| 释义 |
▪ I. O|əʊ|
the fifteenth letter of the alphabet in English and other modern languages, and the fourth vowel letter. O was the fourteenth letter in the ancient Roman alphabet, corresponding in form and value to the ancient Greek ο, derived from the sixteenth letter of the Phœnician and ancient Semitic alphabet, ○, ◇, ▽, (Heb. ע), called ﻋain, i.e. ‘eye’. The latter represented a peculiar articulation or consonant, the ‘glottal catch’ (modern Arabic ﻋ, ﻉ), a sound unknown to Greek, in which the symbol was appropriated to the vowel o (which the sound of Semitic ﻋain in conjunction with a may have somewhat resembled). In early Greek, ο was used for both short and long o; subsequently a new symbol Ω, ω (O méga, ‘great O’), was added to the alphabet to distinguish long open ō; the original ο ο (now known as O micrón, ‘little O’) being then restricted to short o. From Greek times downward, this letter has regularly represented some variety or varieties of the ‘mid-back-round’ (or labial) vowel of Bell's Visible Speech scale. On account of its intermediate position, this vowel is (like e) liable to considerable variations of quality; and many languages distinguish, as practically different vowels, ‘close’ (or ‘narrow’) |o|, and ‘open’ (or ‘wide’) |ɔ|; the former tending to approach, and at length to pass into, the still closer sounds |ʊ|, |u|; the latter tending to fall into the still opener |ɒ|.
In OE., short o and long ó were etymologically and phonetically distinct. Short o was originally both close and open. Short close o was normally derived from an original u, as in OE. oxa ox, Skr. ukshán, OE. dohtor, Gr. θυγάτηρ, Indo-European *dhughətḗr. Short open o normally represented an earlier a before a nasal, as in OE. on, Goth. ana, Gr. ἀνά. This OE. o from a(n) is often distinguished for etymological purposes as ǫ. OE. long ó corresponded generally to Com. Teut. long ō, in which were combined Indo-European ō and ā, as in OE. bóc beech, OTeut. *bôkâ, Dor.Gr. ϕᾱγος, L. fāgus; OE. flód, Goth. flôdus, Gr. πλωτός swimming. Long ó also arose out of a lengthening of short open ǫ from a(n), with n absorbed, as in tóð tooth, OTeut. *tanþ-, Indo-Eur. *dont-; hón to hang, OHG. and Goth. hāhan from OTeut. *haŋh-, χaŋχ-. Long ó was prob. originally both close and open, but in late OE. it must, from its subsequent history, have been close. In unstressed syllables, o was the ordinary OE. representative of the obscure vowel |ə|; and in this capacity it often varied with a, e, u.
In the Middle English period the distinction between open and close short o is no longer discernible; and the vowel was apparently always open o before a consonant in the accented syllable. Of long ō ME. had two distinct sounds, open and close. Open ō was the normal representative (in midland and southern speech) of OE. long á (or lengthened a), which passed through the sound of |ɒː| to that of |ɔː|, being sometimes written in the 13th c. oa, but, eventually, simply o, or oo: thus OE. máre, nán, ald (eald), ME. moare, noan (1257), more, non, old. It often represented long ō derived from Fr. or L., or arose out of an earlier short o in an open syllable, as OE. hopa, ME. hōpe. ME. close ō represented OE. ó. This ō must have been a very close sound, for about the end of the ME. or beginning of the mod.Eng. period it passed into the sound of |uː|, usually with the spelling oo, though sometimes with the simple o spelling, as in the words do, to, lose. ME. open ō either continued into mod.Eng. as o (bone, ore, hope), or was, from 16th c., written oa (oak, oar, coal); but in sound it became at length close and quasi-diphthongal |ou| (now in southern British pronunciation usually |əʊ|), except before r, where it remains open |ɔə| (now usually |ɔː|). In the 13th c., o began to be written in certain cases for u, esp. before m, n, u (= v), as in some, son, loue (= love), OE. sum, sunu, lufu. This, which has largely survived into mod.E., was merely a graphic, not a phonetic, change.
The normal sound of short o is now |ɒ|, low-back-round; but it frequently stands for |ʌ|, as in son, doth, or |ɜː|, as in word; and in unaccented syllables sinks to |ə|, as in nation. When original short o comes before r final, or r + consonant, as in or, for, corn, sort, it is now lengthened into the corresponding long sound |ɔː| |ɔː(r), fɔː(r), kɔːn, sɔːt|. A still more recent lengthening of ŏ often took place during the 19th century in southern English before certain consonants, as in cross, off, moth, soft; having never become general in standard English, it is here recorded as a variant |ɔː| in the pronunciation of those words it affected.
The normal sound of long ō, as in no, toe, bone, is the quasi- or imperfect diphthong |əʊ|; but before r, as in bore, choral, story, the sound is that of the open quasi-diphthong |ɔə|. In London and the south of England, this ō, esp. when r follows in the same syllable, as in ore, worn, porter, is usually identified with the |ɔː| mentioned above as arising from ME. short o before r. This is not the case, however, in the educated speech of the country as a whole, nor in America, and the sounds are still separated by most orthoepists (see Ellis, E.E. Pronunciation, I. 94–95), and in dictionaries generally; they are distinguished in this dictionary, as in boarder, border |ˈbɔədə(r)|, |ˈbɔːdə(r)|, mourn, morn |mɔən|, |mɔːn|.
Hence, in modern English, the normal sounds of o are
1. |əʊ|in no, bone|nəʊ, bəʊn|
2. |ɔə|in ore, glory|ɔə(r), ˈglɔərɪ|
3. |ɔː|in or, north|ɔː(r), nɔːθ|
4. |ɒ|in rob, got|rɒb, gɒt|
Exceptional sounds, due to special causes, and normally spelt otherwise, are
5. |uː/ʊ|in to do|tʊ duː|
6. |ʌ|in son, other|sʌn, ˈʌðə(r)|
7. |ɜː|in word, worthy|wɜːd, ˈwɜːðɪ|
No. 1 is also represented by oa, oe (final), ou, ow, oh, rarely oo; as in load, hoe, soul, low, oh, brooch.
No. 2, by oa, ou, ow, rarely oo; as in boar, pour, Gower, door, floor. In broad, oa has the sound |ɔː|.
The combination oo now normally represents long |uː|, diphthongal |ʊə|, short |ʊ|, as in moon, moor, good; exceptionally, it has the sound of ‘short u’ |ʌ|, as in blood, flood, or of ‘long o’ = Nos. 1 and 2 above.
Oi, oy, normally represent a true diphthong |ɔɪ|, as boil, boy; or an imperfect triphthong, as in Moir |mɔɪə(r)|.
Ou, ow, also normally represent a diphthong |aʊ|, as in out, house, now, or an imperfect triphthong, as in hour |aʊə|. But ou has also various other sounds, as in soup, tour, through, you; soul, pour; brought, cough, enough; in unstressed final syllables it is commonly |ə|, as in favour, pious.
In unaccented syllables, all the sounds of o are liable to shortening and obscuration, and tend to sink to |ə|, as in tobacco, anatomy, dilatory, sailor, comfort, cannot, parrot, notion, random.
The change of OE. á to ō in ME. was a characteristic of the southern and midland dialects, and thus of Standard English. But the northern dialects retained a, the presence of which instead of o, as in stane, hame, mare = stone, home, more, is one of the most distinctive features of northern English and Scotch. In later times this a is often written ai, or ae, and narrowed to ea, e, ee |ɛː, eː, ɪə, iː|. The change of OE. ó to |uː, ʊ|, is also proper to Standard English and its related dialects, the sound having become in Scotch one akin to German ö and ü, or Fr. eu and u. This, like the English |uː, ʊ| sound, is often written oo, but more distinctively u or ui, as in Eng. good, Sc. good, gude, guid. The northern dialects also retain the earlier |uː| for English |aʊ|; this is often written in Scotch, as in ME., ou, ow; but in modern times sometimes oo, as in coo, aboot = cow, about.
The fancy, frequent in authors of the 16th and 17th c., that the shape of the letter O represented the rounded form of the mouth in forming the sound, is seen from the history of the letter to be without foundation in fact.
1. a. The letter. (In quot. c 1460 = the Greek Omega.) The pl. appears as Os, O's, os, o's (oes).
O per se, the letter O forming by itself a word, as in the interjection O! (Cf. a per se, I per se.)
c1000ælfric Gram. iii. (Z.) 5 Of ðam [stafum] syndon fif vocales, þæt synd clypiendlice: a, e, i, o, u. c1460Towneley Myst. i. 1 Ego sum alpha et o, I am the first, the last also. 1492Ryman Poems lvii. 3 in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXXIX. 222 Heven and erthe rounde like an O. 1530Palsgr. 6 O in the frenche tong hath two diuers maners of soundynges. 1612Dekker (title) O per se O, or a newe Cryer of Lanthorne and Candle Light. 1711Steele Spect. No. 168 ⁋5 Whipped..for writing an O for an A, or an A for an O. 1814Cary Dante's Inf. xxiv. 98 Far more quickly than e'er pen Wrote O or I, he kindled, burn'd and chang'd.
Comb.1900Daily News 20 Oct. 6/4 The whole super⁓structure is supported..by A and O shaped trestles.
b. The sound of the letter, the vowel-sound o.
1842Tennyson Epic 50 Mouthing out his hollow oes and aes. 1867A. J. Ellis E.E. Pronunc. i. iii. 94 What sounds of o exist. They are all round vowels, that is, the action of the lips with a tolerably round opening is necessary.
2. Used, like the other letters, to indicate serial order and distinguish things in a series, as the ‘quires’ or sheets of a book, the parts of a figure, the companies of a military force, the batteries of the Royal Artillery, the different MSS. of a work, etc.
3. In Logic, the symbol of a particular negative.
1551T. Wilson Logike G vij b, I dothe signifie a particular affirmatiue. O doth signifie a particular negatiue. 1552,1620[see I (the letter) 4]. 1870Jevons Elem. Logic viii. (1875) 67 A proposition of this kind is generally to be classed rather as O than I.
4. In Chem. O is the symbol for Oxygen.
5. [orig. denoting absence: cf. O n.1] In Hæmatology, designating absence of the A and B agglutinogens of the ABO blood group system; hence (and now usu.) used to designate the blood group of individuals lacking these two agglutinogens; also, more widely, used to designate the allele involved in determining this blood group.
1926Landsteiner & Witt in Jrnl. Immunol. XI. 242 It has been pointed out by one of the writers..that the isoagglutinin reactions of human blood can be possibly explained by the simple assumption of only two different agglutinogens and agglutinins. Designating these by α and β, and the agglutinogens by A and B, the following symbols are obtained for the blood groups: I–α, β; II A, β; III B, α; IV A, B–; if we include the factors A1 and α1 in the scheme, and if O and o signify the absence of agglutinogens or agglutinins, then the signs are: I O α, β, α1; II A, β, and A, A1, β; III B, α, α1; IV A, B, o. 1927[see A II. 7]. 1929L. H. Snyder Blood Grouping i. 3 To try to obviate the confusion still existing from a reversal of groups I and IV in the two systems, a new system of nomenclature, based on the agglutinophyllic [sic] capacity of the cells, has been suggested. In this system, Jansky's group IV is known as AB, having the two agglutinogens A and B. Group III, containing agglutinogen B, is known as group B, group II as group A, and group I, containing neither agglutinogen, as group O. 1948C. C. Sturgis Hematol. xxiii. 825 These characteristics in the erythrocytes may be present singly or together, or they can be absent. If the absence of these isogglutinable substances is designated as O, then there are four possibilities: namely, groups, O, A, B, and AB. 1958J. B. Miale Lab. Med.: Hematol. vi. 319 The O gene, when carried by both chromosomes, determines phenotype O. 1966Listener 6 Oct. 493/1 Mr and Mrs H's blood was found to belong to group O, while Clive's blood was found to belong to group A2. 1968Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. I. xxvi. 17/1 Every person has a pair of chromosomes each of which carries the A, B or O gene. 1969J. H. Green Basic Clin. Physiol. vi. 34/2 The remainder of the population (46 per cent.) have neither A nor B on their red cells, and they are said to be Group O.
6. O is an abbreviation,
a. for some Christian names, as Octavia, Oliver, Olivia, Oswald, Oswyn.
b. for ‘old’, as in O.A.P., old age pensioner; (also formerly old age pension); OE., Old English, OF., Old French, OHG., Old High German, ON., Old Norse, etc.; O.P., old prices (see d); O.S., old style; O.T., Old Testament; and frequently in public school abbreviations, as O.E., Old Etonian, O.W., Old Wellingtonian, and the like.
c. for ‘Order’, as in D.S.O., Distinguished Service Order; O.B.E., (Officer of the) Order of the British Empire; O.D.C., Order of Discalced Carmelites; O.M., Order of Merit; also by metonymy, a member of this Order; O.M.I. (see quot. 1907); O.P., Order of Preachers; O.S.A., Order of Saint Augustine; O.S.B., Order of Saint Benedict; O.S.F.(C.), Order of Saint Francis (, Capuchin), etc.
1708J. Kersey Dict. Anglo-Britannicum Pref., O.F., Old French. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4785/2 The 14th of the last Month, O.S. 1724Ibid. No. 6301/1 Stockholm, August 19, O.S. 1864R. Morris Early Eng. Allit. Poems p. xxxvi, The preposition from never occurs in the following poems; it is replaced by fro (Northumbrian fra, O.N. frá). 1868― Old Eng. Homilies I. p. lvi, In Gothic we find plural forms in -a, as worda, &c., which are certainly older than the O.E. forms word, &c. Ibid. 312 Cp. the O.N. lât, læti. 1884N.E.D., s.v. a adj.1, O.E. 1884N.E.D., s.v. a adv., O.H.G., O.N. 1887W. W. Skeat Princ. Eng. Etymol. 1st Ser. x. 172 The G. trieb (drove) is a modern form. The O.H.G. was dreib or treib. 1891Ibid. 2nd ser. iii. 43 Lat. u..was sometimes long, as in Lat. nūllum, and sometimes short, as in Lat. mŭltum; and was developed accordingly. Hence O.F. nul (nyl) and moult (mult). 1892Westcott Gospel of Life 198 The record of the Fall is not unquestionably noticed once in the later books of the O.T. 1901Scotsman 15 Mar. 8/2 Grateful if friends of O.W.'s..would communicate with him at Wellington College. 1901G. Frankau Eton Echoes 48 Or pass to hear them say with eyes askance ‘The siding ass! Suppose he's some O.E.’ 1912R. W. Chambers Widsith 191 Kluge has pointed out that this form of the name corresponds to the O.N. Atli, as against the M.H.G. Etzel, O.H.G. Ezzilo. 1914C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iii. i. 516 Come and have coffee with me after hall. One or two O.E.'s are coming in, but you won't mind? 1927Englische Studien 10 Nov. 81 ON. lifr occurs in Norwegian river-names. 1934M. K. Pope From Lat. to Mod. Fr. ii. xi. 172 In educated Parisian speech the denasalisation of O.F. ā appears to have begun in the later sixteenth century. 1936J. Buchan Island of Sheep vi. 112 He wore white linen breeches, a smartly cut flannel coat, and an O.E. tie. 1940W. O. Ross M. E. Sermons p. xxix, S appears very rarely for OE. sc. 1942Partridge Dict. Abbrev. 70/1 O.A.P., Old Age Pension(s). 1959P. Bull I know Face x. 186 The O.A.P.s were very angry indeed, at not only having to witness Waiting for Godot, but also having to pay twelve pennies for the privilege. 1959M. Schlauch Eng. Lang. in Mod. Times i. 29 The [pronoun] forms which sprang from the OE and ON datives later assumed the function of accusatives as well. 1970B. M. H. Strang Hist. English iv. 274 A few native formations are calques on OF prepositions. 1972M. L. Samuels Linguistic Evol. ii. 25 One of the best known of irreversible consonant-changes is that of voiceless plosives to fricatives or affricates, as in..OHG [p, t, k] > [pf, ts, kx]. 1972E. J. Dobson Eng. Text of Ancrene Riwle p. cxlix, OE (ON) ā is normally spelt o. 1973‘B. Graeme’ Two & Two xiv. 139 ‘What about the Rexalls?’ ‘Apart from being O.A.P.s, I know nothing.’ 1973Listener 7 June 777/1 Tony sports an OE tie. 1976Evening Post (Nottingham) 15 Dec. 19/7 (Advt.), Gamston Kennels (Est 1926)..Pedigree puppies..Labradors, O.E. sheepdogs, Pekes, Poodles.
1798J. Milnes Life Challoner 32 That zealous orthodox prelate..whose loss we at the present moment deplore, the Right Reverend Bishop Walmesley, O.S.B. Ibid., Another person for whom he had deservedly the greatest respect and regard was the Rev. Pacificus Baker, O.S.F. 1839Dublin Rev. May 556 English sermons were delivered by the Rev. Dr. Wiseman, F. Hughes, O.S.F., and the Rev. Messrs. McGill and Kyan. 1865Cath. Directory p. lxii, Rev. F. Lawrence (Praxmarer), O.S.F.C. 1891Cath. Times 6 Mar. 2/7 Very Rev. Dr Keane, O.P. 1903Who's Who 760 Keppel, Hon. Sir Harry, G.C.B.; cr. 1857; O.M. 1907Cath. Encycl. I. 28/1 O.M.I., Oblati Mariæ Immaculatæ—Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate. Ibid., O.P., Ordo Prædicatorum—Dominicans. Ibid., O.S.A., Ordo (Eremitarum) Sancti Augustini—Augustinians. 1917O.B.E. [see M.B.E. s.v. M 5]. 1922Joyce Ulysses 312 Amongst the clergy present were..the rev. P. J. Cleary, O.S.F.; the rev. L. J. Hickey, O.P.; the very rev. Fr. Nicholas, O.S.F.C.; the very rev. B. Gorman, O.D.C.;..the rev. T. Brangan, O.S.A.;..the rev. B. R. Slattery, O.M.I.; [etc.]. 1923Cornh. Mag. June 765 A Captain and an O.B.E. 1937B. Jarrett Eng. Dominicans (rev. ed.) 186 Consecrated Bishop of Tiberiopolis by Pope Benedict XIII, O.P. 1955Times 9 Aug. 4/7 A person of the highest character, who served with distinction in both world wars and received the O.B.E. 1955Essays in Crit. V. 430 Od's life, need an O.M. swear to the truth of an epigram? 1955‘D. Knowles’ Relig. Orders in Eng. II. 390/1 Ashbourne, Thomas, OSA. 1957Oxf. Dict. Chr. Ch. 235/1 In England and Ireland they [sc. the Capuchins] sign O.S.F.C. (‘Ordinis Sancti Francisci Capuccinorum’). 1963I. Wilkes Brit. Init. & Abbrev. 82/1 ODC, Order of Discalced Carmelites, 41, Kensington Church Street, London, W.8. 1969I. & P. Opie Children's Games p. xvi, We have also to thank Father Damian Webb O.S.B. 1972Bookseller 2 Dec. 2543 (Advt.), Sister Mary Joyce O.P.
d. In other combinations: as O. and M., organization and methods; OAO Forces' slang, one and only; OAO, orbiting astronomical observatory; O.A.S., on active service; O.A.S., Organisation de l'Armée Secrète, an organization opposed to Algerian independence from France; O.A.S., Organization of American States; O.A.U., Organization of African Unity; OB, obstetrics, obstetric, or obstetrician (U.S.); OB, order of battle; O.B., outside broadcast; O.B.U., One Big Union; O.C., officer commanding; OCR, optical character recognition; O.C.T.U., officer cadet(s') training unit; also Octu |ˈɒktuː|; O.D. (U.S.) officer of the day; olive drab; O.D., ordinary seaman; O.D., Ordnance datum; OD, organization development; O.D., o.d., outside diameter; O.D. slang (orig. U.S.), overdose; so as v. intr., to take an overdose; O.D.'d, overdosed, dead of an overdose; O.D.V. joc., eau-de-vie; O.E.C.D., Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; O.E.D., Oxford English Dictionary; O.E.E.C., Organization for European Economic Co-operation; O.E.O. (U.S.), Office of Economic Opportunity; OGO, orbiting geophysical observatory; O.H.C., ohc., overhead camshaft; O.H.M.S., on His (or Her) Majesty's Service; O.H.V., o.h.v., overhead valve; O level, Ordinary level (of the General Certificate of Education examination); hence O leveller; O.N.C., Ordinary National Certificate; o.n.o., or near(est) offer; O.O.W., Officer of the Watch; O.P., (a) ‘old price’, ‘old prices’, referring to the demonstrations at Covent Garden Theatre, London, in 1809, against the proposed new tariff of prices; (b) (also o.p.) ‘opposite the prompter side’ in a theatre; (c) ‘over-proof’; (d) (also o.p., o.p.) in Bookseller's Catalogues, ‘out of print’; (e) observation post (also O. Pip); OPEC |ˈəʊpɛk|, Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries; O.P.M., other people's money (U.S. slang); O.P.M., output per man; O.R., OR, operational research; O.R., other ranks; O.R.T.F., Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, formerly the state television and radio service of France; O.S., ordinary seaman; O.S., Ordnance Survey; O.S., outsize; OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Act (or Administration) (U.S.); OSO, orbiting solar observatory; OSO, Ordnance Survey Office; O.S.S. (U.S.), Office of Strategic Services; OTB, off-track betting (U.S.); O.T.C., Officers' Training Corps; O.T.C., Organization for Trade Co-operation; OTC, over the counter; O.T.U., Operational Training Unit; O.U., Open University; O.U.D.S., Oxford University Dramatic Society; cf. also Ouds; O.V.R.A. [see quot. 1961], the secret police of Fascist Italy. See also a., n., and v.
1958Daily Mail 3 July 4/3 Modern business techniques using ‘work study’ and the ‘*O. and M.’ treatment (Organisation and Methods), can prove ‘a considerable help to us in the hospitals’. 1965New Statesman 7 May 707/2 An O & M survey should swiftly be initiated to decide what dead wood needs to be cut out. 1971K. Gottschalk in B. de Ferranti Living with Computer v. 46 Groups concerned with efficiency in the office are sometimes called organization and methods (O & M) groups.
1936Nat. Geogr. Mag. June 778/2 Or she may be the *OAO—the One and Only. 1967Everybody's Mag. (Austral.) 18 Jan. 36/2 In each war, a new vocabulary is created. Today, in Vietnam, Australians are again catching up on American Army slang... All would refer to a special girlfriend as their OAO—one and only. Probably, the OAO was met on skirt patrol.
1962F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics iv. 119 An *OAO is seen in Fig. 4.2. 1971McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 300 Although the first OAO malfunctioned, the second one (launched on Dec. 7, 1968) has..produced a wealth of important new astronomical data.
1928Blunden Undertones of War 178, I remember your superscriptions, ‘*O.A.S.’ and ‘B.E.F.’.
1962Listener 4 Jan. 10/2 An *O.A.S. bomb. 1963Times 14 Mar. 16/2 Algeria at the period when O.A.S. terrorism was at its height. 1973C. Egleton Seven Days to Killing vii. 78 He was an Algerian colonist..and the French police had long been satisfied that he had never been connected with the OAS.
1949Ann. Organization Amer. States I. No. 1. (title-page), Charter of the *OAS. 1972Buenos Aires Herald 3 Feb. 7/6 The juridical commission of the Organization of American States (OAS) has condemned the sending of British troops to Honduras. 1974Greenville (S. Carolina) News 22 Apr. 3/5 Kissinger was asked why he had not mentioned Cuba in a speech Saturday to the Organization of American States (OAS) meeting in Atlanta.
1964Ann. Reg. 1963 322 Organisation of African Unity (*O.A.U.). Established at Conference of African Heads of State at Addis Ababa, 22–26 May 1963. 1971Sunday Nation (Nairobi) 11 Apr. 7/1 The announcement had little to do with any assumed prevailing trends among members of the OAU.
1944Dorland & Miller Med. Dict. (ed. 20) 1005/1 *O.B., abbreviation for obstetrics. 1967Boston Globe 21 May 9/3 Sitting in an office for an OB check. Ibid. 9/4 A two hour wait in the OB's office. 1972Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 29 Feb. 2/1 My last checkup with my OB doctor revealed a fibroid tumor.
1946Chandler & Robb Front-Line Intelligence xii. 137 *O/B (Order of Battle) is a military science whose mission is to determine: (1) How strong the enemy is, [etc.]. 1950Tactics & Techniques Infantry (U.S.) II. ii. 312 The order of battle (OB) team. 1971Combat Intelligence (U.S. Dept. Army, Field Manual 30-5) vii. 7-1 Order of battle (OB) is the identification, strength, command structure, and disposition of the personnel, units, and equipment of any military force. 1975tr. Melchior's Sleeper Agent (1976) iii. 192 He'd sent him on to the Corps OB team, to see if there was anything in the latest Order of Battle book.
1927B.B.C. Handbk. 1928 143/1 Outside Broadcast Features... Every *O.B. of the simplest..nature necessitates the provision of two complete telephone line circuits..between the site of the performance and the Station Control Room. 1960Punch 17 Feb. 251/1 Oh, I agree, it's [television is] splendid for sport and O.B.s. 1971R. Busby Deadlock xiii. 200 You'd think he was the bloody big white chief instead of an OB technician.
1919Camp Worker (Vancouver) 17 May 5/3 At Medicine Hat the Federated Railway Trades have unanimously endorsed the *O.B.U. 1931‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 210 O.B.U., One Big Union. The ideal of the soap boxers. 1977Guardian Weekly 11 Sept. 10/2 The Industrial Workers of the World... In Canada its counterpart was called the OBU, One Big Union..an attempt to prevent divisions in the labour movement by creating a single trade union.
1904N.Y. World Mag. 1 May 6/5 ‘*O.C.’ is the officer in charge. 1917F. M. Ford Let. 19 Feb. (1965) 84 It suits me better to write: ‘O.C. Canadous will detail a fatigue party of 1 NCO & 10 men at 4:30 a.m.’ 1928T. E. Lawrence Let. 2 May (1938) 600 Also [you will inherit] my copyrights which now no longer include Revolt in the Desert: but you will be O.C. The Seven Pillars. 1967G. F. Fiennes I tried to run a Railway iii. 25 He had been a gunner himself and had warned the O.C. of the 15 inch crew.
1966Computer Jrnl. IX. 224/2 We decided to experiment to see what limitations, if any, *O.C.R. would place on our stationery design. 1970Brit. Printer July 57/1 The alphabet itself does not have any practical OCR use at all.
1942E. Waugh Put out More Flags ii. 121 ‘*O.C.T.U. candidates,’ said the company sergeant-major. 1972D. McLachlan No Case for Crown iv. 56 He reminded me sometimes of a sergeant who gave me hell in my O.C.T.U.
1929Papers Mich. Acad. Sci., Arts & Lett. X. 311 *O.D., I, the officer of the day; II, olive drab. 1966Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 4 Dec. 73/2 GI Jargon OD, officer of the day, or olive drab (both the colour and the uniforms themselves, e.g. ‘I'm wearing my ODs tonight’).
1915Recruiter's Bull. (U.S.) June 17/2 Two *O.D. shirts you next slip in, A pair of shoes goes in between. 1975tr. Melchior's Sleeper Agent (1976) iii. 173 He was clad only in his OD shorts and undershirt.
1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin i. 7 ‘Strumbles,’ he said, ‘'ere's another *O.D. come to join your mess.’ 1962Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 83/1 O.D. Naval colloquialism for ordinary seaman. OS or Ord is the official abbreviation.
1926J. Malcolm Agric. Surveying v. 123 The datum adopted in the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, denoted by the letters *O.D., was what was considered in 1844 to be mean sea level at Liverpool... The new datum is mean sea level at Newlyn. 1956Railway Mag. Mar. 185/2 The top of the wall at the Barmouth end is 35 ft. above Ordnance Datum, dropping to 28 ft. above O.D. at the slipway. 1972L. Alcock By South Cadbury ii. 25 Roughly one quarter of the hill-top, lying above four hundred and ninety feet O.D., forms a broad summit ridge.
1972Times 5 June 22/6 *OD. not infrequently causes strong reactions among managers. 1976Blake & Mouton (title) Diary of an OD man.
1930Walker & Crocker Piping Handbk. iv. 293 In sizes 14 in. and upward pipe is designated by its outside diameter (*O.D.) and the wall thickness is specified. 1963H. R. Clauser Encycl. Engin. Materials 120/1 Non⁓ferrous castings are produced commercially in o.d.'s ranging from about 1 in. to 6 ft. 1967Electronics 6 Mar. 15/2 (Advt.), The screw-on has an OD of only 1/8 inch with a mated length of only one inch.
1960R. G. Reisner Jazz Titans 162 *O.D., an overdose of narcotics. 1971Black World Apr. 38/1 A truly brilliant Black filmmaker goes into his grave at 24..an O.D. takes him, he loses a battle of several years—the ‘stuff’ wins. 1972Telegraph (Brisbane) 17 Oct. 70/6 A fatal dosage of drugs—O.D. (successful overdose).
1970S. O'Callaghan Drug Addiction in Britain xii. 151 Diana has O.D.'d and she's dead.
1969R. De Sola Abbrev. Dict. (rev. ed.) 196/1 *Od'd, overdosed (dope addict). 1973Black World Aug. 55/1 The garbage collectors found Little Prez in the alley near Six-trey, OD'd away, layin' there cool and stiff.
1839Picayune (New Orleans) in Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 5 Oct. 368/3 Why, that in French, is nothing but *O.D.V. 1886H. Baumann Londinismen 124/1 O.D.V.,..Branntwein, Spiritus. 1965Acronyms & Initialisms Dict. (Gale Research Co.) 530 ODV, taken from pronunciation of French eau-de-vie and used to refer to brandy.
1960Times 25 Nov. 10/7 The 20 members of *O.E.C.D. are the 18 full members of O.E.E.C., together with the United States and Canada. 1971Power Farming Mar. 15/1 European standards, issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (O.E.C.D.) and the European Committee of Associations of Manufacturers of Agricultural Machinery (C.E.M.A.).
1898Morris Austral English p. xviii, The practice of the ‘*O.E.D.’ has been followed in this respect. 1962New Yorker 10 Mar. 132/2 The compositor..who began setting type for the O.E.D. in 1884 and was still at it when the last volume came off the presses in 1928. 1973Daily Tel. 20 Oct. 11/5 The word hoax..at present connotes more of the mischief than of the humour mentioned in the O.E.D.'s leisurely definition. 1976Times 15 Apr. 13/8 ‘Fanatical’, in the strict OED sense of the word, is surely..appropriate..to describe those serried ranks.
1948News Chron. 13 Sept. 1/2 The job they were doing had been given them by *O.E.E.C. 1964Listener 13 Aug. 222/2, I was nearly four years chairman of what was then called the O.E.E.C.
1965Economist 17 Apr. 297/1 The testimony of..the head of the Office of Economic Opportunity, revived the emotions of last year, when Congress established the *OEO. 1974Black Panther 16 Mar. 4/3 Congressman Dellums is co-sponsor of a tax reform measure that will work to the same end and has fought to save the programs that were funded through the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).
1961Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 6 May 71/3 (Advt.), Each spacecraft in the *OGO series will be capable of carrying up to 50 selected scientific experiments in a single flight. 1969Times 4 June 5/1 The satellite being prepared for launch tomorrow..is the sixth and last of Orbiting Geophysical Observatories (OGO). 1974McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 346/2 Figure 2 shows an altitude-density profile through the plasmasphere measured by the Ogo 5 satellite.
1932*O.H.C. [see O.H.V. below]. 1954P. H. Smith Design & Tuning of Competition Engines iv. 57 The merits of the double o.h.c. arrangement lie mainly in the substitution of rotary for reciprocating motion right up to the valves. 1977Drive Sept.–Oct. 113/1 Ohc, overhead camshaft.
1895Brewer's Dict. Phr. & Fable (new ed.) 904/2 *O.H.M.S., On His (or Her) Majesty's Service. 1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 338/2 In accordance with the provisions of the Post Office Protection Acts, Envelopes with ‘O.H.M.S.’ or ‘On His Majesty's Service’, will only be supplied to those persons who have authority to use them. 1952L. Durrell Spirit of Place (1969) 115, I think one or two white lined notebooks, official Foreign Office Stationery labelled OHMS. 1972P. Cleife Slick & Dead i. i. 17 Nearly all the flying I've done has been O.H.M.S. I don't think I go much on civil operations.
1932F. J. Camm Motor Car Upkeep i. 15 (caption) Three common types of Valve Gear: Side-by-side, overhead valve (*O.H.V.), operated by rocker, and overhead valves (O.H.C.), operated by camshaft. 1958Engineering 28 Feb. 265/1 It is a two-door all-steel saloon of unit construction with..a flat twin air-cooled o.h.v. 600 c.c. four⁓stroke engine. 1968Burdett & Ellis Motor Vehicle Mechanics' Course II. v. 102 The filling of the cylinder is much improved by this design, particularly where the O.H.V. is placed towards the other side of the chamber.
1949Joint Matric. Board Exam. for G.C.E. 1951 6 If a language is to be specially approved..at the *O level. 1959Times 3 June 8/1 O level in any subject was ‘very O’. 1974Times 6 July 21/3 (Advt.), Expense account—plus {pstlg}25 for an ‘O’ level man 17–22.
1961Listener 26 Oct. 659/2 The {pstlg}6-odd offered (per week) by banks and post offices, etc., to sixteen-year-old ‘*O’ levellers.
1949Educ. in 1948, 44 (caption) in Parl. Papers 1948–9 (Cmd. 7724) XIV. 345 *O.N.C. 1962in H. O. Beecheno Introd. Business Stud. p. iii, Mr. Beecheno has written a comprehensive introduction to the commercial world. It is intended particularly for the ONC and HNC student. 1977P. Carter Under Goliath xv. 79 ‘Our Billy got the G.C.E.,’ I said. ‘And the O.N.C. He is going in for the Higher National now.’
1958Listener 6 Nov. 732/1 ‘O.o.o’ means ‘one owner only’, whereas ‘*o.n.o.’ means ‘or near offer’. 1973Country Gentlemen's Mag. Mar. 183/1 Coffee set, thirteen pieces, {pstlg}5 o.n.o. plus postage. 1977Drive Sept.–Oct. 113/1 Ono, or nearest offer.
1923Man. Seamanship (Admiralty) II. ii. 48 Any man discovering a fire..is to send a message to the *O.O.W. immediately. 1958Spectator 1 Aug. 169/3, I hear that the archaic and old-fashioned Officer of the Watch (briefly, OOW) is to be changed to Period Progress and Procedure Organiser and Overseer.
1815Byron Let. to Moore 12 June, Which will end in an *O.P. combustion. 1825Hone Every-day Bk. I. 603 Perry's firemen, who nightly assisted John Kemble's ‘What d'ye want’ during the ‘O.P. row’ at Covent-garden theatre. 1876W. H. Pollock Drama in Contemp. Rev. June 72 The disturbance was hardly less than that of the O.P. riots in England.
1790T. Wilkinson Mem. II. 226 So, on their not complying with my expectations and proposals, we parted with mutual disdain, rage, and anger at *O.P. and P.S. 1836–9Dickens Sk. Boz, Scenes xiii, That gentleman..lounging behind the stage-box on the O.P. side. 1892Pall Mall G. 5 Dec. 3/1 [They] occupied the box next the stage on the o.p. side. 1919Wodehouse My Man Jeeves 45 Lady Malvern was a hearty..female,..measuring about six feet from the *O.P. to the Prompt Side. 1933O.P. [see flood n. 7].
1874G. Walch Head over Heels (Tasmania) 21 Old Mills soon took to tasting *O.P. rum in pints and gills. Ibid. 42 ‘Pshaw’, cried Sandy (Clan MacTavish) In his beautiful O.P. Scotch.
1859G. Simpson Let. 19 Nov. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1954) III. 209 He says you tell him Clerical Scenes is *O.P. 1921A. Bennett Let. 4 Sept. (1966) I. 296 It seems to me that..The Old Wives' Tale ought not to be o.p.
1916F. M. Ford Let. 23 Aug. (1965) 69 George V..really was in some danger. At least he was in an *O.P. that was being shelled fairly heavily. 1972L. Lamb Picture Frame ii. 20 Gerry's no fool, but we don't think our o.p. has been rumbled.
1960Times 15 Sept. 11/4 The conference adopted the (Iraq) proposal to establish an ‘Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries’... The five participating states are founder-members of *O.P.E.C. 1975Petroleum Economist Aug. 282/1 For eighteen months the problem of OPEC's surplus oil revenues has occupied the minds of western statesmen, bankers and economists.
1916War Illustr. 7 Oct. 185/1 A French ‘*O-Pip’ in the Hills. 1919J. Masefield Battle of Somme 88 Some of them were quite good trees, and we had an O. Pip in one of them (artillery observation post). 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 49 O pip, an Observation Post of the Field Artillery. [‘Pip’ stood for ‘P’ in the services' phonetic alphabet.]
1901‘J. Flynt’ World of Graft iv. 169 It cost me nothing to play the game, because I played it with *O.P.M. (other people's money). 1969Time 15 Aug. 60 No institution manages more ‘O.P.M.’, or Other People's Money, than Manhattan's 116-year-old United States Trust Co.
1946J. Jewkes in Manch. Sch. Econ. & Social Stud. XIV. 4 Of two industries that with the higher *O.P.M. is not necessarily the more efficient. Ibid. 5 O.P.M. may always be increased by installing new machinery but it may be the quickest way to the bankruptcy court. 1969New Scientist 5 June 543 The UK with much higher R & D spending..had only a third of Japan's growth in output per man (OPM) employed.
1953Operational Research Q. IV. 72 The evolution of *O.R...is reflected by the number of publications. 1960Times 17 Mar. 2/7 We shall require evidence of experience in either O.R. or cybernetics. 1964T. W. McRae Impact of Computers on Accounting v. 118 A good number of O.R. problems can be solved by using nothing more powerful than a desk calculator. 1969J. Argenti Managem. Techniques 107 Courses on OR designed for managers.
1942Partridge Dict. Abbrev. 72/1 *O.R., other ranks, i.e. ranks other than officers. 1947J. Bertram Shadow of War vii. ii. 217 The heavy work in the camp was done by N.C.O.s and O.R.s., known as ‘camp-employed’. 1967J. Porter Chinks in Curtain xv. 147, I..tried to invoke the officer/O.R. relationship.
1964Economist 30 May 945/2 The new [French] broadcasting service will be called *ORTF, Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française. 1969Listener 27 Mar. 410/2 The ORTF is never happier than with the state visit to Paris of the President of some French-speaking African statelet. 1977Rep. Comm. Future of Broadcasting ii. 15 In France, years of feuding between government and broadcasters led in 1974 to the dissolution of the ORTF.
1894Gloss. Terms Evidence R. Comm. Labour 60/1 in Parl. Papers 1893–4 (C. 7063) XXXVIII. 411, *O.S., an abbreviation for ‘ordinary seaman’. 1908Army & Navy Gaz. 7 Nov. 1066/1 The two marines, a stoker, and an O.S. caged like rats in a trap. 1914C. F. Tweney Dict. Naval & Mil. Terms 164 O.S., Ordinary Seaman; one who has undergone training as a ship's boy, but who is not fully qualified as a seaman.
1962*O.S. [see O.D. above]. 1962Punch 10 Oct. 534/3 A good submarine forest, marked on the OS map. 1971A. Hunter Gently at Gallop ii. 20 At the summit of the rise..stood an O.S. triangulation pedestal.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 768/1 *O.S. Night Dresses... O.S. Chemises. 1927Daily Express 3 Nov. 7 Forty inches at the hips would be O.S. A woman with 60 inches at the hips would be O.O.S., or extra outsize. 1973Country Gentlemen's Mag. Mar. 184/1 For sale owing to loss of weight, full length O.S. evening dress, deep mauve velvet..will accept {pstlg}15.
1971New Acronyms & Initialisms (Gale Research Co.) 56/1 *OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970). OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Department of Labor). 1975V. Bush (title) Safety in the construction industry: OSHA. 1976G. & H. Matwes (title) A retailer's guide to OSHA.
1938Times 2 Feb. 18/1 He could say that it would launch the *O.S.O. on a new programme. 1962Daily Tel. 8 Mar. 19/6 Yesterday the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched..the first of a new series of satellites, the orbiting solar observatories. The first was called OSO-1. 1971McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 301 Each OSO contains instruments that monitor the UV and x-ray radiation emitted by the entire solar disk.
1943Newsweek 25 Jan. 26/2 *OSS is the planning agency in psychological warfare for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1972K. Benton Spy in Chancery viii. 83 We were together in Italy at the end of the war. I was in the OSS and he'd switched over to MI 6.
1964Horsemen's Jrnl. Jan. 69/2 The political sponsors of the bill have figures and plans on how to ‘cut-up’ the tax dollar taken through *O.T.B. 1971New Yorker 31 July 65 Seems that the OTB computers that are linked with those at the race track developed a colic or something, and wagers at the fourteen shops around town had to be recorded manually. 1975Ibid. 16 June 101/2 The OTB shops around town took in $2,442,589, of which $1,649,591 was bet on the Belmont.
1909Captain XXI. p. xiv/1 Senior Divisions of the *O.T.C. 1974‘M. Innes’ Mysterious Commission xiv. 124 He had also done rather well in what, during his public-school days, had still been called the O.T.C.
1955Times 12 Aug. 8/6 The United States Congress rose without voting on President Eisenhower's proposal for entry into the *O.T.C., and it cannot now be dealt with until next year.
1965Acronyms & Initialisms Dict. (Gale Research Co.) 543 *OTC, over-the-counter (Pharmacy). 1968Wall Street Jrnl. 1 May 24/3 (heading) Bunker Ramo to make an automated system for O-T-C quotations. 1972N.Y. Law Jrnl. 10 Oct. 3/1 The information required..to permit a broker to quote an OTC security. 1974M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. ii. 20 Nonprescription (over-the-counter, OTC) sleep-facilitating products. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 4 Sept. 1/3 Fourteen prescription remedies—mostly antihistamines—be sold as nonprescription, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. 1986Times 5 June 15/8 The OTC market is an informal listing of companies whose shares are traded on screens directly between stockbrokers' offices.
1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 3 Oct. 31 At last *O.T.U. and the introduction to real aircraft. 1966Gurnett & Kyte Cassell's Dict. Abbrev. 163/1 O.T.U., Operational Training Unit.
1969Guardian 23 July 9/3 Milton Keynes, seat of the *OU from September. 1975Times 28 Aug. 12/5 The OU campus seems to have a strangely insular attitude... Town and gown seldom mix.
1886Oxford Tatler 15 May 35/2 No one will be surprised to hear the *O.U.D.S. does not intend to put another play on the stage this term. 1959Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 9 Mar. 740/2 An O.U.D.S. producer might be a clear bet for the B.B.C., a bridge and chess expert for data-processing. 1976J. Cooper Harriet ii. 18 She'd seen him..in the OUDS production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
1930Times 4 Dec. 15/3 All these arrests are said to have been made by the ‘*O.V.R.A.’, a special section of the police, dependent directly on the Ministry of the Interior. These letters are supposed in some quarters to stand for ‘Organizzazione di Vigilanza Riservata sulle Associazione’, whereas other persons explain the last two initials as standing for ‘Repressione di Anti-Fascismo’. 1941W. Graham Night Journey viii. 98 Supposing the Gestapo cut their agreement with Bonini and communicate with the O.V.R.A. 1958Listener 21 Aug. 278/3 The O.V.R.A. (or Italian secret police) was by no means incompetent. 1961C. F. Delzell Mussolini's Enemies i. 41 The first of these sections was the OVRA, established late in 1927 as a ‘special inspectorate’ with headquarters in Milan, but soon extended throughout the country. The precise meaning of the initials is still uncertain, according to the knowledgeable Guido Leto, who headed the dread agency from 1938 until 1943. [Note] Three interpretations have been suggested: Organizzazione di Vigilanza e Repressione dell'Antifascismo (‘Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism’); Organo di Vigilanza dei Reati Antistatali (‘Organ of Vigilance for Anti-State Crimes’); and Opera Volontaria di Repressione Antifascista (‘Voluntary Agency for Anti-Fascist Repression’).
e. In Chem. o- (usu. italic) signifies ortho- (ortho- 2 b).
1889G. M'Gowan tr. Bernthsen's Text-bk. Org. Chem. xvi. 310 Thus, o-diamido-benzene is that one which results from the reduction of o-dinitro-benzene. 1926A. Davidson Intermediates for Dyestuffs v. 109 o-Tolidine is used in making azo dyes of the same types as those derived from benzidine. 1968R. O. C. Norman Princ. Org. Synthesis xi. 387 The use as a protective group is illustrated by the synthesis of o-nitroaniline. 1971[see m- s.v. M 5].
7. Used with reference to the shape of the letter, as O-ring, a gasket (usu. in the form of a ring) with a circular cross-section.
1955J. Yarwood High Vacuum Technique (ed. 3) i. 60 In many ways, the best solution is the ‘o’ ring gasket made of rubber or, preferably, oil-resisting neoprene cord, of circular cross-section. 1959H. Barnes Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. iv. 182 The sphere [sc. the Deep Sea Benthograph] has five openings, the largest of which is a 15-in. diameter access door closed by a cast steel plate bolted in place and sealed by two neoprene O-rings. 1971C. M. Blow Rubber Technol. & Manuf. x. 443 The O-ring is very widely used, though some designers prefer the rectangular, D, or delta sections. 1975G. Anderson Coring iv. 77 The pycnometer has a breech-locked lid which utilizes an ‘O’ ring for pressure sealing.
▸ OL n.> n. Compounds 3; in (relatively rare) unchanged plural after the Japanese unmarked plural OL; if a plural sense is particularly needed in Japanese, this can be expressed by ō-eru-tachi = office lady n. at office n. Compounds 3; (also) office ladies.
1973Japan Interpreter 8 240 The new crop of shokuba no hana (‘office flowers’) appears regularly every spring to replace older *OL (‘office ladies’) being forced out at the ripe old age of twenty-five or twenty-six. 1987K. Cherry Womansword (1991) 103 OL was chosen in 1963 from the suggestions [for an alternative to BG, ‘business girl’] mailed in by..readers. 2001T. Parsons One for my Baby xv. 142 Hiroko was an office lady in Tokyo and she still wears the classic OL uniform..even those flesh-coloured tights that OLs seem to favour.
▸ OLTP n. online transaction processing.
1984Computer July 28/3 (table) Commercial Fault-Tolerant Systems... On-line transaction processing (*OLTP); medium to large applications. 2003Bank Syst. & Technol. (Nexis) Apr. 43 The benefits of storage area network (SAN) for applications like data warehousing and OLTP.
▪ II. O, n.1|əʊ|
[From resemblance in shape to the letter O: see prec.]
1. The Arabic zero or cipher 0; hence, a cipher, a mere nothing.
1605Shakes. Lear i. iv. 212 Now thou art an O without a figure, I am better then thou art now; I am a Foole, thou art nothing. 1649Milton Eikon. xxvii. Wks. (1851) 513 To be..cast away like so many Naughts in Arithmetick, unless it be to turne the O of thir insignificance into a lamentation with the people. 1863J. Thomson Sunday at Hampstead ix. 24 The ring is round, Life naught, the world an O.
2. a. (Pl. 7 oaes, oos, 7– oes.) Anything round, as a circle, round spot, orb. Also Comb.
Giotto's O, the perfect circle which the Italian painter Giotto is said to have thrown off free hand.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 45 O that your face were full of Oes. 1590― Mids. N. iii. ii. 188 Faire Helena; who more engilds the night, Then all yon fierie oes, and eies of light. 1599― Hen. V, i. Chorus 13 Or may we cramme Within this Wooden O, the very Caskes That did affright the Ayre of Agincourt. 1838Carlyle Misc. Ess., Scott. (1872) VI. 68 There is..the free dash of a master's hand ‘round as the O of Giotto’ [cf. note]. Ibid. 72 It was..necessary that these works should be produced rapidly; and, round or not, be thrown off like Giotto's O. 1864Browning Confessions vii, Their eyes might strain And stretch themselves to Oes. 1865Le Fanu Guy Dev. I. xiii. 169 His lips severed themselves unconsciously into a small o. 1869Ruskin Q. of Air iii. 168, I saw..that the practical teaching of the masters of Art was summed by the O of Giotto. 1883G. Hay Round about the Round O, The round O. A name given by seamen to a St. Catherine wheel window, 12 ft. in diameter, in the gable of the south transept of the ruined Abbey of Arbroath.
attrib.1884Illustr. Lond. News Christm. No. 19/1 Beady eyes and an O mouth. 1917‘H. H. Richardson’ Fortunes R. Mahony iii. iii. 196 He stood o-mouthed and absent-minded.
†b. spec. (pl.) Small circular spangles used to ornament dress in the 17th c. Obs.
1611Cotgr., Parpillottes, Spangles, or Oes. 1613Chapman Masque of Inns of Court Plays 1873 III. 94 A vaile of net lawne, enbrodered with Oos and Spangl'd. 1625Bacon Ess., Masques (Arb.) 540 Oes, or Spangs, as they are of no great Cost, so they are of most Glory. 1683Chalkhill Thealma & Cl. 75 Here and there gold Oaes 'mong Pearls she strew.
3. Name of one of several gauges of track in model railways: specifically 32 mm.; so O gauge. Also OO, 16½ mm., OOO, 10 mm., etc.
1905W. Ives Something for Boys 3 Rails, crossings, switches, with automatic lock action. No. O gauge, 13/8 in. 1922Everyday Science Nov. 441/1 (heading) No. OO gauge model ‘table’ railways. Ibid., I am pleased to see that a small gauge, i.e., ‘oo’ gauge, railway, is to be placed on the market shortly. 1924H. Greenly Model Railways i. 3 A plan is given of Mr. H. L. Stevens' No. O gauge railway. Ibid. vi. 103 No. OO Gauge ‘Table’ Railways.—This standard gauge has been recently introduced by the writer..to provide for those who are limited in space to that of an ordinary dining-room table... The actual gauge is 16 mm. (5/8 in.). 1932P. Bloomfield Imaginary Worlds ii. 34 Pretending..that our O gauge railway round the nursery floor is really the line taken by the ‘Flying Scotsman’. 1967C. J. Freezer Model Railway Terminol. 3, O. Gauge: 32 mm. Scale: 7 mm. Limited commercial support, but..in a flourishing condition. Ibid., OO. Gauge: 16·5 mm. Scale: 4 mm. The most popular gauge in Britain. Fully supported commercially with ample selection of models.
Add:4. Comb. 0800 number, (pronounced |əʊ eɪt ˈhʌndrəd nʌmbə(r)|, a U.K. telephone number with the prefix 0800 which allows customers to call a business or information service without charge to themselves (cf. *eight hundred number n.; *Freefone n.).
1988Financial Times 8 Mar. 16/3 BT's services..include the Linkline *0800 number which enables calls from anywhere in the UK to be put through free of charge to the caller. 1993Times 17 July (Mag.) 44/2 You wander up to a phone or payphone, dial an 0800 number, press the transmit button on your little barcode-scanning smartcard, which carries out a brief encrypted conversation with the machine at the other end, and you cast your vote.
▪ III. O, n.3
see O int.
▪ IV. O, int. (n.1, v.)|əʊ|
[A natural (or what now seems a natural) exclamation, expressive of feeling. OE. had neither ó!, nor á! (which would have phonetically given ME. ô!). Not in OHG., or early ON.; in Goth., prob. from Greek; in MHG. and later (Christian) Norse, prob. from Latin. In early ME. 12th c., app. from L. (or ? Fr.); but often varying with A!, esp. in northern writers. Wyclif has O (or A) only when O is in the Vulgate. In OE., Lat. O was rendered by lá or éalá.]
1. Standing before a n. in the vocative relation.
c1205Lay. 17126 O Aurilie þe king, þu fræinest me a sellic þing. a1225Leg. Kath. 1453 O mihti meiden! O witti wummon!.. O schene nebschaft & schape se swiðe semlich. a1225Ancr. R. 54 O mine leoue sustren, hwu Eue haueð monie douhtren þe uoluweð hore moder. a1300Sarmun xxxii. in E.E.P. (1862) 4 O sinful man wo worþ þi rede whan al þis wrech sal be for þe. 1340Ayenb. 93 O god, hou is nou grat þe mochelhede of þine zuetnesse. 1382Wyclif Ps. cxvii[i]. 25 O! Lord [Vulg. O domine] mac me saf, O! Lord, weel be thou welsum [most MS. in both places A!]. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1439 O chaste goddesse of the wodes grene. 1535Coverdale Ps. lix. [lx.] 1 O God thou yt hast cast vs out [Wyclif God, thou hast put vs abac]. 1563–87Foxe A. & M. (1596) 73/1 We are, ô emperor, your souldiors. 1611Bible Ps. cxlvii. 12 Praise the Lord, O Ierusalem: praise thy God, O Zion. 1742H. Carey Loyal Song ii, O Lord, our God, arise! Scatter our enemies. 1796H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 430 O Eternal! Have mercy upon me, because I am passing away: O Infinite! because I am but a speck. 1850Tennyson In Mem. iv. 5 O heart, how fares it with thee now?
2. In other connexions, or without construction, expressing, according to intonation, various emotions, as appeal, entreaty, surprise, pain, lament, etc.
In this use, in 17th and 18th c., often written oh (q.v.); but this form is now usual only when the exclamation is quite detached from what follows (see oh); O being used with an imperative, optative, or exclamatory sentence or phrase, as in O take me back again! O would I were there! O that I might see him! O for another glimpse of it! O the pity of it! O dear me! O dear! O me!; often also in O yes, O no, O indeed, O really, and the like.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 21 O, seið þus þe boc, wei þet he eure hit wule iþenche in his þonke. a1225Ancr. R. 246 O muchel is, he seið, þe mihte of schir & of clene bone. Ibid. 280 O, þouhte ure Louerd þet al þis biheold, I schal don [etc.]. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 861 O. O! my frendez so fre, your fare is to strange. 1388Wyclif Rom. xi. 33 O! the heiȝnesse of the ritchessis of the wisdom and of the kunnyng of God [1382 A! 1526 Tindale, etc. O]. 1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye 91 Thys hympne begynneth wyth O{ddd}here yt meanyth praysynge and meruelynge, as when a man seyth or heryth a thynge that ys ryghte meruaylous, he sayeth..O. what ys thys, or such other. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 b, O, who wolde not be there? 1535Coverdale Ps. liv. [lv.] 6 O that I had wynges like a doue. a1610Healey Epictetus (1636) 46 Woe is mee! O mee most wretched man! 1611Heywood Gold. Age ii. i. Wks. 1874 III. 23 Whence (ô whence ye Gods) Are all yon grones? 1667Milton P.L. iv. 715 Pandora, whom the Gods Endowd with all their gifts, and O too like In sad event. a1748Watts Improv. Mind (1801) 325 But O! how exceedingly difficult it is. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xxii, O misery! ‘Where’, cried I, ‘where are my little ones?’ 1792Burns ‘What can a Yng. Lassie’ iii, O, dool on the day I met wi' an auld man! 1816Scott Antiq. xxxi, O dear, my poor Steenie, the pride o' my very heart. 1833H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. i. 22 O no, Enoch protested; it was..quite out of the question. 1837― Soc. Amer. III. 48 O, but we all live beyond our incomes. 1842Tennyson ‘Break, break’ iii, O for the touch of a vanish'd hand. 1850― In Mem. xxxv, O me, what profits it to put An idle case? 1865Whitman Manhattan Arming iv, It's O for a manly life in the camp!
3. In ballads (chiefly Sc.) added after the rime-word at the end of a line. App. identical in origin with a int.4, as in the Shakespearian ‘the stile-a’, ‘a mile-a’, the a being at length treated as int.
In quot. 1859, from the usage of street cries.
1724–7Ramsay The Mill-O iv, O! the mill, mill-O, and the kill, kill-O, and the cogging of the wheel-O,..And round wi' a soger reel-O! a1775The Barrin' o' the door, O!, It fell about the Martinmas time, An' a gay time it was than, O! [rime pan, O!]. 1781Burns My Nanie, O i, Behind yon hills where Stinchar flows, 'Mang moors an' mosses many, O; The wintry sun the day has clos'd, And I'll awa to Nanie, O. a1810Tannahill ‘Gloomy winter's now awa’ 3 The mavis sings fu' cheery O [rimes dearie O, weary O]. 1830–83R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunt. Songs xxvii. (ed. 7) 81 Stags in the forest lie, hares in the valley-o! 1859Sala Gas-light & D. xvi. 177 The shows at Saville House remained alive O!
B. as n.
1. The interjection considered as a word. So O me, O dear, etc.
1609B. Jonson Case Altered v. i, O me no O's, but hear. 1646Crashaw Sosp. d'Her. xxv, A desperate O me! drew from his deep breast. 1833–6J. Eagles Sketcher (1856) 18 They are not Virgil's Fortunati, with an O and an if, ‘sua si bona norint’. 1849Thackeray Pendennis xxxvii, Many O's of admiration.
2. pl. O's of Advent, the seven Advent Anthems sung on the days next preceding Christmas Eve, each containing a separate invocation to Christ beginning with O, as O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai, etc.
O's of St. Bridget or Fifteen O's, fifteen meditations on the Passion of Christ, composed by St. Bridget, each beginning with O Jesu, or a similar invocation.
1531Hore bte. Marie Virg. 65 b, Thys be the xv. oos the whych the holy virgyn saint brigitta was [wonte] to say dayly befor the holy roode. 1547Homilies i. Good Wks. iii. (1859) 62 Other kinds of papistical superstitions and abuses, as of Beads, of Lady Psalters and Rosaries, of Fifteen Os. 1729Jacob Law Dict. s.v. 1885Catholic Dict. (ed. 3) 13/2 The seven greater antiphons or anthems..called the O's of Advent. 1896Fortn. Rev. LIX. 131 These feasts were called O's, because at vespers on these days the anthems all began with O. |