OBAM'BULATE, verb intransitive [Latin obambulo.] To walk about. [Not used.]

OBAMBULA'TION, noun A walking about. [Not used.]

OBBLIGA'TO, an. A term in music, signifying on purpose for the instrument named.

OBCORD'ATE, adjective [Latin from ob and cor, the heart.]

In botany, shaped like a heart, with the apex downward; as an obcordate petal or legume.

OBDORMI'TION, noun [Latin obdormio, to sleep.] Sleep; sound sleep. [Little used.]

OBDU'CE, verb transitive [Latin obduco; ob and duco, to lead.] To draw over, as a covering. [Little used.]

OBDUCT', verb transitive [Latin obduco.] To draw over; to cover. [Not in use.]

OBDUC'TION, noun [Latin obductio.] The act of drawing over, as a covering; the act of laying over. [Little used.]

OB'DURACY, noun [See Obdurate.] Invincible hardness of heart; impenitence that cannot be subdued; inflexible persistency in sin; obstinacy in wickedness.

God may by almighty grace hinder the absolute completion of sin in final obduracy

OB'DURATE, adjective [Latin obduro, to harden; ob and duro.]

1. Hardened in heart; inflexibly hard; persisting obstinately in sin or impenitence.

2. Hardened against good or favor; stubborn; unyielding; inflexible.

The custom of evil makes the heart obdurate against whatsoever instructions to the contrary.

3. Harsh; rugged; as an obdurate consonant. [Little used.]

OB'DURATE, verb transitive To harden. [Not used.]

OB'DURATELY, adverb Stubbornly; inflexibly; with obstinate impenitence.

OB'DURATENESS, noun Stubbornness; inflexible persistence in sin.

OBDURA'TION, noun The hardening of the heart; hardness of heart; stubbornness.

OBDU'RE, verb transitive [Latin obduro.]

1. To harden; to render obstinate in sin. [Little used.]

2. To render inflexible. [Little used.]

OBDU'RED, participle passive or adjective Hardened; inflexible; impenitent.

OBDU'REDNESS, noun Hardness of heart; stubbornness. [Little used.]

OBE'DIENCE, noun [Latin obedientia. See Obey.]

Compliance with a command, prohibition or known law and rule of duty prescribed; the performance of what is required or enjoined by authority, or the abstaining from what is prohibited, in compliance with the command or prohibition. To constitute obedience the act or forbearance to act must be in submission to authority; the command must be known to the person, and his compliance must be in consequence of it, or it is not obedience obedience is not synonymous with obsequiousness; the latter often implying meanness or servility, and obedience being merely a proper submission to authority. That which duty requires implies dignity of conduct rather than servility. obedience may be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary obedience alone can be acceptable to God.

Government must compel the obedience of individuals; otherwise who will seek its protection or fear its vengeance?

OBE'DIENT, adjective [Latin obediens.] Submissive to authority; yielding compliance with commands, orders or injunctions; performing what is required, or abstaining from what is forbid.

The chief his orders gives; the obedient band, with due observance, wait the chief's command.

OBEDIEN'TIAL, adjective According to the rule of obedience; in compliance with commands; as obediential submission.

OBE'DIENTLY, adverb With obedience; with due submission to commands; with submission or compliance with orders.

OBE'ISANCE, noun [Latin obedio.]

A bow or courtesy; an act of reverence made by an inclination of the body or the knee. Genesis 37:7.

OBELIS'CAL, adjective In the form of an obelisk.

OB'ELISK, noun [Latin obeliscus; Gr. a spit.]

1. A truncated, quadrangular and slender pyramid intended as an ornament, and often charged with inscriptions or hieroglyphics. Some ancient obelisks appear to have been erected in honor of distinguished persons or their achievements. Ptolemy Philadelphus raised one of 88 cubits high in honor of Arsinee. Augustus erected one in the Campus Martius at Rome, which served to mark the hours on a horizontal dial drawn on the pavement.

2. In writing and printing; a reference or mark referring the reader to a note in the margin. It is used also for a mark of censure, or for designating obsolete words, or for other purposes at the pleasure of the writer.

OBEQ'UITATE, verb intransitive [Latin obequito; ob and equito, to ride; equus, a horse.] To ride about. [Not used.]

OBEQUITA'TION, noun The act of riding about. [Not used.]

OBERRA'TION, noun [Latin oberro; ob and erro, to wander.] The act of wandering about. [Little used.]

OBE'SE, adjective [Latin obesus.] Fat; fleshy. [Little used.]

OBE'SENESS,

OBES'ITY, noun [Latin obesitas.] Fatness; fleshiness; incumbrance of flesh.

OBES'ITY, n. [L. obesitas.] Fatness; fleshiness; incumbrance of flesh.

OBEY, verb transitive [Latin obedio; Gr.]

1. To comply with the commands, orders or instructions of a superior, or with the requirements of law, moral, political or municipal; to do that which is commanded or required, or to forbear doing that which is prohibited.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Ephesians 6:1.

Servants, obey in all things your masters. Colossians 3:20.

He who has learned to obey will know how to command.

2. To submit to the government of; to be ruled by.

All Israel obeyed Song of Solomon 1:1Chron. 29. Daniel 7:27.

3. To submit to the direction or control of. Seamen say, the ship will not obey the helm.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Romans 6:12. James 3:3.

4. To yield to the impulse, power or operation of; as, to obey stimulus.

Relentless time, destroying power, whom stone and brass obey

OBEYED, participle passive Complied with; performed; as a command; yielded to.

OBEYER, noun One who yields obedience.

OBEYING, participle present tense Complying with commands; submitting to.

OBFIRM, obferm',

OBFIRMATE, obferm'ate. verb transitive To make firm; to harden in resolution. [Not used.]

OBFUS'CATE, verb transitive [Latin ob and fusco, to obscure.] To darken; to obscure.

OBFUS'CATED, participle passive Darkened in color.

OBFUS'CATION, noun The act of darkening or rendering obscure; a clouding.

Obfuscations of the cornea.

OB'IT, noun [Latin obiit, obivit; ob and eo, to go.] Properly, death; decease; hence, funeral solemnities or anniversary service for the soul of the deceased on the day of his death.

OBIT'UAL, adjective [Latin obeo, to die; obitus, death.] Pertaining to obits, or the days when funeral solemnities are celebrated; as obitual days.

OBIT'UARY, noun

1. A list of the dead, or a register of obitual anniversary days, when service is performed for the dead.

2. An account of persons deceased; notice of the death of a person, often accompanied with a brief biographical sketch of his character.

OBIT'UARY, adjective Relating to the decease of a person or persons; as an obituary notice.

OB'JECT, noun [Latin objectum, objectus. See the Verb.]

1. That about which any power or faculty is employed, or something apprehended or presented to the mind by sensation or imagination. Thus that quality of a rose which is perceived by the sense of smell, is an object of perception. When the object is not in contact with the organ of sense, there must be some medium through which we obtain the perception of it. The impression which objects make on the senses, must be by the immediate application of them to the organs of sense, or by means of the medium that intervenes between the organs and the objects.

2. That to which the mind is directed for accomplishment or attainment; end; ultimate purpose. Happiness is the object of every man's desires; we all strive to attain that object Wealth and honor are pursued with eagerness as desirable objects.

3. Something presented to the senses or the mind, to excite emotion, affection or passion.

This passenger felt some degree of concern at the sight of so moving an object

In this sense, the word uttered with a particular emphasis, signifies something that may strongly move our pity, abhorrence or disgust. What an object!

4. In grammar, that which is produced, influenced or acted on by something else; that which follows a transitive verb. When we say, 'God created the world, ' world denotes the thing produced, and is the object after the verb created. When we say, 'the light affects the eye, ' eye denotes that which is affected or acted on. When we say, 'instruction directs the mind or opinions, ' mind and opinions, ' mind and opinions are the objects influenced.

OBJECT'ABLE, adjective That may be opposed.

OBJEC'TION, noun [Latin objectio.]

1. The act of objecting.

2. That which is presented in opposition; adverse reason or argument. The defendant urged several objections to the plaintiff's claims. The plaintiff has removed or overthrown those objections.

3. That which may be offered in opposition; reason existing, though not offered, against a measure or an opinion. We often have objections in our minds which we never offer or present in opposition.

4. Criminal charge; fault found.

OBJEC'TIONABLE, adjective Justly liable to objections; such as may be objected against.

OBJECT'IVE, adjective

1. Belonging to the object; contained in the object.

Objective certainty, is when the proposition is certainly true in itself; and subjective, when we are certain of the truth of it. The one is in things, the other in our minds.

2. In grammar, the objective case is that which follows a transitive verb or a preposition; that case in which the object of the verb is placed, when produced or affected by the act expressed by the verb. This case in English answers to the oblique cases of the Latin.

OBJECT'IVELY, adverb

1. In the manner of an object; as a determinate idea objectively in the mind.

2. In the state of an object.

OBJECT'IVENESS, noun The state of being an object.

Is there such a motion or objectiveness of external bodies, which produceth light?

OBJECT'OR, noun One that objects; one that offers arguments or reasons in opposition to a proposition or measure.

OBJUR'GATE, verb transitive [Latin objurgo; ob and jurgo, to chide.] To chide; to reprove. [Not used.]

OBJURGA'TION, noun [Latin objurgatio.] The act of chiding by way of censure; reproof; reprehension. [Little used.]

OBJUR'GATORY, adjective Containing censure or reproof; culpatory. [Little used.]

OBLA'DA, noun A fish of the sparus kind, variegated with longitudinal lines, and having a large black spot on each side near the tail.

OBLA'TE, adjective [Latin oblatur, offero; ob and fero, to bear.]

Flattened or depressed at the poles; as an oblate spheroid, which is the figure of the earth.

OBLA'TENESS, noun The quality or state of being oblate.

OBLA'TION, noun [Latin oblatio, from offero; ob and fero, to bear or bring.]

Any thing offered or presented in worship or sacred service; an offering; a sacrifice.

Bring no more vain oblations. Isaiah 1:13.

OBLEC'TATE, verb transitive [Latin oblecto.] To delight; to please highly. [Not used.]

OBLECTA'TION, noun The act of pleasing highly; delight.

OB'LIGATE, verb transitive [Latin obligo; ob and ligo, to bind.]

To bind, as one's self, in a moral and legal sense; to impose on, as a duty which the law or good faith may enforce. A man may obligate himself to pay money, or erect a house, either by bond, by covenant or by a verbal promise. A man obligates himself only by a positive act of his own. We never say, a man obligates his heirs or executors. Until recently, the sense of this word has been restricted to positive and personal acts; and when moral duty or law binds a person to do something, the word oblige has been used. But this distinction is not now observed.

The millions of mankind, as one vast fraternity, should feel obligated by a sense of duty and the impulse of affection, to realize the equal rights and to subserve the best interests of each other.

That's your true plan, to obligate the present minister of state.

OB'LIGATED, participle passive Bound by contract or promise.

OB'LIGATING, participle present tense Bound by covenant, contract, promise or bond.

OBLIGA'TION, noun [Latin obligatio.]

1. The binding power of a vow, promise, oath or contract, or of law, civil, political or moral, independent of a promise; that which constitutes legal or moral duty, and which renders a person liable to coercion and punishment for neglecting it. The laws and commands of God impose on us an obligation to love him supremely, and our neighbor as ourselves. Every citizen is under an obligation to obey the laws of the state. Moral obligation binds men without promise or contract.

2. The binding force of civility, kindness or gratitude, when the performance of a duty cannot be enforced by law. Favors conferred impose on men an obligation to make suitable returns.

3. Any act by which a person becomes bound to do something to or for another, or to forbear something.

4. In law, a bond with a condition annexed and a penalty for non-fulfillment.

OBLIGATO. [See Obbligato.]

OB'LIGATORY, adjective Binding in law or conscience; imposing duty; requiring performance or forbearance of some act; followed by on; to is obsolete.

As long as law is obligatory so long our obedience is due.

OBLI'GE, verb transitive pronounced as written, not oblege. [Latin obligo; ob and ligo, to bind.]

1. To constrain by necessity; to compel by physical force. an admiral may be obliged to surrender his ships, or he may be obliged by adverse winds to delay sailing.

2. To constrain by legal force; to bind in law. We are obliged to pay toll for supporting roads and bridges.

3. To bind or constrain by moral force. We are obliged to believe positive and unsuspected testimony.

4. To bind in conscience or honor; to constrain by a sense of propriety. We are often obliged to conform to established customs, rites or ceremonies. To be obliged to yield to fashion is often the worst species of tyranny.

5. To do a favor to; to lay under obligation of gratitude; as, to oblige one with a loan of money.

6. To do a favor to; to please; to gratify. oblige us with your company at dinner.

7. To indebt.

To those hills we are obliged for all our metals.

OBLI'GED, participle passive Bound in duty or in law; compelled; constrained; favored; indebted.

OBLIGEE', noun The person to whom another is bound, or the person to whom a bond is given.

OBLI'GEMENT, noun Obligation. [Little used.]

OBLI'GER, noun One that obliges.

OBLI'GING, participle present tense

1. Binding in law or conscience; compelling; constraining.

2. Doing a favor to.

No man can long be the enemy of one whom he is in the habit of obliging

OBLI'GING, adjective Having the disposition to do favors, or actually conferring them; as an obliging man; a man of an obliging disposition; hence, civil; complaisant; kind.

Mons. Strozzi has many curiosities, and is very obliging to a stranger that desires the sight of them.

OBLI'GINGLY, adverb With civility; kindly; complaisantly.

OBLI'GINGNESS, noun

1. Obligation. [Little used.]

2. Civility; complaisance; disposition to exercise kindness.

OBLIGOR', noun The person who binds himself or gives his bond to another.

OBLI'KE, adjective obli'ke. [Latin obliquus; .]

1. Deviating from a right line; not direct; not perpendicular; not parallel; aslant.

It has a direction oblique to that of the former motion.

An oblique angle is either acute or obtuse; any angle except a right one.

An oblique line is one that, falling on another, makes oblique angles with it.

Oblique planes, in dialing, are those which decline from the zenith, or incline towards the horizon.

Oblique sailing, is when a ship sails upon some rhomb between the four cardinal points, making an oblique angle with the meridian.

2. Indirect; by a side glance; as an oblique hint.

3. In grammar, an oblique case is any case except the nominative.

OBLIQUA'TION, noun [Latin obliquo, from obliquus, oblique.]

1. Declination from a strait line or course; a turning to one side; as the obliquation of the eyes.

2. Deviation from moral rectitude.

OBLI'QUE,

OBLI'QUELY, adverb

1. In a line deviating from a right line; not directly; not perpendicularly.

Declining from the noon of day, the sun obliquely shoots his burning ray.

2. Indirectly; by a side glance; by an allusion; not in the direct or plain meaning.

His discourse tends obliquely to the detracting from others.

OBLI'QUENESS, noun Obliquity.

OBLIQ'UITY, noun [Latin obliquitas.]

1. Deviation from a right line; deviation from parallelism or perpendicularity; as the obliquity of the ecliptic to the equator.

2. Deviation from moral rectitude.

To disobey God or oppose his will in any thing imports a moral obliquity

3. Irregularity; deviation from ordinary rules.

OBLIT'ERATE, verb transitive [Latin oblitero; ob and litera, letter.]

1. To efface; to erase or blot out any thing written; or to efface any thing engraved. A writing may be obliterated by erasure, by blotting, or by the slow operation of time or natural causes.

2. To efface; to wear out; to destroy by time or other means; as, to obliterate ideas or impressions; to obliterate the monuments of antiquity; to obliterate reproach.

3. To reduce to a very low or imperceptible state.

The torpor of the vascular system and obliterated pulse.

OBLIT'ERATED, participle passive Effaced; erased; worn out; destroyed.

OBLIT'ERATING, participle present tense Effacing; wearing out; destroying.

OBLITERA'TION, noun The act of effacing; effacement; a blotting out or wearing out; extinction.

OBLIV'ION, noun [Latin oblivio.]

1. Forgetfulness; cessation of remembrance.

Among our crimes oblivion may be set.

2. A forgetting of offenses, or remission of punishment. An act of oblivion is an amnesty, or general pardon of crimes and offenses, granted by a sovereign, by which punishment is remitted.

OBLIV'IOUS, adjective [Latin obliviosus.]

1. Causing forgetfulness.

The oblivious calm of indifference.

Behold the wonders of th' oblivious lake.

2. Forgetful.

OB'LOCUTOR, noun A gainsayer. [Not in use.]

OB'LONG, adjective [Latin oblongus.] Longer than broad.

OB'LONG, noun A figure or solid which is longer than it is broad.

OB'LONGISH, adjective Somewhat oblong.

OB'LONGLY, adjective In an oblong form.

OB'LONGNESS, noun The state of being longer than broad.

OBLO'QUIOUS, adjective [See Obloquy.] Containing obloquy; reproachful. [Little used.]

OB'LOQUY, noun [Latin obloquor; ob and loquor, to speak.]

1. Censorious speech; reproachful language; language that casts contempt on men or their actions.

Shall names that made your city the glory of the earth, be mentioned with obloquy and detraction?

2. Cause of reproach; disgrace. [Not used.]

OBLUCTA'TION, noun [Latin obluctor; ob and luctor, to struggle.]

A struggling or striving against; resistance. [Little used.]

OBMUTES'CENCE, noun [Latin obmutesco, to be silent.]

1. Loss of speech; silence,

2. A keeping silence.

OBNOX'IOUS, adjective [Latin obnoxius; ob and noxius, hurtful, from noceo.]

1. Subject; answerable.

The writings of lawyers, which are tied and obnoxious to their particular laws.

2. Liable; subject to cognizance or punishment.

We know ourselves obnoxious to God's severe justice.

3. Liable; exposed; as friendship obnoxious to jealousies.

4. Reprehensible; censurable; not approved; as obnoxious authors.

5. Odious; hateful; offensive; with to; as, the minister was obnoxious to the whigs.

6. Hurtful; noxious.

OBNOX'IOUSLY, adverb

1. In a state of subjection or liability.

2. Reprehensibly; odiously; offensively.

OBNOX'IOUSNESS, noun

1. Subjection or liableness to punishment.

2. Odiousness; offensiveness. The obnoxiousness of the law rendered the legislature unpopular.

OBNU'BILATE, verb transitive [Latin obnubilor; ob and nubilo; nubes, mist, cloud.]

To cloud; to obscure.

OBNUBILA'TION, noun The act or operation of making dark or obscure.

OB'OLE, noun [Latin obolus.] In pharmacy, the weight of ten grains or half a scruple.

OB'OLUS, noun [Latin from G.] A small silver coin of Athens, the sixth part of a drachma, about two cents in value, or a penny farthing sterling.

OBO'VATE, adjective In botany, inversely ovate; having the narrow end downward; as an obovate leaf.

OBREP'TION, noun [Latin obrepo; ob and repo, to creep.]

The act of creeping on with secrecy or by surprise.

OBREPTI'TIOUS, adjective [supra.] Done or obtained by surprise; with secrecy or by concealment of the truth.

OBSCE'NE, adjective [Latin obscaenus.]

1. Offensive to chastity and delicacy; impure; expressing or presenting to the mind or view something which delicacy, purity and decency forbid; to be exposed; as obscene language; obscene pictures.

2. Foul; filthy; offensive; disgusting.

A girdle foul with grease binds his obscene attire.

3. Inauspicious; ill omened.

At the cheerful light, the groaning ghosts and birds obscene take flight.

OBSCE'NELY, adverb In a manner offensive to chastity or purity; impurely; unchastely.

OBSCE'NENESS,

OBSCEN'ITY, noun [Latin obscaenitas.]

1. Impurity in expression or representation; that quality in words or things which presents what is offensive to chastity or purity of mind; ribaldry.

Cowley asserts plainly that obscenity has no place in wit.

Those fables were tempered with the Italian severity, and free from any note of infamy or obsceneness

No pardon vile obscenity should find.

2. Unchaste actions; lewdness.

To wash th' obscenities of night away.

OBSCURA'TION, noun [Latin obscuratio.]

1. The act of darkening.

2. The state of being darkened or obscured; as the obscuration of the moon in an eclipse.

OBSCU'RE, adjective [Latin obscurus.]

1. Dark; destitute of light.

Whoso curseth his father or mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Proverbs 20:20.

2. Living in darkness; as the obscure bird.

3. Not easily understood; not obviously intelligible; abstruse; as an obscure passage in a writing.

4. Not much known or observed; retired; remote from observation; as an obscure retreat.

5. Not noted; unknown; unnoticed; humble; mean; as an obscure person; a person of obscure birth.

6. Not easily legible; as an obscure inscription.

7. Not clear, full or distinct; imperfect; as an obscure view of remote objects.

OBSCU'RE, verb transitive [Latin obscuro.]

1. To darken; to make dark. The shadow of the earth obscures the moon, and the body of the moon obscures the sun, in an eclipse.

2. To cloud; to make partially dark. Thick clouds obscure the day.

3. To hide from the view; as, clouds obscure the sun.

4. To make less visible.

Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love, and I should be obscured.

5. To make less legible; as, time has obscured the writing.

6. To make less intelligible.

There is scarce any duty which has been so obscured by the writings of the learned as this.

7. To make less glorious, beautiful or illustrious.

- And see'st not sin obscures thy godlike frame?

8. To conceal; to make unknown.

9. To tarnish; as, to obscure brightness.

OBSCU'RELY, adverb

1. Darkly; not clearly; imperfectly; as an object obscurely seen; obscurely visible.

2. Out of sight; in a state not to be noticed; privately; in retirement; not conspicuously.

There live retired, content thyself to be obscurely good.

3. Not clearly; not plainly to the mind; darkly; as future events obscurely revealed.

4. Not plainly; indirectly; by hints or allusion.

OBSCU'RENESS,

OBSCU'RITY, noun [Latin obscuritas.]

1. Darkness; want of light.

We wait for light, but behold obscurity. Isaiah 59:1.

2. A state of retirement from the world; a state of being unnoticed; privacy.

You are not for obscurity designed.

3. Darkness of meaning; unintelligibleness; as the obscurity of writings or of a particular passage.

4. Illegibleness; as the obscurity of letters or of an inscription.

5. A state of being unknown to fame; humble condition; as the obscurity of birth or parentage.

OBSCU'RITY, n. [L. obscuritas.]

OB'SECRATE, verb transitive [Latin obsecro.] To beseech; to intreat; to supplicate; to pray earnestly.

OBSECRA'TION, noun

1. Intreaty; supplication.

2. A figure of rhetoric, in which the orator implores the assistance of God or man.

OB'SEQUENT, adjective [Latin obsequens.] Obedient; submissive to. [Little used.]

OB'SEQUIES, noun plural [Latin obsequium, complaisance, from obsequor, to follow.]

Funeral rites and solemnities; the last duties performed to a deceased person.

[Milton uses the word in the singular, but the common usage is different.]

OBSE'QUIOUS, adjective [from Latin obsequium, complaisance, from obsequor, to follow; ob and sequor.]

1. Promptly obedient or submissive to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the desires of others, properly to the will or command of a superior, but in actual use, it often signifies yielding to the will or desires of such as have no right to control.

His servants weeping, obsequious to his orders, bear him hither.

2. Servilely or meanly condescending; compliant to excess; as an obsequious flatterer, minion or parasite.

3. Funereal; pertaining to funeral rites. [Not used.]

OBSE'QUIOUSLY, adverb

1. With ready obedience; with prompt compliance.

They rise and with respectful awe, at the word given, obsequiously withdraw.

2. With reverence for the dead. [Not used.]

OBSE'QUIOUSNESS, noun

1. Ready obedience; prompt compliance with the orders of a superior.

2. Servile submission; mean or excessive complaisance.

They apply themselves both to his interest and humor, with all the arts of flattery and obsequiousness

OBSERV'ABLE, adjective s as z. [See Observe.]

1. That may be observed or noticed.

2. Worthy of observation or of particular notice; remarkable.

I took a just account of every observable circumstance of the earth, stone, metal or other matter.

OBSERV'ABLY, adverb s as z. In a manner worthy of note.

OBSERV'ANCE, noun s as z.

1. The act of observing; the act of keeping or adhering to in practice; performance; as the observance of rules, rites, ceremonies or laws.

Love rigid honesty, and strict observance of impartial laws.

2. Respect; ceremonial reverence in practice.

To do observance on the morn of May.

3. Performance of rites, religious ceremonies or external service.

Some represent to themselves the whole of religion as consisting in a few easy observances.

4. Rule of practice; thing to be observed.

5. Observation; attention. [Little used.]

6. Obedient regard or attention.

Having had experience of his fidelity and observance abroad. [Not used.]

OBSERVAND'A, noun plural s as z. [Latin] Things to be observed.

OBSERV'ANT, adjective s as z.

1. Taking notice; attentively viewing or noticing; as an observant spectator or traveler.

2. Obedient; adhering to in practice; with of. He is very observant of the rules of his order.

We are told how observant Alexander was of his master Aristotle.

3. Carefully attentive; submissive.

OBSERV'ANT, noun s as z.

1. A slavish attendant. [Not in use.]

2. A diligent observer.

OBSERVA'TION, noun s as z. [Latin observatio. See Observe.]

1. The act of observing or taking notice; the act of seeing or of fixing the mind on any thing. We apply the word to simple vision, as when one says, a spot on the sun's disk did not fall under his observation; or to the notice or cognizance of the mind, as when one says, the distinction made by the orator escaped his observation When however it expresses vision, it often represents a more fixed or particular view than a mere transient sight; as an astronomical observation

2. Notion gained by observing; the effect or result of seeing or taking cognizance in the mind, and either retained in the mind or expressed in words; inference or something arising out of the act of seeing or noticing, or that which is produced by thinking and reflecting on a subject; note; remark; animadversion. We often say, I made the observation in my own mind; but properly an observation is that which is expressed as the result of viewing or of thinking.

In matters of human prudence, we shall find the greatest advantage by making wise observations on our conduct.

3. Observance; adherence to in practice; performance of what is prescribed.

He freed the christian church from the external observation and obedience of legal precepts not formally moral.

4. In navigation, the taking of the altitude of the sun or a star in order to find the latitude.

OBSERVA'TOR, noun s as z.

1. One that observes or takes notice.

2. A remarker.

OBSERV'ATORY, n s as z.

A place or building for making observations on the heavenly bodies; as the royal observatory at Greenwich.

OBSERVE, verb transitive obzerv'. [Latin observo; ob and servo, to keep or hold. The sense is to hold in view, or to keep the eyes on.]

1. To see or behold with some attention; to notice; as, to observe a halo round the moon; I observed a singular phenomenon; we observe strangers or their dress. I saw the figure, but observed nothing peculiar in it.

2. To take notice or cognizance of by the intellect. We observe nice distinctions in arguments, or a peculiar delicacy of thought.

3. To utter or express, as a remark, opinion or sentiment; to remark. He observed that no man appears great to his domestics.

4. To keep religiously; to celebrate.

A night to be much observed to the Lord. Exodus 12:17.

Ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Exodus 12:17.

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. Galatians 4:10.

5. To keep or adhere to in practice; to comply with; to obey; as, to observe the laws of the state; to observe the rules and regulations of a society.

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Matthew 28:20.

6. To practice.

In the days of Enoch, the people observed not circumcision or the sabbath.

OBSERVE, verb intransitive observ'.

1. To remark. I have heard the gentleman's arguments, and shall hereafter observe upon them.

2. To be attentive.

OBSERV'ED, participle passive s as z.

1. Noticed by the eye or the mind.

2. Kept religiously; celebrated; practiced.

OBSERV'ER, noun s as z.

1. One who observes; one that takes notice; particularly, one who looks to with care, attention or vigilance.

Careful observers may foretell the hour, by sure prognostic, when to dread a shower.

Creditors are great observers of set days and times.

2. A beholder; a looker on; a spectator.

3. One who keeps any law, custom, regulation or rite; one who adheres to any thing in practice; one who performs; as a great observer of forms; an observer of old customs.

4. One who fulfills or performs; as, he is a strict observer of his word or promise.

5. One who keeps religiously; as an observer of the sabbath.

OBSERV'ING, participle present tense s as z.

1. Taking notice by the eye or the intellect.

2. Remarking.

3. Keeping; adhering to in practice; fulfilling.

4. adjective Giving particular attention; habitually taking notice; attentive to what passes. He is an observing man.

OBSERV'INGLY, adverb s as z. Attentively; carefully; with close observation.

OBSESS', verb transitive [Latin obsideo, obsessus; ob and sedeo, to sit.] To besiege. [Not used.]

OBSESS'ION, noun [Latin obsessio.] The act of besieging; the first attack of Satan antecedent to possession. [Little used.]

OBSID'IAN, noun A mineral of two kinds, translucent and transparent. The translucent has a velvet black color; the transparent is of a dark blue. These occur massive in porphyry, gneiss or granite, generally invested with a gray opake crust.

The fracture of obsidian is vitreous or pearly; hence the two varieties, vitreous obsidian and pearlstone.

OBSID'IONAL, adjective [Latin obsidionalis; ob and sedeo, to sit.] Pertaining to a siege.

OB'SIGNATE, verb transitive [Latin obsigno; ob and signo, to seal.] To seal up; to ratify. [Little used.]

OBSIGNA'TION, noun The act of sealing; ratification by sealing; confirmation.

OBSIG'NATORY, adjective Ratifying; confirming by sealing.

OBSOLES'CENT, adjective [Latin obsolesco, to go out of use.]

Going out of use; passing into desuetude.

All the words compounded of here and a preposition, except hereafter, are obsolete or absolescent.

OBSOLE'TE, adjective [Latin obsoletus.]

1. Gone into disuse; disused; neglected; as an obsolete word; an obsolete statute; applied chiefly to words or writings.

2. In botany, obscure; not very distinct.

OBSOLE'TENESS, noun

1. The state of being neglected in use; a state of desuetude.

2. In botany, indistinctness.

OB'STACLE, noun [Latin obsto, to withstand; ob and sto.]

That which opposes; any thing that stands in the way and hinders progress; hinderance; obstruction, either in a physical or moral sense. An army may meet with obstacles on its march; bad roads are obstacles to traveling; prejudice is an obstacle to improvement; want of union is often an insuperable obstacle to beneficial measures.

OB'STANCY, noun [Latin obstantia; ob and sto.] Opposition; impediment; obstruction. [Not used.]

OBSTET'RIC, adjective [Latin obstetrix, a midwife; ob and sto, to stand before.]

Pertaining to midwifery, or the delivery of women in childbed; as the obstetric art.

OBSTET'RICATE, verb intransitive [See Obstetric.] To perform the office of a midwife. [Little used.]

OBSTET'RICATE, verb transitive To assist as a midwife. [Little used.]

OBSTETRICA'TION, noun

1. The act of assisting as a midwife.

2. The office of a midwife.

OBSTETRI'CIAN, noun One skilled in the art of assisting women in parturition.

OBSTET'RICS, noun The art of assisting women in parturition; midwifery.

OB'STINACY, noun [Latin obstinatio, from obsto, to stand against, to oppose; ob and sto.]

1. A fixedness in opinion or resolution that cannot be shaken at all, or not without great difficulty; firm and usually unreasonable adherence to an opinion, purpose or system; a fixedness that will not yield to persuasion, arguments or other means. obstinacy may not always convey the idea of unreasonable or unjustifiable firmness; as when we say, soldiers fight with obstinacy But often, and perhaps usually, the word denotes a fixedness of resolution which is not to be vindicated under the circumstances; stubbornness; pertinacity; persistency.

2. Fixedness that will not yield to application, or that yields with difficulty; as the obstinacy of a disease or evil.

OB'STINATE, adjective [Latin obstinatus.]

1. Stubborn; pertinaciously adhering to an opinion or purpose; fixed firmly in resolution; not yielding to reason, arguments or other means.

I have known great cures done by obstinate resolutions of drinking no wine.

No ass so meek, no ass os obstinate

2. Not yielding or not easily subdued or removed; as an obstinate fever; obstinate obstructions; an obstinate cough.

OB'STINATELY, adverb Stubbornly; pertinaciously; with fixedness of purpose not to be shaken, or not without difficulty; as a sinner obstinately bent on his own destruction.

Inflexible to ill and obstinately just.

OB'STINATENESS, noun Stubbornness; pertinacity in opinion or purpose; fixed determination.

OBSTIPA'TION, noun [Latin obstipo; ob and stipo, to crowd.]

1. The act of stopping up; as a passage.

2. In medicine, costiveness.

OBSTREP'EROUS, adjective [Latin obstreperus, from obstrepo, to roar; ob and strepo.]

Loud; noisy; clamorous; vociferous; making a tumultuous noise.

The players do not only connive at his obstreperous approbation, but repair at their own cost whatever damages he makes.

OBSTREP'EROUSLY, adverb Loudly; clamorously; with tumultuous noise.

OBSTREP'EROUSNESS, noun Loudness; clamor; noisy turbulence.

OBSTRIC'TION, noun [Latin obstrictus, obstringo; ob and stringo, to strain.]

Obligation; bond.

OBSTRUCT', verb transitive [Latin obstruo; ob and struo, to set.]

1. To block up; to stop up or close; as a way or passage; to fill with obstacles or impediments that prevent passing; as, to obstruct a road, highway or channel; to obstruct the canals or fine vessels of the body.

2. To stop; to impede; to hinder in passing; as, the bar at the mouth of the river obstructs the entrance of ships; clouds obstruct the light of the sun.

3. To retard; to interrupt; to render slow. Progress is often obstructed by difficulties, though not entirely stopped.

OBSTRUCT'ED, participle passive

1. Blocked up; stopped; as a passage.

2. Hindered; impeded; as progress.

3. Retarded; interrupted.

OBSTRUCT'ER, noun One that obstructs or hinders.

OBSTRUCT'ING, participle present tense Blocking up; stopping; impeding; interrupting.

OBSTRUC'TION, noun [Latin obstructio.]

1. The act of obstructing.

2. Obstacle; impediment; any thing that stops or closes a way or channel. Bars of sand at the mouths of rivers are often obstructions to navigation.

3. That which impedes progress; hinderance. disunion and party spirit are often obstructions to legislative measures and to public prosperity.

4. A heap. [Not proper.]

OBSTRUCT'IVE, adjective

Presenting obstacles; hindering; causing impediment.

OBSTRUCT'IVE, noun Obstacle; impediment. [Little used.]

OB'STRUENT, adjective [Latin obstruens.] Blocking up; hindering.

OB'STRUENT, noun Any thing that obstructs the natural passages in the body.

OBSTUPEFAC'TION, noun [Latin obstupefacio.] The act of making stupid or insensible. [See Stupefaction, which is generally used.]

OBSTUPEFAC'TIVE, adjective [Latin obstupefacio.] Stupefying; rendering insensible, torpid or inert. [Little used. See Sti[efactove/]

OBTA'IN, verb transitive [Latin obtineo; ob and teneo, to hold.]

1. To get; to gain; to procure; in a general sense, to gain possession of a thing, whether temporary or permanent; to acquiare. this word usually implies exertion to get possession, and in this it differs from receive, which may or may not imply exertion. it differs from acquire, as genus from species; acquire being properly applied only to things permanently possessed; but obtain is applied both to things of temporary and of permanent possession. We obtain loans of money on application; we obtain answers to letters; we obtain spirit from liquors by distillation and salts by evaporation. We obtain by seeking; we often receive without seeking. We acquire or obtain a good title to lands by deed, or by a judgment of court; but we do not acquire spirit by distillation; nor do we acquire an answer to a letter or an application.

He shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries. Daniel 11:21.

In whom we have obtained an inheritance. Ephesians 1:11.

2. To keep; to hold.

OBTA'IN, verb intransitive

1. To be received in customary or common use; to continue in use; to be established in practice.

The Theodosian code, several hundred years after Justinian's time, obtained in the western parts of the empire.

2. To be established; to subsist in nature.

The general laws of fluidity, elasticity and gravity, obtain in animal and inanimate tubes.

3. To prevail; to succeed. [Little used.]

OBTA'INABLE, adjective That may be obtained; that may be procured or gained.

OBTA'INED, participle passive Gained; procured; acquired.

OBTA'INER, noun One who obtains.

OBTA'INING, participle present tense Gaining; procuring; acquiring.

OBTA'INMENT, noun The act of obtaining.

OBTEND', verb transitive [Latin obtendo; ob and tendo; literally, to stretch against or before.]

1. To oppose; to hold out in opposition.

2. To pretend; to offer as the reason of any thing. [Not used. This word is rarely used.]

OBTENEBRA'TION, noun [from Latin ob and tenebrae, darkness.]

A darkening; act of darkening; darkness.

In every megrim or vertigo there is an obtenebration joined with a semblance of turning round. [Little used.]

OBTEN'SION, noun The act of obtending. [Not used.]

OBTEST', verb transitive [Latin obtestor; ob and testor, to witness. To beseech; to supplicate.

OBTEST his clemency.

OBTEST', verb intransitive To protest.

OBTESTA'TION, noun

1. Supplication; entreaty.

2. Solemn injunction.

OBTEST'ING, participle present tense Beseeching; supplicating.

OBTRECTA'TION, noun [Latin obtrectatio, from obtrecto; ob and tracto.]

Slander; detraction; calumny. [Little used.]

OBTRU'DE, verb transitive [Latin obltrudo; ob and trudo, Eng. to thrust.]

1. To thrust in or on; to throw, crowd or thrust into any place or state by force or imposition, or without solicitation. Men obtrude their vain speculations upon the world.

A cause of common error is the credulity of men, that is, an easy assent to what is obtruded.

The objects of our senses obtrude their particular ideas upon our minds, whether we will or not.

2. To offer with unreasonable importunity; to urge upon against the will.

Why shouldst thou then obtrude this diligence in vain, where no acceptance it can find?

To obtrude one's self, to enter a place where one is not desired; to thrust one's self in uninvited, or against the will of the company.

OBTRU'DE, verb intransitive

1. To enter when not invited.

2. To thrust or be thrust upon.

OBTRU'DED, participle passive Thrust in by force or unsolicited.

OBTRU'DER, noun One who obtrudes.

OBTRU'DING, participle present tense Thrusting in or on; entering uninvited.

OBTRUN'CATE, verb transitive [Latin obtrunco; ob and trunco, to cut off.]

To deprive of a limb; to lop. [Little used.]

OBTRUNCA'TION, noun The act of lopping or cutting off. [Little used.]

OBTRU'SION, noun s as z. [Latin obtrudo, obtrusus.]

The act of obtruding; a thrusting upon others by force or unsolicited; as the obtrusion of crude opinions on the world.

OBTRU'SIVE, adjective Disposed to obtrude any thing upon others; inclined to intrude or thrust one's self among others, or to enter uninvited.

Not obvious, not obtrusive but retired, the more desirable.

OBTRU'SIVELY, adverb By way of obtrusion or thrusting upon others, or entering unsolicited.

OBTUND', verb transitive [Latin obtundo; ob and tundo, to beat.]

To dull; to blunt; to quell; to deaden; to reduce the edge, pungency or violent action of any thing; as, to obtund the acrimony of the gall.

OBTURA'TION, noun [Latin obturatus, from obturo, to stop up.]

The act of stopping by spreading over or covering.

OB'TURATOR, noun In anatomy, the obturators are muscles which rise from the outer and inner side of the pelvis around foramen thyroideum, and are rotators of the thigh.

OBTUSANG'ULAR, adjective [obtuse and angular.]

Having angles that are obtuse, or larger than right angles.

OBTU'SE, adjective [Latin obtusus, from obtundo, to beat against.]

1. Blunt; not pointed or acute. Applied to angles, it denotes one that is larger than a right angle, or more than ninety degrees.

2. Dull; not having acute sensibility; as obtuse senses.

3. Not sharp or shrill; dull; obscure; as obtuse sound.

OBTU'SELY, adverb

1. Without a sharp point.

2. Dully; stupidly.

OBTU'SENESS, noun

1. Bluntness; as the obtuseness of an edge or a point.

2. Dullness; want of quick sensibility; as the obtuseness of the senses.

3. Dullness of sound.

OBTU'SION, noun s as z.

1. The act of making blunt.

2. The state of being dulled or blunted; as the obtusion of the senses.

OBUM'BRATE, verb transitive [Latin obumbro; ob and umbra, a shade.]

To shade; to darken; to cloud. [Little used.]

OBUMBRA'TION, noun The act of darkening or obscuring.

OBVEN'TION, noun [Latin obvenio, ob and venio, to come.]

Something occasional; that which happens not regularly, but incidentally. [Not used.]

OBVERS'ANT, adjective [Latin obversans, obversor; ob and versor, to turn.]

Conversant; familiar. [Not used.]

OBVERSE, adjective obvers'. In botany, having the base narrower than the top; as a leaf.

OB'VERSE, noun The face of a coin; opposed to reverse.

OBVERT', verb transitive [Latin obverto; ob and verto, to turn.] To turn towards.

OBVERT'ED, participle passive Turned towards.

OBVERT'ING, participle present tense Turning towards.

OB'VIATE, verb transitive [Latin obvius; ob and via, way.]

Properly, to meet in the way; to oppose; hence, to prevent by interception, or to remove at the beginning or in the outset; hence in present usage, to remove in general, as difficulties or objections; to clear the way of obstacles in reasoning, deliberating or planning.

To lay down every thing in its full light, so as to obviate all exceptions.

OB'VIATED, participle passive Removed, as objections or difficulties.

OB'VIATING, participle present tense Removing, as objections in reasoning or planning.

OB'VIOUS, adjective [Latin obvus. See the Verb.]

1. Meeting; opposed in front.

I to the evil turn my obvious breast. [Not now used.]

2. Open; exposed. [Little used.]

3. Plain; evident; easily discovered, seen or understood; readily perceived by the eye or the intellect. We say, a phenomenon obvious to the sight, or a truth obvious to the mind.

OB'VIOUSLY, adverb

1. Evidently; plainly; apparently; manifestly. Men do not always pursue what is obviously their interest.

2. Naturally.

3. Easily to be found.

OB'VIOUSNESS, noun State of being plain or evident to the eye or the mind.

OB'VOLUTE,

OB'VOLUTED, adjective [Latin obvolutus, obvolvo; ob and volvo, to roll.] In botany, obvolute foliation is when the margins of the leaves alternately embrace the straight margin of the opposite leaf.

OB'VOLUTED, a. [L. obvolutus, obvolvo; ob and volvo, to roll.] In botany, obvolute foliation is when the margins of the leaves alternately embrace the straight margin of the opposite leaf.