Shak.
||O*pun"ti*a (?), n. [NL.] (Bot.) A genus of cactaceous plants; the
||prickly pear, or Indian fig.
||O"pus (?), n.; pl. Opera (#). [L. See Opera.] A work; specif. (Mus.),
||a musical composition.
Each composition, or set of pieces, as the composer may choose, is
called an opus, and they are numbered in the order of their issue.
(Often abbrev. to op.)
<! p. 1008 !>
Opus incertum. [L.] (Arch.) See under Incertum.
{ O*pus"cle (?), O*pus"cule (?), } n. [L. opusculum, dim. of opus work:
cf. F. opuscule.] A small or petty work.
||O*pus"cu*lum (?), n.; pl. Opuscula (#). [L.] An opuscule. Smart.
O"pye (?), n. Opium. [Obs.] Chaucer.
O*quas"sa (?), n. (Zoöl.) A small, handsome trout (Salvelinus oquassa),
found in some of the lakes in Maine; -- called also blueback trout.
-or. [L. -or: cf. OF. -or, -ur, - our, F. -eur.]
1. A noun suffix denoting an act; a state or quality; as in error,
fervor, pallor, candor, etc.
2. A noun suffix denoting an agent or doer; as in auditor, one who
hears; donor, one who gives; obligor, elevator. It is correlative to -
ee. In general -or is appended to words of Latin, and - er to those of
English, origin. See -er.
Or (?), conj. [OE. or, outher, other, auther, either, or, AS. w&?;er,
contr. from hwæ&?;er; aye + hwæ&?;er whether. See Aye, and Whether, and
cf. Either.] A particle that marks an alternative; as, you may read or
may write, -- that is, you may do one of the things at your pleasure,
but not both. It corresponds to either. You may ride either to London
or to Windsor. It often connects a series of words or propositions,
presenting a choice of either; as, he may study law, or medicine, or
divinity, or he may enter into trade.
If man's convenience, health, Or safety interfere, his rights and
claims Are paramount.
Cowper.
Or may be used to join as alternatives terms expressing unlike things
or ideas (as, is the orange sour or sweet?), or different terms
expressing the same thing or idea; as, this is a sphere, or globe.
Or sometimes begins a sentence. In this case it expresses an
alternative or subjoins a clause differing from the foregoing. "Or what
man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will
give him a stone?" Matt. vii. 9 (Rev. Ver. ).
Or for either is archaic or poetic.
Maugre thine heed, thou must for indigence Or steal, or beg, or
borrow thy dispence.
Chaucer.
Or, prep. & adv. [AS. &?;r ere, before. √204. See Ere, prep. &
adv.] Ere; before; sooner than. [Obs.]
But natheless, while I have time and space, Or that I forther in
this tale pace.
Chaucer.
Or ever, Or ere. See under Ever, and Ere.
Or, n. [F., fr. L. aurum gold. Cf. Aureate.] (Her.) Yellow or gold
color, -- represented in drawing or engraving by small dots.
O"ra (?), n. [AS. See 2d Ore.] A money of account among the
Anglo-Saxons, valued, in the Domesday Book, at twenty pence sterling.
||O`ra*bas"su (?), n. (Zoöl.) A South American monkey of the genus
||Callithrix, esp. C. Moloch.
{ Or"ach, Or"ache} (?), n. [F. arroche, corrupted fr. L. atriplex, Gr.
&?;. Cf. Arrach.] (Bot.) A genus (Atriplex) of herbs or low shrubs of
the Goosefoot family, most of them with a mealy surface.
Garden orache, a plant (Atriplex hortensis), often used as a pot herb;
-- also called mountain spinach.
Or"a*cle (?), n. [F., fr. L. oraculum, fr. orare to speak, utter, pray,
fr. os, oris, mouth. See Oral.]
1. The answer of a god, or some person reputed to be a god, to an
inquiry respecting some affair or future event, as the success of an
enterprise or battle.
Whatso'er she saith, for oracles must stand.
Drayton.
2. Hence: The deity who was supposed to give the answer; also, the
place where it was given.
The oracles are dumb; No voice or hideous hum Runs through the
arched roof in words deceiving.
Milton.
3. The communications, revelations, or messages delivered by God to the
prophets; also, the entire sacred Scriptures -- usually in the plural.
The first principles of the oracles of God.
Heb. v. 12.
4. (Jewish Antiq.) The sanctuary, or Most Holy place in the temple;
also, the temple itself. 1 Kings vi. 19.
Siloa's brook, that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God.
Milton.