Emily Dickinson Lexicon

O-PIPER-OUS, a. [L. ops, opis and fero.]

Bringing help.

O-PIS'THO-DOME, a. [Gr. {foreign}, that is behind, and house.]

In Greece, a part or place in the back part of a house. Mitford.

O-PIT-U-LA'TION, n.

Help. [Not used.]

OPI-UM, n. [L. opium; Gr. {foreign}, from {foreign}, juice.]

Opium is the inspassated juice of the Papaver somnifenim, or somniferous poppy, with which the fields in Asia Minor are sown, as ours are with wheat and rye. It flows from incisions made in the heads of the plant, and the best flows from the first incision. It is imported into Europe and America from the Levant and the East Indies. It is brought in cakes or masses weighing from eight ounces to a pound. It is heavy, of a dense texture, of a brownish yellow color, not perfectly dry, but easily receiving an impression from the finger; it has a faint smell, and its taste is bitter and acrid. Opium is of great use as a medicine. Hill. Encyc.

O'PLE-TREE, [L. opulus.]

The wych-hazle. [Obs.] Ainsworth.

O-PO-BAL'SAM, n. [L. Gr. {foreign}, juice, and L. balsomum.]

The balm or balsam of Gilead. It has a yellowish or greenish yellow color, a warm bitterish aromatic taste, and an aciduious fragrant smell. It is held in esteem as a medicine and as an odoriferous ungent and cosmetic. The shrub or tree producing this balsam is Halimmodendron Gileadense, which grows spontaneously in Arabia Felix. Encyc.

O-PO-DEL'DOC, n.

1. The name of a plaster, said to have been invented by Mindererus; but in modern usage,
2. A saponaceous eamphorated liniment : a solution of soap in ardent spirits, with the addition of camphor and essential oils. Nicholson.

O-POPA-NAX, a. [Gr. {foreign}, juice, and {foreign}, a plant.]

An inspissated juice of a tolerably firm texture, brought in loose granules or drops, sometimes in larger masses. This substance on the outside is of a brownish red color, with specks of white, and within of a dusky yellow or whitish color. It has a strong smell and an acrid taste. It is obtained from the root of an umbelliferous plant, the Opopanax Chironium, and is brought from Turkey and the East Indies. Encyc Parr.

O-POS'SUM, n. [This name is pronounced possum, which perhaps may be its true orthography.]

The popular name of several species of Didelphis, a genus of marsupiate carnivorous mammals. One species only of seventeen inhabits the United States, and this is one of the six species whose females have en abdominal pouch, in which they protect and carry their young. The Didelphia Virginiana has a prehensile tail by which it easily suspends itself.

OP'PI-DAN, a.

Pertaining to a town. [Not used.] Howell.

OP'PI-DAN, n. [L. oppidanus, from oppidum, a city or town.]

1. An inhabitant of a town. [Not used.] Wood.
2. An appellation given to the students of Eton school in England. Mason.

OP-PIG'NER-ATE, v.t. [L. oppignero; ob and pignero, to pledge, from pignus, pledge.]

To pledge; to pawn. [Not in use.] Bacon.

OP'PI-LATE, v.t. [L. oppilo; ob and pilo, to drive.]

To crowd together; to fill with obstructions.

OP'PI-LA-TED, pp.

Crowded together.

OP'PI-LA-TING, ppr.

Filling with obstructions.

OP-PI-LA'TION, n.

The act of filling or crowding together; a stopping by redundant matter; obstructions, particularly in the lower intestines. Encyc.

OP'PI-LA-TIVE, a. [Fr. oppilatif.]

Obstructive. Sherwood.

OP-PLE'TED, a.

Filled; crowded. [Not in use.]

OP-PONE, v.t. [L. oppono; ob and pono, to put.]

To oppose. [Not used.] B. Johnson.

OP-PO'NEN-CY, n. [See Opponent.]

The opening. of an academical disputation; the proposition of objectors to a tenet; an exercise for a degree. [I believe not used in America.] Todd.

OP-PO'NENT, a. [L. opponens, oppono; ob and pono, to set, put or lay, that is, to thrust against; Heb. Syr. Ch. and Ar. {foreign}, to build, that is, to set, to found, L. fundo.]

That opposes; opposite; adverse. Prior.

OP-PO'NENT, n.

One that opposes; particularly, one that opposes in controversy, disputation or argument. It is sometimes applied to the person that begins a dispute by raising objections to a tenet or doctrine, and is correlative to defendant or respondent. In common usage, however, it is applicable to either party in a controversy, denoting any person who opposes another or his cause. Opponent may sometimes be used for adversary, and for antagonist, but not with strict propriety, as the word does not necessarily imply enmity nor bodily strife. Nor is it well used in the sense of rival or competitor.

OP-POR-TUNE, a. [L. opportunus; ob and porto, to bear or bring; probably from the root of fero or porto, to bear. The sense of the verb opporto, would be to bring to or upon. See Import, Importune. In this and all words of like signification, the primary sense is to fall, come or bring to. See Luck, Fortune, Season.]

Properly, having come or being present at a proper time; hence, seasonable; timely; well timed. It agrees with seasonable rather than with convenient, though the sense of the latter may be included in it. Perhaps in view of the right confines, whence with neighboring arms, And opportune excursion, we may chance re-enter heaven. Milton.

OP-POR-TUNE-LY, adv.

Seasonably; at a time favorable for the purpose. It has been applied to place, as well as to time, but its proper application is to time, and hence it accords with seasonably, rather than with conveniently.

OP-POR-TUNE-NESS, n.

Seasonable time.