Emily Dickinson Lexicon

O-PEN-EY-ED, a. [o'pneyed.]

Watchful; vigilant. Shak.

O-PEN-HAND-ED, a. [o'pnhanded.]

Generous; liberal; munificent. Rowe.

O-PEN-HEART-ED, a. [o'pnhàrted.]

Candid; frank; generous. Dryden.

O-PEN-HEART-ED-LY, adv.

With frankness; without reserve. Ch. Relig. Appeal.

O-PEN-HEART-ED-NESS, n.

Frankness; candor; sincerity; munificence; generosity. Johnson.

O-PEN-ING, n. [o'pning.]

1. A breach; an aperture; a hole or perforation.
2. A place admitting entrance; as, a bay or creek.
3. Dawn; first appearance or visibleness; beginning of exhibition or discovery. The opening of your glory was like that of light. Dryden.

O-PEN-ING, ppr. [o'pning.]

Unclosing; unsealing; uncovering; revealing; interpreting.

O-PEN-LY, adv. [o'pnly.]

1. Publicly; not in private; without secrecy; as, to avow our sins and follies openly. How grossly and openly do many of us contradict the precepts of the Gospel by our ungodliness and worldly lusts! Tillotson.
2. Plainly; evidently; without reserve or disguise.

O-PEN-MOUTH-ED, a. [o'pnmouthed.]

Greedy; clamorous; as, an openmouthed lion. L'Estrange.

O-PEN-NESS, n. [o'pnness.]

1. Freedom from covering or obstruction; as, the openness of a country.
2. Plainness; clearness; freedom from obscurity or ambiguity; as, deliver your answers with more openness. Shak.
3. Freedom from disguise; unreservedness; plainness. Felton.
4. Expression of frankness or candor; as, openness of countenance.
5. Unusual mildness; freedom from snow and frost; as, the openness of a winter.

OP'E-RA, n. [It. Sp. and Fr. from L. opera, work, labor.]

A dramatic composition set to music and sung on the stage, accompanied with musical instruments and enriched with magnificent dresses, machines, dancing, &c. Encyc.

OP'ER-A-BLE, a.

Practicable. [Not used.] Brown.

OP'E-RA-GLASS, n.

A small telescope used in theaters.

OP-E-RAM'E-TER, n. [L. opera, and Gr. μετρον.]

An apparatus for ascertaining the number of rotations made by a machine or wheel in manufacturing cloth. Ure.

OP'ER-ANT, a. [See Operate.]

Having power to produce an effect. [Not used. We now use operative.] Shak.

OP'ER-ANT, n.

One who operates. Coleridge.

OP'ER-ATE, v.i. [L. operor; Sp. operar; Fr. operer; Eth. ገብረ gaber, to make, do, form or ordain; deriv. ተገበረ tagabar, to work, to operate, to labor, to till; W. goberu, to operate; Arm. ober or gober, to make; ober or euffr, work; Ir. obair; Sp. and Port. obra; Fr. œuvre, ouvrage. The corresponding verb in Hebrew and Chaldee, גבר signifies to be strong, to prevail, and in Arabic, to bind fast, to consolidate, to repair. The primary sense is to strain or press, to exert force. Class Br, No. 14.]

1. To act; to exert power or strength, physical or mechanical. External bodies operate on animals by means of perception. Sound operates upon the auditory nerves through the medium of air. Medicines operate on the body by increasing or diminishing organic action.
2. To act or produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power or influence. Motives operate on the mind in determining the judgment. Examples operate in producing imitation. The virtues of private persons operate but on a few. Atterbury. A plain convincing reason operates on the mind both of a learned and an ignorant hearer as long as he lives. Swift.
3. In surgery, to perform some manual act in a methodical manner upon a human body, and usually with instruments, with a view to restore soundness or health; as in amputation, lithotomy and the like.
4. To act; to have agency; to produce any effect.

OP'ER-ATE, v.t.

To effect; to produce by agency. The same cause would operate a diminution of the value of stock. Hamilton. [This use is not frequent, and can hardly be said to be well authorized.]

OP-ER-AT'IC-AL, a.

Pertaining to the opera; a word used be musicians. Busby.

OP'ER-A-TING, ppr.

Acting; exerting agency or power; performing some manual act in surgery.

OP-ER-A'TION, n. [L. operatio.]

1. The act or process of operating; agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical or moral. Speculative painting without the assistance of manual operation, can never attain to perfection. Dryden. The pain and sickness caused by manna are the effects of its operation on the stomach. Locke. So we speak of the operation of motives, reasons or arguments on the mind, the operation of causes, &c.
2. Action; effect Many medicinal drugs of rare operation. Heylin.
3. Process; manipulation; series of acts in experiments; as in chimistry or metallurgy.
4. In surgery, any methodical action of the hand, or of the hand with instruments, on the human body, with a view to heal a part diseased, fractured or dislocated, as in amputation, &c.
5. Action or movements of an army or fleet; as, military or naval operations.
6. Movements of machinery.
7. Movements of any physical body.

OP'ER-A-TIVE, a.

1. Having the power of acting; exerting force, physical or moral; having or exerting agency; active in the production of effects. In actions of religion we should be zealous, active and operative, so far as prudence will permit. Taylor. It holds in all operative principles, especially in morality. South.
2. Efficacious; producing the effect.

OP'ER-A-TIVE, n.

A laboring man, a laborer, artisan, or workman in manufactories.

OP'ER-A-TOR, n.

1. He or that which operates; he or that which produces an effect.
2. In surgery, the person who performs some act upon the human body by means of the hand, or with instruments; as, a skillful operator.

O-PER'CU-LATE,

or O-PER'CU-LA-TED a. [L. operculatus, from operio, to cover.] In botany, having a lid or cover, as a capsule. Martyn.