Part 180

B. H. Chamberlain.

O"bi*ism (?), n. Belief in, or the practice of, the obi superstitions and rites.

Ob`ser*va"tion car. A railway passenger car made so as to facilitate seeing the scenery en route; a car open, or with glass sides, or with a kind of open balcony at the rear.

Ob*tain", v. i. To gain or have a firm footing; to become recognized or established; to become or be prevalent or general; as, the custom obtains of going to the seashore in summer.

Ob"tu*rate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obturated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Obturating (?).] [L. obturatus; p.p. of obturare.] To stop or close, as an opening; specif., (Ordnance), to stop (a gun breech) so as to prevent the escape of gas in firing.

Ob"tu*ra`tor, n. 1. (Ordnance) Any device for preventing the escape of gas through the breech mechanism of a breech-loading gun; a gas check.

2. (Photog.) A camera shutter.

Oc`a*ri"na (?), n. [Cf. It. carino pretty.] (Mus.) A kind of small simple wind instrument.

O"dal (?), n. [Cf. Icel. &?;al, Dan. odel allodial, Sw. odal.] (Law) Among the early and medieval Teutonic peoples, esp. Scandinavians, the heritable land held by the various odalmen constituting a family or kindred of freeborn tribesmen; also, the ownership of such land. The odal was subject only to certain rights of the family or kindred in restricting the freedom of transfer or sale and giving certain rights of redemption in case of change of ownership by inheritance, etc., and perhaps to other rights of the kindred or the tribe. Survivals of the early odal estates and tenure exist in Orkney and Shetland, where it is usually called by the variant form udal.

O"dal, a. (Law) Noting, or pert. to, odal land or ownership.

{ O"dal*man (?), O"dal*wom`an (?) }, n. (Teut. Law) A man or woman having odal, or able to share in it by inheritance.

Odd"ment (?), n. [Odd + - ment.] An odd thing, or one that is left over, disconnected, fragmentary, or the like; something that is separated or disconnected from its fellows; esp. (in pl.), the odds and ends. Specif.: (Printing) Any separate small part or page in a book, other than the text, such as the title page, contents, etc.

A miscellaneous collection of riddles, charms, gnomic verses, and "oddments" of different kinds.

Saintsbury.

||O"dels*thing (?), n. [Norw. odel odal + ting parliament.] The lower house of the Norwegian Storthing. See Legislature.

O"din*ism (?), n. Worship of Odin; broadly, the Teutonic heathenism. -- O"din*ist, n.

Odinism was valor; Christianism was humility, a nobler kind of valor.

Carlyle.

O"do*graph (?), n. [Gr. &?; way + - graph.] 1. A machine for registering the distance traversed by a vehicle or pedestrain.

2. A device for recording the length and rapidity of stride and the number of steps taken by a walker.

O*dom"e*ter (?), n. [Gr. &?;, &?;, an instrument for measuring distances; &?; way + &?; measure: cf. F. odomètre, hodomètre.] An instrument attached to a vehicle, to measure the distance traversed; also, a wheel used by surveyors, which registers the miles and rods traversed. -- Od`o*met"ric*al (#), a.

||Œil`-de-bœuf" (?), n.; pl. Œils-de-bœuf (#). [F., lit., eye of an ox.] (Arch.) A circular or oval window; -- generally used of architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries. A famous room in the palace of Versailles bears this name, from the oval window opening into it.

||Œil`-de-per`drix" (?), a. [F., lit., eye of a partridge.] 1. (Ornamental Art) Characterized by, or decorated with, small round points, spots, or rings; as, œil-de-perdrix pattern.

2. Having a brownish red color; -- used esp. of light-colored red wine.

Oer"sted (?), n. [After Hans Christian Oersted, Danish physicist.] (Elec.) The C.G.S. unit of magnetic reluctance or resistance, equal to the reluctance of a centimeter cube of air (or vacuum) between parallel faces. Also, a reluctance in which unit magnetomotive force sets up unit flux.

Of"fice wire` (?). (Elec.) Copper wire with a strong but light insulation, used in wiring houses, etc.

Off`print" (?), v. t. [Off + print.] To reprint (as an excerpt); as, the articles of some magazines are offprinted from other magazines.

Off"print` (?), n. A reprint or excerpt.