Home Site Menu Religion Menu Interesting Menu Humour Menu Guestbook Forum Email

Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894

powered by FreeFind

this letter represents an eye, and is called in Hebrew ain (an eye).

O

The fifteen O's are fifteen prayers beginning with the letter O (See Hora Beatissima Virginis Mariae.)

The Christmas O's. For nine days before Christmas (at 7 o'clock p.m.) are seven antiphones (3 syl.), each beginning with O, as O Sapientia, O Radix, etc.

O'

An Irish patronymic. (Gachc, ogha; Irish, oa, a descendant.)

O'

in Scotch, means “of,” as “Tam—o'—Shanter.”

O.H.M.S

On His [or Her] Majesty's Service.

O.K

A telegraphic symbol for “All right” (orl korrect, a Sir William Curtis's or Artemus Ward's way of spelling “all correct").

O. P. Riot

(Old Price Riot). When the new Covent Garden theatre was opened in 1809, the charges of admission were increased, but night after night for three months a throng crowded the pit, shouting “O.P.” (old prices); much damage was done, and the manager was obliged at last to give way.

O tempora! O mores!

Alas! how the times have changed for the worse! Alas! how the morals of the people are degenerated!

O Yes'! O Yes! O Yes!

French, oyez (hear ye).

“Fame with her londst O yes!

Cries. `This is he.' “

Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, iv. 5.

Oaf

A corruption of ouph (elf). A foolish child or dolt is so called from the notion that all idiots are changelings, left by the fairies in the place of the stolen ones.

“This guiltless oaf his vacancy of sense

Supplied, and amply too, by innocence.”

Byron: Verses found in a Summer—house.

Oak Worn on May 29th. May 29th was the birthday of Charles II. It was in the month of September that he concealed himself in an oak at Boscobel. The battle of Worcester was fought on Wednesday, September 3rd, 1651, and Charles arrived at Whiteladies, about three—quarters of a mile from Boscobel House, early the next morning. He returned to England on his birthday, when the Royalists displayed a branch of oak in allusion to his hiding in an oak tree.

To sport one's oak. To be “not at home” to visitors. At the Universities the “chambers" have two doors, the usual room—door and another made of oak, outside it; when the oak is shut or “sported” it indicates either that the occupant of the room is out, or that he does not wish to be disturbed by visitors

Oak and Ash

The tradition is, if the oak gets into leaf before the ash we may expect a fine and productive year; if the ash precedes the oak in foliage, we may anticipate a cold summer and unproductive autumn. In the years 1816, 1817, 1821, 1823, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1838, 1840, 1845, 1850, and 1859, the ash was in leaf a full month before the oak, and the autumns were unfavourable. In 1831, 1833, 1839, 1853, 1860, the two species of trees came into leaf about the same time, and the years were not remarkable either for plenty or the reverse; whereas in 1818, 1819, 1820, 1822, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1833, 1834, 1835, 1836, 1837, 1842, 1846, 1854, 1868, and 1869, the oak displayed its foliage several weeks before the ash, and the summers of those years were dry and warm, and the harvests abundant.

Oak—tree

The oak—tree was consecrated to the god of thunder because oaks are said to be more likely to be struck by lightning than other trees.

Philemon and Phaon

A young man greatly illtreated by Furor, and rescued by Sir Guyon. He loved Claribel, but Philemon, his friend, persuaded him that Claribel was unfaithful, and, to prove his words, told him to watch in a given place. He saw what he thought was claribel holding an assignation with what seemed to be a groom, and, rushing forth, met the true Claribel, whom he slew on the spot. Being tried for the murder, it came out that the groom was Philemon, and the supposed Claribel only her lady's maid. He poisoned Philemon, and would have murdered the handmaid, but she escaped, and while he pursued her he was attacked by Furor. This tale is to expose the intemperance of revenge. (Spenser: Qucene, ii. 4, 28.)

Oaks

(The). One of the three great classic races of England. The Derby and Oaks are run at Epsom, and the St. Leger at Doncaster. The Oaks, in the parish of Woodmanstone, received its name from Lambert's Oaks, and an inn, called the “Hunter's Club,” was rented of the Lambert family. It afterwards became the residence of General Burgoyne, from whom it passed to the 11th Earl of Derby. It was Edward Smith Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby, who originated the Oak Stakes, May 14, 1779. On his death, in 1834, the estate was sold to Sir Charles Guy, and was then held by Joseph Smith. The Oaks Stakes are for fillies three years old. (See Debby. )

Oaks Famous in Story

(1) Owen Glendower's Oak, at Shelton, near Shrewsbury, was in full growth in 1403, for in this tree Owen Glendower witnessed the great battle between Henry IV. and Henry Percy. Six or eight persons can stand in the hollow of its trunk. Its girth is 40 4 feet.

(2) Cowthorpe Oak, near Wetherby, in Yorkshire, will hold seventy persons in its hollow. Professor Burnet states its age to be 1,600 years.

(3) Fairlop Oak, in Hainault Forest, was 36 feet in circumference a yard from the ground. It was blown down in 1820.

(4) The Oak of the Partisans, in Parcy Forest, St. Ouen, in the department of the Vosges, is 107 feet in height. It is 700 years old. (1895.)

(5) The Bull Oak, Wedgenock Park, was growing at the time of the Conquest.

(6) The Winfarthing Oak was 700 years old at the time of the Conquest.

(7) William the Conqueror's Oak, in Windsor Great Park, is 38 feet in girth.

(8) Queen's Oak, Huntingfield, Suffolk, is so named because near this tree Queen Elizabeth shot a buck.

(9) Sir Philip Sidney's Oak, near Penshurst, was planted at his birth in 1554, and has been memorialised by Ben Jonson and Waller.

(10) The Ellerslie Oak, near Paisley, is reported to have sheltered Sir William Wallace and 300 of his men. (11) The Swilcar Oak, in Needwood Forest, Staffordshire, is between 600 and 700 years old.

(12) The Abbot's Oak, near Woburn Abbey, is so called because the Woburn abbot was hanged on one of its branches, in 1537, by order of Henry VIII.

(13) The Major Oak, Sherwood Forest, Edwinstowe, according to tradition, was a full—grown tree in the reign of King John. The hollow of the trunk will hold 15 persons, but of late years a new bark has considerably diminished the opening. Its girth is 37 or 38 feet, and the head covers a circumference of 240 feet.

(14) The Parliament Oak, Clipston, in Sherwood Forest, Notts, is the tree under which Edward I., in 1282, held his parliament. He was hunting in the forest, when a messenger came to tell him of the revolt of the Welsh. He hastily convened his nobles under the oak, and it was resolved to march at once against Llewellyn, who was slain. The oak is still standing (1895), but is supported by props.

(15) Robin Hood's Larder is an oak in that part of Sherwood Forest which belongs to the Duke of Portland. The tradition is that Robin Hood, the great outlaw, used this oak, then hollow, as his larder, to put the deer he had slain out of sight. Not long ago some school—girls boiled their kettle in the hollow of the oak, and burnt down a large part; but every effort has been made to preserve what remains from destruction.

(16) The Reformation Oak, on Mouse—hold Heath, near Norwich, is where the the rebel Ket held his court in 1549, and when the Rebellion was stamped out, nine of the ringleaders were hanged on this tree.

Oakum

Untwisted rope; used for caulking the seams (i.e. spaces between the planks) of a ship. It is forced in by chisel and mallet.

To pick oakun. To make oakum by untwisting old ropes. A common employment in prisons and workhouses.

Oannes

The Chaldean sea—god. It had a fish's head and body, and also a human head; a fish's tail, and also feet under the tail and fish's head. In the day—time he lived with men to instruct them in the arts and sciences, but at night retired to the ocean. Anedotes or Idotion was a similar deity, so was the Dagon [dag—On, fish On] of the Philistines.

Oar

To put your oar into my boat. To interfere with my affairs. “Paddle your own canoe, and don't put your oar into my boat.” “Bon homme, garde ta vache.” “Never scald your lips with another man's porridge"

(Scotch). “Croyez moi chacun son metier, et les vaches sont bien gardées.”

“I put my oar in no man's boat.” — Thackeray.

Oars

To rest on one's oars. To take an interval of rest after hard work. A boating phrase.

To toss the oars. To raise them vertically, resting on the handles. It is a form of salute.

O'asis

A perfect o'asis. A fertile spot in the midst of a desert country, a little charmed plot of land. The reference is to those spots in the desert of Africa where wells of water or small lakes are to be found, and vegetation is pretty abundant. (Coptic word, called by Herodotos auasis.)

Oath

The sacred oath of the Persians is By the Holy Grave — i.e. the Tomb of Shah Besade, who is buried in Casbin. (Strut.)

Oaths

Rhadamanthus imposed on the Cretans the law that men should not swear by the gods, but by the dog, ram, goose, and plane—tree. Hence Socrates would not swear by the gods, but by the dog and goose.

Oats

He has sown his wild oats. He has left off his gay habits and is become steady. The thick vapours which rise on the earth's surface just before the lands in the north burst into vegetation, are called in Denmark Lok kens havre (Loki's wild oats). When the fine weather succeeds, the Danes say, “Loki has sown his wild oats.”

Ob

and Sol. Objection and solution. Contractions formerly used by students in academical disputations.

Obadiah A slang name for a Quaker.

Obadiah. One of the servants of Mr. Shandy. (Sterne: Tristram Shandy.

Obambou

The devil of the Camma tribes of Africa. It is exorcised by noise like bees in flight.

Obelisk

(See Dagger. )

Obelus

A small brass coin (nearly ld, in value) placed by the Greeks in the mouth of the dead to pay Charon for ferrying the body over the river Styx. Same as obolos, an obol.

Obermann

The impersonation of high moral worth without talent, and the tortures endured by the consciousness of this defect. (Etienne Pivert de Senancour: Obermann.)

Oberon

King of the Fairies, whose wife was Titania. Shakespeare introduces both O'beron and Titania, in his Midsummer Night's Dream. (Auberon, anciently Alberon, German Alberich, king of the elves.)

O'beron the Fay. A humpty dwarf only three feet high, but of angelic face, lord and king of Mommur. He told Sir Huon his pedigree, which certainly is very romantic. The lady of the Hidden Isle (Cephalonia) married Neptanebus, King of Egypt, by whom she had a son called Alexander the Great. Seven hundred years later Julius Caesar, on his way to Thessaly, stopped in Cephalonia, and the same lady, falling in love with him, had in time another son, and that son was Oberon. At his birth the fairies bestowed their gifts — one was insight into men's thoughts, and another was the power of transporting himself to any place instantaneously. He became a friend to Huon (q.v.), whom he made his successor in the kingdom of Mommur. In the fulness of time, falling asleep in death, legions of angels conveyed his soul to Paradise. (Huon de Bordeaux, a romance.

Oberthal

(Count). Lord of Dordrecht, near the Meuse. When Bertha, one of his vassals, asked permission to marry John of Leyden, the count refused, resolving to make her his mistress. This drove John into rebellion, and he joined the Anabaptists. The count was taken prisoner by Giona, a discarded servant, but liberated by John. When John was crowned Prophet—king, the count entered his banquet—hall to arrest him, and perished with John in the flames of the burning palace. (Meyerbeer: Le Prophète, a romance.)

Obidah

An allegory in the Rambler, designed to be a picture of human life. It is the adventures and misfortunes which a young man named Obidah met with in a day's journey.

Obidicut

The fiend of lust, and one of the five that possessed “poor Tom.” (Shakespeare: King Lear, iv. 1.)

Obiism

Serpent—worship. From Egyptian Ob (the sacred serpent). The African sorceress is still called Obi. The Greek ophis is of the same family. Moses forbade the Israelites to inquire of Ob, which we translate wizard.

Obiter dictum

(Latin). An incidental remark, an opinion expressed by a judge, but not judiciously. An obiter dictum has no authority beyond that of deference to the wisdom, experience, and honesty of the person who utters it; but a judicial sentence is the verdict of a judge bound under oath to pronounce judgment only according to law and evidence.

Object

means forecast, or that on which you employ forecast. (Latin, ob jacio.)

Obolus

Give an obolus to old Belisarius. Tzetzes, a writer of the twelfth century, says that Belisarius, stripped of all his wealth and honours, was reduced to beggary in his grey old age; that he lived in a mud hut, from the window of which he hung an alms—bag, and that the used to cry to the passers—by, “Give an obolus to poor old Belisarius, who rose by his merits and was cast down by envy.”

Obsequies

are the funeral honours, or those which follow a person deceased. (Latin, ob—sequor.)

Obstacle Race

(An). A race over obstacles such as gates, nets, sails laid on the ground, through hoops or tubs, etc.

Obstinate

The name of an inhabitant of the City of Destruction, who advised Christian to return to his family, and not run on fools' errands. (Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, pt. i.)

Obverse

(The). Of a coin or medal. That side which contains the principal device. Thus, the obverse of our money coin is the side which contains the sovereign's head. The other side is called the “reverse.”

Oby

A river in Russia. The word means Great River. Thomson the poet says it is the ultima thule of the habitable globe.

Occam

(William of), surnamed Doctor Singularis et Invincibilis. He was the great advocate of Nominalism. (1270—1347.)

Occam's Razor Entia non sunt multiplicanda (entities are not to be multiplied). With this axiom Occam dissected every question as with a razor.

Occasion

A famous old hag, quite bald behind. Sir Guyon seized her by the forelock and threw her to the ground. Still she railed and reviled, till Sir Guyon gagged her with an iron lock; she then began to use her hands, but Sir Guyon bound them behind her. (Spenser: Faëric Queene, book ii.)

Occult Sciences

Magic, alchemy, and astrology; so called because they were occult or mysteries (secrets).

Oceana

An ideal republic by James Harrington, on the plan of Plato's Atlantis. Also the title of one of James Anthony Froude's books.

Ochiltree

(Edie). A gaberlunzie man or blue—coat beggar, in Sir Walter Scott's Antiquary. The original of this bedesman was Andrew Gemmelles.

Octavian

Chief character of The Mountaineers, a drama by George Colman. He goes mad out of love for Donna Floranthe, whom he suspects of loving another; but Roque, a blunt old attachè, seeks him, tells him Floranthe is faithful, and induces him to return.

Octavo

A book where each sheet of paper is folded into eight leaves; contracted thus— Svo. (Italian, un' ottavo; French, in octavo; Latin, octo, eight.)

Ocypus

son of Podalirius and Astasia, was eminent for his strength, agility, and beauty; but used to deride those afflicted with the gout. This provoked the anger of the goddess who presided over that distemper, and she sent it to plague the scoffer. (Lucian.)

Od

(See Odyle. )

Odd Numbers

Luck in odd numbers. A major chord consists of a fundamental or tonic, its major third, and its just fifth. According to the Pythagorean—system, “all nature is a harmony,” man is a full chord; and all beyond is Deity, so that nine represents deity. As the odd numbers are the fundamental notes of nature, the last being deity, it will be easy to see how they came to be considered the great or lucky numbers. In China, odd numbers belong to heaven, and v.v. (See Diapason, Number.)

“Good luck lies in odd numbers ... They say, there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death.”— Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor. v. 1.

No doubt the odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, play a far more important part than the even numbers. One is Deity, three the Trinity, five the chief division (see Five), seven is the sacred number, and nine is three times three, the great climacteric.

Odd and Even

According to Pythagoras, by the number of syllables in a man's name, the side of his infirmity may be predicted: odd being left, even being right.

Thus, to give only one or two examples: Nelson (even) lost his right arm and right eye. Raglan (even) lost his right arm at Waterloo. The fancy is quite worthless, but might afford amusement on a winter's night.

Odd's

or Od's, used in oaths; as—

Odd's bodikins! or Odsbody! means “God's body,” of course referring to incarnate Deity. Od's heart! God's heart.

Od's pittikins! God's pity. Od's plessed will! (Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1.)

Od rotcm! (See Drat.)

Od—zounds! God's wounds.

Odds

By long odds. By a great difference; as, “He is the best man by long odds.” A phrase used by betting men. In horse—racing, odds are offered in bets on favourite horses; so, in the Cambridge and Oxford races, long odds are laid on the boat which is expected to win.

That makes no odds. No difference; never mind; that is no excuse. An application of the betting phrase.

Ode

Prince of The Ode. Pierre de Ronsard, a French lyrist. (1524—1585.)

Odhaerir

The mead or nectar made of Kvasir's blood, kept in three jars. The second of these jars is called Sohn, and the Bohn. Probably the nectar is the “spirit of poetry.” (Scandinavian mythology.)

Odin

Chief god of the Scandinavians.

His real name was Siggë, son of Fridulph, but he assumed the name of Odin when he left the Tanais, because he had been priest of Odin, supreme god of the Scythians. He became the All—wise by drinking from Mimer's fountain, but purchased the distinction at the cost of one eye. His one eye is the Sun.

The father of Odin was Bör.

His brothers are Vilë and Ve.

His wife is Frigga.

His sons, Thor and Balder.

His mansion is Gladsheim.

His seat, Valaskjalf.

His court as war—god, Valhalla.

His hall, Einherian.

His two black ravens are Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory).

His steed, Sleipnir (q.v.).

His ships, Skidbladnir and Naglfar.

His spear, Gungner, which never fails to hit the mark aimed at. His ring, Draupner, which every ninth night drops eight other rings of equal value. His throne is Hlidskjalf.

His wolves, Geri and Freki.

He will be ultimately swallowed up by the wolf Fenris or Fenrir. (Scandinavian mythology.)

The vow of Odin. A matrimonial or other vow made before the “Stone of Odin,” in the Orkneys. This is an oval stone, with a hole in it large enough to admit a man's hand. Anyone who violated a vow made before this stone was held infamous.

Odium Theologicum

The bitter hatred of rival religionists. No wars so sanguinary as holy wars; no persecutions so relentless as religious persecutions, no hatred so bitter as theological hatred.

O'Doherty

(Sir Morgan). Papers contributed to Blackwood's Magazine by William Maginn', LL.D., full of wit, fun, irony, and eloquence. (1819—1842.)

Odor Lucri

(Latin). The sweets of gain; the delights of money—making.

“Every act of such a person is seasoned with the odor lucri.” — Sir Walter Scott: The Betrothed (Introduction).

Odorico (in Orlando Furioso). A Biscayan, to whom Zerbino commits Isabella. He proves a traitor and tries to ravish her, but, being interrupted by a pirate crew, flies for safety to Alphonzo's court. Here Almonio defies him, and overcomes him in single combat. King Alphonzo gives the traitor to the conqueror, and he is delivered bound to Zerbino, who awards him as a punishment to attend Gabrina for one year as her champion, and to defend her against every foe. He accepts the charge, but hangs Gabrina to an elm. Almonio in turn hangs Odorico to an elm.

Odour

In good odour; in bad odour. In favour, out of favour; in good repute, in bad repute. The phrases refer to the “odour of sanctity” (q.v.).

Odour of Sanctity

(In the). The Catholics tell us that good persons die in the “odour of sanctity;” and there is a certain truth in the phrase, for, when one honoured by the Church dies, it is not unusual to perfume the room with incense, and sometimes to embalm the body. Homer tells us (Iliad, xxiii.) that Hector's body was washed with rose—water. In Egypt the dead are washed with rose—water and perfumed with incense (Maillet: Letters, x. p. 88). Herodotos says the same thing (History, ii. 86—90). When the wicked and those hated die, no such care is taken of them.

“In both the Greek and Western Church incense is used, and the aroma of these consecrated oils follows the believer from birth to death.”— Nineteenth Century: April, 1894, p. 584.

The Catholic notion that priests bear about with them an odour of sanctity may be explained in a similar manner: they are so constantly present when the censers diffuse sweet odour, that their clothes and skin smell of the incense.

Shakespeare has a strong passage on the disodour of impiety. Antiochus and his daughter, whose wickedness abounded, were killed by lightning, and the poet says:—

“A fire from heaven came and shrivelled up

Their bodies, e'en to loathing; for they so stunk That all those eyes adored them ere their fall

Scorned now their hand should give them burial.” Pericles, Prince of Tyre. ii. 4.

Odrysium Carmen

The poetry of Orpheus, a native of Thrace, called Odrysia tellus, because the Odrysës were its chief inhabitants.

O'dur

Husband of Freyja, whom he deserted. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Odyle

(2 syl.). That which emanates from a medium to produce the several phenomena connected with mesmerism, spirit—rapping, table—turning, and so on. The productions of these “manifestations” is sometimes called odylism. Baron Reichenbach called it Od force, a force which becomes manifest wherever chemical action is going on.

Odyssey

The poem of Homer which records the adventures of Odysseus (Ulysses) in his home—voyage from Troy. The word is an adjective formed out of the hero's name, and means the things or adventures of Ulysses.

OEdipus I am no OEdipus. I cannot guess what you mean. OEdipus guessed the riddle of the Sphinx, and saved Thebes from her ravages. (See Sphinx. )

OEil

A l'oeil. On credit, for nothing. Corruption of the Italian a uffo (gratis). In the French translation of Don Quixote is this passage:—

“Ma femme, disait Sancho Panca, ne m'a jamais dit oui que quand il fallait dire non. Or elles sont toutes de meme ... Elles sont toutes bonnes ä pendre ... passe cela, elles ne valent pas ceque pai daus l'oeil.”

OEil de Boeuf

(L'). A large reception—room (salle) in the palace of Versailles, lighted by round windows so called. The ceiling, decorated by Van der Meulen, contained likenesses of the children of Louis XIV.

(seventeenth and eighteenth centuries).

Les Fastes de l'OEil de Boeuf. The annals of the courtiers of the Grand Monarque; anecdotes of courtiers generally. The oeil de boeuf is the round window seen in entresols, etc. The ante—room where courtiers waited at the royal chamber of Versailles had these ox—eye windows, and hence they were called by this name.

Off

(Saxon, of; Latin, ab, from, away). The house is a mile off— i.e. is “away” or “from” us a mile. The word preceding off defines its scope. To be “well off” is to be away or on the way towards well—being; to be badly off is to be away or on the way to the bad. In many cases “off” is part of a compound verb, as to cut—off

(away), to peel—off, to march—off, to tear—off, to take—off, to get—off, etc. The off—side of horses when in pairs is that to the right hand of the coachman, the horses on his left —hand side are called the “near” horses. This, which seems rather anomalous, arises from the fact that all teamsters walk beside their teams on the left side, so that the horses on the left side are near him, and those on the right side are farther off.

He is well off; he is badly off. He is in good circumstances; he is straitened in circumstances, étre bien [or mal] dans ses affaires. In these phrases “off" means fares, “he fares well [or ill]; his affairs go—off well [or

ill]. (Anglo—Saxon, of—faran.

Off—hand

Without preparation; impromptu. The phrase, “in hand,” as, “It was long in hand,” means that it was long in operation, or long a—doing;

so that “off—hand” must mean it was not “in hand.”

Off his Head

Delirious, deranged, not able to use his head; so “off his feed,” not able to eat or enjoy his food. The latter phrase is applied to horses which refuse to eat their food.

Off the Hooks

Indisposed and unable to work. A door or gate off the hooks is unhinged, and does not work properly. Also, dead.

Off with his Head! So much for Buckingham!

(Colley Cibber: The Tragical History of Richard III., altered from Shakespeare.)

Offa's Dyke

which runs from Beachley to Flintshire, was not the work of Offa, King of Mercia, but was repaired by him. It existed when the Romans were in England, for five Roman roads cross it. Offa availed himself of it as a line of demarcation that was sufficiently serviceable, though by no means tallying with his territory either in extent or position.

Og

King of Bashan, according to Rabbinical mythology, was an antediluvian giant, saved from the flood by climbing on the roof of the ark. After the passage of the Red Sea, Moses first conquered Sihon, and then advanced against the giant Og (whose bedstead, made of iron, was above 15 feet long and nearly 7 feet broad, Deut. iii. 11). The Rabbins say that Og plucked up a mountain to hurl at the Israelites, but he got so entangled with his burden, that Moses was able to kill him without much difficulty.

Og in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is Thomas Shadwell, who succeeded Dryden as poet—laureate. Dryden called him MacFlecknoe, and says “he never deviates into sense.” He is called Og because he was a very large and fat man. (Part ii.)

Oghams

The alphabet in use among the ancient Irish and some other Celtic nations prior to the ninth century.

“The oghams seem to have been merely tree—runes. The Irish regarded the oghams as a forest, the individual characters being trees (feada), while each cross—stroke is called a twig (fleasg).”— Isaac Taylor: The Alphabet, vol. ii. chap. viii. p. 226.

Oghris

The lion that followed Prince Murad like a dog. (Croquemitaine.)

O'gier the Dane

(2 syl.). One of the paladins of King Charlemagne. Various fairies attended at his birth, and bestowed upon him divers gifts. Among them was Morgue, who when the knight was a hundred years old embarked him for the isle and castle of Avalon, “hard by the terrestrial paradise.” The vessel in which he sailed was wrecked, and Ogier was in despair, till he heard a voice that bade him “fear nothing, but enter the castle which I will show thee.” So he got to the island and entered the castle, where he found a horse sitting at a banquettable. The horse, whose name was Papillon, and who had once been a mighty prince, conducted him to Morgue the Fay, who gave him (1) a ring which removed all infirmities and restored him to ripe manhood;

(2) a Lethean crown which made him forget his country and past life; and (3) introduced him to King Arthur. Two hundred years rolled on, and France was invaded by the Paynims. Morgue now removed the crown from Ogier's head and sent him to defend “le bon pays de France.” Having routed the invaders, Morgue took him back to Avalon, and he has never reappeared on this earth of ours. (Ogier le Danois; a romance.)

O'gier the Dane. Represented as the Knave of Spades in the French pack. He is introduced by Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso.

The swords of Ogier the Dane. Curtana (the cutter), and Sauvagine. (See Morris: Earthly Paradise, August.)

Ogleby

(Lord). A superannuated nobleman who affects the gaiety and graces of a young man. (Clandestine Marriage, by Garrick and Colman the Elder.)

O'gres

of nursery mythology are giants of very malignant dispositions, who live on human flesh. It is an Eastern invention, and the word is derived from the Ogurs, a desperately savage horde of Asia, who overran part of Europe in the fifth century. Others derived it from Orcus, the ugly, cruel man—eating monster so familiar to readers of Bojardo and Ariosto. The female is Ogress.

O'Groat

From John o' Groat's house to the Land's End. From Dan to Beersheba, from one end of Great Britain to the other. John o' Groat was a Dutchman, who settled in the most northerly point of Scotland in the reign of James IV., and immortalised himself by the way he settled a dispute respecting precedency. (See John O' Groat.)

Blood without groats is nothing (north of England), meaning “family without fortune is worthless.” The allusion is to black—pudding, which consists chiefly of blood and groats formed into a sausage.

Not worth a groat. Of no value. A groat is a silver fourpence. The Dutch had a coin called a grote, a contraction of grote—schware (great schware), so called because it was equal in value to five little schware. So the coin of Edward III. was the groat or great silver penny, equal to four penny pieces. The modern groat was first issued in 1835, and were withdrawn from circulation in 1887. (French, gros, great.) Groats are no longer in circulation.

“He that spends a groat a day idly, spends idly above six pounds a year.” — Franklin: Necessary Hints, p. 131.

Ogygian Deluge

A flood which overran a—part of Greece while Ogyges was king of Attica. There were two floods so called— one in Boeotia, when the lake Copais overflowed its banks; and another in Attica, when the whole territory was laid waste for two hundred years (B.C. 1764).

Varro tells us that the planet Venus underwent a great change in the reign of Ogyges (3 syl.). It changed its diameter, its colour, its figure, and its course.

Ogyges Deluge occurred more than 200 years before Deucalion's Flood.

Oi Polloi

properly Hoi Polloi. (Greek.) The commonalty, the many. In University slang the “poll men,” or those who take degrees without “honours.”

Oignement de Bretaigne

(French). A sound drubbing. Oignement is a noun corruptly formed from hogner. In Lyons boys called the little cuffs which they gave each other hognes.

“Frére Eleuthere a trenchoisons.

Et j'ay orgement de Bretaigne;

Qui garist de roigne et de taigne.”

Le Martyre de S. Denis, etc., p. 129.

Oignons d'Egypte

The flesh—pots of Egypt. Hence “regretter les oignons d'Egypte,” to sigh for the flesh—pots of Egypt, to long for luxuries lost and gone.

Je plume oignons. I scold or grumble. Also peler des oignons in the same sense. A corruption of hogner, to scold or grumble.

“Grifon. Que fais—tu là

Braynault. Je plume ongnons.” La Quarte Journéc du Mistere de la Passion.

“Pas ne savoit ongnons peler.”

Villon: Baliade ii.

Oil

To strike oil. To make a happy hit or valuable discovery. The phrase refers to hitting upon or discovering a bed of petroleum or mineral oil.

Oil of Palms

Money. Huile is French slang for “money,” as will appear from the following quotation:— “Il faudra que vostre bourse fasse les frais de vostre curiosité; il fant de la peeune, il faut de l'huile.” (La Fausse Coquette, ii. 7; 1694.)

Oil on Troubled Waters

To pour oil on troubled waters, as a figure of speech, means to soothe the troubled spirit. “A soft answer turneth away wrath.”

As a physical fact, Professor Horsford, by emptying a vial of oil upon the sea in a stiff breeze, did actually still the ruffled surface. Commodore Wilkes, of the United States, saw the same effect produced in a violent storm off the Cape of Good Hope, by oil leaking from a whale—ship.

Origin of the phrase: The phrase is mentioned by the Venerable Bede in his Ecelesiastical History written in Latin, and completed in 735. Stapleton translated the book in 1565. St. Aidan, it appears, gave his blessing to a young priest who was to set out by land, but return by water, to convoy a young maiden destined for the bride of King Oswin or Oswy. St. Aidan gave the young man a cruse of oil to pour on the sea if the waves

became stormy. A storm did arise, and the young priest, pouring oil on the waves, did actually reduce them to a calm. Bede says he had the story from “a most creditable man in Holy Orders.”

St. Aidan died in 694, and Bede died in 735. There is no question in archaeology so often asked to be explained as this.

Oil the Knocker

(To). To fee the porter. The expression is from Racine, “On n'entre point chez lui sans graisser le marteau” (“No one enters his house without oiling the knocker"). (Les Plaideurs.)

Ointment

Money. From the fable De la Vieille qui Oint la Palme au Chevalier (thirteenth century).

“Volebant autem praefati clerici aliquem haberë legatum natio'në Romanum, que unguentis Anglicis, auro scilicet et argento solent ad quaelibet inclinari.”— Gervais de Canterbury: Chronicle; Scriptores decem ii., 1533.

Olaf

or Olave (St.). The first Christian king of Norway, slain in battle by his pagan subjects in 1030. He is usually represented in royal attire, bearing the sword or halbert of his martyrdom, and sometimes carrying a loaf of bread, as a rebus on his name, which in Latin is Holofius or Whole—loaf. (Born 995.)

Old Bags

John Scott, Lord Eldon; so called from his carrying home with him in different bags the cases still pending his judgment. (1751—1838.)

Old Blade

(An). “Un vieux routier” (an old stager), meaning one up to snuff. (See Snuff. )

Old Bona Fide

Louis XIV. (1638, 1643—1715).

Old Boots

Like old boots. Famously. “Cheeky as old boots,” very saucy. “He ran like old boots,” i.e. very fast. The reference is to the nursery story of the Seven—leagued Boots, old being simply a word of fondness, as “Well, old boy,” etc. The allusion, suitable enough in many phrases, becomes, when used in slang, very remotely applicable.

Old Dominion

Virginia. Every Act of Parliament to the Declaration of Independence designated Virginia “the Colony and Dominion of Virginia.” Captain John Smith, in his History of Virginia (1629), calls this “colony and dominion” Ould Virginia, in contradistinction to New England, and other British settlements.

Old England

This term was first used in 1641, twenty—one years after our American colony of New Virginia received the name of New England.

Old Faith Men

associated with members of the German, Swiss and Austrian churches who resisted the dogma of papal infallibility as invented by the Vatican council of 1870

Old Fogs

The 87th Foot; so called from the war—cry “Fag—an—Bealach” (Clear the way), pronounced Faug—a—bellagh. The 87th Foot is now called “The Royal Irish Fusiliers.”

Old Fox

Marshal Soult: so called by the soldiers because of his strategic abilities and never—failing resources. (1769—1851.) (See Fox. )

Old Gentleman

(The). The devil; a cheating card.

Old Glory

The United States' Flag. Sir Francis Burdett (1770—1844).

Old Gooseberry

To play [or play up] old gooseberry. To be a third person; to be de trop. Old Gooseberry is the name given to a person accompanying an engaged couple.

Old Grog Admiral Edward Vernon; so called by British sailors from his wearing a grogram cloak in foul weather. (1684—1757.)

Old Hands

supernumeraries who have been used to the work. “New hands” are those new to the work.

Old Harry

The devil. (See Harry. )

Old Humphrey

The nom—de—plume of George Mogridge, of London, author of several interesting books for children. (Died 1854.)

Old Mortality

The itinerant antiquary in Sir Walter Scott's novel of that name. It is said to be a picture of Robert Paterson, a Scotchman, who busied himself in clearing the moss from the tombstones of the Covenanters.

Old News

Stale news. Hawker's (or piper's) news. “Le secret de polichinelle.”

A pinch for old news. A schoolboy's punishment to one of his mates for telling as news what is well known.

Old Noll

Old Noll. Oliver Cromwell was so called by the Royalists. Noll is a familiar contraction of Oliver— i.e. Ol,' with an initial liquid.

Old Noll's Fiddler

Sir Roger L'Estrange (1616—1704). So called because he, at one time, was playing a fiddle or viole with others in the house of John Hingston when Cromwell was one of the guests.

Old Port School

Old—fashioned clergymen, who stick to Church and State, old port and “orthodoxy.”

Old Reeky

Edinburgh. The city is affectionately nicknamed "Auld Reekie", Lowland Scots for "Old Smoky".

Old Rowley

Charles II. was so called from his favourite racehorse. A portion of the Newmarket racecourse is still called Rowley Mile, from the same horse.

Old Salt

(An). An experienced sailor.

Old Scratch

The devil; so called from Schratz or Skratti, a demon of Scandinavian mythology. (See Nick. )

Old Song

Went for an old song. Was sold for a mere trifle, for a nominal sum or price.

Old Style— New Style

Old Style means computed according to the unreformed calendar. New Style means computed according to the calendar reformed and corrected by Gregory XIII. in 1582. The New Style was introduced into England, in 1752, during the reign of George II., when Wednesday, September 2nd, was followed by Thursday, September 14th. This has given rise to a double computation, as Lady Day, March 25th, Old Lady Day, April 6th; Midsummer Day, June 24th, Old Midsummer Day, July 6th; Michaelmas Day, September 29th, Old Michaelmas Day, October 11th; Christmas Day, December 25th, Old Christmas Day, January 6th.

Old Tom

Cordial gin. Thomas Norris, one of the men employed in Messrs. Hodges' distillery, opened a gin palace in Great Russell Street, Covenant Garden, and called the gin concocted by Thomas Chamberlain, one of the firm of Hodges, “Old Tom,” in compliment to his former master.

Old Women

in theatrical parlance, means actresses who take the part of “old women.” In full companies there are first and second “old women.” The term Old Men is similarly used.

Old World

So Europe, Asia, and Africa are called when compared with North and South America (the New World).

Old as Adam Generally used as a reproof for stating as news something well known. “That's as old as Adam,” or was known as far back as the days of Adam. (See Old As Methuselah .)

Old As Methuselah

Of great age. Methuselah was the oldest man that ever lived. (See above.)

Old as the Hills

“Old as Panton Gates.” (See Panton Gates .)

Old Age Restored to Youth

“La fontaine de Jourvence fit rejovenir la gent.” The broth of Medea did the same. Grinding old men young. Ogier's Ring (q.v.) restored the aged to youth again. The Dancing Water restores the aged woman to youth and beauty. (See Water. )

Old Dogs will not Learn New Tricks

In Latin, “Senex psittacus negligit ferulam” (An old parrot does not mind the stick). When persons are old they do not readily fall into new ways.

Old Lady of Threadneedle Street

The Bank of England, situated in Threadneedle Street. So called from a caricature by Gilray, dated 22nd May, 1797, and entitled The Old Lady in Threadneedle Street in Danger. It referred to the temporary stopping of cash payments 26th February, 1797, and one pound bank—notes were issued 4th March the same year.

Old Man Eloquent

Isocrates; so called by Milton. When he heard of the result of the battle of Chaerone'a, which was fatal to Grecian liberty, he died of grief.

“That dishonest victory

At Chaerone's, fatal to liberty.

Killed with report that Old Man Eloquent.”

Milton: Sonnets.

Old Man of the Moon

(The). The Chinese deity who links in wedlock predestined couples. (See Man In The Moon .)

“The Chinese have a firm belief in marriages being made in heaven. A certain deity, whom they call the `Old Man of the Moon,' links with a silken cord all predestined couples.”— J. N. Jordan: Modern China (Nineteenth Century, July, 1886, p. 45).

Old Man of the Mountain

Hassanben—Sabah, the sheik Al Jebal, and founder of the sect called Assassins (q.v.).

Old Man of the Sea

In the story of Sinbad the Sailor, the Old Man of the Sea, hoisted on the shoulders of Sinbad, clung there and refused to dismount. Sinbad released himself from his burden by making the Old Man drunk. (Arabian Nights.)

Oldbuck An antiquary; from the character of Jonathan Oldbuck, a whimsical virtuoso in Sir Walter Scott's Antiquary.

Oldcastle

(Sir John), called the Good Lord Cobham, the first Christian martyr among the English nobility (December 14th, 1417).

Oldenburg Horn

A horn long in the possession of the reigning princes of the House of Oldenburg, but now in the collection of the King of Denmark. According to tradition, Count Otto of Oldenburg, in 967, was offered drink in this silver—gilt horn by a “wild woman,” at the Osenborg. As he did not like the look of the liquor, he threw it away, and rode off with the horn.

Oldest Nation

and most ancient of all languages. Psammetichus of Egypt, wishing to penetrate these secrets, commanded that two infants should be brought up in such seclusion that they should never hear a single word uttered. When they had been thus secluded for two years, the boys both cried out to the keeper, “Becos! Becos!” a Phrygian word for Bread, so Psammetichus declared the Phrygian language to be man's primitive speech. (See Language. )

O'leum Adde Camino

To pour oil on fire; to aggravate a wound under pretence of healing it. (Horace: Satires, ii. 3, 321.)

Olibrius

(An). The wrong man in the wrong place. Olibrius was a Roman senator, proclaimed emperor by surprise in 472, but he was wholly unsuited for the office.

Olifaunt

Lord Nigel Olifaunt of Glenvarloch, on going to court to present a petition to King James I., aroused the dislike of the Duke of Buckingham; Lord Dalgarno gave him the cut direct, when Nigel struck him, and was obliged to seek refuge in Alsatia. After various adventures he married Margaret Ramsay, the watchmaker's daughter. (Sir Walter Scott: Fortunes of Nigel.)

Oligarchy

[olly—gar'—ky]. A government in which the supreme power is vested in a class. (Greek, oligos, the few; arche, rule.)

Olindo

The Mahometan king of Jerusalem, at the advice of his magician, stole an image of the Virgin, and set it up as a palladium in the chief mosque. The image was stolen during the night, and the king, unable to discover the perpetrator, ordered all his Christian subjects to be put to the sword. Sofronia, to prevent this wholesale massacre, accused herself of the deed, and was condemned to be burnt alive. Olindo, her lover, hearing of this, went to the king and took on himself the blame; whereupon both were condemned to death, but were saved by the intercession of Clorinda. (Jerusalem Delivered.)

O'lio

or Oglio. A mixture or medley of any sort. (Spanish, olla, a pot for boiling similar to what the French call their pot au feu. The olio is the mixture of bread, vegetables, spices, meat, etc., boiled in this pot.)

Olive

(2 syl.). Sacred to Pallas Athene. (See Olive—Tree .)

EMBLEM of (1) Chastity. In Greece the newly—married bride wore an olive—garland; with us the orange—blossom is more usual.

(2) Fecundity. The fruit of the olive is produced in vast profusion; so that olive—trees are valuable to their owners. (See Orange—Blossoms.)

(3) Merit. In ancient Greece a crown of olive—twigs was the highest distinction of a citizen who had deserved well of his country.

(4) Peace. An olive—branch was anciently a symbol of peace. The vanquished who sued for peace carried

olive—branches in their hands. And an olive—twig in the hands of a king (on medals), as in the case of Numa, indicated a reign of peace.

To hold out the olive branch. To make overtures of peace. (5) Prosperity. David says, “I am like a green olive—tree in the house of God” (Psalm lii. 8). (6) Victory. The highest prize in the Olympic games was a crown of olive—leaves.

ORIGIN of the olive—tree. The tale is, that Athene (Minerva) and Poseidon (Neptune) disputed the honour of giving a name of a certain city of Greece, and agreed to settle the question by a trial of which could produce the best gift for the new city. Athene commanded the earth to bring forth the olive—tree. Poseidon commanded the sea to bring forth the war—horse. Athene's gift was adjudged the better, and the city was called Athens.

Olive Branches

Children of a parent. It is a Scripture term: “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine ... thy children like olive plants round about thy table” (Psalm cxxviii. 3.).

Oliver

Son and heir of Sir Rowland de Boys, who hated his youngest brother Orlando, and persuaded him to try a wrestling match with a professed wrestler, hoping thus to kill his brother; but when Orlando proved victorious, Oliver swore to set fire to his chamber when he was asleep. Orlando fled to the forest of Arden, and Oliver pursued him; but one day, as he slept in the forest, a snake and a lioness lurked near to make him their prey; Orlando happened to be passing, and slew the two monsters. When Oliver discovered this heroic deed he repented of his illconduct, and his sorrow so interested the Princess Celia that she fell in love with him, and they were married. (Shakespeare: As You Like It.)

Oliver

or Olivier. Charlemagne's favourite paladin, who, with Roland, rode by his side. He was Count of Genes, and brother of the beautiful Aude. His sword was called Hauteclaire, and his horse Ferrant d'Espagne.

A Rowland for an Oliver. Tit for tat, quid pro quo. Dr. J.N. Scottsays that this proverb is modern, and owes its rise to the Cavaliers in the time of the Civil wars in England. These Cavaliers, by way of rebuff, gave the anti—monarchical party a General Monk for their Oliver Cromwell. As Monk's Christian name was George, it is hard to believe that the doctor is correct. (See Roland.)

Olivetans

Brethren of “Our Lady of Mount Olivet,” an offshoot of the Benedictine order.

Olivia

Niece of Sir Toby Belch. Malvolio is her steward, Maria her woman, Fabian and a clown her male servants. (Shakespeare: Twelfth Night.)

Olivia. A female Tartuffe (q.v.) in Wycherley's Plain Dealer. A consummate hypocrite, of most unblushing effrontery.

Olia Podrida

Odds and ends, a mixture of scraps. In Spain it takes the place of the French pot au feu, into which every sort of eatable is thrown and stewed. (See Olio. ) Used figuratively, the term means an incongruous mixture, a miscellaneous collection of any kind, a medley.

Ollapod

An apothecary, always trying to say a witty thing, and looking for wit in the conversation of others. When he finds anything which he can construe into “point” he says, “Thank you, good sir; I owe you one.” He had a military taste, and was appointed “cornet in the volunteer association of cavalry” of his own town. (G. Colman: The Poor Gentleman.)

Olympia

(in Orlando Furioso). Countess of Holland, and wife of Bireno. Cymosco of Friza wanted to force her to marry his son Arbantes, but Arbantes was slaiu. This aroused the fury of Cymosco, who seized Bireno, and would have put him to death if Orlando had not slain Cymosco. Bireno having deserted Olympia, she was bound naked to a rock by pirates; but Orlando delivered her and took her to Ireland. Here King Oberto espoused her cause, slew Bireno, and married the young widow. (Bks. iv., v.)

Olympaid

among the ancient Greeks, was a period of four years, being the interval between the celebrations of their Olympic Games.

Olympian Jove

or rather Zeus (1 syl.) A statue by Phidias, and reckoned one of the “Seven Wonders of the World.” Pausanias (vii. 2) says when the sculptor placed it in the temple at Elis, he prayed the god to indicate whether he was satisfied with it, and immediately a thunderbolt fell on the floor of the temple without doing the slightest harm.

The statue was made of ivory and gold, and though seated on a throne, was 60 feet in height. The left hand rested on a sceptre, and the right palm held a statue of Victory in sond gold. The robes were of gold, and so were the four lions which supported the footstool. The throne was of cedar, embellished with ebony, ivory, gold, and precious stones. (See Minerva.)

It was placed in the temple at Elis B.C. 433, was removed to Constantinople, and perished in the great fire of A.D. 475, It was completed in 4 years, and of course the materials were supplied by the Government of Elis.

The “Homer of Sculptors” died in prison, having been incarcerated on the trumpery charge of having introduced on a shield of one of his statues a portrait of himself.

Olympic Games

Games held by the Greeks at Olympia, in Elis, every fourth year, in the month of July.

Olympus

On the confines of Macedonia and Thessaly, where the fabulous court of Jupiter was supposed to be held. It is used for any pantheon, as “Odin, Thor, Balder, and the rest of the Northern Olympus.” The word means all bright or clear. In Greek the word is Olympus.

O'Lynn

(Brian). Slang for gin. (See Chivy. )

Om

A Sanscrit word, somewhat similar to Amen. When the gods are asked to rejoice in a sacrifice, the god Savitri cries out Om (Be it so). When Pravâhan is asked if his father has instructed him, he answers Om (Verily). Brahmins begin and end their lessons on the Veda with the word Om, for “unless Om precedes his lecture, it will be like water on a rock, which cannot be gathered up; and unless it concludes the lecture, it will bring forth no fruit.”

Om mani padem hûm. These are the first six syllables taught the children of Tibet and Mongolia, and the last words uttered by the dying in those lands. It is met with everywhere as a charm.

O'man's Sea The Persian Gulf.

Ombre

A Spanish game of cards called the royal game of ombre. Prior has an epigram on the subject. He says he was playing ombre with two ladies, and though he wished to lose, won everything, for Fortune gave him “success in every suit but hearts.” Pope has immortalised the game in his Rape of the Lock.

O'mega

The alpha and omega. The first and the last, the beginning and the end. Alpha is the first and omega the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

Omens

Ill Omens

Leotychides II., of Sparta, was told by his augurs that his projected expedition would fail, because a viper had got entangled in the handle of the city key. “Not so,” he replied. “The key caught the viper.”

When Julius Caesar landed at Adrumetum, in Africa, he happened to trip and fall on his face. This would have been considered a fatal omen by his army; but, with admirable presence of mind, he exclaimed, “Thus I take possession of thee, O Africa!” Told of Scipio also.

When William the Conqueror leaped upon the shore at Bulverhythe he fell on his face, and a great cry went forth that it was an ill—omen; but the duke exclaimed, “I have taken seisin of this land with both my hands.”

When the Duke was arming for the battle, his squire by accident handed him the back piece before the breast—plate, an evil omen, signifying flight. But the Duke, with ready wit, said, “Yes, the last shall be first” — i.e. the duke shall be king.

Napoleon III. did a graceful thing to avert an ill omen. Captain Jean Coeurpreux, in a ball given at the Tuileries, tripped and fell; but Napoleon held out his hand to help him up, saying as he did so, “Monsieur le Commandant, this is the second time I have seen you fall. The first time was by my side in the field of Magenta.” Then, turning to the lady, he added, “Henceforth Captain Coeurpreux is commandant of my Guides.”

Omeyinger Saga

An historical tradition of Scandinavia.

Omnibus

The French have a good slang term for these conveyances. They call an omnibus a “Four Banal” (parish oven).

Of course, omnibus (for all) is the oblique case of omnes (all). Yet Howitt, in his Visits to Remarkable Places (1840), says “Cabs and cars and omnibi and stages” (p. 200). The plural of omnibus is “omnibuses.”

Omnium

(Latin, of all). The particulars of all the items, or the assignment of all the securities, of a government loan.

Omnium Gatherum

Dog Latin for a gathering or collection of all sorts of persons and things; a miscellaneous gathering together without regard to suitability or order.

Omorca

The goddess who was sovereign of the universe when it was first created. It was covered with water and darkness, but contained some few animals of monster forms, representations of which may be seen in the Temple of Bel. (Berosius.)

Omphale

(3 syl.). The masculine but attractive Queen of Lydia, to whom Hercules was bound a slave for three years. He fell in love with her, and led an effeminate life spinning wool, while Omphale wore the lion's skin and was lady paramount.

The celebrated picture of Hercules spinning in the presence of Omphale, by Annibal Carracei, is in the Farnese Gallery.

On dit

(French). A rumour, a report; as, “There is an on dit on Exchange that Spain will pay up its back dividends.”

On the Loose

Dissolute (which is dis—sohitus). “Living on the loose" is leading a dissolute life, or cut on the spree.

On the Shelf

Passé, no longer popular, one of the “has—beens.” The reference is not to pawns laid on the shelf, but to books no longer read, and clothes no longer worn, laid by on the shelf.

One—horse System

(A). A one—sided view; looking at all things from one standpoint; bigotry.

One—horse Universities

Petty local universities.

“The provincial University of Toronto was thrown open to Nonconformists, unluckily not before the practice of charactering sectarian institutions had been introduced, and Canada had been saddled with `one—horse universities' ”— Prof. Goldwin Smith: Nineteenth Century, July, 1886, p. 21.

One Step from the Sublime to the Ridiculous Tom Paine said, “The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again.”

One too Many for Him

(I was). I outwitted him; or “One too much for you.”

“You have lost, old fellow; I was one too much for you.”— Gaboriau: The Mystery of Orcival, chap. x.

One Touch of Nature Makes the whole World Kin

(Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3.).

Onion Pennies

Roman coins dug up at Silchester; so called from one Onion, a giant, who, the country people say, inhabited the buried city. Silchester used to be called by the British Ard—Oncon— i.e. Ardal Onion (the region of Einion or Onion).

Only

(The). Jean Paul Friedrich Richter (1763—1825). Carlyle says, “In the whole circle of literature we look in vain for his parallel.” (German, Der Einzige.)

Onslow

invoked by Thomson in his Autumn, was Arthur Onslow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, termed clarum ac venerabilc nomen. It was said of him that “his knowledge of the Constitution was only equalled by his attachment to it.”

O'nus

(Latin). The burden, the blame, the responsibility; as, “The whole onus must rest on your own shoulders.”

O'nus Probandi

The obligation of proof; as, “The onus probandi rests with the accuser.”

Onyx

is Greek for a finger—nail; so called because the colour of an onyx resembles that of the finger—nail.

O'pal

From the Greek ops (the eye). Considered unlucky for the same reason that peacocks' feathers in a house are said to be unlucky. A peacock's feather, being full of eyes, act as spies in a house, prying into one's privacy. Similarly, it is unlucky to introduce the eye—stone or opal into a house, because it will interfere with the sanctity of domestic privacy. (See Ceraunium) .

“Not an opal

Wrapped in a bay—leaf in my left fist,

To charm their eyes with.”

Ben Jonson: New Inn, i. 6.

Opal of Alphonso XII

(of Spain) seemed to be fatal. The king, on his wedding day, presented an opal ring to his wife (Mercedes, daughter of the Duke of Montpensier), but her death occurred soon afterwards. Before the funeral the king gave the ring to his sister (Maria del Pilar), who died a few days afterwards. The king then presented the ring to his sister—in—law (the Princess Christina, youngest daughter of the Duke of Montpensier), who died within three months. Alphonso, astounded at these fatalities, resolved to wear the ring himself, but died also within a very short time. The Queen Regent then attached the ring to a gold chain, which she suspended on the neck of the Virgin of Almudena of Madrid. (See Fatal Gifts .)

Open Air Mission

A mission founded in 1853. Its agents preach in the open air, especially at races, fairs, and on occasions when large numbers of people congregate.

Open Question (An). A statement, proposal, doctrine, or supposed fact, respecting which each individual is allowed to entertain his own private opinion. In the House of Commons every members may vote as he likes, regardless of party politics, on an open question. In the Anglican Church it is an open question whether the Lord's Supper should be taken fasting (before breakfast), or whether it may be taken at noon, or in the evening. Indubitably the institution was founded by Christ “after supper;” but Catholics and the High Ritualistic party insist on its being taken fasting.

Open Secret

(An). A piece of information generally known, but not yet formally announced.

“It was an open secret that almost every one [of Lord Palinerston's ecclesiastical appointments] was virtually made by Lord Shaftesbury.”— Leisure Hour, 1887.

Open, Sesame

The charm by which the door of the robber's dungeon flew open. The reference is to the tale of The Forty Thieves, in the Arabian Nights.

“These words were the only `open sesame' to their feelings and sympathies.”— E. Shelton

“The spell loses its power, and he who should hope to conjure with it would find himself as much mistaken as Cassim when he stood crying `Open, Wheat,' `Open, Barley,' to the door which obeyed no sound but `Open, Sesame.' “

Open the Ball

(To). To lead off the first dance; to begin anything which others will assist in carrying out.

Ophelia

Daughter of Polonius the chamberlain. Hamlet fell in love with her, but after his interview with the Ghost, found it incompatible with his plans to marry her. Ophelia, thinking his “strange conduct” the effect of madness, becomes herself demented, and in her attempt to gather flowers is drowned. (Shakespeare: Hamlet.)

Opinicus

A fabulous monster, composed of dragon, camel, and lion, used in heraldry. It forms the crest of the Barber Surgeons of London.

Opium—eater

(The English) was Thomas de Quincey, author of Confessions. ) (1785—1850.)

Oppidan of Eton

A student not on the foundation, but who boards in the town. (Latin, oppidum.)

Optime

(plural, op—ti—mes), in Cambridge phraseology, is a graduate in honours below a wrangler. Of course, the Latin optimus (a best man) is the fons et origo of the term. Optimës are of two grades: a man of the higher group is termed a senior optimë, while one of the inferior class is called a junior optimë.

Optimism in moral philosophy, is the doctrine that “whatever is, is right,” that everything which happens is for the best.

Opus Majus

The great work of Roger Bacon.

Opus Operantis

in theology, means that the personal piety of the person who does the act, and not the act itself, causes it to be an instrument of grace. Thus, in the Eucharist, it is the faith of the recipient which makes it efficient for grace.

Opus Operatum

in theology, means that the act conveys grace irrespectively of the receiver. Thus baptism is said by many to convey regeneration to an infant in arms.

Or Ever

Ere ever. (Saxon, aer, before.)

“Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio.

Shakespeare: Hamlet, i. 2.

“Dying or ere they sicken.”

Macbeth, iv. 2.

Oracle

The answer of a god or inspired priest to an inquiry respecting the future; the deity giving responses; the place where the deity could be consulted, etc.

Oracle

The following are famous responses:— (1) When Croesus consulted the Delphic oracle respecting a projected war, he received for answer, “Croesus Halyn penetrans magnum, pervertet opum vim” (When Croesus passes over the river Halys, he will overthrow the strength of an empire). Croesus supposed the oracle meant he would overthrow the enemy's empire, but it was his own that he destroyed.

(2) Pyrrhus, being about to make war against Rome, was told by the oracle: “Aio te, AEacide, Romanos vincere posse” (I say, Pyrrhus, that you the Romans can conquer), which may mean either You, Pyrrhus, can overthrow the Romans, or Pyrrhus, the Romans can overthrow you.

(3) Another prince, consulting the oracle concerning a projected war, received for answer, “Ibis redibis nunquam per bella peribis” (You shall go shall return never you shall perish by the war), It will be seen that the whole gist of this response depends on the place of the omitted comma; it may be You shall return, you shall never perish in the war, or You shall return never, you shall perish in the war, which latter was the fact. (4) Philip of Macedon sent to ask the oracle of Delphi if his Persian expedition would prove successful, and received for answer—

“The ready victim crowned for death

Before the altar stands.”

Philip took it for granted that the “ready victim” was the King of Persia, but it was Philip himself. (5) When the Greeks sent to Delphi to know if they would succeed against the Persians, they were told—

“Seed—time and harvest, weeping sires shall tell

How thousands fought at Salamis and fell.”

But whether the Greeks or the Persians were to be “the weeping sires,” deponent stateth not, nor whether the thousands “about to fall" were to be Greeks or Persians. (See Punctuation.)

(6) When Maxentius was about to encounter Constantine, he consulted the guardians of the Sibylline Books as to the fate of the battle, and the prophetess told him, “Illo die hostem Romanorum case periturum,” but

whether Maxentius or Constantine was “the enemy of the Roman people" the oracle left undecided. (7) In the Bible we have a similar equivoke: When Ahab, King of Israel, was about to wage war on the king of Syria, and asked Micaiah if Ramoth—Gilead would fall into his hands, the prophet replied, “Go, for the Lord will deliver the city into the hands of the king” (1 Kings xxii. 15, 35). Ahab thought that he himself was the king referred to, but the city fell into the hands of the king of Syria.

There are scores of punning prophecies equally equivocal.

Oracle

(Sir). A dogmatical person, one not to be gainsaid. The ancient oracles professed to be the responses of the gods, from which there could be no appeal.

“I am Sir Oracle,

And when I ope my lips let no dog bark.”

Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, i. 1.

To work the oracle. To induce another to favour some plan or join in some project.

“They fetched a rattling price through Starlight's working the oracle with those swells.”— Boldrewood: Robbery under Arms, chap. xii.

Oracle of the Church

(The). St. Bernard. (1091—1153.)

Oracle of the Holy Bottle, Bacbuc

near Cathay, in Upper Egypt. Books iv. and v. of Rabelais are occupied by the search for this oracle. The ostensible object was to obtain an answer to a question which had been put to sibyl and poet, monk and fool, philosopher and witch, judge and “sort,” viz. “whether Panurge should marry or not?” The whole affair is a disguised satire on the Church. The celibacy of the clergy was for a long time a moot point of great difficulty, and the “Holy Bottle” or cup to the laity was one of the moving causes of the “great schisms” from the Roman Catholic Church. The crew setting sail for the Bottle refers to Anthony, Duke of Vendôme, afterwards king of Navarre, setting out in search of religious truth. Bacbuc is the Hebrew for a bottle. The anthem sung before the fleet set sail was When Israel went out of bondage, and all the emblems of the ships bore upon the proverb “In vino veritas.” Bacbuc is both the Bottle and the priestess of the Bottle.

Oracle of Sieve and Shears

(The). This method of divination is mentioned by Theocritos. The modus operandi was as follows:— The points of the shears were stuck in the rim of a sieve, and two persons supported them with their finger—tips. Then a verse of the Bible was read aloud, and St. Peter and St. Paul were asked if it was A, B, or C (naming the persons suspected). When the right person was named, the sieve would suddenly turn round.

“Searching for things lost with a sieve and shears.”— Ben Johnson: Alchemist, i.

Oracles

were extremely numerous, and very expensive to those who consulted them. The most famous were Dodona, Ammon (in Libya), Delphos, Delos, that of Trophonius (in Boeotia), and that of Venus in Paphos.

Oracle of APOLLO, at Delphi, the priestess of which was called the Pythoness; at Delos, and at Claros. Oracle of Diana, at Colchis; of ESCULAPIUS, at Epidaurus, and another in Rome.

Oracle of HERCULES, at Athens, and another at Gades.

Oracle of JUPITER, at Dodona (the most noted); another at Ammon, in Libya; another at Crete. Oracle of MARS, in Thrace: MINERVA, in Mycenae; PAN, in Arcadia.

Oracle of TRIPHO'NIUS, in Boeotia, where only men made the responses. Oracle of VENUS, at Paphos, another at Aphaca, and many others.

In most of the temples women, sitting on a tripod, made the responses.

Orange Lilies (The). The 35th Foot. Called “orange” because their facings were orange till 1832; and “lilies” because they were given white plumes in recognition of their gallantry in the battle of Quebec in 1759, when they routed the Royal Roussillon French Grenadiers. The white plume was discontinued in 1800. The 35th Foot is now called the “The Royal Sussex.”

William of Orange. William III. of England (1650, 1689—1702). “Orange” is a corruption of Arausio, in the department of Vaucluse, some sixteen miles from Avignon. The town was the capital of a principality from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. The last sovereign was Philibert de Chaons, whose sister married William, Count of Nassau. William's grandson (William) married Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I., and their eldest son was our William III., referred to in the text.

Orange Lodges

or Clubs are referred to in Hibernia Cariosa, published in 1769. Thirty years later the Orangemen were a very powerful society, having a “grand lodge” extending over the entire province of Ulster, and ramifying through all the centres of Protestantism in Ireland.” (See next article, and Orangeman. )

Orange Peel

A nickname given to Sir Robert Peel when Chief Secretary for Ireland (1812—1818), on account of his strong anti—Catholic proclivities. (See above, and Orangeman. )

Orange—tawny

The ancient colour appropriated to clerks and persons of inferior condition. It was also the colour worn by the Jews. Hence Lord Bacon says, “Usurers should have orange—tawny bonnets, because they do Judaise” (Essay xli.). Bottom the weaver asked Quince what coloured beard he was to wear for the character of Pyramus: “I will discharge it in either your straw—coloured beard, your orange—tawny beard, your purple—ingrain beard, or your French crown—colour, which is a perfect yellow.” (Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 2.)

Orange Blossoms Worn at Weddings

The Saracen brides used to wear orange blossoms as an emblem of fecundity; and occasionally the same emblem may have been worn by European brides ever since the time of the Crusades; but the general adoption of wreaths of orange blossoms for brides is comparatively a modern practice, due especially to the recent taste for flower—language. The subject of bridal decorations being made a study, and the orange flower being found suitable, from the use made of it by the ancient Saracens, it was introduced by modistes as a fit ornament for brides. The notion once planted, soon became a custom, now very generally adopted by those who study the conventions of society, and follow the accepted fashions. (See Olive. )

To gather orange blossoms. To look for a wife. A bride wears orange blossoms to indicate the hope of fruitfulness, no tree being more prolific. An orange tree of moderate size will yield three or four thousand oranges in a year, and the blossom being white, is a symbol of innocence and chastity. The orange was also used by Cardinal Wolsey as a pomander. It is said that some sweet oranges turn bitter by neglect.

Orangeman

A name given by Roman Catholics to the Protestants of Ireland, on account of their adhesion to William III. of the House of Orange, they had been previously called “Peep—of—Day Boys.” The Roman party were Jacobites. (See Orange Lodges .)

Orania

The lady—love of Amadis of Gaul.

Orator Henley

The Rev. John Henley, who for about thirty years delivered lectures on theological, political, and literary subjects. (1692—1756.)

Orbilian Stick

(The). A cane or birch—rod.

Orbilius was the schoolmaster who taught Horace, and Horace calls him Plagosus (the flogger). (Ep. ii. 71.)

Ore (in Orlando Furioso). A seamonster that devoured men and women. He haunted the seas near Ireland. Orlando threw an anchor into his open jaws, and then dragged the monster to the Irish coast, where he died.

Orca

The Orkney Islands, or Orcades.

Orchard

properly means a kitchen garden, a yard for herbs. (Saxon, ortgeard— i.e. wort—yard.) Wort enters into the names of numerous herbs, as mug—wort, liver—wort, spleen—wort, etc.

“The hortyard entering [he] admires the fair

And pleasant fruits.” Sandys.

Orcus

The abode of the dead; death. (Roman mythology.)

Ordeal

(Saxon, great judgment), instituted long before the Conquest, and not abolished till the reign of Henry

III.

Ordeals were of several kinds, but the most usual were by wager of battle, by hol or cold water, and by fire. This method of “trial” was introduced from the notion that God would defend the right, even by miracle if needful.

(1) Wager of battle, was when the accused person was obliged to fight anyone who charged him with guilt. This ordeal was allowed only to persons of rank.

(2) Of fire, was another ordeal for persons of rank only. The accused had to hold in his hand a piece of red—hot irou, or had to walk blindfold and barefoot among nine red—hot plough—shares laid at unequal distances. If he escaped uninjured he was accounted innocent, aliter non. This might be performed by deputy. (3) Of hot water, was an ordeal for the common people. The accused was required to plunge his arm up to the elbow in scalding hot water, and was pronounced guilty if the skin was injured in the experiment.

(4) Of cold water, was also for the common people. The accused, being bound, was tossed into a river; if he sank he was acquitted, but if he floated he was accounted guilty.

(5) Of the bier, when a person suspected of murder was required to touch the corpse; if guilty the “blood of the dead body would start forth afresh.”

(6) Of the cross. Plaintiff and defendant had to stand with their arms crossed over their breasts, and he who could endure the longest won the suit.

(7) Of the Eucharist. This was for clergymen suspected of crime. It was supposed that the elements would choke him, if taken by a guilty man.

(8) Of the corsned, or consecrated bread and cheese. Godwin, Earl of Kent, is said to have been choked when he submitted to this ordeal, being accused of the murder of the king's brother.

“This sort of ordeal was by no means unusual. Thus in Ceylon, a man suspected of theft is required to bring what he holds dearest before a judge, and placing a heavy stone on the head of his substitute, says “May this stone crush thee to death if I am guilty of this offence.”

In Tartary, an ostiack sets a wild bear and an hatchet before the tribunal, saying, as he swallows a piece of bread, “May the bear devour me, and the hatchet chop off my head, if I am guilty of the crime laid to my charge.”

(9) Of lot, two dice, one marked by a cross, being thrown.

Ordeal

It was a fiery ordeal. A severe test. (See above, No. 2.)

Order!

When members of the House of Commons and other debaters call out Order, they mean that the person speaking is transgressing the rules of the House.

Order of the Cockle Created by St. Louis in 1269, in memory of a disastrous expedition made by sea for the succour of Christians. Perrot says it scarcely survived its foundation.

Order of the Day

(The), in parliamentary parlance, is applied to the prearranged agenda of “Private Members' Bills.” On Tuesdays these bills always stand after “notices of motions.” (See Previous Question .)

To move for the Order of the Day is a proposal to set aside a government measure on a private members' day (Tuesday), and proceed to the prearranged agenda. If the motion is carried, the agenda must be proceeded with, unless a motion “to adjourn” is carried.

Orders

In Orders or in Holy Orders. Belonging to the clerical order or rank.

To take Orders. To become a clergy—man.

The word “order” means not only a mandate, but also an official rank, and in the Catholic Church, a “rule” of life, as Ordo albus (white friars or Augustines), Ordo niger (black friars or Dominicans). In “Holy Orders” is in the plural number, because in the Protestant Church there are three ranks of clergymen — deacons, priests, and bishops. In the Catholic Church there are four major orders and four minor ones. According to Du Cange, the Ordines majores are Subdeaconatus, Deaconatus, Presbyteratus, and Episcopalis (Subdeacon, Deacon, Priest, and Bishop).

Orders of Architecture

These five are the classic orders: Tuscan, Dorie, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The following was the usual practice:

CORINTHIAN, for temples of Venus, Flora, Proserpine, and the Water Nymphs.

DORIC, for temples of Minerva, Mars, and Hercules.

IONIC, for temples of Juno, Diana and Baccbus.

TUSCAN, for grottoes and all rural deities.

Ordigale

The otter in the tale of Reynard the Fox (part iii.).

Ordinary

(An). One who has an “ordinary or regular jurisdiction" in his own right, and not by deputation. thus a judge who has authority to take cognisance of causes in his own right is an ordinary. A bishop is an ordinary in his own diocese, because he has authority to take cognisance of ecclesiastical matters therein; but an archbishop is the ordinary of his province, having authority in his own right to receive appeals therein from inferior jurisdictions. The chaplain of Newgate was also called the ordinary thereof.

Ordinary

(An). A public dinner where each guest pays his quota; a table d'hôte.

“ `Tis almost dinner; I know they stay for you at the ordinary.”— Beaumont and Fletcher: Scornful Lady. iv. l.

Oread

(plural, Oreads [3 syl.] or Orcades [4 syl.]). Nymphs of the mountains. (Greek, a mountain.)

Oreilles

Sir W. Scott (Waverley, x.) speaks of vinum primce notce thus:— “Ccst des deux oreilles,” that is, it is strong and induces sleep. It makes one “Dormir sur les deux oreilles.” Littré, however, says, “Though wine d'une oreille is excellent, that of deux oreilles is execrable.”

“Vin d'une oreille, le bon vin; vin de deux oreilles le mauvais. On appelle, ainsi le bon vin, parce que le bon vin fait pencher la tête de celui qui le goute d'un côte seulement: et le mauvais vin, parce qu'on secoue la tête, et par consequent le deux oreilles.”

Orelio

The steed of Don Roderick, the last of the Goths, noted for its speed and symmetry. (See Horse. )

Orellana

The river Amazon in America: so called from Orellana, lieutenant of Pizarro.

Orfeo and Heurodis

The tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, with the Gothic machinery of elves or fairies.

Orgies

(2 syl.). Drunken revels, riotous feasts; so called from the nocturnal festivals in honour of Bacchus. (Greek, orge, violent emotion.)

Orgoglio

(pron. Or—gole'—yo). The word is Italian, and means “Arrogant Pride,” or The Man of Sin. A hideous giant as tall as three men; he was son of Earth and Wind. Finding the Red Cross Knight at the fountain of Idleness, he beats him with a club and makes him his slave. Una, hearing of these mischances, tells King Arthur, and Arthur liberates the knight and slays the giant. Moral: The Man of Sin had power given him to “make war with the saints and to overcome them" for “forty and two months” (Rev. xiii. 5, 7), then the “Ancient of Days came,” and overcame him (Dan. vii. 21, 22). (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book i.)

Arthur first cut off Orgoglio's left arm— i.e. Bohemia was first cut off from the Church of Rome. He then cut off the giant's right leg— i.e. England; and, this being cut off, the giant fell to the earth, and was afterwards dispatched.

Orgon

Brother—in—law of Tartuffe. His credulity is proverbial: he almost disbelieved his senses, and saw everyone and everything through the couleur de rose of his own honest heart. (Moliére: Tartuffe.)

Oriana

The beloved of Amadis of Gaul, who called himself Beltenebros when he retired to the Poor Rock. (Amadis de Gaul, ii. 6.)

Queen Elizabeth is sometimes called the “peerless Oriana,” especially in the madrigals entitled the Triumphs of Oriana (1601).

Oriana. The nurseling of a lioness, with whom Esplandian, son of Oriana and Amadis of Gaul, fell in love, and for whom he underwent all his perils and exploits. She is represented as the fairest, gentlest, and most faithful of womankind.

O'riande

[O'—re—ond ]. A fay who lived at Rosefleur, and brought up Maugis d'Aygremont (q.v.). When her protégé grew up she loved him “dun si grand amour, qu'elle doute fort qu'il ne se départe d'avecques elle.”

(Romance de Maugis d'Aygremont et de Vivian son Frérs.)

O'riel

A fairy whose empire lay along the banks of the Thames, when King Oberon held his court in Kensington Gardens. (Tickell: Kensington Gardens.)

Orientation

The placing of the east window of a church due east, that is, so that the rising sun may at noon shine on the altar. Anciently, churches were built with their axes pointing to the rising sun on the saint's day; so that a church dedicated to St. John was not parallel to one dedicated to St. Peter. The same practice prevailed both in Egypt and ancient Greece.

Modern churches are built as nearly due east and west as circumstances will allow, quite regardless of the saint's day.

Oriflamme

(3 syl.). First used in France as a national banner in 1119. It consisted of a crimson flag mounted on a gilt staff (un glaive tout doré ou est attaché une bannière vermeille). The flag was cut into three

“vandykes” to represent “tongues of fire,” and between each was a silken tassel. This celebrated standard was the banner of St. Denis; but when the Counts of Vexin became possessed of the abbey the banner passed into their hands. In 1082 Philippe I. united Vexin to the crown, and the sacred Oriflamme belonged to the king. It was carried to the field after, the battle of Agincourt, in 1415. The romance writers say that “mescreans”

(infidels) were blinded by merely looking on it. In the Roman de Garin the Saracens are represented as saying, “If we only set eyes on it we are all dead men” (“Sc's attendons tuit sommes mors el pris”). Froissart says it was no sooner unfurled at Rosbecq than the fog cleared off, leaving the French in light, while their enemies remained in misty darkness still. (Or, gold, referring to the staff; flamme, flame, referring to the tongues of fire.)

Origenists

An early Christian sect who drew their opinions from the writings of Origen. They maintained Christ to be the Son of God only by adoption, and denied the eternity of future punishments.

Original Sin

That corruption which is born with us, and is the inheritance of all the offspring of Adam. As Adam was the federal head of his race, when Adam fell the taint and penalty of his disobedience passed to all his posterity.

A New Testament dogma with no Old Testament justification

Oril'o

or Orillo (in Orlando Furioso, book viii.). A magician and robber who lived at the mouth of the Nile. He was the son of an imp and fairy. When any limb was lopped off he restored it by his magic power, and when his head was cut off he put it on his neck again. Astolpho encountered him, cut off his head, and fled with it. Orillo mounted his horse and gave chase. Meanwhile Astolpho with his sword cut the hair from the head. Life was in one particular hair, and as soon as that was severed the head died, and the magician's body fell lifeless.

Orinda

called the “Incomparable,” was Mrs. Katherine Philipps, who lived in the reign of Charles II., and died of small—pox. Her praises were sung by Cowley, Dryden, and others. (See Dryden's Ode To the Memory of Mrs. Anne Killigrew.)

Orion A giant hunter, noted for his beauty. He was blinded by Enopion, but Vulcan sent Cedalion to be his guide, and his sight was restored by exposing his eyeballs to the sun. Being slain by Diana, he was made one of the constellations, and is supposed to be attended with stormy weather. “Assurgens fluctu nimbosus Orion.” (Virgil: AEneid, i. 539.)

“As beautiful as Orion.” Ilomer: Iliad, xviii.

Wife of Orion. Sidê

Dogs of Orion. Arctophonos and Ptoöh'agos.

Orkborne

(Dr.). A learned student, very dry and uncompanionable; very particular over his books, and the tutor of Eugenia, the niece of Sir Hugh. He is a character in Camilla, the third novel of Mme. D'Arblay. Eugenia was deformed owing to an accident partly caused by her uncle; and Sir Hugh, to make the best compensation in his power, appointed Dr. Orkborne to educate her, and also left her heiress to his estates.

“Mr. Oldbuck hated putting to rights as much as Dr. Orkborne, or any other professed student.” — Scott: Antiquary.

Orkneys

Either the Teutonic Orkn—cys (the water or islands of the whirlpool), in allusion to the two famous whirlpools near the Isle of Swinna; or else the Norwegian Orkeyjar (northern islands), the Hebrides being the Sudreyjar, or southern islands.

Orlando

The youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys. At a wrestling match the banished duke's daughter, Rosalind, who took a lively interest in Orlando, gave him a chain, saying, “Gentleman, wear this for me.” Orlando, flying because of his brother's hatred, met Rosalind in the forest of Arden, disguised as a country lad, seeking to join her father. In time they become acquainted with each other, and the duke assented to their union. (Shakespeare: As You Like It.) (See Oliver. )

Orlando, called Rotolando or Roland, and Rutlandus in the Latin chronicles of the Middle Ages, the paladin, was lord of Anglant, knight of Brava, son of Milo d'Anglesis and Bertha, sister of Charlemagne. Though married to Aldabella, he fell in love with Angelica, daughter of the infidel king of Cathay; but Angelica married Medoro, a Moor, with whom she fled to India. When Orlando heard thereof he turned mad, or rather his wits were taken from him for three months by way of punishment, and deposited in the moon. Astolpho went to the moon in Elijah's chariot, and St. John gave him an urn containing the lost wits of Orlando. On reaching earth again, Astolpho first bound the madman, then holding the urn to his nose, the errant wits returned, and Orlando, cured of his madness and love, recovered from his temporary derangement. (Orlando Furioso.) (See Angelica.)

Orlando or Roland was buried at Blayes, in the church of St. Raymond; but his body was removed afterwards to Roncesvalles, in Spain.

Orlando's horn or Roland's horn. An ivory horn called Olivant, mentioned frequently by Boiardo and Ariosto.

“Per acto bello, Rolandus ascendit in montem, et rodiit retro ad viam Runciavallis. Tunc insonnit tuba sua eburnea; et tantâ virtute insonuit, quod flatu omnis ojus tuba per medium scissa, et venae colli ejus et nervi rupti fuisse feruntur.”

Orlando's sword. Durindana, which once belonged to Hector.

Orlando Furioso

An epic poem in forty—six cantos, by Ariosto (digested by Hoole into twenty—four books, but retained by Rose in the original form). The subject is the siege of Paris by Agramant the Moor, when the Saracens were overthrown. In the pagan army were two heroes— Rodomont, called the Mars of Africa, and Rogero. The latter became a Christian convert. The poem ends with a combat between these two, and the overthrow of Rodomont.

The anachronisms of this poem are most marvellous. We have Charlemagne and his paladins joined by King Edward of England, Richard Earl of Warwick, Henry Duke of Clarence, and the Dukes of York and Gloucester (bk. vi.). We have cannons employed by Cymosco, King of Friza (bk. iv.), and also in the siege of Paris (bk. vi.). We have the Moors established in Spain, whereas they were not invited over by the Saracens for nearly 300 years after Charlemagne's death. In book xvii. we have Prester John, who died 1202; in the last three Constantine the Great, who died 337.

Orlando Innamorato

(Roland the paladin in love). A romantic epic in three books, by the Count Boiardo of Scandiano, in Italy (1495).

There is a burlesque in verse of the same title by Berni of Tuscany (1538), author of Burlesque Rhymes.

Orleans

Your explanation is like an Orleans comment — i.e. Your comment or explanation makes the matter more obscure. The Orleans College was noted for its wordy commentaries, which darkened the text by overloading it with words. (A French proverb.)

Ormandine

(3 syl.). The necromancer who by his magic arts threw St. David for seven years into an enchanted sleep, from which he was redeemed by St. George. (The Seven Champions of Christendom, i. 9.)

Ormulum

A paraphrase of Scripture in Anglo—Saxon verse; so called from the name of the author, Orm or Ormin (13th cent.).

Ormusd

or Ormuzd. The principle or angel of light and good, and creator of all things, according to the Magian system. (See Ahriman. )

Oromasdes

(4 syl.). The first of the Zoroastrian trinity. The divine goodness of Plato; the deviser of creation (the father). The second person is Mithras, the eternal intellect, architect of the world; the third, Ahrimanes

(Psyche), the mundane soul.

O'roondates

Only son of a Scythian king, whose love for Statira (widow of Alexander the Great, and daughter of Darius) leads him into numerous dangers and difficulties, which he surmounts. (La Calprenéde: Cassandra, a romance.)

Orosius

(General History of), from Creation to A.D. 417, in Latin by a Spanish presbyter of the 5th century, was translated into Anglo—Saxon by Alfred the Great.

Orotalt according to the Greek writers, was the Bacchus of the ancient Arabs. This, however, is a mistake, for the word is a corruption of Allah Taala (God the Most High).

Orpheus

(2 syl.). A Thracian poet who could move even inanimate things by his music. When his wife Eurydie died he went into the infernal regions, and so charmed King Pluto that Eurydice was released from death on the condition that Orpheus would not look back till he reached the earth. He was just about to place his foot on the earth when he turned round, and Eurydice vanished from him in an instant. Pope introduces this tale in his St. Cecilia's Ode.

The tale of Orpheus is thus explained: Aëoneus, King of Thesprotia, was for his cruelty called Pluto, and having seized Eurydieas she fled from Aristaeos, detained her captive. Orpheus obtained her release on certain conditions, which he violated, and lost her a second time.

There is rather a striking resemblance between the fate of Eurydice and that of Lot's wife. The former was emerging from hell, the latter from Sodom. Orpheus looked back and Eurydice was snatched away, Lot's wife looked back and was converted into a pillar of salt.

A Scandinavian Orpheus. “Odin was so eminently skilled in music, and could sing airs so tender and melodious, that the rocks would expand with delight, while the spirits of the infernal regions would stand motionless around him, attracted by the sweetness of his strains.” (Scandinavia, by Crichton and Wheaton, vol. i. p. 81.)

Orpheus of Highwaymen

So Gay has been called on account of his Beggar's Opera. (1688—1732.)

Orrery

An astronomical toy to show the relative movements of the planets, etc., invented by George Graham, who sent his model to Rowley, an instrument maker, to make one for Prince Eugéne. Rowley made a copy of it for Charles Boyle, third Earl of Orrery, and Sir Richard Steele named it an orrery out of compliment to the earl. One of the best is Fulton's, in Kelvin Grove Museum, West End Park, Glasgow.

Orsin

One of the leaders of the rabble that attacked Hudibras at a bear—baiting. He was “famous for wise conduct and success in war.” Joshua Gosling, who kept the bears ât “Paris Garden,” in Southwark, was the academy figure of this character.

Orsini

(Maffio). A young Italian nobleman, whose life was saved by Gennaro at the battle of Rimini. Orsini became the staunch friend of Genaro, but both were poisoned at a banquet given by the Princess Negroni.

(Donizetti: Lucrezia di Borgia, an opera.) This was the name of the conspirator who attempted the life of Napoleon III.

Orson

Twin brother of Valentine, and son of Bellisant, sister of King Pepin and wife of Alexander, Emperor of Constantinople. The twin brothers were born in a wood near Orleans, and Orson was carried off by a bear, which suckled him with her cubs. When he grew up he was the terror of France, and was called the Wild Man of the Forest. He was reclaimed by Valentine, overthrew the Green Knight, and married Fezon, the daughter of Duke Savary of Aquitaine. (French, ourson, a little bear.) (Valentine and Orson.)

Orthodox Sunday

in the Eastern Church, is the First Sunday in Lent, to commemorate the restoration of images in 843.

In the Church of England, on the first day in Lent, usually called “Ash Wednesday,” the clergy are directed to read “the ... sentences of God's cursing against impenitont sinners.”

Orts

Crumbs; refuse. (Low German, ort— i.e. what is left after eating.)

I shall not eat your orts— i.e. your leavings.

“Let him have time a beggar's orts to crave.”

Shakespeare: Rape of lucrece.

Ortus

“Ortus a quercu, non a salice.” Latin for “sprung from an oak, and not from a willow”— i.e. stubborn stuff; one that cannot bend to circumstances.

Ortwine

(2 syl.). Knight of Metz, sister's son of Sir Hagan of Trony, a Burgundian in the Nibclungon Lied.

Orvietan

(3 syl.) or Venice treacle, once believed to be a sovereign remedy against poison. From Orvieto, a city of Italy, where it is said to have been first used.

“With these drugs will I, this very day, compound the true orvietan.”— Sir Walter Scott: Kenilworth, chap. xiii.

Os Sacrum

(See Luz. ) A triangular bone situate at the lower part of the vertebral column, of which it is a continuation. Some say that this bone was so called because it was in the part used in sacrifice, or the sacred part; Dr. Nash says it is so called “because it is much bigger than any of the vertebrae;” but the Jewish rabbins say the bone is called sacred because it resists decay, and will be the germ of the “new body” at the resurrection. (Hudibras, part iii. canto 2.)

Osbaldistone

Nine of the characters in Sir Walter Scott's Rob Roy bear this name. There are (1) the London merchant and Sir Hildebrand, the heads of two families; (2) the son of the merchant is Francis, the pretendu of Diana Vernon; (3) the “distinguished” offspring of the brother are Percival the sot, Thorncliffe the bully, John the game—keeper, Richard the horse—jockey, Wilfred the fool, and Rashleigh the scholar, by far the worst of all. This last worthy is slain by Rob Roy, and dies cursing his cousin Frank, whom he had injured in every way he could contrive.

Oseway

(Dame). The ewe in the tale of Reynard the Fox.

Osiris

(in Egyptian mythology). Judge of the dead, and potentate of the kingdom of the ghosts. This brother and husband of Isis was worshipped under the form of an ox. The word means Many—eyed. Osiris is the moon, husband of Isis.

“We see Osiris represented by the moon, and by an eye at the top of fourteen steps. These steps symbolise the fourteen days of the waxing moon.”— J. N. Lockyer, in the Nineteenth Century, July, 1892, p. 31.

Osiris is used to designate any waning luminary, as the setting sun, as well as the waning moon or setting planet.

Osiris is the setting sun, but the rising sun is Horus, and the noonday sun Ra.

Osmand

A necromancer who by his enchantments raised up an army to resist the Christians. Six of the Champions of Christendom were enchanted by Osmand, but St. George restored them. Osmand tore off his hair in which lay his spirit of enchantment, bit his tongue in two, disembowelled himself, cut off his arms, and then died. (The Soven Champions of Christendom, i. 19.)

Osnaburg

The Duke of York was Bishop of Osnaburg Not prelate, but sovereign—bishop. By the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, it was decreed that the ancient bishop should be vested alternately in a Catholic bishop and a Protestant prince of the House of Luneburg. Frederick, Duke of York, was the last sovereign—bishop of Osnaburg. In 1803 the district was attached to Hanover, and it now forms part of the kingdom of Prussia.

Osnaburg A kind of coarse linen made of flax and tow, originally imported from Osnaburg.

Osprey

or Ospray (a corruption of Latin Ossifragus the bone—breaker). The fish—eagle, or fishing hawk (Pandion haeliaetis ).

Ossa

Heaping Pelion upon Ossa. Adding difficulty to difficulty; fruitless efforts. The allusion is to the attempt of the giants to scale heaven by piling Mount Ossa upon Mount Pelion.

“Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam.

Virgil Georgies i. 281.

Osse'o

Son of the Evening Star. When “old and ugly, broken with age, and weak with coughing,” he married Oweenee, youngest of the ten daughters of a North hunter. She loved him in spite of his ugliness and decrepitude, because “all was beautiful within him.” One day, as he was walking with his nine sisters—in—law and their husbands, he leaped into the hollow of an oak—tree, and came out “tall and straight and strong and handsome;” but Oweenee at the same moment was changed into a weak old woman, “wasted, wrinkled, old, and ugly;” but the love of Osse'o was not weakened. The nine brothers and sisters—in—law were all transformed into birds for mocking Osseo and Oweenee when they were ugly, and Oweenee, recovering her beauty, had a son, whose delight as he grew up was to shoot at his aunts and uncles, the birds that mocked his father and mother. (Longfellow . Hiawatha, xii.).

Ossian

The son of Fingal, a Scottish warrior—bard who lived in the third century. The poems called Ossian's Pooms were first published by James M'Pherson in 1760, and professed to be translations from Erse manuscripts collected in the Highlands. This is not true. M'Pherson no doubt based the poems on traditions, but not one of them is a translation of an Erse manuscript; and so far as they are Ossianic at all, they are Irish, and not Scotch

Ostend' Manifesto

A declaration made in 1857 by the Ministers of the United States in England, France, and Spain, “that Cuba must belong to the United States.”

Oster—Monath The Anglo—Saxon name of April.

Ostler

jocosely said to be derived from oat—stealer, but actually from the French hostelier, an innkeeper.

Ostracis'm

Oyster—shelling, black—balling, or expelling. Clisthenes gave the people of Attica the power of removing from the state, without making a definite charge, any leader of the people likely to subvert the government. Each citizen wrote his vote on an earthen. ware table (ostracon), whence the term.

Ostrich

When hunted the ostrich is said to run a certain distance and then thrust its head into a bush, thinking, because it cannot see, that it cannot be seen by the hunters. (See Crocodile. )

Ostrich Brains

It was Heliogabalus who had battues of ostriches for the sake of their brains. Smollett says “he had six hundred ostriches compounded in one mess.” (Peregrine Pickle.)

Ostrich Eggs in Churches

Ostrich eggs are suspended in several Eastern churches as symbols of God's watchful care. It is said that the ostrich hatches her eggs by gazing on them, and if she suspends her gaze even for a minute or so, the eggs are addled. Furthermore, we are told that if an egg is bad the ostrich will break it: so will God deal with evil men.

“Oh! even with such a look, as fables say

The mother ostrich fixes on her eggs,

Till that intense affection

Kindle its light of life.”

southey : Thalaba.

Ostrich Stomachs

Strong stomachs which will digest anything. The ostrich swallows large stones to aid its gizzard, and when confined where it cannot obtain them will swallow pieces of iron or copper, bricks, or glass.

Ostringers, Sperviters, Falconers

Ostringers are keepers of goshawks and tercelles. Sperviters are those who keep sparrowhawks or muskets. Falconers are those who keep any other kind of hawk, being long—winged.

(Markham Gentleman's Academie, or Booke of S. Albans.)

Oswald's Well

commemorates the death of Oswald, Christian king of Northumbria, who fell in battle before Penda, pagan king of Mercia, in 642.

Othello

(in Shakespeare's tragedy so called). A Moor, commander of the Venetian army, who eloped with Desdemona. Brabantio accused him of necromancy, but Desdemona, being sent for, refuted the charge. The Moor, being then sent to drive the Turks from Cyprus, won a signal victory. On his return, Iago played upon his jealousy, and persuaded him that Desdemona intrigued with Cassio. He therefore murdered her, and then stabbed himself.

Othello the Moor. Shakespeare borrowed this tale from the seventh of Giovanni Giraldi Cinthio's third decade of stories. Cinthio died 1573.

Othello's Occupation's Gone

(Shakespeare). “Jam quadrigae meae deencurrerunt” (Petronius). I am laid on the shelf; I am no longer the observed of observers.

Other Day

(The). The day before yesterday. The Old English other was used for second, as in Latin, unus, alter, tertius; or proximus alter, tertius. Starting from to—day, and going backwards, yesterday was the proximus ab illo; the day before yesterday was the altera ab illo, or the other day, and the day preceding that was tertius ab illo, or three days ago. Used to express “a short time ago.”

Othman, Osman or Othoman, surnamed the Conqueror. Founder of the Turkish power, from whom the empire is called the Ottoman, and the Turks are called Osmans, Othmans, Osmanli etc. Peter the Great, being hemmed in by the Turks on the banks of the Pruth, was rescued by his wife, Catherine, who negotiated a peace with the Grand Vizier.

O'tium cum Dig

[dignitate ]. Retirement after a person has given up business and has saved enough to live upon in comfort. The words are Latin, and mean “retirement with honour.” They are more frequently used in jest, familiarity, and ridicule.

Otos

A giant, brother of Ephialtes (q.v.). Both brothers grew nine inches every month. According to Pliny, Otos was forty—six cubits (sixty—six feet) in height. (Greek fable.) (See Giants. )

O'Trigger

(Sir Lucius) in The Rivals (Sheridan).

Oui

(French for “yes"). A contraction of Hoc illud. Thus, hoc—ill', ho'—il, o'il, oïl, oï, oui.

Out

Out of God's blessing into the warm sun. One of Ray's proverbs meaning from good to less good. “Ab equis ad asmos When the king says to Hamlet “How is it that the clouds still hang on you?” the prince answers, “No, my lord, I am too much i' the sun,” meaning, “I have lost God's blessing, for too much of the sun”— i.e. this far inferior state.

“Thon out of heaven's benediction comest

To the warm sun.”

Shakespeare : King Lear, ii. 2.

To have it out. To contest either physically or verbally with another to the utmost of one's ability; as, “I mean to have it out with him one of these days;” “I had it out with him”— i.e. “I spoke my mind freely and without reserve.” The idea is that of letting loose pent—up disapprobation.

Out—Herod Herod

(To). To go beyond even Herod in violence, brutality, or extravagant language. In the old miracle plays Herod was the type of tyranny and violence, both of speech and of action.

Out and Out

Incomparably, by far, or beyond measure; as, “He was out and out the best man.” “It is an out—and—outer” means nothing can exceed it. It is the word utter, the Anglo—Saxon útaerre.

Out in the Fifteen

— i.e. in the rebel army of the Pretender, in 1715 (George I.). (Howitt : History of England, vol. iv. p. 347.)

Out in the Forty—five

— i.e. in the rebel army of the Young Pretender, in 1745 (George II.). (Howitt : History of England, vol. iv. p. 506.)

Out of Harness

Not in practice, retired. A horse out of harness is one not at work.

Out of Pocket

To be out of pocket by a transaction is to suffer loss of money thereby. More went out of the pocket than came into it.

Out of Sorts

Indisposed, in bad spirits. The French locution is rather remarkable— Ne pas être dans son assictte. “To sort” is to arrange in order, “a sort” is one of the orders so sorted.”

Out of sorts. In printers' language, means not having sufficient of some particular letter, mark, or figure.

Out of the Wood

“You are not out of the wood yet,” not yet out of danger. “Don't shout till you are out of the wood,” do not think yourself safe till you are quite clear of the threatened danger. When freebooters were masters of the forests no traveller was safe till he had got clear of their hunting ground.

Outis

(Greek, nobody). A name assumed by Odysseus in the cave of Polyphemos. When the monster roared with the pain from the loss of his eye, his brother giants demanded from a distance who was hurting him:

“Nobody,” thundered out Polyphemos, and his companions went their way. Odysseus in Latin is Ulysses.

Outrigger

. The leader of a unicorn team. The Earl of Malmesbury, in 1867, so called the representative of the minority in the three—cornered constituency.

Outrun the Constable

To escape by running faster than a police constable

Outworks

in fortification. All the works between the enceinte (q.v. ) and the covered way (q.v.).

Ouzel

The blackbird; sometimes the thrush is so called. (Anglo—Saxon, osle, a blackbird.) Bottom speaks of the “ousel cock, so black of hue with orange tawny bill.” (Midsummer Night's Dream.)

Ovation

A triumph; a triumphal reception or entry of the second order; so called from ovis, a sheep, because the Romans sacrificed a sheep to a victorious general to whom an ovation was accorded, but an ox to one who had obtained a “triumph.”

Over

(Greek, huper; Latin, super; German, über; Anglo—Saxon, ofer

Over

in cricket, means that the fielders are to go over to the other side. This is done when five balls have been delivered from one end. It used to be four. The bowling is taken up at the opposite wicket.

Over and Over Again Very frequently. (In Latin, Iterum iterumque. )

Over Edom will I cast my Shoe

(Psalm lx. 8; cviii. 9). Will I march. “Over Edom will I cast my shoe, over Philistia will I triumph.”

“Every member of the Travellers' Club who could pretend to have cast his shoe over Edom, was constituted a lawful critic.”— Sir W. Scott : The Talisman (Introduction).

Over the Left

(See Left. )

O'verdo

(Justice), in Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair.

Overreach

(Sir Giles). The counterpart of Sir Giles Mompesson, a noted usurer outlawed for his misdeeds. He is an unserupulous, grasping, proud, hard—hearted rascal in A New Way to Pay Old Debts, by Massinger.

Overture

A piece of music for the opening of a concert. To “make an overture to a person” is to be the first to make an advance either towards a reconciliation or an acquaintance. (French, ouverture, opening.)

Overy

St. Mary Overy (Southwark). John Overie was a ferryman, who used to ferry passengers from Southwark to the City, and accumulated a hoard of wealth by penurious savings. His daughter Mary, at his decease, became a nun, and founded the church of St. Mary Overy on the site of her father's house.

Ovid

The French Ovid. Du Bellay, one of the Pleiad poets; also called the “father of grace and elegance.” (1524—1560.)

Owain

(Sir). The Irish knight who passed through St. Patrick's purgatory by way of penance. (Henry of Saltrey : The Descent of Owain.)

Owen Meredith

Robert Bulwer Lytton.

Owl

I live too near a wood to be scared by an owl. I am too old to be frightened by a bogie; I am too old a stager to be frightened by such a person as you.

Owl

the emblem of Athens. Because owls abound there. As Athena (Minerva) and Athenae (Athens) are the same word, the owl was given to Minerva for her symbol also.

Owl—light

Dusk; the blind man's holiday. French, “Entre chien et loup.”

Owl in an Ivy Bush

(Like an). Very ugly, a horrible fright [of a fellow]. Said of (or to) a person who has dressed his head unbecomingly, or that has a scared look, an untidy head of hair, or that looks inanely wise. The ivy bush was supposed to be the favourite haunt of owls, and numerous allusions to this supposition might be readily cited.

“Good ivy, say to us what birds hast thou?

None but the owlet that cries `How, how!' “

Carol (time Henry VI.).

Owl was a Baker's Daughter

(The). According to legend, our Saviour went into a baker's shop to ask for something to eat. The mistress of the shop instantly put a cake into the oven for Him, but the daughter said it was too large, and reduced it half. The dough, however, swelled to an enormous size, and the daughter cried out, “Heugh! heugh! heugh!” and was transformed into an owl. Ophelia alludes to this tradition in the line—

“Well, God `ield you! They say the owl was a baker's daughter.”— Shakespeare : Hamlet. iv. 5.

Owlery

A haunt or abode of owls.

Owlglass

(German, Eulenspiegel). Thyl, son of Klaus (Eulenspeigel) prototype of all the knavish fools of modern times. He was a native of Brunswick, and wandered about the world playing all manner of tricks on the people he encountered. (Died 1350.)

Ox

Emblematic of St. Luke. It is one of the four figures which made up Ezekiel's cherub (i. 10). The ox is the emblem of the priesthood, and has been awarded to St. Luke because he begins his gospel with the Jewish priest sacrificing in the Temple. (See Luke. )

The ox is also the emblem of St. Frideswide, St. Leonard, St. Sylvester, St. Medard, St. Julietta, and St. Blandina.

He has an ox on his tongue. (Latin, Bovem in lingua habere, to be bribed to silence The Greeks had the same expression. The Athenian coin was stamped with the figure of an ox. The French say, “Il a un os dans la bouche,” referring to a dog which is bribed by a bone.

The black ox hath trampled on you (The Antiquary). Misfortune has come to your house. You are henpecked. A black ox was sacrificed to Pluto, the infernal god, as a white one was to Jupiter.

The black ox never trod upon his foot (common proverb). He never knew sorrow. He is not married. (See above.

The dumb ox. St. Thomas Aquinas; so named by his fellow students at Cologne, on account of his dulness and taciturnity. (1224—1274.)

Albertus said, “We call him the dumb ox, but he will give one day such a bellow as shall be heard from one end of the world to the other.” (Alban Butler.)

Ox—eye

A cloudy speck which indicates the approach of a storm. When Elijah heard that a speck no bigger than a “man's hand” might be seen in the sky, he told Ahab that a torrent of rain would overtake him before he could reach home (1 Kings xvii. 44, 45). Thomson alludes to this storm signal in his Summer.

Ox of the Deluge

The Irish name for a great black deer, probably the Mcgaceros Hiber nicus, or Irish elk, now extinct.

Oxford

The College Ribbons.

Balliol, pink, white, blue, white, pink. Brasenose, black, and gold edges. Christ Church, blue, with red cardinal's hat. Corpus, red and blue stripe.

Exeter, black, and red edges. Jesus, green, with white edges. Lincoln, blue, with mitre. Magdalon, black and white. Merton, blue, and white edges, with red cross. New College, three pink and two white stripes. Oriel, blue and white.

Pembroke, pink, white, pink. Queen's, red, white, blue, white, blue, white, red. St. John's, yellow, black, red.

Trinity, blue, with double dragon's head, yellow and green, or blue, with white edges. University, blue, and yellow edges.

Wadham, light blue.

oreester blue, white, pink, white, blue. HALIS. St. Alban's, blue, with arrow—head.

St. Edmond's, red, and yellow edges. St. Mary, white, black, white. Magdalen, black, and blue edges.

Oxford Blues

The Royal Horse Guards were so called in 1690, because of their blue facings.

Oxford Boat Crew

Dark blue. Cambridge boat crew, light blue.

Oxford Movement

Published at Oxford during the years 1833—1841, and hence called the Oxford Tracts. A. i.e. Rev. John Keble, M.A., author of the Christian Year, fellow of Oriel, and formerly Professor of Poetry at Oxford.

B. Rev. Isaac Williams, Fellow of Trinity; author of The Cathedral, and other Poems. C. Rev. E. B. Pusey. D.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew, and Canon of Christ Church. D. Rev. John Henry Newman, D.D., Fellow of Oriel, writers of the celebrated Tract No. 90, which was the last.

E. Rev. Thomas Keble. F. Sir John Provost, Bart. G. Rev. R. F. Wilson, of Oriel.

Oxford Stroke

(in rowing). A long, deep, high—feathered stroke, excellent in very heavy water. The Cambridge stroke is a clear, fine, deep sweep, with a very low feather, excellent in smooth water. The Cambridge pull is the best for smooth water and a short reach, but the Oxford for a “lumpy” river and a four—mile course.

Oxgang

as a land measure, was no certain quantity, but as much as an ox could gang over or cultivate. Also called a bovate. The Latin jugum was a similar term, which Varro defines “Quod juncti boves uno die exarare : Possunt.”

Eight oxgangs made a carucate. If an oxgang was as much as one ox could cultivate, its average would be about fifteen acres.

Oyer and Terminer

(Courts of) are general gaol deliveries, held twice a year in every county. Oyer is French for to hear— i.e. hear in court or try; and terminer is French for to conclude. The words mean that the commissioners appointed are to hear and bring to an end all the cases in the county.

Oyster

Fast as a Kentish oyster i.e. hermetically sealed. Kentish oysters are proverbially good, and all good oysters are fast—closed.

Oyster

No more sense than an oyster. This is French: Ilraisonne raisonne comme une huitre.” Oysters have a mouth, but no head.

Oyster Part

(An). An actor who appears, speaks, or acts only once. Like an oyster, he opens but once.

Oyster and Huitre

(French) are variants of the same Latin word, ostrea. Old French uistre, uitre, huitre.

Oysters

Who eats oysters on St. James's Day will never want. St. James's Day is the first day of the oyster season (August 5th), when oysters are an expensive luxury eaten only by the rich. By 6, 7 Vict., c. 79, the oyster season begins September 1, and closes April 30.

Oz

(for ounce). z made with a tail (3) resembles the old terminal mark 3, indicating a contraction— as vi3. a contraction of vi[delicet]; quib 3, a contraction of quibus; s 3, a contraction of sed (but), and so on.