OS'CILLATE, verb intransitive [Latin oscillo, from ant. cillo, Gr. to move.]

To swing; to move backward and forward; to vibrate.

OSCILLA'TION, noun [Latin oscillatio.] Vibration; a moving backward and forward, or swinging like a pendulum.

OS'CILLATORY, adjective Moving backward and forward like a pendulum; swinging; as an oscillatory motion.

OS'CITANCY, noun [Latin oscito, to yawn, from os, the mouth.]

1. The act of gaping or yawning.

2. Unusual sleepiness; drowsiness; dullness.

It might proceed from the oscitancy of transcribers.

OS'CITANT, adjective

1. Yawning; gaping.

2. Sleepy; drowsy; dull; sluggish.

OS'CITANTLY, adverb Carelessly.

OSCITA'TION, noun The act of yawning or gaping from sleepiness.

OSCULA'TION, noun [Latin osculatio, a kissing.] In geometry, the contract between any given curve and its osculatory circle, that is, a circle of the same curvature with the given curve.

OS'CULATORY, adjective An osculatory circle, in geometry, is a circle having the same curvature with any curve at any given point.

OS'CULATORY, noun In church history, a tablet or board, with the picture of Christ or the virgin, etc. which is kissed by the priest and then delivered to the people for the same purpose.

OSIER, noun o'sher. A willow or water willow, or the twig of the willow, used in making baskets.

OS'MAZOME, noun [Gr. odor, and juice.]

A substance of an aromatic flavor, obtained from the flesh of the ox.

OS'MIUM, noun [Gr. odor.] A metal recently discovered, and contained in the ore of platinum. A native alloy of this metal with iridium is found in grains along the rivers in South America. osmium has a dark gray color; it is not volatile when heated in close vessels, but heated in the open air, it absorbs oxygen and forms a volatile oxyd. It is insoluble in the acids, readily soluble in potassa and very volatile. It takes its name from the singular smell of its oxyd.

OS'MUND, noun A plant, or a genus of plants, osmunda, moonwort. The most remarkable species is the osmund royal or flowering fern, growing in marshes, the root of which boiled, is very slimy, and is used in stiffening linen.

OSNABURG, noun oz'nburg. A species of coarse linen imported from osnaburg in Germany.

OS'PRAY, noun [Latin ossifraga; as, a bone, and frango, to break; the bone-breaker.]

The sea-eagle, a fowl of the genus Falco or hawk, of the size of a peacock. This is our fish hawk. It feeds on fish which it takes by suddenly darting upon them, when near the surface of the water.

OS'SELET, noun [Latin os, osis, a bone.]

A hard substance growing on the inside of a horse's knee, among the small bones.

OS'SEOUS, adjective [Latin osseus, from os, a bone.] Bony; resembling bone.

OS'SICLE, noun [Latin ossiculum.] A small bone.

OSSIF'EROUS, adjective [Latin os, a bone, and fero, to produce.]

Producing or furnishing bones.

OSSIF'IC, adjective [Latin os, a bone, and facio, to make.]

Having power to ossify or change carneous and membranous substances to bone.

OSSIFICA'TION, noun [from ossify.]

1. The change or process of changing from flesh or other matter of animal bodies into a bony substance; as the ossification of an artery.

2. The formation of bones in animals.

OS'SIFIED, participle passive Converted into bone, or a hard substance like bone.

OS'SIFRAGE, noun [Latin ossifraga. See Ospray.]

The ospray or sea-eagle. In Leviticus 11:13, it denotes a different fowl.

OS'SIFY, verb transitive [Latin os, bone, anf facio, to form.]

To form bone; to change from a soft animal substance into bone, or convert into a substance of the hardness of bones. This is done by the deposition of calcarious phosphate or carbonate on the part.

OS'SIFY, verb intransitive To become bone; to change from soft matter into a substance of bony hardness.

OSSIV'OROUS, adjective [Latin os, bone, and voro, to eat.]

Feeding on bones; eating bones; as ossivorous quadrupeds.

OS'SUARY, noun [Latin ossuarium.] A charnel house; a place where the bones of the dead are deposited.

OST,

OUST, noun A kiln for dying hops or malt.

OST,

OSTENSIBIL'ITY, noun [See Ostensible.] The quality or state of appearing or being shown.

OSTENSIBIL'ITY, n. [See Ostensible.] The quality or state of appearing or being shown.

OSTEN'SIBLE, adjective [Latin ostendo, to show.]

1. That may be shown; proper or intended to be shown.

2. Plausible; colorable.

3. Appearing; seeming; shown, declared or avowed. We say, the ostensible reason or motive for a measure may be the real one, or very different from the real one. This is the common, and I believe the only sense in which the word is used in America.

One of the ostensible grounds on which the proprietors had obtained their charter -

OSTEN'SIBLY, adverb In appearance; in a manner that is declared or pretended.

An embargo and non-intercourse which totally defeat the interests they are ostensible destined to promote.

OSTEN'SIVE, adjective [Latin ostendo.] Showing; exhibiting. ostensive demonstration, is one which plainly and directly demonstrates the truth of a proposition.

OS'TENT, noun [Latin ostentum, from ostendo.]

1. Appearance; air; manner; mien. [Little used.]

2. Show; manifestation; token. [Little used.]

3. A prodigy; a portent; any thing ominous. [Little used.]

OS'TENTATE, verb transitive [Latin ostento.] To make an ambitious display of; to show or exhibit boastingly. [Not used.]

OSTENTA'TION, noun [Latin ostentatio.]

1. Outward show or appearance.

2. Ambitious display; vain show; display of any thing dictated by vanity, or intended to invite praise or flattery. ostentation of endowments is made by boasting or self-commendation. ostentation often appears in works of art and sometimes in acts of charity.

He knew that good and bountiful minds are sometimes inclined to ostentation

The painter is to make no ostentation of the means by which he strikes the imagination.

3. A show or spectacle. [Not used.]

OSTENTA'TIOUS, adjective

1. Making a display from vanity; boastful; fond of presenting one's endowments or works to others in an advantageous light.

Your modesty is so far from being ostentatious of the good you do -

2. Showy; gaudy; intended for vain display; as ostentatious ornaments.

OSTENTA'TIOUSLY, adverb With vain display; boastfully.

OSTENTA'TIOUSNESS, noun Vain display; vanity; boastfulness.

OSTENTA'TOR, noun [Latin] One who makes a vain show; a boaster. [Little used.]

OSTENT'OUS, adjective Fond of making a show. [Little used.]

OS'TEOCOL,

OSTEOCOL'LA, noun [Gr. a bone, and glue.] A carbonate of lime, a fossil formed by incrustation on the stem of a plant. It is found in long, thick, and irregular cylindric pieces, generally hollow, sometimes filled with calcarious earth, and in size, from that of a crow's quill to that of a man's arm. It is always found in sand.

That word takes its name from an opinion that it has the quality of uniting fractured bones.

OS'TEOCOPE, noun [Gr. a bone, and labor, uneasiness.]

Pain in the bones; a violent fixed pain in any part of a bone.

OSTEOL'OGER,

OSTEOLOG'IC,

OSTEOLOG'ICAL, adjective Pertaining to a description of the bones.

OSTEOLOG'IC,

OSTEOLOG'ICAL, a. Pertaining to a description of the bones.

OSTEOLOG'ICALLY, adverb According to osteology.

OSTEOL'OGIST, noun [See Osteology.] One who describes the bones of animals.

OSTEOL'OGY, noun [Gr. a bone, and discourse.]

1. A description of the bones; that part of anatomy which treats of the bones.

2. The system of animal bones.

OS'TIARY, noun [Latin ostium, mouth.] The mouth or opening by which a river discharges its waters into the sea, or into a lake.

OSTLER. [See Hostler.]

OSTLERY. [See Hostlery.]

OST'MEN, noun plural East men; Danish settlers in Ireland, so called.

OSTRACISM, noun [Gr. from a shell, or potter's ware.]

1. In Grecian antiquity, banishment by the people of Athens, of a person whose merit and influence gave umbrage to them. It takes this name from the shell on which the name or the note of acquittal or condemnation was written. It is however most probable that this shell was a piece of baked earth, rendered by the Latins testa.

2. Banishment; expulsion; separation.

Sentenced to a perpetual ostracism from the esteem and confidence, and honors and emoluments of his country.

OS'TRACITE, noun [Gr. from a shell.]

An oyster shell in its fossil state, or a stone formed in the shell, the latter being dissolved. This stone is found in many parts of England, and has been in repute for its efficacy in cases of the gravel.

OS'TRACIZE, verb transitive [See Ostracism.] To banish by the popular voice, particularly a person eminent for public services, but who has lost his popularity.

OS'TRICH, noun [Latin struthio-camelus; Gr. a sparrow, and an ostrich The meaning of the name is not obvious. Eng. strut, Latin struthio, Gr., Latin avis. The primary sense of struz, struthio, etc. is to reach, stretch, extend or erect; but whether this name was given to the fowl from its stately walk or appearance, or from some part of its plumage, let the reader judge.]

A fowl now considered as constituting a distinct genus, the Struthio. This is the largest of all fowls, being four feet high from the ground to the top of the back and seven, eight, and it is said even ten to the top of the head, when standing erect. Its thighs and the sides of the body are naked, and the wings are so short as to be unfit for flying. The plumage is elegant, and much used in ornamental and showy dress. The speed of this fowl in running exceeds that of the fleetest horse.