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any object that needs, or thrives by, attention. "To nurse the saplings tall." Milton. By what hands [has vice] been nursed into so uncontrolled a dominion Locke.

repairs the natural waste of animal or vegetable life; food; aliment. The stomach returns what it has received, in strength and nutriment diffused into all parts of the body. South.

A solemn affirmation or declaration, made with a reverent appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed. "I have an oath in heaven" Shak. An oath of secrecy for the concealing of those [inventions] which we think fit to keep secret. Bacon.

hard-hearted; stubbornly wicked. The very custom of evil makes the heart obdurate against whatsoever instructions to the contrary. Hooker. Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel, Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth Shak.

ght, study, etc. Object is a term for that about which the knowing subject is conversant; what the schoolmen have styled the "materia circa quam." Sir. W. Hamilton. The object of their bitterest hatred. Macaulay.

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 sense in Descartes and Spinoza: sometimes, also, in Reid. S…

Obligation. [R.] I will not resist, therefore, whatever it is, either of divine or human obligement, that you lay upon me. Milton.

That quality in words or things which presents what is offensive to chasity or purity of mind; obscene or impure lanquage or acts; moral impurity; lewdness; obsceneness; as, the obscenity of a speech, or a picture. Mr.Cowley asserts plainly, that obscenity has no place in wit. Dryden. No pardon vile obscenity should fi…

Hence: An expression of an opinion or judgment upon what one has observed; a remark. "That's a foolish observation." Shak. To observations which ourselves we make We grow more partial for the observer's sake. Pope.

To express as what has been noticed; to utter as a remark; to say in a casual or incidental way; to remark.

Giving particular attention; habitually attentive to what passes; as, an observing person; an observing mind. -- Ob*serv"ing*ly, adv.

casion to; to cause; to produce; to induce; as, to occasion anxiety. South. If we inquire what it is that occasions men to make several combinations of simple ideas into distinct modes. Locke.

Different from what is usual or common; unusual; singular; peculiar; unique; strange. "An odd action." Shak. "An odd expression." Thackeray. The odd man, to perform all things perfectly, is, in my poor opinion, Joannes Sturmius. Ascham. Patients have sometimes coveted odd things. Arbuthnot. Locke's Essay would be a ver…

ons; also, those who form the ruling few. All oligarchies, wherein a few men domineer, do what they list. Burton.

had a smattering of mechanics, of physiology, geology, mineralogy, and all other ologies whatsoever. De Quincey.

things; infinitely knowing or wise; as, the omniscient God. -- Om*nis"cient*ly, adv. For what can scape the eye Of God all-seeing, or deceive his heart Omniscient Milton.

Any person, indefinitely; a person or body; as, what one would have well done, one should do one's self. It was well worth one's while. Hawthorne. Against this sort of condemnation one must steel one's self as one best can. G. Eliot.

A tribe of Indians formerly inhabiting what is now a part of the State of New York. They were the central or head tribe of the Five Nations.

To open. [Poetic] Wilt thou not ope thy heart to know What rainbows teach and sunsets show Emerson.

nquiry respecting some affair or future event, as the success of an enterprise or battle. Whatso'er she saith, for oracles must stand. Drayton.