Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OB-REP-TI'TIOUS, a. [supra.]

Done or obtained by surprise; with secresy or by concealment of the truth. Encyc.

OB'RO-GATE, v.t. [L. obrogo.]

To propose or proclaim a new and contrary law, instead of annulling the old one. [Not in use.]

OB-SCENE, a. [Fr. from L. obscœnus.]

1. Offensive to chastity and delicacy; impure; expressing or presenting to the mind or view something which delicacy, purity and decency forbid to be exposed; as, obscene language; obscene pictures.
2. Foul; filthy; offensive; disgusting. A girdle foul with grease binds his obscene attire. Dryden.
3. Inauspicious; ill omened. At the cheerful light, / The groaning ghosts and birds obscene take flight. Dryden.

OB-SCENE-LY, adv.

In a manner offensive to chastity or purity; impurely; unchastely.

OB-SCENE-NESS, or OB-SCEN'I-TY, n. [Fr. obscenité; L. obscœnitas.]

1. Impurity in expression or representation; that quality in words or things which presents what is offensive to chastity or purity of mind; ribaldry. Cowley asserts plainly that obscenity has no place in wit. Dryden. Those fables were tempered with the Italian severity, and free from any note of infamy or obsceneness. Dryden. No pardon vile obscenity should find. Pope.
2. Unchaste actions; lewdness. To wash th' obscenities of night away. Dryden.

OB-SCU-RA'TION, n. [L. obscuratio.]

1. The act of darkening.
2. The state of being darkened or obscured; as, the obscuration of the moon in an eclipse.

OB-SCURE, a. [L. obscurus; It. oscuro.]

1. Dark; destitute of light. Whoso curseth his father or mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Prov. xx.
2. Living in darkness; as, the obscure bird. Shak.
3. Not easily understood; not obviously intelligible; abstruse; as, an obscure passage in a writing. Dryden.
4. Not much known or observed; retired; remote from observation; as, an obscure retreat.
5. Not noted; unknown; unnoticed; humble; mean; as; an obscure person; a person of obscure birth. Atterbury.
6. Not easily legible; as, an obscure inscription.
7. Not clear, full or distinct; imperfect; as, an obscure view of remote objects.

OB-SCURE, v.t. [L. obscuro.]

1. To darken; to make dark. The shadow of the earth obscures the moon, and the body of the moon obscures the sun, in an eclipse.
2. To cloud; to make partially dark. Thick clouds obscure the day.
3. To hide from the view; as, clouds obscure the sun.
4. To make less visible. Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love, / And I should be obscured. Shak.
5. To make less legible; as, time has obscured the writing.
6. To make less intelligible. There is scarce any duty which has been so obscured by the writings of the learned as this. Wake.
7. To make less glorious, beautiful or illustrious. And see'st not sin obscures thy godlike frame? Dryden.
8. To conceal; to make unknown. Milton.
9. To tarnish; as, to obscure brightness.

OB-SCUR-ED, pp.

Clouded, or made partially dark; concealed.

OB-SCURE-LY, adv.

1. Darkly; not clearly; imperfectly; as, an object obscurely seen; obscurely visible.
2. Out of sight; in a state not to be noticed; privately; in retirement; not conspicuously. There live retired, / Content thyself to be obscurely good. Addison.
3. Not clearly; not plainly to the mind; darkly; as, future events obscurely revealed.
4. Not plainly; indirectly; by hints or allusion.

OB-SCURE-NESS, or OB-SCU'RI-TY, n. [L. obscuritas.]

1. Darkness; want of light. We wait for light, but behold obscurity. Isa. lix.
2. A state of retirement from the world; a state of being unnoticed; privacy. You are not for obscurity designed. Dryden.
3. Darkness of meaning; unintelligibleness; as, the obscurity of writings or of a particular passage.
4. Illegibleness; as, the obscurity of letters or of an inscription.
5. A state of being unknown to fame; humble condition; as, the obscurity of birth or parentage.

OB-SCUR-ER, n.

He or that which obscures or darkens. Lord.

OB-SCUR-ING, ppr.

Darkening; making less visible or intelligible; tarnishing.

OB'SE-CRATE, v.t. [L. obsecro.]

To beseech; to entreat; to supplicate; to pray earnestly. Cockeram.

OB'SE-CRA-TED, pp.

Entreated;. prayed earnestly.

OB'SE-CRA-TING, ppr.

Supplicating; beseeching.

OB-SE-CRA'TION, n.

1. Entreaty; supplication. Stillingfleet.
2. A figure of rhetoric, in which the orator implores the assistance of God or man. Encyc.

OB'SE-QUENT, a. [L. obsequens.]

Obedient; submissive to. [Little used.] Fotherby.

OB'SE-QUIES, n. [plur. Fr. obsèques, from L. obsequium, complaisance, from obsequor, to follow.]

Funeral rites and solemnities; the last duties performed to a deceased person. Dryden. [Milton uses the word in the singular, but the common usage is different.]

OB-SE'QUI-OUS, a. [from L. obsequium, complaisance, from obsequor, to follow; ob and sequor.]

1. Promptly obedient or submissive to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the desires of others, properly to the will or command of a superior, but in actual use, it often signifies yielding to the will or desires of such as have no right to control. His servants weeping, / Obsequious to his orders, bear him hither. Addison.
2. Servilely or meanly condescending; compliant to excess; as, an obsequious flatterer, minion or parasite.
3. Funereal; pertaining to funeral rites. [Not used.] Shak.

OB-SE'QUI-OUS-LY, adv.

1. With ready obedience; with prompt compliance. They rise and with respectful awe, / At the word given, obsequiously withdraw. Dryden.
2. With reverence for the dead. [Not used.] Shak.

OB-SE'QUI-OUS-NESS, n.

1. Ready obedience; prompt, compliance with the orders of a superior.
2. Servile submission; mean or excessive complaisance. They apply themselves both to his interest and humor, with all the arts of flattery and obsequiousness. South.

OB'SE-QUY, n.

1. Funeral rites.
2. Obsequiousness. [Not in use.] B. Jonson.

OB'SE-RATE, v.t. [L. obsero.]

To lock up. [Not used.]

OB'SE-RA-TED, pp.

Locked up.