Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ON-O-MA-TECH'NY, n. [Gr. ονομα and τεχνη.]

Prognostication by the letters of a name.

ON-O-MA-TOL'O-GIST, n.

One versed in the history of names. Coleman.

ON-O-MA-TOL'O-GY, n. [Gr. ονοματα and λογος.]

A discourse or treatise on names, or the history of the names of persons.

ON-OM'A-TOPE, n. [or ON-OM'A-TO-PY; Gr. ονοματοποιια; ονομα, name, and ποιεω, to make.]

1. In grammar and rhetoric, a figure in which words are formed to resemble the sound made by the thing signified; as, to buzz, as bees; to crackle, as burning thorns or brush. Encyc.
2. A word whose sound corresponds to the sound of the thing signified.

O-NOM-A-TO-PO-ET'IC, a.

Formed to resemble the sound of the thing signified. Robinson.

ON'SET, n. [on and set.]

1. A rushing or setting upon; a violent attack; assault; a storming; appropriately, the assault of an army or body of troops upon an enemy or a fort. The shout / Of battle now began and rushing sound / Of onset. Milton.
2. An attack of any kind; as, the impetuous onset of grief. Philips.

ON'SET, v.t.

To assault; to begin. [Not used.] Carew.

ON-SET'TING, n.

A rushing or assaulting.

ON-SLAUGHT, n. [on'slaut; Sax. onslægan, to strike, to dash against.]

Attack; onset; aggression; assault. Hudibras.

ON'STEAD, n.

A single farm-house. Grose.

ON-TO-LOG'IC, a. [or ON-TO-LOG'IC-AL; see Ontology.]

Pertaining to the science of being in general and its affections.

ON-TO-LOG'IC-AL-LY, adv.

In the manner of ontology.

ON-TOL'O-GIST, n.

One who treats of or considers the nature and qualities of being in general.

ON-TOL'O-GY, n. [Gr. οντα, from ειμι, and λογος, discourse.]

That part of the science of metaphysics which investigates and explains the nature and essence of all beings, their qualities and attributes. Encyc.

ONUS-PROBANDI, n. [Onus probandi; L.]

The burden of proof.

ON'WARD, a.

1. Advanced or advancing; as, an onward course.
2. Increased; improved. Sidney.
3. Conducting; leading forward to perfection. Home.

ON'WARD, adv. [Sax. ondward, andweard; on and weard, L. versus.]

1. Toward the point before or in front; forward; progressively; in advance; as, to move onward. Not one looks backward, onward still he goes. Pope.
2. In a state of advanced progression.
3. A little further or forward.

ON'Y-CHA, n. [from Gr. ονυξ.]

Supposed to be the odoriferous shell of the onyx-fish, or the onyx. Exod. xxx.

ON'Y-CHITE, n.

A kind of marble.

O-NY-CHOM'AN-CY, n.

Divination by the nails.

O'NYX, n. [Gr. ονυξ, a nail, L. onyx.]

A semi-pellucid gem with variously colored zones or veins, a variety of chalcedony. Encyc. Nicholson.

O'O-LITE, n. [Gr. ωον, an egg, and λιθος, stone, from its resemblance to the roes of fish.]

1. Egg-stone, a variety of concreted carbonate of lime; ovi-form limestone. Jameson.
2. Limestone composed of an aggregation of spheroidal grains. Mantell.

O-O-LIT'IC, a.

Pertaining to, or resembling oolite.

OOZE, n.

1. Soft mud or slime; earth so wet as to flow gently or easily yield to pressure. Carrie.
2. Soft flow; spring. Prior.
3. The liquor of a tan-vat.

OOZE, v.i. [ooz; the origin of this word is not easily ascertained. In Eth. ውሕዘ signifies to flow. In Amharic, ወዘዐ signifies to sweat. In Ethiopic, ወፅእ signifies to issue, to come or go out, and this is the Heb. יצא. In Sax. wæs is water, G. wasser. These words seem to be nearly allied. See Issue.]

To flow gently; to percolate, as a liquid through the pores of a substance, or through small openings. Water oozes from the earth and through a filter. The latent rill, scarce oozing through the grass. Thomson.