Shak.
Some orator renowned In Athens or free Rome.
Milton.
2. (Law) (a) In equity proceedings, one who prays for relief; a
petitioner. (b) A plaintiff, or complainant, in a bill in chancery.
Burrill.
3. (Eng. Universities) An officer who is the voice of the university
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.
Or`a*to"ri*al (?), a. Oratorical. [R.] Swift. -- Or`a*to"ri*al*ly, adv.
Or`a*to"ri*an (?), a. Oratorical. [Obs.] R. North.
Or`a*to"ri*an, n. [Cf. F. oratorien.] (R. C. Ch.) See Fathers of the
Oratory, under Oratory.
Or`a*tor"ic*al (?), a. Of or pertaining to an orator or to oratory;
characterized by oratory; rhetorical; becoming to an orator; as, an
oratorical triumph; an oratorical essay. -- Or`a*tor"ic*al*ly, adv.
Or`a*to"ri*o (?), n. [It., fr. L. oratorius belonging to praying. See
Orator, and cf. Oratory.]
1. (Mus.) A more or less dramatic text or poem, founded on some
Scripture nerrative, or great divine event, elaborately set to music,
in recitative, arias, grand choruses, etc., to be sung with an
orchestral accompaniment, but without action, scenery, or costume,
although the oratorio grew out of the Mysteries and the Miracle and
Passion plays, which were acted.
There are instances of secular and mythological subjects treated in the
form of the oratorios, and called oratorios by their composers; as
Haydn's "Seasons," Handel's "Semele," etc.