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According to the rule of obedience. [R.] An obediental subjection to the Lord of Nature. Sir M. Hale.

Of or pertaining to an object; contained in, or having the nature or position of, an object; outward; external; extrinsic; -- an epithet applied to whatever ir exterior to the mind, or which is simply an object of thought or feeling, and opposed to subjective. In the Middle Ages, subject meant substance, and has this s…

The act of recognizing and noting some fact or occurrence in nature, as an aurora, a corona, or the structure of an animal.

To perform the office of midwife. [Obs.] "Nature does obstetricate." Evelyn.

hed plan. -- Occult qualities, those qualities whose effects only were observed, but the nature and relations of whose productive agencies were undetermined; -- so called by the schoolmen. -- Occult sciences, those sciences of the Middle Ages which related to the supposed action or influence of occult qualities, or s…

Pertaining to, or of the nature of, edema; affected with edema.

A charge or trust, of a sacred nature, conferred by God himself; as, the office of a priest under the old dispensation, and that of the apostles in the new. Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. Rom. xi. 13.

Consisting of oil; containing oil; having the nature or qualities of oil; unctuous; oleaginous; as, oily matter or substance. Bacon.

Having the nature or qualities of oil; oily; unctuous.

Pertaining to pot herbs; of the nature or having the qualities of herbs for cookery; esculent. Sir T. Browne.

That department of the science of metaphysics which investigates and explains the nature and essential properties and relations of all beings, as such, or the principles and causes of being.

Having the nature of, or belonging to, an oöphore.

eeling, etc. With aspect open, shall erect his head. Pope. The Moor is of a free and open nature. Shak. The French are always open, familiar, and talkative. Addison.

To produce an appropriate physical effect; to issue in the result designed by nature; especially (Med.), to take appropriate effect on the human system.

Of the nature of an opinion; conjectured. [Obs.] "Things both opinionative and practical." Bunyan. -- O*pin"ion*a*tive*ly, adv. -- O*pin"ion*a*tive*ness, n.

That branch of physical science which treats of the nature and properties of light, the laws of its modification by opaque and transparent bodies, and the phenomena of vision.

The opinion or doctrine that everything in nature, being the work of God, is ordered for the best, or that the ordering of things in the universe is such as to produce the highest good.

Oracular; of the nature of an oracle. [R.] "Equivocations, or oraculous speeches." Bacon. "The oraculous seer." Pope. -- O*rac"u*lous*ly, adv. -- O*rac"u*lous*ness, n.

versity upon all public occasions, who writes, reads, and records all letters of a public nature, presents, with an appropriate address, those persons on whom honorary degrees are to be conferred, and performs other like duties; -- called also public orator.

The mass; the common run. [Obs.] I see no more in you than in the ordinary Of nature's salework. Shak.