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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. Ob-tēst', v. t.p. 904To call to witness; to invoke as a witness. 2. To beseech; to supplicate. “Obtest his clemency.” Dryden.
  2. Ob-tēst', v. i.p. 904To protest. [Rare.] Waterhouse.
  3. 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…
  4. ŏb'trec-tā'tion, n.p. 904Slander; detraction; calumny. [Obs.] Barrow.
  5. 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…
  6. 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.
  7. Ob-trud'er, n.p. 904One who obtrudes.
  8. Ob-trūnʹcāte, v. t.p. 904To deprive of a limb; to lop. [Rare.]
  9. Ŏb'trun-cā'tion, n.p. 904The act of lopping or cutting off. [Rare.] Cockeram.
  10. 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.
  11. Ob-tru'sion-ist, n.p. 904One who obtrudes; a person of obtrusive manners, or one who favors or excuses obtrusion. [Obs.]
  12. 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.
  13. Ob-tru'sive-ly, adv.p. 904In an obtrusive manner; by way of obtrusion.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. ŏb-tu-rā'tion, n.p. 904The act of stopping by spreading over or covering. [Obs.]
  17. 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…
  18. Ŏb/tŭs-ăn’gu-lar, a.p. 904Having angles that are obtuse, or larger than right angles.
  19. 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…
  20. Ob-tūse'-āṅ'gled, a.p. 904Having an obtuse angle; as, an obtuse-angled triangle.
  21. Ob-tūse'ly, adv.p. 904In an obtuse manner; dully.
  22. Ob-tūse'ness, n.p. 904The state or quality of being obtuse; bluntness; dullness.
  23. 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.
  24. Ob-ūm'brāte, v. t.p. 904To shade; to darken; to cloud. [Rare.] Howell.
  25. Ŏb'um-brā'tion, n.p. 904Act of darkening or obscuring. [Rare.]
  26. Ob-ŭn'cous, a.p. 904Hooked or crooked in an extreme degree.
  27. Ob-vĕn'tion, n.p. 904The act of happening incidentally; that which happens not regularly, but incidentally; something occasional. [Obs.] “Legacies bequeathed by the deaths of princes and great persons, and other…
  28. Ob-vĕrs'ant, a.p. 904Conversant; familiar. [Obs.] Bacon.
  29. Ob-vĕrse', a.p. 904(Bot.) Having the base narrower than the top, as a leaf.
  30. ŏb'vĕrse, n.p. 904The face of a coin, having the principal image or inscription upon it; also, a projecting image or relief, as opposed to the corresponding depressed impression:—opposed to reverse. 2. Any thing…
  31. Ob-vĕrse'ly, adv.p. 904In an obverse form or manner.
  32. Ob-vĕr'sion, n.p. 904The act of turning toward or downward.
  33. Ob-vĕrt', v. t.p. 904To turn toward or downward.
  34. ŏb'vi-āte, v. t.p. 904To meet in the way; hence, to prevent by interception, or to remove at the beginning or in the outset; hence, to clear the way of. To lay down every thing in its full light, so as to obviate all…
  35. ŏb'vi-ā'tion, n.p. 904The act of obviating, or the state of being obviated.
  36. ŏb'vi-oŭs, a.p. 904Meeting; opposed in front. [Obs.] I to the evil turn My obvious breast. Milton. 2. Open; exposed; liable; subject. “Obvious to dispute.” Milton. 3. Easily discovered, seen, or understood; readily…
  37. ŏb'vi-oŭs-ly, adv.p. 904In a manner that is obvious; evidently; plainly.
  38. ŏb'vi-oŭs-ness, n.p. 904The state of being obvious or evident to the eye or the mind.
  39. ŏb'vo-lūte or ŏb'vo-lūt'ed, a.p. 904(Bot.) Arranged so as alternately to overlap, as the margins of one leaf those of the opposite one. Gray.
  40. ŏbŷ, n.p. 904Witchcraft among the African negroes. The same as OBEAH.
  41. ŏ'bŷ-ĭsm, n.p. 904The practice of a species of witchcraft among the negroes of Africa.
  42. ŏe, n.p. 904A Turkish arrow.
  43. Oc-cā′sion, n.p. 904A falling, happening, or coming to pass; hence, that which falls or happens out of the regular order of events; an occurrence, casualty, incident. The unlooked-for incidents of family history, and…
  44. Oc-cā'sion, v. t.p. 905To give occasion to; to cause incidentally; to produce; to influence; to cause. If we inquire what it is that occasions men to make several combinations of simple ideas into distinct modes. Locke.
  45. Oc-cā'sion-a-ble, a.p. 905Capable of being occasioned. [Obs.] Barrow.
  46. Oc-cā'sion-al, a.p. 905Pertaining to or occurring at times, but not regular or systematic; made or happening as opportunity requires or admits; called out by some occasion; furnishing an occasion; casual; incidental; as…
  47. Oc-cā'sion-al-ĭsm, n.p. 905The system of occasional causes; — a name given to certain theories of the Cartesian school of philosophers, by which they account for the apparent reciprocal action of the soul and the body.
  48. Oc-cā'sion-ăl'i-ty, n.p. 905The state or quality of being occasional; occurrence at intervals or occasionally.
  49. Oc-cā'sion-al-ly, adv.p. 905In an occasional manner; on occasion; at times, as convenience requires or opportunity offers; not regularly. “The one, Wol-sey, directly his subject by birth; the other, his subject occasionally by…
  50. Oc-cā'sion-āte, v. t.p. 905To cause; to occasion. [Obs. and rare.] The lowest may occasionate much ill. More.
  51. Oc-cā'sion-er, n.p. 905One who occasions, causes, or produces. He was the occasioner of loss to his neighbor. Sanderson.
  52. Oc-cā'sive, a.p. 905Pertaining to the setting sun; falling; descending; western.
  53. Oc-ce-cā'tion, n.p. 905The act of making blind. [Rare.]
  54. ŏc'ci-dent, n.p. 905The western quarter of the hemisphere; the west; — so called from the decline, or fall, of the sun.
  55. Oc'ci-dent'al, a.p. 905Situated in, or pertaining to, the west; western; — opposed to oriental: as, occidental climates; occidental pearl; occidental gold. 2. Setting after the sun; as, an occidental planet. 3. Possessing…
  56. Oc-cid'ū-ous, a.p. 905Western; occidental. [Obs.]
  57. Oc-cip'i-tal, a.p. 905Pertaining to the occiput, or the back part of the head.
  58. Ŏc'ci-pūt, n.p. 905(Anat.) The hinder part of the head, or that part of the skull which forms the hind part of the head.
  59. Oe-cĭs′ion, n.p. 905A killing; the act of killing. [Obs.] Hall.
  60. Oc-clūde', v. t.p. 905To shut up; to close. [Obs.] Browne.