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An oaf is a stupid or loutish person.
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Oak-apple Day, on May the 29th, is the anniversary of the Restoration in 1660, and was formerly commemorated by the wearing of oak apples or oak leaves, recalling the Boscobel oak in which Charles II hid after the battle of Worcester.
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An oasis is an isolated patch of vegetation in a desert region.
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An oast is a kiln for drying hops. Often a collection of kilns are housed together in an oast house.
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An oath is a sworn statement, affirmation, or pledge, usually based upon religious principles and often used in legal matters. In a court of law, for example, all witnesses must swear that the testimony they give is the truth. Another example is the oath taken by public officials when they assume office. Members of the British parliament swear an oath of allegiance to the monarch - which Sinn Fein politicians elected in Northern Ireland have refused to do, thus causing them to be barred from sitting in the house. Aliens take an oath of allegiance when they become citizens of the USA. Taking an oath generally implies some legal or moral sanction for failing to carry out one' s sworn pledge; a trial witness, for instance, may be charged with perjury for lying under oath. The oath has its origins in religious customs, and some form of binding oath can be found in every culture.
Oaths are administered to those entering such institutions as the military, secret societies, religious orders, and marriage.
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The oath of abjuration was an oath which by an English act passed in 1701 had to be taken by all holders of public offices, clergymen, teachers, members of the universities, and lawyers, adjuring and renouncing the exiled Stuarts. It was superseded in 1858 by a more comprehensive oath, declaring allegiance to the present royal family. Abjuration of the realm was an oath that a person guilty of felony, and who had taken sanctuary, might take to go into exile, and not return on pain of death.
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Obeah or obi is a form of witchcraft practised in Africa and the Caribbean.
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Obedience is the carrying out instructions or commands; submitting to authority.
Obedience became an important topic in social psychology in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of extensive research by American psychologist Stanley Milgram which showed that a high proportion of ordinary individuals would obey instructions that involved inflicting severe pain on, and even the murder of others. Milgram had sought to show that German guards working at concentration camps during the Second World War were responsible for their actions, and that they couldn't use the argument that they were simply following orders. However, his research showed the opposite in a dramatic way. Obeying orders when disobedience results in punishment is understandable (even if not always morally justifiable), but Milgram claimed that many people would willingly obey orders, even if not threatened with punishment.
The subjects in his experiments were required to act as ' teachers' for a 'learner' who, unknown to them, was a confederate of the experimenter. Using a simulated shock generator, they were told to administer electric shocks, of increasing strengths, every time the 'learner' made a mistake. In some experiments as many as 60% of the subjects, when the experimenter told them to continue, administered shocks that they believed would seriously harm or kill the 'learner'. Although distressed by their actions, the subjects felt the experimenter was responsible. Milgram's work has not been accepted uncritically, most of the criticisms being levelled at the ethics of the experiment which led people to believe they had in fact killed an innocent man, although after the experiment they were reassured, but it has generated much discussion and stimulated further research.
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Oberlin College is a privately controlled non-denominational institution of higher learning, in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1833, and known as Oberlin Collegiate Institute until 1850, when its present name was adopted. Oberlin was the first co-educational college in the USA. Two years after its founding the college admitted students 'without respect to color', becoming the first American college to do so; before the American Civil War it was known as a centre for anti-slavery activities. Charles Grandison Finney, professor of theology and president of Oberlin from 1851 to 1866, first promulgated at the college his doctrine of evangelical Calvinism known as Oberlin Theology. Oberlin has two divisions: the College of Arts and Sciences and the Conservatory of Music. The college awards the bachelor of arts degree in the humanities and the natural and social sciences; the master's degree in art history is also granted. The conservatory awards the bachelor of music, as well as master's degrees in conducting, music education, opera theatre, performance on historical instruments, and teaching.
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The Oberlin-Wellington Case was an American criminal case which occurred in 1858. A negro named John Rice was captured near Wellington, Ohio, by Kentucky kidnappers. An Oberlin College student gave the alarm, and the kidnappers were pursued by a large crowd, who rescued the negro. For this infraction of the law thirty-seven citizens of Oberlin and Wellington were indicted. During the progress of the case the greatest excitement prevailed over the entire country, however no severe penalties were imposed upon the offenders.
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Oberon is the outermost of the satellites of Uranus.
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Obiism is serpent-worship.
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Obiit is Latin meaning 'he/she died', and the word is found, for example, in inscriptions on tombstones, followed by a date.
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Obiter dictum is a legal phrase meaning a casual observation, for example something said by the judge, while giving judgement, that is not essential to the decision. Some obiter dicta have persuasive authority in future cases, depending on the seniority of the judge who made the remarks.
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In grammar, an object is the recipient of the action of the verb in a sentence. The object can be a noun, a pronoun, a noun phrase, or a noun clause. Transitive verbs take a direct object and with some verbs there may also be an indirect object.
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An objective correlative is a concept in drama suggested by T S Eliot in a discussion of Shakespeare' s Hamlet. Recognising that the hero's emotion in the play was excessive and inexplicable, Eliot suggested that dramatists must find an exact, sensuous equivalent, or 'objective correlative', for any emotion they wish to express. He gave an example from Macbeth where Lady Macbeth's state of mind in the sleepwalking scene is communicated to the audience by a skilful building-up of images and actions.
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In grammar, an objective genitive is a use of the genitive case to express an objective relationship, as in the Latin timor mortis (fear of death).
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An objective test is a test, such as one using multiple-choice questions, in which the feelings or opinions of the person marking it cannot affect the marks given.
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Objectivism is a loose association of American poets such as Ezra Pound, Louis Zukofsky, William Carlos Williams, Charles Reznikoff, and George Oppen, whose major works were all lifelong open-ended enterprises, constantly updated. Poetry was seen by them as a process by which the poetic form begins with a particular object and then moves on by improvisation through verbal associations inspired by the original object.
In Philosophy, objectivism is the meta-ethical doctrine that there are certain moral truths that are independent of the attitudes of any individuals and also the philosophical doctrine that reality is objective, and that sense data correspond with it.
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In Christianity oblation is the offering of the bread and wine of the Eucharist to God.
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An oblique angle is an angle that is neither a right angle nor any multiple of a right angle.
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In geography, the term obsequent is used to describe a river flowing into a subsequent stream in the opposite direction to the original slope of the land.
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The Ocala Platform of the Farmers' Alliance congress was an American 19th century political group formed on December the 8th, 1890. It demanded the abolition of national banks; the establishment of sub-treasuries which should lend money directly to the people at low rates of interest; free coinage of silver; low tariff; the prohibition of alien ownership of land, and a graduated income tax. The group were so called from the place of meeting, Ocala, Florida.
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An occasional table is a small table with no regular use.
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Occasionalism is a term employed to designate the philosophical system devised by the followers of the 17th-century French philosopher Rene Descartes, who, in attempting to explain the interrelationship between mind and body, concluded that God is the only cause. The occasionalists began with the assumption that certain actions or modifications of the body are preceded, accompanied, or followed by changes in the mind. This assumed relationship presents no difficulty to the popular conception of mind and body, according to which each entity is supposed to act directly on the other; these philosophers, however, asserting that cause and effect must be similar, could not conceive the possibility of any direct mutual interaction between substances as dissimilar as mind and body.
According to the occasionalists, the action of the mind is not, and cannot be, the cause of the corresponding action of the body. Whenever any action of the mind takes place, God directly produces in connection with that action, and by reason of it, a corresponding action of the body; the converse process is likewise true. This theory did not solve the problem, for if the mind cannot act on the body (matter), then God, conceived as mind, cannot act on matter. Conversely, if God is conceived as other than mind, then he cannot act on mind. A proposed solution to this problem was furnished by exponents of radical empiricism such as the American philosopher and psychologist William James. This theory disposed of the dualism of the occasionalists by denying the fundamental difference between mind and matter.
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An occluded front is a weather front formed when a cold front catches up with a warm front. It brings clouds and rain as air is forced to rise upwards along the front, cooling and condensing as it does so.
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Occultism is the belief in hidden or mysterious powers not explained by known scientific principles of nature, and the attempt to bring these powers within human control by scientific methods. The medieval concept of occult properties included only those properties that may be revealed by experimentation. The alchemists, astrologers, seers, and others who practised this 'science' of experimentation were a small group, usually in conflict with orthodox theology. Consequently, their work was considered mysterious, and the term occultism gradually came to denote the study of supernatural forces. Nevertheless, all the so-called natural sciences stemmed from occultism, and early scientists were frequently called magicians and sorcerers because of the mystery attributed to their investigations by most of their contemporaries. Modern occultism is generally considered to have begun with the concept of animal magnetism, first developed by the Austrian physician Franz Mesmer in the late 18th century. Mesmer believed that certain individuals possess occult powers,
comparable to the powers of the magnet, that can be used to invoke the supernatural. In the mid-19th century occultism took the form of spiritualism, a belief that the spirits of the dead may manifest themselves through the agency of living persons called mediums. After the turn of the century occultism included serious investigations of forms of extrasensory perception (ESP) such as mental telepathy. Although still not within the usual area of scientific research, these are considered by some valid natural phenomena explicable by accepted scientific methods.
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An occupation franchise is the right of a tenant in Britain to vote in national and local elections.
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An ocean is a great expanse of water which surrounds the land masses of the earth.
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The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), formerly known as the Deep-Sea Drilling Project until 1985 is a research project initiated in the USA in 1968, to sample the rocks of the ocean crust. Initially under the direction of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the project was planned and administered by the Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES). The operation became international in 1975, when Britain, France, West Germany, Japan, and the USSR also became involved. Boreholes were drilled in all the oceans using the JOIDES ships Glomar Challenger and Resolution. Knowledge of the nature and history of the ocean basins was increased dramatically. The technical difficulty of drilling the seabed to a depth of 2,000 m was overcome by keeping the ship in position with side- thrusting propellers and satellite navigation, and by guiding the drill using a radiolocation system. The project is intended to continue until 2005.
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The Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) is the largest of the dark plains on the surface of the moon. It is situated in the second and third quadrant.
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Oceanology is the study of the sea, especially of its economic geography.
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Ochre is a yellow earth pigment derived from sands and clays around the world. Ochre consists of a mixture of silica, alumina and hydrated iron oxide. Ochre is one of the oldest pigments known to man, and produces a dull brownish-yellow effect which is stable, permanent and fast to light.
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An octroi is a station at the entrance of a town or department for the collection of local dues and tariffs within a country.
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An odabaggan was a North American Indian sled used for transporting goods across snow.
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Odexelagnia is the sexual arousal by biting and nibbling. A form of mild Sado-masochism, gentle biting has been noted as an effective way of helping emotionally stressed partners become aware of their body. Biting is also recommended in the Kama-Sutra.
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An ode is a short poem, frequently of irregular or complicated lyrical form, usually written for some special occasion. The term was originally applied to the choric songs of the Greek dramas, and also to the poems of Pindar, Sappho, Horace etc.
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An oenocho was an ancient Greek jug with a curved handle extending from the lip to the shoulder used for ladling wine from a bowl into a cup.
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Oenomancy is divination by means of wine.
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Ogden Vs Saunders was an important legal case in the US Supreme Court decided in 1827. Ogden, of Louisiana, declared upon certain bills of exchange drawn upon the defendant Saunders, a citizen of Kentucky, but then living in New York. Saunders pleaded a certificate of discharge under the Act of the New York Legislature of 1801 for the relief of insolvent. debtors. The District Court of Louisiana found judgment for the plaintiff. On a writ of error the case was brought before the Supreme Court, which decided in 1827 that the power to pass bankruptcy laws did not belong exclusively to the United States, and that the fair exercise of that power by the States need not involve a violation of the obligation of contracts; but that the State law could not discharge a debt due to a citizen of another State.
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Oil gold size is an adhesive used in gilding carved or modelled work, gilding large letters in wood or metal and for large areas where a solid gold background is required. Formerly oil gold size was prepared from linseed oil exposed to the air until it became fatty and then tinted with ochre, driers added and thinned down with polled oil or varnish.
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Oionoscopia is divination from the flight of birds. It was popular in ancient Greece for mantike.
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Oligarchy is government by a limited number of persons, as distinct from democracy (government by all classes) and monarchy (government by one person).
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An olpe is a Greek oil-flask or small jug for storing oil or wine, usually pear-shaped with a handle.
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Omega is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet.
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The Omnibus Bill was a bill submitted to the American Congress by Henry Clay on January the 29th, 1850, at the time of the application of California for admission to the Union. The bill provided for the admission of California with her free constitution; territorial governments in New Mexico and Utah without express restriction upon slavery; a territorial boundary line between Texas and New Mexico in favour of the former; a more effective fugitive slave law; and denial to Congress of power to interfere with the slave trade between slave States. After much cutting and amendment the bill was passed in July, 1850, as a series of acts.
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Oneg Shabbat is a Jewish celebration in honour of the Sabbath that takes place on Friday evening or Saturday afternoon and usually includes a programme of songs, a lecture and refreshments.
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The Oneida Community was a communistic settlement at Oneida, New York, founded in 1848 by John Humphrey Noyes, of Vermont. They called themselves Perfectionists. They possessed property in common, believe in the faith cure, and permitted freedom of sexual intercourse within the limits of the community, which practice they deemed less conducive to selfishness than the ordinary relationship of man and wife.
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Oneiromancy is divination from the interpretation of dreams.
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Only Fools and Horses was a British BBC comedy series which run from 1981 until 2003. The series followed the trials and tribulations of wannabe entrepreneur Derek Trotter, his younger brother Rodney and originally their grandfather. When the actor playing the grandfather died, he was replaced by a new but similar character, 'Uncle Albert' the ex-Royal Navy sailor. The Trotter family lived in Peckham, south London, and the series followed their wheeling and dealing - from their famous yellow three-wheeled van - as they attempted to realise their dreams of becoming millionaires.
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Onolatry is the worship of donkeys.
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Onomantia (onomancy) is divination from names, such as the number of letters in a name.
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An onomasticon is an alphabetical list, lexicon or dictionary of the proper names of people, such as a book of 'babies names'. The original onomasticon was written around 180 AD by Julius Pollux and described Greek names.
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In philosophy, ontology is the branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being. Although this can be taken to be the study of what it is for anything to exist at all, as in Heidegger's work, ontological questions are also concerned with what, in particular, exists. Thus our common-sense
ontology would include the material objects with which we interact (such as trees, tables, and mountains), but should it also contain abstract mathematical entities (sets and numbers) or the sub-atomic entities of the theoretical sciences (such as protons and muons)? Closely linked is the question of reductionism. For example, can minds be reduced to bodies, or mathematics to logic? A major question is how we are to decide ontological issues. Ockham's razor, the principle, formulated by William of Ockham in about 1340, that we should not multiply entities beyond necessity, is generally thought of as a principle in the theory of knowledge or epistemology, and was used as such by Russell. But in recent philosophy this has also often been linked to questions of meaning, as in logical positivism.
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In law, onus probandi is the obligation to furnish evidence to prove a thing; the burden of proof.
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Onychomancy is divination by the fingernails.
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Opaque is a term meaning something which blocks vision through it, that is something one can not see through, like a solid brick wall for example. Opaque is the opposite of transparent.
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Ophiolatry is the worship of snakes.
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Ophiomancy is divination by means of snakes.
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Opthalmoscopy is a branch of physiognomy which seeks to deduce knowledge of a person's temper and character from the appearance of their eyes.
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Orange is a colour merging red with yellow.
- Amber - A yellowish-orange.
- Cinnamon - A brownish-orange colour.
- Flame - A strong reddish-orange, reminiscent of fire.
- Mango - A pale orange.
- Orange - The colour of the ripe fruit of the same name, and halfway between red and yellow.
- Peach - A pale, pinkish-orange.
- Pumpkin - A dull brownish-orange.
- Tangerine - Orange.
- Mandarin - Orange, but hinting at Oriental or Chinese.
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Ordeal is a primitive mode of trial of testing the guilt of an accused person based upon the belief that heaven will protect the innocent and allow the guilty to suffer. Methods employed include walking barefoot on hot coals, dipping the hands into boiling water and carrying red hot irons.
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The Order Of The Star Of India was an order of knighthood instituted in February 1861, to commemorate the direct assumption of the government of India by Queen Victoria, and subsequently enlarged in 1866, 1875, and 1876. The award was conferred for services rendered to the Indian Empire and consisted of three classes: 1) Knights Grand Commanders (G.C.S.I.) of which there were thirty members, eighteen native and twelve European, excluding the Governor-General; 2) Knights Commanders (K.C.S.I.) of which there were seventy-two; 3) Companions (C.S.I.) of which there were 144.
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The Order Of The Starry Cross was an Austrian order instituted in 1668 by the dowager empress Eleanor, widow of Ferdinand III, in memory of the recovery of a fragment of the true cross from a fire in the palace. The Order Of The Starry Cross was conferred upon Roman Catholic ladies of royal or noble birth devoted to good works. The badge was a black double-headed eagle bearing a red-cross on a silver oval within a blue border, above the eagle being a scroll inscribed 'Salus et gloria'. A black rosette was worn for a ribbon.
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The Order of the Golden-fleece is an order of knighthood instituted in 1429 by Philip The Good, Duke of Burgundy on the occasion of his marriage with the Portuguese princess, Isabella. The order later belonged to both Austria and Spain. The knights carry suspended from their collars the figure of a sheep or fleece in gold.
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The Order of Alcantara is an ancient Spanish order of knighthood instituted for defence against the Moors in 1156, and made a military religious order in 1197.
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The Order of Grammont was a monastic order established by Stephen of Thiers in 1076 at Muret, but afterwards in 1124 removed to Grandmont. The order became extinct at the French Revolution.
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The Order of Holy Ghost was an order of male and female hospitallers, founded by Guy, son of William, Count of Montpellier, towards the end of the 12th century, for the relief of the poor, the infirm and foundlings. After the middle of the 18th century it was united with the order of St Lazarus by Clement XIII.
Order of Holy Ghost was the name of the principal military order in France instituted in 1578 by Henry III and abolished in 1789, revived at the Restoration, and again abolished in 1830.
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There are two orders of St Catherine. The knights of St Catharine on Mount Sinai are an ancient military order, instituted for the protection of the pilgrims who came to visit the tomb of St Catharine on this mountain.
In Russia the order of St Catharine is a distinction for ladies, instituted by Catharine, wife of Peter the Great, in memory of his signal escape from the Turks in 1711.
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The Order of St Clair, or Order of Santa Clara is a religious sect founded in 1212 by a lady of this name, of noble birth, born at Spoleto, Italy, in 1193, she died in 1253, and was canonized in 1255. The order is divided into a severe sect, the Damianists, and a more moderate sect, the Urbanists. It has numerous convents in Europe and America.
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The Order of St George was a military order instituted in Russia in 1769 by the Empress Catharine II as a reward of military achievements. It consisted of four classes to which a fifth, intended for non-commissioned officers and privates, was added in 1807.
The Oredr of St George is an order instituted in Bavaria by the Emperor Charles VII. (Charles Albert) in 1729, and reorganized by King Louis II in 1871. Since the re-organisation the order, which had previously been a mere decoration for the nobility, it devoted itself to such services as the care of the wounded on battlefields, etc.
The Order of St George is an order instituted by Ernest Augustus of Hanover in 1839.
The Order of St George is a Sicilian military order, instituted by Joseph Napoleon on the 24th of February, 1808, and remodelled by King Ferdinand IV in 1819.
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The Order of St James of Compostella was an order of Spanish knights formed in the 12th century to protect the Christian pilgrims who flocked in vast numbers to Santiago-de-Compostella, where the relics of St James were preserved. In time they attained great wealth, thereby exciting the jealousy of the crown, which succeeded in securing the grand-mastership in 1522, whereupon the order rapidly declined.
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The Order of the Elephant is an ancient Danish order of chivalry, said to have been instituted about the end of the 12th century by Canute VI to perpetuate the memory of a Danish Crusader who had killed an elephant in the Holy Land. It was renewed by Christian I in 1462, in 1693 by Christian V, and again in 1808. It is the highest of the Danish orders. The number of members, not counting those of the royal family, is restricted to thirty. The badge of the order is an enamelled white elephant, bearing on a blue housing, bordered with gold and crossed with white, a sculptured tower. The device is Magni animi pretium.
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The Order of the Garter (originally known as the Order of St George) is a British dignitary awarded for chivalry. The origin of the order, though sometimes assigned to Richard I, is generally attributed to Edward III, the legend being that the Countess of Salisbury having dropped her garter while dancing, the king restored it, after putting it round his own leg, with the words, which became the motto of the order, 'Honi soit qui mal y pense' - Shame be to him who thinks evil of it. The date of the foundation or restoration by Edward III of the order, as given by Froissart, is 1344, while other authorities, founding on the statutes of the order, assign it to 1350.
The statutes of the order have been repeatedly revised, more particularly in the reigns of Henry V, Henry VIII, Edward VI, and George III in 1805. Ladies are said to have been admitted up until the reign of Edward IV. Until the reign of Edward VI the common title of the order was the
Order of St George, and it still bears this title, as well as that of the Garter. The original number of knights was twenty-six, including the sovereign, who was its permanent head; and this number is still retained, except that by a statute passed in 1786 princes of the blood are admitted as supernumerary members.
The peculiar emblem of the order, the garter, a dark-blue ribbon edged with gold, bearing the motto and with a gold buckle and pendant, is worn on the left leg below the knee. The mantle is of blue velvet, lined with white taffeta, the surcoat and hood of crimson velvet, the hat of black velvet, with plume of white ostrich feathers, having in the centre a tuft of black heron's feathers. The collar of gold consists of knots alternating with garters inclosing roses, with the badge of the order, called the George pendent from it. This consists of a figure of St George on horseback fighting the dragon. The lesser George is worn on a broad blue ribbon over the left shoulder. The star, formerly only a cross, is of silver, and consists of eight points, with the cross of St George in the centre, encircled by the garter. A star is worn by the knights on the left side when not in the dress of the order.
The officers of the order are the prelate, the Bishop of Winchester; the chancellor, the Bishop of Oxford; the registrar, Dean of Windsor; the garter king of arms, and the usher of the black rod. There are a dean and twelve canons, and each knight has a knight-pensioner.
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The Order of the Thistle is a Scottish order of knighthood. It was founded in 1687 by James II. The order consists of the sovereign and sixteen knights. The knights wear a collar of thistles, alternating with double sprigs of rue in saltire in their proper colours and pendant there from a golden star of eight rays, called the glory. Upon the star is the figure of St Andrew in a green and purple cloak, holding in front of him a white saltire. The ribbon is green. The motto of the order is Nemo me impune lacessit.
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An ordinal number is a positive, whole number which indicates an items position within a series, such as 1st 2nd, 3rd etc.
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In co-ordinate geometry, the ordinate is the y-coordinate of a point (the vertical distance of the point from the horizontal or x-axis). For example, a point with the coordinates (9,6) has an ordinate of 6.
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The Ordnance Survey is a British company producing maps of the British isles. The original work was carried out by the Royal Engineers under the direction of the Board of Ordnance and the survey was begun in 1747 for military purposes. The first map of Great Britain was ordered in 1797 and was published on a scale of 1 inch to the mile. In 1855 with the abolition of the Board of Ordnance the responsibility passed to the War Office and in 1870 was transferred to the Board of Works before in 1890 passing to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries where the work was still none-the-less carried on by officers and men of the corps of Royal Engineers, before becoming a separate commercial organisation in the later 20th century.
The survey of Ireland, on a scale of 6 inches to the mile was ordered in 1824. In 1840 the survey of Scotland and of the six northern counties of England was begun on the same scale. In 1855 the surveys were ordered to be on the following scales: 1 inch to the mile or 6 inches to the mile for the whole U.K., with other scales for cultivated districts and towns of over 4,000 inhabitants. There were also surveys of the U.K. produced on scales of 2, 4, and 10 miles to the inch.
The department also had the duty of preparing maps for all military purposes, and of copying those
prepared by the intelligence division of the War Office. During the Great War it issued 32,872,000
maps, plans, and diagrams to the Army and Navy.
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The Oregon Spectator was the first newspaper printed in Oregon. It was established at Oregon City, and the first, issues appeared during February 1846.
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Origami is the art of paper folding.
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Orion is a constellation located on the celestial equator east of Taurus. It is a rectangular configuration with three stars in line near its centre. It is represented on pictorial charts as the figure of Orion, the hunter in Greek mythology, standing with uplifted club. Three bright stars (Orion's Belt) represent his belt and three fainter stars aligned south of the belt represent his sword.
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Orion's belt is the name given to three bright stars in the constellation of Orion.
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The Ostend Manifesto was a declaration made by Ministers of the United States in 1857 that Cuba must belong to the USA. In 1852 France and Great Britain, fearful of the filibustering expeditions against Cuba and the possible future favour of the United States toward such expeditions, suggested a tripartite convention in which each should disclaim all intention to obtain possession of Cuba and should discountenance such intention by another power. On October the 9th, 1854, the American Ministers to Great Britain, France and Spain, James Buchanan, John Y Mason and Pierre Soule, met at Ostend and drew up the Ostend Manifesto. This declared that a sale of Cuba to the United States would be advantageous to both governments; but that if Spain refused to sell, it was incumbent upon the Union to 'wrest it from her' (that is to invade it and take it by force), rather than see it Africanised like San Domingo.
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Osteomancy is divination by means of bones.
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The ounce is a unit of measurement of the avoirdupois scale equivalent to 16 drams or 28.350 grams. Its precise weight was fixed by Henry III, who decreed in 1233, that an English ounce should be 640 dry grains of wheat; that twelve of these ounces should be a pound; and that eight pounds should be a gallon of wine.
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An oxbow is a piece of wood comprising a concave curve between two convex curves, thereby resembling a bow in appearance, used as a collar for a yoked ox, the ends being fastened to the yoke. The term is used in furniture to describe draws and the like which have a similar serpentine shape.
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On the 10th of June, 1840, Edward Oxford a youth who had been a servant in a public house, discharged two pistols at queen Victoria and Prince Albert, as they were proceeding up Constitution-hill in an open phaeton from Buckingham palace. He stood within a few yards of the carriage, but no one was injured. Oxford was tried at the Old Bailey in July of the same year and was adjudged to be insane and sent first to Bethlehem hospital, next to Broadmoor, and released in 1868 on condition that he left the country.
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In geometry, an oxygon is a triangle having three acute angles.
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An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which an epithet of a contrary signification is added to a word. For example 'cruel kindness' or 'laborious idleness'.
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Oyez (or oyes) is a term repeated three times, as Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!, and used by town criers and the criers of courts to secure silence before making a proclamation.
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