Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Dictionary: OB-SIG'NA-TO-RY – OB-STRUCT'ED
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OB-SIG'NA-TO-RY, a.
Ratifying; confirming by sealing. Ward.
OB-SO-LES'CENCE, n.
The state of becoming obsolete. Crombie.
OB-SO-LES'CENT, a. [L. obsolesco, to go out of use.]
Going out of use; passing into desuetude. All the words compounded of here and a preposition, except hereafter, are obsolete or obsolescent. Campbell.
OB'SO-LETE, a. [L. obsoletus.]
- Gone into disuse; disused; neglected; as, an obsolete word; an obsolete statute; applied chiefly to words or writings. Dryden. Swift.
- In botany, obscure; not very distinct. Eaton.
OB'SO-LETE-NESS, n.
- The state of being neglected in to use; a state of desuetude. Johnson.
- In botany, indistinctness.
OB'STA-CLE, n. [Fr. from L. obsto; to withstand ob and sto.]
That which opposes; any thing that stands in the way and hinders progress; hinderance; obstruction, either in a physical or moral sense. An army may meet with obstacles on its march; bad roads are obstacles to traveling; prejudice is an obstacle to improvement; want of union is often an insuperable obstacle to beneficial measures.
OB'STAN-CY, n. [L. obstantia; ob and sto.]
Opposition; impediment; obstruction. [Not used.] B. Jonson.
OBSTA-PRINCIPIIS, v. [Obsta principiis; L.]
Resist the beginnings.
OB-STET'RIC, a. [L. obstetrix, a midwife; ob and sto, to stand before.]
Pertaining to midwifery, or the delivery of women in childbed; as, the obstetric art.
OB-STET'RI-CATE, v.i. [See Obstetric.]
To perform the office of a midwife. [Little used.] Evelyn.
OB-STET'RI-CATE, v.t.
To assist as a midwife. [Little used.] Waterhouse.
- The act of assisting as a midwife.
- The office of a midwife.
OB-STE-TRI'CIAN, n.
One skilled in the art of assisting women in parturition. Med. Repos.
OB-STET'RICS, n.
The art of assisting women in parturition; midwifery. Encyc.
OB'STI-N-A-CY, n. [L. obstinatio, from obsto, to stand against, to oppose; ob and sto.]
- A fixedness in opinion or resolution that can not be shaken at all, or not without great difficulty; firm and usually unreasonable adherence to an opinion, purpose or system; a fixedness that will not yield to persuasion, arguments or other means. Obstinacy may not always convey the idea of unreasonable or unjustifiable firmness; as, when we say, soldiers fight with obstinacy. But often, and perhaps usually, the word denotes a fixedness of resolution which is not to be vindicated under the circumstances; stubbornness; pertinacity; persistency.
- Fixedness that will not yield to application, or that yields with difficulty; as, the obstinacy of a disease or evil.
OB'STI-NATE, a. [L. obstinatus.]
- Stubborn; pertinaciously adhering to an opinion or purpose; fixed firmly in resolution; not yielding to reason, arguments or other means. I have known great cures done by obstinate resolutions of drinking no wine. Temple. No ass so meek, no ass so obstinate. Pope.
- Not yielding or not easily subdued or removed; as, an obstinate fever; obstinate obstructions; an obstinate cough.
OB'STI-NATE-LY, adv.
Stubbornly; pertinaciously; with fixedness of purpose not to be shaken, or not without difficulty; as, a sinner obstinately bent on his own destruction. Inflexible to ill and obstinately just. Addison.
OB'STI-NATE-NESS, n.
Stubbornness; pertinacity in opinion or purpose; fixed determination. Hall.
OB-STI-PA'TION, n. [L. obstipo; ob and stipo, to crowd.]
- The act of stopping up; as a passage.
- In medicine, costiveness.
OB-STREP'ER-OUS, a. [L. obstreperus, from obstrepo, to roar; ob and strepo.]
Loud; noisy; clamorous; vociferous; making a tumultuous noise. The players do not only connive at his obstreperous approbation, but repair at their own cost whatever damages he makes. Addison.
OB-STREP'ER-OUS-LY, adv.
Loudly; clamorously; with tumultuous noise.
Loudness; clamor; noisy turbulence.
OB-STRIC'TION, n. [L. obstrictus, obstringo; ob and stringo, to strain.]
Obligation; bond. Milton.
OB-STRUCT', v.t. [L. obstruo; ob and struo, to set.]
- To block up; to stop up or close, as a way or passage; to fill with obstacles or impediments that prevent passing; as, to obstruct a road, highway or channel; to obstruct the canals or fine vessels of the body.
- To stop; to impede; to hinder in passing; as, the bar at the mouth of the river obstructs the entrance of ships; clouds obstruct the light of the sun.
- To retard; to interrupt; to render slow. Progress is often obstructed by difficulties, though not entirely stopped.
OB-STRUCT'ED, pp.
- Blocked up; stopped; as a passage.
- Hindered; impeded; as progress.
- Retarded; interrupted.