Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OB-STRUCT'ER, n.

One that obstructs or hinders.

OB-STRUCT'ING, ppr.

Blocking up, stopping; impeding; interrupting.

OB-STRUC'TION, n. [L. obstructio.]

1. The act of obstructing.
2. Obstacle; impediment; any thing that stops or closes a way or channel. Bars of sand at the mouths of rivers are often obstructions to navigation.
3. That which impedes progress; hinderance. Disunion and party spirit are often obstructions to legislative measures and to public prosperity.
4. A heap. [Not proper.] Shak.

OB-STRUCT'IVE, a. [Fr. obstructif; It. osstruttivo.]

Presenting obstacles; hindering; causing impediment. Hammond.

OB-STRUCT'IVE, n.

Obstacle; impediment. [Little used.] Hammond.

OB-STRUCT'IVE-LY, adv.

By way of obstruction.

OB'STRU-ENT, a. [L. obstruens.]

Blocking up; hindering.

OB'STRU-ENT, n.

Any thing that obstructs the natural passages in the body. Quincy.

OB-STU-PE-FAC'TION, n. [L. obstupefacio.]

The act of making stupid or insensible. [See Stupefaction, which is generally used.]

OB-STU-PE-FAC'TIVE, a. [L. obstupefacio.]

Stupefying; rendering insensible, torpid or inert. [Little used.] [See Stupefactive.] Abbot.

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.

OB-TAIN-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 tenebræ, darkness.]

A darkening; act of darkening; darkness. In 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.