Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Op-prĕss'ive, a. p. 916Unreasonably burdensome; unjustly severe; as, oppressive taxes; oppressive exactions of service. 2. Proceeding from a design to oppress; tyrannical; as, oppressive authority or commands. 3. Heavy…Op-prĕss'ive-ly, adv. p. 916In a manner to oppress; with unreasonable severity.Op-prĕss'ive-ness, n. p. 916The quality of being oppressive.Op-prĕss'or, n. p. 916One who oppresses; one who imposes unjust burdens on others; one who harasses others with unjust laws or unreasonable severity. Power, when employed to relieve the oppressed and to punish the…Op-press'ure, n. p. 916Oppression. [Obs.]Op-prō'bri-ōus, a. p. 916Expressive of opprobrium; reproachful and contemptuous; scurrilous; as, opprobrious language; opprobrious words or terms. 2. Blasted with infamy; despised; rendered hateful; as, an opprobrious name.…Op-prō'bri-ōus-ly, adv. p. 916In an opprobrious manner; scurrilously.Op-prō'bri-ōus-ness, n. p. 916Reproachfulness mingled with contempt; scurrility.Op-prō'bri-ūm, n. p. 916Reproach mingled with contempt or disdain. Being both dramatic author and dramatic performer, he found himself heir to a twofold opprobrium, and at an era of English society when the weight of that…Op-prō'bry, n. p. 916Opprobrium. [Obs.]Op-pūgn', v. t. p. 916To fight against, whether in attack, resistance, or simple opposition; to attack; to oppose; to resist. They said the manner of their impeachment they could not but conceive did oppugn the rights of…Op-pŭg'nan-cy, n. p. 916The act of oppugning; opposition; resistance. Shak.Op-pŭg'nant, n. p. 916One who oppugns; an opponent. [Rare.] Coleridge.Op-pŭg'nant, a. p. 916Tending to awaken hostility; hostile; opposing. “The oppugnant forces of two or more powers which have a natural fitness to counteract each other.” J. Taylor.ŏp'/pug-nā'/tion, n. p. 916Opposition; resistance. [R.] Bp. Hall.Op-pūgn'er, n. p. 916One who opposes or attacks; that which opposes.Op-sīm'a-thy, n. p. 916Late education; education late in life. [Obs. and rare.] Hales.ŏp'/si-ŏm'e-ter, n. p. 916An instrument for measuring the extent of the limits of distinct vision in different individuals, and from that to determine the focal length of a lens necessary to correct imperfect sight. Brandé.ŏp'so-nā'tion, n. p. 916A catering; a buying of provisions. [Obs.]ŏp'ta-ble, a. p. 916Desirable. [Obs.]ŏp'tāte, v. i. p. 916To choose; to wish for; to desire. [Obs.] Cotgrave.Op-tā'tion, n. p. 916The act of optating; the expression of a wish. [Obs.] “Regulating determined realities unto their private optations.” Browne.Ŏp'ta-tĭve, a. p. 917Expressing desire or wish. Optative mode (Gram.), that form of the verb in which wish or desire is expressed.Ŏp'ta-tĭve, n. p. 917Something to be desired. [Obs.] Bacon. 2. (Gram.) A mode of the verb expressing desire.Ŏp'ta-tĭve-ly, adv. p. 917In an optative manner; with the expression of desire. God blesseth man imperatively, and man blesseth God optatively. Bp. Hall.Ŏp'tic, n. p. 917An organ of sight; an eye. The difference is as great between The optics seeing as the objects seen. Pope.ŏp'tĭc or ŏp'tĭc-al, a. p. 917Relating or pertaining to vision or sight. The moon, whose orb, Through optic glass, the Tuscan artist views. Milton. 2. Relating or pertaining to the organ of sight; as, the optic nerve. 3. Relating…ŏp'tĭc-al-ly, adv. p. 917By optics or sight.Op-ti'cian, n. p. 917One who is skilled in relation to vision, or the science of optics. [Rare.] 2. One who makes or sells optical glasses and instruments.ŏp'tics, n. sing. p. 917That branch of physical science which treats of the nature and properties of light, the laws of its modification by opaque and transparent bodies, and the phenomena of vision. [See Note under…Ŏp'ti-grāph, n. p. 917A telescope with a diagonal eye-piece, suspended vertically in gimbals by the object-end beneath a fixed diagonal plane mirror, for delineating landscapes, &c., by so moving it that a dot in the…ŏp'ti-ma-cy, n. p. 917The body of nobles; the nobility. [Rare.] Howell.ŏp'ti-mate, a. p. 917Pertaining or belonging to the nobility; noble. [Rare.]ŏp'ti-mate, n. p. 917A nobleman; a chief man in a state or city. No optimate. Of all the Greeks, had the charge to ope And shut the stratagem but I. Chapman.ŏp'ti-mā'tēs, n. pl. p. 917The nobility or aristocracy of ancient Rome, as opposed to the populares.ŏp'ti-mē, n. p. 917One of those who stand in the second rank of honors, immediately after the wranglers, in the University of Cambridge, England. They are divided into senior and junior optimes.Op′ti-mĭsm, n. p. 917The opinion or doctrine that every thing in nature is ordered for the best; or the ordering of things in the universe so as to produce the highest good. “The true and amiable philosophy of optimism.”…ŏp'ti-mĭst, n. p. 917One who holds the opinion that all events are ordered for the best.Op-tim'i-ty, n. p. 917The state of being best.ŏp'tion, n. p. 917The power of choosing; the right of choice or election. There is an option left to the United States of America, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a…Ŏp'tion-al, a. p. 917Left to one's wish or choice; depending on choice or preference; as, it is optional with you to go or stay. If to the former the movement was not optional, it was the same that the latter chose when…Ŏp'tion-al-ly, adv. p. 917In an optional manner; with the privilege of choice.Op-tŏm'e-ter, n. p. 917An instrument for measuring the limits of distinct vision of different persons, chiefly with a view to the selection of spectacles and eyeglasses.Op'ū-lence, n. p. 917Wealth; riches; affluence. Swift.ōp′ū-len-çy, n. p. 917The same as OPULENCE. [Rare.]<br>The infinite flatteries that follow<br>Youth and opulency. Shak.Ŏp'ū-lent, a. p. 917Having a large estate or property; wealthy; rich; affluent.Ŏp'ū-lent-ly, adv. p. 917In an opulent manner; richly.O-pŭn'ti-ȧ, n. p. 917(Bot.) A genus of cactaceous plants; the prickly-pear, or Indian fig.Ō'pus, n. p. 917Work. 2. (Mus.) A musical composition. ☞ Each composition is called an opus, and they are numbered in the order of their issue. It is often abbreviated to op.Opus operatum p. 917(Theol.), the mere outward administration of a sacrament or rite, when regarded as of itself productive of spiritual effects, without respect to the fitness or character of the recipient.O-pŭs'cle (-sl) or O-pŭs'cule, n. p. 917A small work.Ŏ-pŭs'cu-lum, n. p. 917A small work; an opuscule. Smart.Or p. 917A termination of Latin nouns, denoting an agent, as in actor, creditor. It is annexed to many words of English origin, as in lessor. In general, or is annexed to words of Latin, and er to those of…Ōr, conj. p. 917A connective that marks an alternative; as, you may read or may write,—that is, you may do one of the things at your pleasure, but not both. It corresponds to either. You may ride either to London or…Ôr, adv. p. 917Ere; before; sooner than. [Obs.] He was of Lindesay, als I ore told. R. Brunne. But natheless, while I have time and space, Or that I further in this tale pace. Chaucer. Or ever, sooner than ever…Ôr, n. p. 917(Her.) The yellow or gold color represented on an escutcheon by small dots.Ō'rā, n. p. 917A money of account among the Anglo-Saxons, valued, in the Doomsday Book, at twenty pence sterling.Ŏr'ach or Ŏr'ache, n. p. 917(Bot.) A plant of the genus Atriplex, sometimes used as a substitute for spinage. [Written also orrach.]Ŏr'a-cle, n. p. 917The answer of a god, or some person reputed to be a god, among the heathen, to an inquiry made respecting some affair of importance, usually respecting some future event, as the success of an…Ŏr'a-cle, v. i. p. 917To utter oracles.