏb'sti-nate-ness, n.p. 903The state or quality of being obstinate; stubbornness; pertinacity.
  8. Ŏb'sti-nā'tion, n.p. 903The quality of being obstinate; obstinacy. [Obs.] Bp. Taylor.
  9. Ob'sti-pā'tion, n.p. 903The act of stopping up; as, a passage. 2. (Med.) Costiveness; constipation. [Obs.]
  10. Ob-strēp’er-oŭs, a.p. 903Attended by, or making, a tumultuous noise; loud; clamorous; noisy. “Beating the air with their obstreperous beaks.” B. Jonson. The players do not only connive at his obstreperous approbation, but…
  11. Ob-strēp'er-oŭs-ly, adv.p. 903With tumultuous noise; loudly; clamorously.
  12. Ob-strēp’er-oŭs-ness, n.p. 903The state or quality of being obstreperous; loudness; clamor.
  13. Ob-strĭc'tion, n.p. 903The state of being constrained or obliged; that which constrains or obliges; obligation; bond. [Rare.] Milton.
  14. Ob-strūct', v. t.p. 903To block up; to stop up or close, as a way or passage; to fill with obstacles or impediments that prevent passing; as, to obstruct a road, highway, or channel; to obstruct the canals or fine vessels…
  15. Ob-strūct'er, n.p. 903One who obstructs or hinders.
  16. Ob-strūc'tion, n.p. 903The act of obstructing, or the state of being obstructed. 2. That which obstructs or impedes; obstacle; impediment; hindrance. 3. The condition of having the natural powers obstructed or hindered…
  17. Ob-strūct'ive, a.p. 904Tending to obstruct; presenting obstacles; hindering; causing impediment.
  18. Ob-strūct'ive, n.p. 904Obstacle; impediment. [Obs.]
  19. Ob-strŭct'ive-ly, adv.p. 904In an obstructive manner.
  20. Ŏb'stru-ent, a.p. 904Blocking up; hindering.
  21. Ŏb'stru-ent, n.p. 904Any thing that obstructs or closes a passage; especially that which obstructs the natural passages in the body.
  22. Ob-stū'pe-făc'tion, n.p. 904The same as STUPEFACTION. [Obs.]
  23. Ob-stū'pe-fāc'tive, a.p. 904The same as STUPEFACTIVE. [Obs.]
  24. Ob-stū'pe-fy, v. t.p. 904The same as STUPEFY. [Obs.]
  25. Ob-tāin', v. t.p. 904To get hold of by effort; to gain possession of; to acquire. Some pray for riches; riches they obtain. Dryden. 2. To maintain a hold upon; to keep; to possess. [Obs. and rare.] His mother then is…
  26. Ob-tāin', v. i.p. 904To become held; to have a firm footing; to be recognized or established; to become appropriate; to subsist; to become prevalent or general. Sobriety hath by use obtained to signify temperance in…
  27. Ob-tāin'a-ble, a.p. 904Capable of being obtained.
  28. Ob-tāin'er, n.p. 904One who obtains.
  29. Ob-tāin'ment, n.p. 904The act of obtaining. Milton.
  30. Ob-tēct'ed, a.p. 904Covered; protected. [Obs.]
  31. Ob-tĕm'per-āte, v. t.p. 904To obey. [Obs.]
  32. Ob-tēnd’, v. t.p. 904To oppose; to hold out in opposition. Dryden. 2. To offer as the reason of any thing; to pretend. Dryden.
  33. Ob-tēn'e-brā'tion, n.p. 904The act of darkening; a darkening; darkness. [Obs.] In every megrim or vertigo, there is an obtenebration joined with a semblance of turning round. Bacon.
  34. Ob-tēn'sion, n.p. 904The act of obtending. [Rare.]
  35. Ob-tēst', v. t.p. 904To call to witness; to invoke as a witness. 2. To beseech; to supplicate. “Obtest his clemency.” Dryden.
  36. Ob-tēst', v. i.p. 904To protest. [Rare.] Waterhouse.
  37. Ob'tes-tā'tion, n.p. 904The act of obtesting or supplicating; entreaty. The devil and his pupils . . . are encountered with nothing but feeble obtestations and unreasoning honors. Jeffrey. 2. The act of obtesting or…
  38. ŏb'trec-tā'tion, n.p. 904Slander; detraction; calumny. [Obs.] Barrow.
  39. Ob-trūde', v. t.p. 904To thrust in or upon; to introduce without warrant or solicitation. The objects of our senses obtrude their particular ideas upon our minds, whether we will or not. Locke. 2. To offer with…
  40. Ob-trude', v. t.p. 904To enter without right; to make an officious or importunate offer; to thrust one's self forward with boldness or impertinence.
  41. Ob-trud'er, n.p. 904One who obtrudes.
  42. Ob-trūnʹcāte, v. t.p. 904To deprive of a limb; to lop. [Rare.]
  43. Ŏb'trun-cā'tion, n.p. 904The act of lopping or cutting off. [Rare.] Cockeram.
  44. Ob-tru′ sion, n.p. 904The act of obtruding; a thrusting upon others by force or unsolicited; as, the obtrusion of crude opinions on the world.
  45. Ob-tru'sion-ist, n.p. 904One who obtrudes; a person of obtrusive manners, or one who favors or excuses obtrusion. [Obs.]
  46. Ob-tru'sive, a.p. 904Disposed to obtrude; inclined to intrude or thrust one's self among others, or to enter uninvited. Not obvious, nor obtrusive, but retired, The more desirable. Milton.
  47. Ob-tru'sive-ly, adv.p. 904In an obtrusive manner; by way of obtrusion.
  48. Ob-tūnd’, v. t.p. 904To reduce the edge, pungency, or violent action of; to dull; to blunt; to deaden; to quell; as, to obtund the acrimony of the gall. Harvey.
  49. Ob-tūndʹent, n.p. 904(Med.) A substance which sheathes or blunts irritation, usually some bland, oily, or mucilaginous matter;—nearly the same as DEMULCENT. Forsyth.
  50. ŏb-tu-rā'tion, n.p. 904The act of stopping by spreading over or covering. [Obs.]
  51. Ob'tu-rā'tor, n.p. 904That which closes or stops up an entrance, cavity, or the like;—chiefly used in anatomy, usually prefixed adjectively to other words, to denote certain parts or organs, but often alone as a…
  52. Ŏb/tŭs-ăn’gu-lar, a.p. 904Having angles that are obtuse, or larger than right angles.
  53. Ob-tūse', a.p. 904Not pointed or acute; blunt;— applied to angles greater than a right angle, or containing more than ninety degrees. 2. Not having acute sensibility; dull; as, obtuse senses. Milton. A B C, obtuse…
  54. Ob-tūse'-āṅ'gled, a.p. 904Having an obtuse angle; as, an obtuse-angled triangle.
  55. Ob-tūse'ly, adv.p. 904In an obtuse manner; dully.
  56. Ob-tūse'ness, n.p. 904The state or quality of being obtuse; bluntness; dullness.
  57. Ob-tū'sion, n.p. 904The act of making obtuse or blunt. 2. The state of being dulled or blunted; as, the obtusion of the senses.
  58. Ob-ūm'brāte, v. t.p. 904To shade; to darken; to cloud. [Rare.] Howell.
  59. Ŏb'um-brā'tion, n.p. 904Act of darkening or obscuring. [Rare.]
  60. Ob-ŭn'cous, a.p. 904Hooked or crooked in an extreme degree.