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ity; a noble; a peer; one who enjoys rank above a commoner, either by virtue of birth, by office, or by patent.

An office of devotion, or act of religious service, by night.

To name, or designate by name, for an office or place; to appoint; esp., to name as a candidate for an election, choice, or appointment; to propose by name, or offer the name of, as a candidate for an office or place.

The act of naming or nominating; designation of a person as a candidate for office; the power of nominating; the state of being nominated. The nomination of persons to places being . . . a flower of his crown, he would reserve to himself. Clarendon.

A person named, or designated, by another, to any office, duty, or position; one nominated, or proposed, by others for office or for election to office.

e lines of an army, who does not make it his business to fight, as any one of the medical officers and their assistants, chaplains, and others; also, any of the citizens of a place occupied by an army; also, any one holding a similar position with respect to the navy.

Not having a commission. Noncommissioned officer (Mil.), a subordinate officer not appointed by a commission from the chief executive or supreme authority of the State; but by the Secretary of War or by the commanding officer of the regiment.

The canonical office, being a part of the Breviary, recited at noon (formerly at the ninth hour, 3 P. M.) in the Roman Catholic Church.

A not using; failure to use. An office may be forfeited by misuser or nonuser. Blackstone.

A public officer who attests or certifies deeds and other writings, or copies of them, usually under his official seal, to make them authentic, especially in foreign countries. His duties chiefly relate to instruments used in commercial transactions, such as protests of negotiable paper, ship's papers in cases of loss,…

The office of a nuncio. Clarendon.

A lieutenant or first officer, who is the real commander when the captain is unfit for his place.

A funeral solemnity or office; obsequies.

nses, placed at the end of a telescope, microscope, etc., which is toward the object. Its office is to form an image of the object, which is then viewed by the eyepiece. Called also objective. See Illust. of Microscope. -- Object lesson, a lesson in which object teaching is made use of. -- Object staff. (Leveling) Sa…

y are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obscured lights. Shak. Why, 't is an office of discovery, love, And I should be obscured. Shak. There is scarce any duty which has been so obscured by the writings of learned men as this. Wake. And seest not sin obscures thy godlike frame Dryden.

A lookout on a flank of a battery whence an officer can note the range and effect of the fire. Farrow.

The office or work of an observer.

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

Of or pertaining to an office or public trust; as, official duties, or routine. That, in the official marks invested, you Anon do meet the senate. Shak.

The state of being official; a system of official government; also, adherence to office routine; red-tapism. Officialism may often drift into blunders. Smiles.