Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OB-STU'PE-FY, v.t.

To stupefy. [Not used.]

OB-TAIN, v.i.

1. To be received in customary or common use; to continue in use; to be established in practice. The Theodosian code, several hundred years after Justinian's time, obtained in the western parts of the empire. Baker.
2. To be established; to subsist in nature. The general laws of fluidity, elasticity and gravity, obtain in animal and inanimate tubes. Cheyne.
3. To prevail; to succeed. [Little used.] Bacon.

OB-TAIN, v.t. [L. obtineo; ob and teneo, to hold; Fr. obtenir; It. ottenere.]

1. To get; to gain; to procure; in a general sense, to gain possession of a thing, whether temporary or permanent; to acquire. This word usually implies exertion to get possession, and in this it differs from receive, which may or may not imply exertion. It differs from acquire, as genus from species; acquire being properly applied only to things permanently possessed; but obtain is applied both to things of temporary and of permanent possession. We obtain loans of money on application; we obtain answers to letters; we obtain spirit from liquors by distillation, and salts by evaporation. We obtain by seeking; we often receive without seeking. We acquire or obtain a good title to lands by deed, or by a judgment of court; but we do not acquire spirit by distillation; nor do we acquire an answer to a letter or an application. He shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries. Dan. xi. In whom we have obtained an inheritance. Eph. i.
2. To keep; to hold. Milton.

OB-TAIN-A-BLE, a.

That may be obtained; that may be procured or gained. Arbuthnot. Kettlewell.

OB-TAIN-ED, ppr.

Gained; procured; acquired.

OBTAIN-ER, n.

One who obtains.

OB-TAIN-ING, ppr.

Gaining; procuring; acquiring.

OB-TAIN-MENT, n.

The act of obtaining. Milton.

OB-TECT'ED, a. [L. obtectus.]

Covered.

OB-TEM'PER-ATE, v.t. [L.]

To obey. [Not used.]

OB-TEND', v.t. [L. obtendo; ob and tendo; literally, to stretch against or before.]

1. To oppose; to hold out in opposition. Dryden.
2. To pretend; to offer as the reason of any thing. [Not used.] Dryden. [This word is rarely used.]

OB-TEN-E-BRA'TION, n. [from L. ob and {foreign}, darkness.]

A darkening; act of darkening; darkness. Ia every megrim or vertigo there is an obtenebration joined with a semblance of turning round. [Little used ] Bacon.

OB-TEN'SION, n.

The act of obtending. [Not used.]

OB-TEST', v.i.

To protest. Waterhouse.

OB-TEST', v.t. [L. obtestor; ob and testor, to witness.]

To beseech; to supplicate. Obtest his clemency. Dryden.

OB-TEST-A'TION, n.

1. Supplication; entreaty. Eloyt.
2. Solemn injunction.

OB-TEST'ING, ppr.

Beseeching; supplicating.

OB-TREC-TA'TION, n. [L. obtrectatio, from obstrecto; ob and tracto.]

Slander; detraction; calumny. [Little used.] Barrow.

OB-TRUDE, v.i.

1. To enter when not invited.
2. To thrust or be thrust upon.

OB-TRUDE, v.t. [L. obtrude; ob and trudo, Eng. to thrust.]

1. To thrust in or on; to throw, crowd or thrust into any place or state by force or imposition, or without solicitation. Men obtrude their vain speculations upon the world. A cause of common error is the credulity of men, that is, an easy, assent to what is obtruded. Brown. The objects of our senses obtrude their particular ideas upon our minds, whether we will or not. Locke.
2. To offer with unreasonable importunity; to urge upon against the will. Why shouldst thou then obtrude this diligence In vain, where no acceptance it can find? Milton. To obtrude one's self, to enter a place where one is not desired; to thrust one's self in uninvited, or against the will of the company.

OB-TRUD-ED, pp.

Thrust in by force or unsolicited.

OB-TRUD-ER, n.

One who obtrudes. Boyle.

OB-TRUD-ING, n.

A thrusting in, or entrance without right or invitation.

OB-TRUD-ING, ppr.

Thrusting in or on; entering uninvited.

OB-TRUN'CATE,

, v. t. [L. obtrunco; ob and trunco, to cut off.] To deprive of a limb; to lop. [Little used.] Cockeram.