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opposite, a., n. (adv., prep.)|ˈɒpəzɪt|
Also 4–8 opposit, (5 -yt), 5 oposyte, (5–6 erron. apposite).
[a. F. opposite adj. and n. (13th c. in Godef. Compl.), ad. L. opposit-us, pa. pple. of oppōnĕre: see oppone, oppose.]
A. adj.
1. a. Placed or lying over against something on the other or farther side of an intervening line, space, or thing; contrary in position. Const. to, from, † against.
Said of the two ends or sides of a line in relation to each other, and of two points on these sides, the line joining which would intersect the given line at right angles; also, of the two sides of a quadrilateral or elongated figure which are more or less parallel, or of any object having such a figure, and of two points in these sides, the line joining which would intersect the axis of the figure at right angles. In a quadrilateral, opposite sides are distinguished from adjacent sides which meet in an angle; opposite angles are at the two ends of a diagonal. In a circle opposite points are at the ends of any diameter. Opposite sides of a street, courtyard, or the like, face each other, but opposite sides of a building face directly away from each other; the opposite angles formed by two intersecting straight lines also lie in contrary directions; hence the notion of opposite directions in 2.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §6 The nadir of the sonne is thilke degree þat is opposit to the degree of the sonne. 1474Caxton Chesse iv. ii. K j, On the lifte side the foure holden the places opposite. 1549[see opposition 3]. 1551Recorde Cast. Knowl. 153 Then are they [the sun and moon] right opposite, the one against the other. 1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. Advt., A large Bay which..in the end receives a stop..by an opposite shore. 1660Barrow Euclid i. xv, If two right lines cut thro' one another, then are the two angles which are opposite equal one to the other. Ibid. xxxiv, In parallelograms the opposite sides are equal each to other; and the opposite angles are also equal. 1706Phillips, Opposite Cones (in Geom.), two Cones of the like Quality, that are vertically opposite, and have the same common Axis. Opposite Sections, are the two Hyperbola's, made by a Plane cutting both those Cones. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 145 It is quite round,..two persons directly opposite to each other, and whispering close to the wall, may converse with each other, without being over-heard by the company in the middle. 1796E. Parsons Myst. Warning III. 147 A larger apartment, that overlooked the opposite side of the Castle from that which he had entered at. 1840–1F. E. Paget Tales of Village 58 Upon the opposite side of the river from that on which [etc.]. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. vii. 50 At the opposite side of the glacier was the Aiguille Verte.
b. Bot. (a) Situated, as similar parts or organs, in pairs on opposite sides of an axis or intervening body, as leaves on a stem; (b) Situated in front of an organ, so as to come between it and its axis, as a stamen in front of a sepal or petal. Opposed to alternate.
1707Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 87 Plants that have opposite Leaves, as the Sensitive has. 1776–96Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 490 Cistus..anglicus:..leaves hairy, opposite, oblong. 1866Treas. Bot. 817/2 Opposite, placed on opposite sides of some other body or thing and on the same plane. Thus, when leaves are opposite, they are on opposite sides of the stem; when petals are opposite, they are on opposite sides of the flower; and so on.
2. Turned or moving the other way; contrary, reverse.
1594R. Ashley tr. Loys le Roy 8 b, The inhabitants on the one side and the other haue their shadowes opposite. 1801C. Smith Lett. Solit. Wand. I. 72 Which..led..in an opposite direction from that which she had before followed. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. iv. (1879) 144 When we travel in an express train, the objects appear to fly past us in the opposite direction to that in which we are going. Mod. Standing together but looking in opposite directions. Two trains coming from opposite directions met in collision. We started in opposite directions.
3. a. Contrary in nature, character, or tendency; diametrically different. Const. to, from (¶ than).
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 236 So began we to be more opposit in opinions: He graue, I gamesome: he studious, I carelesse. 1604Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 91 You Mistris, That haue the office opposite to Saint Peter, And keepe the gate of hell. 1650Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty 31 Self love takes a clean opposite way, from that of charity. 1754J. Hildrop Misc. Wks. I. 91 They imploy their Wealth and Interest to quite opposite Purposes than were intended by the Grant. 1794Paley Evid. (1825) II. 229 There are two opposite descriptions of character, under which mankind may be classed. 1831Brewster Optics xxxvi. 305 The accidental colour of any particular colour will be the colour exactly opposite that particular colour. Hence the two colours have been called opposite colours. 1870Freeman Norm. Conq. (ed. 2) I. App. 724 His authority will hardly bear up against so many opposite witnesses. 1887M. Arnold Ess. Crit. Ser. ii. viii. (1888) 296 But he is an opportunist of an opposite kind from those who in politics..give themselves this name.
b. With the: that is opposed to something else; the contrary, the other (of two related things of different character).
1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 12 Finds never any fault in their owne side, nor vertue in the opposite. 1711Addison Spect. No. 99 ⁋3 Nothing makes a Woman more esteemed by the opposite Sex than Chastity. 1849James Woodman xiii, After the king's death, you continued in office under the opposite faction.
†4.
a. Opposed in will or action, hostile, antagonistic, adverse. Const. to, against. Obs.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1663) 226 The adversary, who sets himself opposite against the truth. 1589Warner Alb. Eng. Prose Add. (1612) 331 æneas, supposing the Gods to bee yet opposite to the Troians. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 162 Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with seruants. 1620E. Blount Horæ Subs. 490 You shall finde some to flatter..most, when they shew to be most opposite against it. 1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 110 He was opposit to the Monopoly of Warwick's Power. 1737Whiston Josephus, Antiq. xviii. vi, But God proved opposite to his designation.
†b. Of things: Antagonistic, adverse, repugnant. Obs.
1595Shakes. John iii. i. 254 All forme is formelesse, Order orderlesse, Saue what is opposite to Englands loue. 1684N. D. (title) A Rich Treasure at an Easie Rate:..Shewing how Inconsistent Riches is with Piety usually, and how Opposite Poverty is often. 1726–31Tindal tr. Rapin's Hist. Eng. (1743) II. xvii. 67 Preachers exclaimed..against these worldly vanities, as very opposite to true Religion.
5. Comb., as opposite-leaved adj.; opposite number, a person or thing similarly placed in another set, etc., to the given one; a partner, a counterpart; an opponent.
1871Kingsley At Last I. vii. 253 Stems..opposite-leaved, alternate-leaved, leafless, or covered with leaves of every conceivable pattern. 1884Miller Plant-n. 179/1 Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage. 1906Kipling Actions & Reactions (1909) 202 ‘And your Opposite Number?’ Penfentenyou described him. 1915‘Bartimeus’ Tall Ship iv. 84 We were ‘opposite numbers’ at your brother's wedding. 1917Times 7 May 6/2 The establishment of personal contact between Sir William Robertson and his opposite number, General Pétain. 1917E. Wallace Kate plus Ten (1919) vi. 107 Pick up Mr. Pretherston and don't lose him—you may choose your own opposite number. 1927Observer 24 July 4/6 The ‘A.A.'s’ opposite number..the Automobile Association of America..has issued a very interesting map of the United States. 1969Times 13 Mar. 25/2 (caption) The model bison the papermakers' association got from its Polish opposite numbers. 1973J. Rossiter Manipulators xiii. 134 Before leaving for B Division he should have telephoned his opposite number there, clearing his proposed incursion on to another's territory.
B. n. [The adj. used absol., and in some uses scarcely a n.]
†1.
a. = Opposite point, esp. of the heavens. Obs. (Cf. opposition 3.)
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1036 Estward ther stood a gate of Marbul whit, Westward right swich another in the opposit [Corpus MS. in opposite]. 1490Caxton Eneydos xxix. 111 The fayre Iris descendynge..at the oposyte of the sonne. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. v. 133 In eight notable poyntes of heaven, which are the two Poles, the two Equinoxes, the two Solstices, and their opposites in the same Circle.
†b. = Opposite aspect, opposition 3. Obs.
1667Milton P.L. x. 659 Planetarie motions and aspects In Sextile, Square, and Trine, and Opposite.
2. a. That which is opposite or contrary; an object, fact, or quality that is the reverse of something else; often in pl., things the most different of their kind. † in opposite, on the contrary, on the other hand.
1549Compl. Scot. iv. 30 In opposit, Osias vas bot aucht ȝeir of aige quhen he vas vnctit kyng..ȝit he gouuernit veil the cuntre. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. ii. 130 The present pleasure, By reuolution lowring, does become The opposite of it selfe. a1735Arbuthnot State Quacks Misc. Wks. 1751 I. 159 This is that Oedipus, whose Wisdom can reconcile inconsistent Opposites. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xi. 280 Ariel is the extreme opposite of Caliban. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 145 The most extreme opposites have some qualities in common.
b. Logic. An opposite term or proposition; † a contrary argument (obs.).
1588Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. x. 46 b, Opposites are disagreeable argumentes which disagree both in respect and in matter it selfe. 1656Blount Glossogr. s.v., Aristotle makes four kinde of Opposites. 1727–38Chambers Cycl. s.v., Contraries are positive opposites... Such are cold and heat. 1864Bowen Logic vi. 162 The logical doctrine of Opposition shows us what can be immediately inferred as to the truth or falsity of one Judgment, from positing or sublating..one of its Opposites. Ibid. 164 Sub-Contraries can be called ‘opposites’ only in a qualified and technical sense.
3. A person who stands in a relation of opposition to another; an antagonist, adversary, opponent. (Very common in 17th c.: now rare or Obs.)
1423Jas. I Kingis Q. clxx, Though thy begynnyng hath bene retrograde, Be froward opposyt. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. iii. 22 Our foes..Being opposites of such repayring Nature. 1625Cooke Pope Joan in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 56 If their opposites writings were not extant..we had never heard of such an objection. 1675Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 5 Aurelianus..brought Tetricus his opposite, and the brave Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, in triumph to Rome. 1751Johnson Cheynel Wks. IV. 504 Had Cheynel been equal to his adversary in greatness and learning, it had not been easy to have found either a more proper opposite. 1821–30Ld. Cockburn Mem. 159 He would have gone..as far as anybody to tread down his opposites politically. 1874Swinburne Bothwell iv. v. 397 The task was hard with Knox for opposite To bend the council.
C. quasi-adv.
†1. In opposition, by way of counterpoise. Obs.
1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cclii. 374 In lykewyse, opposit to this dede, the kynge of Englande shewed his quarel in Almaygne, and in other places.
2. In an opposite position or direction.
[1667Milton P.L. vi. 128 From his armed Peers Forth stepping opposite, half way he met His daring foe. Ibid. vii. 376 Less bright the Moon, But opposite in leveld West was set His mirror.] 1817Shelley Pr. Athanase ii. i. 38 And Athanase, her child,..sate opposite and gazed. 1896Daily News 5 June 5/4 Several hon. gentlemen opposite.
D. quasi-prep. [ellipt. for opposite to.] Over against; facing or fronting on the other side. (Cf. L. adversus, adversum prep.) Phr. to play etc. opposite: to have (a specified actor or actress) as one's leading man or lady; also to play opposite to (cf. C. above).
1758Goldsm. Mem. Protestant (1895) I. 226 Opposite this Chamber was another. 1771E. Griffith Hist. Lady Barton III. 97, I was sitting..opposite the door of the room. 1834Landor Citation Shakespeare Wks. 1853 II. 274/1 We knelt down opposite each other, and said our prayers. 1892Law Rep. 2 Queen's Bench 535 A number of questions..with a blank opposite each question for the answer. a1903Mod. In a building opposite the Town Hall. 1926J. Agate in Sunday Times 7 Feb. 6/1 ‘Opposite him’, as they say, was Miss Ilise Marvenga, who..made Kathie into a semblance of one of those expensive mechanical dolls with a staccato utterance. 1931P. MacDonald Crime Conductor ii. iv. 178 Mary Wheelwright—England's Première Leading Lady—was not to play ‘opposite’ Kristania in Harlequin's Holiday. 1936Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Oct. 894/3 He was to play ‘opposite to’ Anna Kenney, a very famous figure on the stage. |