Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

ORBICULATION — ORK

ORBICULATION, n. The state of being made in the form of an orb.

ORBIS, ORB-FISH, n. A fish of a circular form. It is covered with a firm hard skin full of small prickles, but is destitute of scales. It is unfit for food.

ORBIT, n. [L. orbita, a trace or track, from orbis, a wheel.]

1. In astronomy, the path of a planet or comet; the curve line which a planet describes in its periodical revolution round its central body; as the orbit of Jupiter or Mercury. The orbit of the earth is nearly one hundred and ninety millions of miles in diameter. The orbit of the moon is 480,000 miles in diameter. The orbits of the planets are elliptical.

2. A small orb. [Not proper.]

3. In anatomy, the cavity in which the eye is situated.

ORBITAL, ORBITUAL, a. Pertaining to the orbit. [Orbital is the preferable word.]

ORBITUDE, ORBITY, n. [L. orbitas.] Bereavement by loss of parents or children. [Little used.]

ORBY, a. [from orb.] Resembling an orb.

ORC, n. [L. orea; Gr.] A sea-fish, a species of whale.

The Delphinus orca is the grampus.

ORCHAL, ORCHEL, ORCHIL, [See Archil.]

ORCHANET, n. A plant, [Anchusa tinctoria.]

ORCHARD, n. [See Yard.]

An inclosure for fruit trees. In Great Britain, a department of the garden appropriated to fruit trees of all kinds, but chiefly to apple trees. In America, any piece of land set with apple trees, is called an orchard; and orchards are usually cultivated land, being either grounds for mowing or tillage. In some parts of the country, a piece of ground planted with peach trees is called a peach orchard. But in most cases, I believe the orchard in both countries is distinct from the garden.

ORCHARDING, n.

1. The cultivation of orchards.

2. Orchards in general.

ORCHARDIST, n. One that cultivates orchards.

ORCHESTER, ORCHESTRA, n. [L. orchestra; Gr. a dancer, to dance; originally, the place for the chorus of dancers.]

1. The part of a theater or other public place appropriated to the musicians. In the Grecian theaters, the orchester was a part of the stage; it was of a semicircular form and surrounded with seats. In the Roman theaters, it was no part of the scena, but answered nearly to the pit in modern play houses, and was occupied by senators and other persons of distinction.

2. The body of performers in the orchester.

ORCHESTRAL, a. [supra.] Pertaining to an orchester; suitable for or performed in the orchester.

ORCHIS, n. [L. orchis; Gr.] A genus of plants, called fool-stones.

ORD, n. An edge or point; as in ordhelm.

Ord signifies beginning; as in ords and ends.

ORDAIN, v.t. [L. ordino, from ordo, order.]

1. Properly, to set; to establish in a particular office or order; hence, to invest with a ministerial function or sacerdotal power; to introduce and establish or settle in the pastoral office with the customary forms and solemnities; as, to ordain a minister of the gospel. In America, men are ordained over a particular church and congregation, or as evangelists without the charge of a particular church, or as deacons in the episcopal church.

2. To appoint; to decree.

Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month. 1 Kings 12:32.

As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Acts 13:48.

3. To set; to establish; to institute; to constitute.

Mulmutius ordained our laws.

4. To set apart for an office; to appoint.

Jesus ordained twelve that they should be with him. Mark 3:14.

5. To appoint; to prepare.

For Tophet is ordained of old. Isaiah 30:33.

ORDAINABALE, a. That may be appointed.

ORDAINED, pp. Appointed; instituted; established; invested with ministerial or pastoral functions; settled.

ORDAINER, n. One who ordains, appoints or invests with sacerdotal powers.

ORDAINING, ppr. Appointing; establishing; investing with sacerdotal or pastoral functions.

ORDEAL, n. [The last syllable is deal, to divide or distribute. The sense of the prefix is less obvious. But the real sense is not obvious. The practice of ordeal however seems to have had its origin in the belief that the substances used had each its particular presiding deity that had perfect control over it.]

1. An ancient form of trial to determine guilt or innocence, practiced by the rude nations of Europe, and still practiced in the East Indies. In England, the ordeal was of two sorts, fire-ordeal and water-ordeal; the former being confined to persons of higher rank, the latter to the common people. Both might be performed by deputy, but the principal was to answer for the success of the trial.

Fire-ordeal was performed either by taking in the hand a piece of red hot iron, or by walking barefoot and blindfold over nine red hot plowshares laid lengthwise at unequal distances; and if the person escapes unhurt, he was adjudged innocent, otherwise he was condemned as guilty.

Water-ordeal was performed, either by plunging the bare arm to the elbow in boiling water, or by casting the person suspected into a river or pond of cold water and if he floated without an effort to swim, it was an evidence of guilt, but if he sunk he was acquitted.

Both in England and Sweden, the clergy presided at this trial. It was at last condemned as unlawful by the canon law, and in England it was abolished by an order in council of Henry III.

It is probably our proverbial phrase, to go through fire and water, denoting severe trial or danger, is derived from the ordeal; as also the trial of witches by water.

2. Severe trial; accurate scrutiny.

ORDER, n. [L. ordo.]

1. Regular disposition or methodical arrangement of things; a word of extensive application; as the order of troops or parade; the order of books in a library; the order of proceedings in a legislative assembly. Order is the life of business.

Good order is the foundation of all good things.

2. Proper state; as the muskets are all in good order. When the bodily organs are in order, a person is in health; when they are out of order, he is indisposed.

3. Adherence to the point in discussion, according to established rules of debate; as, the member is not in order, that is, he wanders from the question.

4. Established mode of proceeding. The motion is not in order.

5. Regularity; settled mode of operation.

This fact could not occur in the order of nature; it is against the natural order of things.

6. Mandate; precept; command; authoritative direction. I have received an order from the commander in chief. The general gave orders to march. There is an order of council to issue letters of marque.

7. Rule; regulation; as the rules and orders of a legislative house.

8. Regular government or discipline. It is necessary for society that good order should be observed. The meeting was turbulent; it was impossible to keep order.

9. Rank; class; division of men; as the order of nobles; the order of priests; the higher orders of society; men of the lowest order; order of knights; military orders, etc.

10. A religious fraternity; as the order of Benedictines.

11. A division of natural objects, generally intermediate between class and genus. The classes, in the Linnean artificial system, are divided into orders, which include one or more genera. Linne also arranged vegetables, in his natural system, into groups of genera, called order. In the natural system of Jussieu, orders are subdivisions of classes.

12. Measures; care. Take some order for the safety and support of the soldiers.

Provide me soldiers whilst I take order for my own affairs.

13. In rhetoric, the placing of words and members in a sentence in such a manner as to contribute to force and beauty of expression, or to the clear illustration of the subject.

14. The title of certain ancient books containing the divine office and manner of its performance.

15. In architecture, a system of several members, ornaments and proportions of columns and pilasters; or a regular arrangement of the projecting parts of a building, especially of the columns, so as to form one beautiful whole. The orders are five, the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The order consists of two principal members, the column, and the entablature, each of which is composed of three principal parts. Those of the column are the base, the shaft, and the capital; those of the entablature are the architrave, the frize, and the cornice. The height of the Tuscan column is 14 modules or semidiameters of the shaft at the bottom, and that os the entablature 3 1/2. The height of the Doric order is 16 modules and that of the entablature 4; that of the Ionic is 18 modules, and that of the entablature 4 1/2, that of the Corinthian order is 20 modules, and that of the entablature 5. The height of the Composite order agrees with that of the Corinthian.

In orders, set apart for the performance divine service; ordained to the work of the gospel ministry.

In order, for the purpose; to the end; as means to an end. The best knowledge is that which is of the greatest use in order to our eternal happiness.

General orders, the commands or notices which a military commander in chief issues to the troops under his command.

ORDER, v.t.

1. To regulate; to methodize; to systemize; to adjust; to subject to system in management and execution; as, to order domestic affairs with prudence.

2. To lead; to conduct; to subject to rules or laws.

To him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God. Psalm 50:23.

3. to direct; to command. the general ordered his troops to advance.

4. To manage; to treat.

How shall we order the child? Judges 13:12.

5. To ordain. [Not used.]

6. To direct; to dispose in any particular manner.

Order my steps in thy word. Psalm 119:133.

ORDER, v.i. to give command or direction.

ORDERED, pp. Regulated; methodized; disposed; commanded; managed.

ORDERER, n.

1. One that gives orders.

2. One that methodizes or regulates.

ORDERING, ppr. Regulating; systemizing; commanding; disposing.

ORDERING, n. Disposition; distribution. 1 Chronicles 24:19.

ORDERLESS, a. Without regularity; disorderly; out of rule.

ORDERLINESS, n. [from orderly.]

1. Regularity; a state of being methodical.

2. The state of being orderly.

ORDERLY, a.

1. Methodical; regular

2. Observant of order or method.

3. Well regulated; performed in good order; not tumultuous; as an orderly march.

4. According to established method.

5. Not unruly; not inclined to break from inclosures; peaceable. We say, cattle are orderly.

Orderly book, in military affairs, a book for every company, in which the sergeants write general and regimental orders.

Orderly sergeant, a military officer who attends on a superior officer.

ORDERLY, adv. Methodically; according to due order; regularly; according to rule.

ORDINABILITY, n. Capability of being appointed. [Not used.]

ORDINABLE, a. Such as may be appointed. [Not used.]

ORDINAL, a. [L. ordinalis.] Noting order; as the ordinal numbers, first, second, third, etc.

ORDINAL, n.

1. A number noting order.

2. A book containing the order of divine service; a ritual.

ORDINANCE, n.

1. A rule established by authority; a permanent rule of action. An ordinance may be a law or statute of sovereign power. In this sense it is often used in the Scriptures. Exodus 15:25; Numbers 10:8; Ezra 3:10. It may also signify a decree, edict or rescript, and the word has sometimes been applied to the statutes of Parliament, but these are usually called acts or laws. In the United States, it is never applied to the acts of Congress, or of a state legislature.

2. Observance commanded.

3. Appointment.

4. Established rite or ceremony. Hebrews 9:1, 10. In this sense, baptism and the Lord’s supper are denominated ordinances.

ORDINANT, a. [L. ordinans.] Ordaining; decreeing. [Not used.]

ORDINARILY, adv. Primarily, according to established rules or settled method; hence, commonly; usually; in most cases as a winter more than ordinarily severe.

ORDINARY, a. [L. ordinarius.]

1. According to established order; methodical; regular; customary; as the ordinary forms of law or justice.

2. Common; usual.

Method is not less requisite in ordinary conversation than in writing.

3. Of common rank; not distinguished by superior excellence; as an ordinary reader; men of ordinary judgment.

4. Plain; not handsome; as an ordinary woman; a person of an ordinary form; an ordinary face.

5. Inferior; of little merit; as, the book is an ordinary performance.

6. An ordinary seaman is one not expert or fully skilled.

ORDINARY, n.

1. In the common and canon law, one who has ordinary or immediate jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge. In England, the bishop of the diocese is commonly the ordinary, and the archbishop is the ordinary of the whole province. The ordinary of assizes and sessions was formerly a deputy of the bishop, appointed to give malefactors their neck-verses. The ordinary of Newgate is one who attends on condemned malefactors to prepare them for death.

2. Settled establishment.

3. Regular price of a meal.

4. A place of eating where the prices are settled.

5. The establishment of persons employed by government to take charge of ships of war laid up in harbors. Hence a ship in ordinary is one laid up under the direction of the master attendant.

In ordinary, in actual and constant service; statedly attending and serving; as a physician or chaplain in ordinary. An embassador in ordinary, is one constantly resident at a foreign court.

ORDINATE, v.t. To appoint. [Not used.]

ORDINATE, a. [L. ordinatus.] Regular; methodical. An ordinate figure is one whose sides and angles are equal.

ORDINATE, n. In geometry and conic sections, a line drawn from any point of the circumference of an ellipsis or other conic section, perpendicularly across the axis to the other side.

An ordinate is a line drawn perpendicular to the axis of a curve and terminating the curvilinear space.

Ordinates of a curve, right lines parallel to one another, terminated by the curve, and bisected by a right line called the diameter.

ORDINATELY, adv. In a regular methodical manner.

ORDINATION, n. [L. ordinatio.]

1. The state of being ordained or appointed; established order or tendency consequent on a decree.

Virtue and vice have a natural ordination to the happiness and misery of life respectively.

2. The act of conferring holy orders or sacerdotal power; called also consecration.

3. In the presbyterian and congregational churches, the act of settling or establishing a licensed cleryman over a church and congregation with pastoral charge and authority; also, the act of conferring on a clergyman the powers of a settled minister of the gospel, without the charge or oversight of a particular church, but with the general powers of an evangelist, who is authorized to form churches and administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, wherever he may be called to officiate.

ORDINATIVE, a. Directing; giving order.

ORDNANCE, n. [from ordinance.] Cannon or great guns, mortars and howitzers; artillery.

ORDONNANCE, n. In painting, the disposition of the parts of a picture, either in regard to the whole piece or to the several parts.

ORDURE, n. Dung; excrements.

ORE, n. [L. as, aris, brass.]

1. The compound of a metal and some other substance, as oxygen, sulphur or carbon, called its mineralizer, by which its properties are disguised or lost. Metals found free from such combination and exhibiting naturally their appropriate character, are not called ores, but native metals.

2. Metal; as the liquid ore.

OREAD, n. [from Gr. mountain.] A mountain nymph.

ORE-WEED, ORE-WOOD, n. Sea Weed. [Not used.]

ORFGILD, n.

The restitution of goods or money stolen, if taken in the day time.

ORFRAYS, n. Fringe of gold; gold embroidery.

ORGAL, n. Argal; lees of wine dried; tartar.

ORGAN, n. [L. organum; Gr.]

1. A natural instrument of action or operation, or by which some process is carried on. Thus the arteries and veins of animal bodies are organs of circulation; the lungs are organs of respiration; the nerves are organs of perception and sensation; the muscles are organs of motion; the ears are organs of hearing; the tongue is the organ of speech.

2. The instrument or means of conveyance or communication. A secretary of state is the organ of communication between the government and a foreign power.

3. The largest and most harmonious of wind instruments of music, consisting of pipes which are filled with wind, and stops touched by the fingers. It is blown by a bellows.

ORGAN-BUILDER, n. An artist whose occupation is to construct organs.

ORGANIC, ORGANICAL, a. [L. organicus.]

1. Pertaining to an organ or to organs; consisting of organs or containing them; as the organic structure of the human body or of plants.

2. Produced by the organs; as organic pleasure.

3. Instrumental; acting as instruments of nature or art to a certain end; as organic arts.

Organic bodies, are such as possess organs, on the action of which depend their growth and perfection; as animals and plants.

ORGANICALLY, adv.

1. With organs; with organical structure or disposition of parts. The bodies of animals and plants are organically framed.

2. By means of organs.

ORGANICALNESS, n. The state of being organical.

ORGANISM, n. Organical structure; as the organism of bodies.

ORGANIST, n.

1. One who plays on the organ.

2. One who sung in parts; an old musical use of the word.

ORGANIZATION, n.

1. The act or process of forming organs or instruments of action.

2. The act of forming or arranging the parts of a compound or complex body in a suitable manner for use or service; the act of distributing into suitable divisions and appointing the proper officers, as an army or a government.

The first organization of the general government.

3. Structure; form; suitable disposition of parts which are to act together in a compound body.

ORGANIZE, v.t.

1. To form with suitable organs; to construct so that one part may cooperate with another.

Those nobler faculties of the soul organized matter could never produce.

2. To sing in parts; as, to organize the halleluiah.

3. To distribute into suitable parts and appoint proper officers, that the whole may act as one body; as, to organize an army. So we say, to organize the house of representatives, which is done by the appointment of officers and verification of the powers of the several members. So we say, a club, a party or a faction is organized, when it takes a systemized form.

This original and supreme will organizes the government.

ORGANIZED, pp. Formed with organs; constructed organically; systemized; reduced to a form in which all the parts may act together to one end. Animals and plants are organized bodies. Minerals are not organized bodies.

ORGANIZING, ppr. Constructing with suitable organs; reducing to system in order to produce united action to one end.

ORGAN-LOFT, n. The loft where an organ stands.

ORGANOGRAPHIC, ORGANOGRAPHICAL, a. Pertaining to organography.

ORGANOGRAPHY, n. [Gr.]

In botany, a description of the organs of plants, or of the names and kinds of their organs.

ORGAN-PIPE, n. The pipe of a musical organ.

ORGAN-STOP, n. The stop of an organ, or any collection of pipes under one general name.

ORGANY. [See Origan.]

ORGANZINE, n. Silk twisted into threads; thrown silk.

ORGASM, n. [Gr. to swell; to irritate.]

Immoderate excitement or action; as the orgasm of the blood or spirits.

ORGEAT, n. A liquor extracted from barley and sweet almonds.

ORGEIS, n. A fish, called also organ-ling; supposed to be from Orkneys, on the coast of which it is taken.

ORGIES, n. plu. [Gr. to swell; fury; L. orgia.]

Frantic revels at the feast in honor of Bacchus, or the feast itself. This feast was held in the night; hence nocturnal orgies.

ORGILLOUS, a. [Gr. to swell.] Proud; haughty. [Not used.]

ORGUES, n.

1. In the military art, long thick pieces of timber, pointed and shod with iron and hung over a gateway, to be let down in case of attack.

2. A machine composed of several musket barrels united, by means of which several explosions are made at once to defend breaches.

ORICHALCH, ORICHALCUM, n. [L. orichalcum, mountain brass; Gr. aurichalcum, gold-brass.]

A metallic substance resembling gold in color, but inferior in value; the brass of the ancients.

ORIEL, ORIOL, n. A small apartment next a hall, where particular persons dine; a sort of recess. Obs.

ORIENCY, n. [See Orient.] Brightness or strength of color. [Little used.]

ORIENT, a. [L. oriens, from orior, to arise.]

1. Rising, as the sun.

- Moon, that now meet’st the orient sun.

The orient morn.

2. Eastern; oriental.

3. Bright; shining; glittering; as orient pearls.

ORIENT, n. The east; the part of the horizon where the sun first appears in the morning.

ORIENTAL, a.

1. Eastern; situated in the east; as oriental seas or countries.

2. Proceeding from the east; as the oriental radiations of the sun.

ORIENTAL, n. A native or inhabitant of some eastern part of the world. We give the appellation to the inhabitants of Asia from the Hellespont and Mediterranean to Japan.

ORIENTALISM, n. An eastern mode of speech; an idiom of the eastern languages.

ORIENTALIST, n.

1. An inhabitant of the eastern parts of the world.

2. One versed in the eastern languages and literature.

ORIENTALITY, n. The state of being oriental or eastern. [Not used.]

ORIFICE, n. [L. orificium; os, oris, mouth, and facio, to make.]

The mouth or aperture of a tube, pipe or other cavity; as the orifice of an artery or vein; the orifice of a wound.

The orifice of Etna.

ORIFLAMB, n. The ancient royal standard of France.

ORIGAN, ORIGANUM, n. [L. from Gr.] Marjoram, a genus of plants. One species of this genus is a rich aromatic, excellent for culinary purposes.

ORIGENISM, n. The doctrines or tenets of Origen, who united Platonism with christianity.

ORIGENIST, n. A follower of Origen of Alexandria, a celebrated christian father. The Origenists held that the souls of men have a pre-existent state; that they are holy intelligences, and sin before they are united to the body; that Christ will be crucified hereafter for the salvation of devils, etc.

ORIGIN, n. [L. origo.]

1. The first existence or beginning of any thing; as the origin of Rome. In history it is necessary, if practicable, to trace all events to their origin.

2. Fountain; source; cause; that from which any thing primarily proceeds; that which gives existence or beginning. The apostasy is believed to have been the origin of moral evil. The origin of many of our customs is lost in antiquity. Nations, like individuals, are ambitious to trace their descent from an honorable origin.

ORIGINAL, n.

1. Origin. [See Origin, with which it accords in signification.]

ORIGINAL, a. [L. orginialis.]

1. First in order; preceding all others; as the original state of man; the original laws of a country; original rights or powers; the original question in debate.

2. Primitive; pristine; as the original perfection of Adam.

Original sin, as applied to Adam, was his first act of disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit; as applied to his posterity, it is understood to mean either the sin of Adam imputed to his posterity, or that corruption of nature, or total depravity, which has been derived from him in consequence of his apostasy. On this subject divines are not agreed.

In strictness, original sin is an improper use of words, as sin, ex vi termini, implies volition and the transgression of a known rule of duty by a moral agent. But this application of the words has been established by long use, and it serves to express ideas which many wise and good men entertain on this subject.

3. Having the power to originate new thoughts or combinations of thought; as an original genius.

ORIGINALITY, n.

1. The quality or state of being original.

2. The power of originating or producing new thoughts, or uncommon combinations of thought; as originality of genius.

ORIGINALLY, adv.

1. Primarily; from the beginning or origin.

God is originally holy in himself.

2. At first; at the origin.

3. By the first author; as a book originally written by another hand.

ORIGINALNESS, n. The quality or state of being original.

ORIGINARY, a.

1. Productive; causing existence.

The production of animals in the originary way, requires a certain degree of warmth.

2. Primitive; original.

[This word is little used.]

ORIGINATE, v.t. To cause to be; to bring into existence; to produce what is new.

The change is to be effected without a decomposition of the whole civil and political mass, for the purpose of originating a new civil order out of the elements of society.

That matter which cannot think, will, or originate motion, should communicate thought, volition and motivity, is plainly impossible.

ORIGINATE, v.i. To take first existence; to have origin; to be begun. The scheme originated with the governor and council. It originated in pure benevolence.

ORIGINATED, pp. Brought into existence.

ORIGINATING, ppr. Bringing into existence.

ORIGINATION, n.

1. The act of bringing or coming into existence; first production.

Descartes first introduced the fancy of making a world, and deducing the origination of the universe from mechanical principles.

2. Mode of production or bringing into being.

This eruca is propagated by animal parents, to wit, butterflies, after the common origination of all caterpillars.

ORILLON, n. In fortification, a rounding of earth, faced with a wall, raised on the shoulder of those bastions that have casemates, to cover the cannon in the retired flank, and prevent their being dismounted.

ORIOLE, n. A genus of birds of the order of picae.

ORION, n. [Gr. unfortunately accented by the poets on the second syllable.]

A constellation in the southern hemisphere, containing seventy eight stars.

ORISON, n. [L. oratio, from, oro.]

A prayer of supplication.

Lowly they bowed adoring, and began their orisons, each morning duly paid.