Emily Dickinson Lexicon

O-VI-POS'IT-OR, n.

In entomology, an instrument by which an insect conducts its eggs to their proper nidus.

O'VI-SAC, n.

The cavity in an ovary which contains the egg.

O'VOID, a.¹ [L. ovum, egg, and Gr. ειδος, form.]

Having the shape of an egg.

O-VOID', a.²

In botany, terete and swelling toward the base, or with the outline of an entire egg of the dunghill fowl.

O'VO-LO, n.

In architecture, a round molding, the quarter of a circle; called also the quarter round. Encyc.

O-VO-VI-VIP'A-ROUS, a.

Producing a living fetus, by excluding it from an egg-covering; as the marsupials.

O'VULE, or O'VU-LUM, [from L. ovum.]

In botany, a body borne by the placenta of a plant, and destined to become a seed. It is enclosed or naked. It is composed of two sacs, one within another, which are called primine and secundine, and of a nucleus within the sacs. Lindley.

O'VU-LITE, n.

A fossil egg.

OVY-GEN-IZ-ED, pp.

Oxygenated.

OWE, v.i.

To be bound or obliged. Bp. Fisher.

OWE, v.t. [pron. o.; a regular verb, pret. and pp. owed; used with the auxiliary have, had, but not with the substantive verb to be. This verb is doubtless the Sax. agan, Goth. aigan, Sw. äga, Ice. eg, to have or possess, that is, to hold or retain, coinciding with the Gr. εχω. The Sax. participle agen, Dan. egen, is the English own. Ought is a derivative tense, and was formerly used in the sense of owed. The proper sense of owe, is to be held or bound to pay; nearly us we now use have in the phrases, “I have to pay a sum of money to-morrow,” “I have to go to town to-day.”]

1. To be indebted; to be obliged or bound to pay. The merchants owe a large sum to foreigners. A son owes help and honor to his father. Holyday. One was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. Matth. xviii. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. Rom. xiii.
2. To be obliged to ascribe to; to be obliged for; as, that he may owe to me all his deliverance. Milton.
3. To possess; to have; to be the owner of. [This is the original sense, but now obsolete. In place of it, we use own, from the participle. See Own.] Thou dost here usurp / The name thou owest not. Shak.
4. To be due or owing. O deem thy fall not ow'd to man's decree. Pope. [This passive form is not now used.]

OW-ING, ppr. [This is used in a passive form, contrary to analogy, for owen or owed. But the use is inveterately established.]

1. Due; that moral obligation requires to be paid; as, the money owing to a laborer for services, or to another country for goods.
2. Consequential; ascribable to as the cause. Misfortunes are often owing to vices or miscalculations.
3. Imputable to as an agent. His recovery from sickness is owing less to his physician than to the strength of his constitution.

OWL, n. [Sax. ula, ule; D. uil; G. eule; Sw. ugla or uggla; L. ulula. The orthography, except in the Swedish, coincides with howl, L. ululo; but the radical letters are not obvious.]

A fowl of the genus Strix, that flies chiefly in the night. The popular name of a group of nocturnal accipitrine birds, comprehended under the Linnæan genus Strix, which has been subdivided by later naturalists.

OWL'ER, n. [qu. from owl, or from wool.]

One that conveys contraband goods. Swift.

OWL'ET, n. [Fr. hulotte.]

An owl, – which see.

OWL'-EY-ED, a.

Having eyes like an owl's.

OWL'ING, n.

The offense of transporting wool or sheep out of England, contrary to the statute. Blackstone. [This explanation of owling favors the derivation of the word from wool.]

OWL'-LIGHT, n.

Glimmering or imperfect light. Warburton.

OWL'-LIKE, a.

Like an owl in look and habits. Donne.

OWN, a. [Sax. agen; Sw. and Dan. egen; D. and G. eigen; the participle of Sax. agan, to possess. See Owe and Ought.]

1. Belonging to; possessed; peculiar; usually expressing property with emphasis, or in express exclusion of others. It follows my, your, his, their, thy, her. God created man in his own image. Adam begat a son in his own likeness. Let them fall by their own counsel. He washed us from our sins in his own blood. Scripture. In the phrases, his own nation, his own country, the word own denotes that the person belongs to the nation or country.
2. Own often follows a verb; as, the book is not my own, that is, my own book.
3. It is used as a substitute. That they may dwell in a place of their own. 2 Sam. vii. In this use, a noun can not follow own.
4. “He came to his own, and his own received him not,” that is, his own nation or people; own being here used as a substitute, like many other adjectives.

OWN, v.t. [from the adjective.]

1. To have the legal or rightful title to; to have the exclusive right of possession and use. A freeholder in the United States owns his farm. Men often own land or goods which are not in their possession.
2. To have the legal right to, without the exclusive right to use; as, a man owns the land in front of his farm to the middle of the highway.
3. To acknowledge to belong to; to avow or admit that the property belongs to. When you come, find me out / And own me for your son. Dryden.
4. To avow; to confess, as a fault, crime or other act; that is, to acknowledge that one has done the act; as, to own the faults of youth; to own our guilt. The man is charged with theft, but he has not owned it.
5. In general, to acknowledge; to confess; to avow; to admit to be true; not to deny; as, to own our weakness and frailty. Many own the Gospel of salvation more from custom than conviction. J. M. Mason.

OWN-ED, pp.

1. The legal title being vested in; as, the property is owned by a company.
2. Acknowledged; avowed; confessed.

OWN-ER, n.

The rightful proprietor; one who has the legal or rightful title, whether he is the possessor or not. The ox knoweth his owner. Isa. i. The centurion believed the master and owner of the ship. Acts xxvii.

OWN-ER-SHIP, n.

Property; exclusive right of possession; legal or just claim or title. The ownership of the estate is in A; the possession is in B.

OWN-ING, ppr.

1. Having the legal or just title to.
2. Acknowledging; avowing; confessing.