Emily Dickinson Lexicon

O-RAC'U-LAR, or O-RAC'U-LOUS, a.

1. Uttering oracles; as, an oracular tongue. The oraculous seer. Pope.
2. Grave; venerable; like an oracle; as, an oracular shade. They have something venerable and oracular in that unadorned gravity and shortness in the expression. Pope.
3. Positive; authoritative; magisterial; as, oraculous expressions of sentiments. Glanville.
4. Obscure; ambiguous, like the oracles of pagan deities. King.

O-RAC'U-LAR-LY, or O-RAC'U-LOUS-LY, adv.

1. In the manner of an oracle. Brown.
2. Authoritatively; positively. Burke.

O-RAC'U-LOUS-NESS, n.

The state of being oracular.

OR'AI-SON, n. [Fr. oraison; L. oratio.]

Prayer; verbal supplication or oral worship; now written orison. Shak. Dryden.

O'RAL, a. [Fr. from L. os, oris, the mouth.]

Uttered by the mouth or in words; spoken, not written; as, oral traditions; oral testimony; oral law. Addison.

O'RAL-LY, adv.

By mouth; in words, without writing; as, traditions derived orally from ancestors.

OR'ANGE, n. [Fr. from L. aurantium; so named from aurum, gold, which the orange resembles in color; It. arancio; Sp. naranjo; Port. laranja; D. oranje; G. orange.]

The fruit of a species of Citrus which grows in warm climates. The fruit is round and depressed; it has a rough rind, which when ripe is yellow. This contains a vesicular pulp inclosed in nine cells for seeds. The tree producing oranges grows to the highth of ten or twelve feet and bears the same name.

OR-ANGE-COL'OR-ED, a.

Having the color of an orange.

OR'ANGE-MEN, n.

The name given to an Irish protestant society which was suppressed in 1836.

OR'ANGE-MUSK, n.

A species of pear.

OR'ANGE-PEEL, n.

The rind of an orange separated from the fruit.

OR'AN-GER-Y, n. [Fr. orangerie.]

A plantation of orange-trees. Johnson.

OR'ANGE-TAW-NY, a.

Of the color of an orange. Bacon.

OR'ANGE-WIFE, n.

A woman that sells oranges.

O-RANG-OU-TANG', n. [Orang is said to be the Malay for man, that is, reasonable being, and outang is said to be the Malay of wild, that is, of the woods.]

A quadrumanous mammal, the Pythecus Satyrus, or Simia Satyrus. This animal seems to be confined to Borneo, Sumatra, and Malacca. It approaches the most nearly to man of any animal of its tribe. It is utterly incapable of walking in a perfectly erect posture. Its body is covered with coarse hair of a brownish red color. In some places on its back it is six inches long, and on its arms five inches. The hight of the adult animal is not known. A single specimen supposed to be of this species has been killed, which measured at least six feet. It eats both animal and vegetable food. The African animal resembling it, is the chimpanzee, (Simia troglodytes, or Troglodytes niger.) Cuvier.

O-RA'TION, n. [L. oratio, from oro, to pray, to utter.]

1. A speech or discourse composed according to the rules of oratory, and spoken in public. Orations may be reduced to three kinds; demonstrative, deliberative, and judicial. Encyc.
2. In modern usage, an oration differs from a sermon, from an argument at the bar, and from a speech before a deliberative assembly. The word is now applied chiefly to discourses pronounced on special occasions, as a funeral oration, an oration on some anniversary, &c. and to academic declamations.
3. A harangue; a public speech or address.

OR'A-TOR, n. [L.]

1. A public speaker. In ancient Rome, orators were advocates for clients in the forum and before the senate and people. They were employed in causes of importance instead of the common patron. Encyc.
2. In modern usage, a person who pronounces a discourse publicly on some special occasion, as on the celebration of some memorable event.
3. An eloquent public speaker; a speaker, by way of eminence. We say, a man writes and reasons well, but is no orator. Lord Chatham was an orator.
4. In France, a speaker in debate in a legislative body.
5. In chancery, a petitioner.
6. An officer in the universities in England.

OR-A-TO'RI-AL, or OR-A-TOR'IC-AL, a.

Pertaining to an orator or to oratory; rhetorical; becoming an orator. We say a man has many oratorical flourishes, or he speaks in a n oratorical way. Watts.

OR-A-TO'RI-AL-LY, or OR-A-TOR'IC-AL-LY, adv.

In a rhetorical manner. Taylor.

OR-A-TO'RI-O, n. [It.]

1. Italian music, a sacred drama of dialogues, containing recitatives, duets, trios, ritornellos, choruses, &c. The subjects are mostly taken from the Scriptures. Encyc.
2. A place of worship; a chapel.

OR'A-TO-RY, n. [Low L. oratoria, from orator.]

1. The art of speaking well, or of speaking according to the rules of rhetoric, in order to persuade. To constitute oratory, the speaking must be just and pertinent to the subject; it must be methodical, all parts of the discourse being disposed in due order and connection; and it must be embellished with the beauties of language and pronounced with eloquence. Oratory consists of four parts, invention, disposition, elocution, and pronunciation. Encyc. Cyc.
2. Exercise of eloquence. Arbuthnot.
3. Among the Romanists, a close apartment near a bed-chamber, furnished with an altar, a crucifix, &c. for private devotions.
4. A place allotted for prayer, or a place for public worship. Hooker. Taylor.

OR'A-TRESS, or OR'A-TRIX, n.

A female orator. Warner.

ORB, n. [L. orbis; Fr. It. and Sp. orbe.]

1. A spherical body; as, the celestial orbs.
2. In astronomy, a hollow globe or sphere. Encyc.
3. A wheel; a circular body that revolves or rolls; as, the orbs of a chariot. Milton.
4. A circle; a sphere defined by a line; as, he moves in a larger orb. Holiday. Shak.
5. A circle described by any mundane sphere; an orbit. Dryden.
6. Period; revolution of time. Shak.
7. The eye. Milton.
8. In tactics, the circular form of a body of troops, or a circular body of troops. Encyc. The ancient astronomers conceived the heavens as consisting of several vast azure transparent orbs or spheres inclosing one another, and including the bodies of the planets. Hutton.

ORB, v.t.

To form into a circle. Milton.

ORB'ATE, a. [L. orbatus.]

Bereaved; fatherless; childless.