Oppositive Op·pos`i·tive adjective [ Confer French oppositif . See Opposite .] Capable of being put in opposition. Bp. Hall.

Oppress Op·press" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Oppressed ; present participle & verbal noun Oppressing .] [ French oppresser , Late Latin oppressare , from Latin oppressus , past participle of opprimere ; ob (see Ob- ) + premere to press. See Press .] 1. To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty. Wyclif.

For thee, oppressèd king, am I cast down.

Shak.

Behold the kings of the earth; how they oppress
Thy chosen !

Milton. 2. To ravish; to violate. [ Obsolete] Chaucer. 3. To put down; to crush out; to suppress. [ Obsolete]

The mutiny he there hastes to oppress .

Shak. 4. To produce a sensation of weight in (some part of the body); as, my lungs are oppressed by the damp air; excess of food oppresses the stomach.

Oppression Op·pres"sion noun [ French, from Latin oppressio .] 1. The act of oppressing, or state of being oppressed. 2. That which oppresses; a hardship or injustice; cruelty; severity; tyranny. "The multitude of oppressions ." Job xxxv. 9. 3. A sense of heaviness or obstruction in the body or mind; depression; dullness; lassitude; as, an oppression of spirits; an oppression of the lungs.

There gentlee Sleep
First found me, and with soft oppression seized
My drowsed sense.

Milton. 4. Ravishment; rape. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Oppressive Op·press"ive adjective [ Confer French oppressif .] 1. Unreasonably burdensome; unjustly severe, rigorous, or harsh; as, oppressive taxes; oppressive exactions of service; an oppressive game law. Macaulay. 2. Using oppression; tyrannical; as, oppressive authority or commands. 3. Heavy; overpowering; hard to be borne; as, oppressive grief or woe.

To ease the soul of one oppressive weight.

Pope. -- Op*press"ive*ly , adverb -- Op*press"ive*ness , noun

Oppressor Op·press"or noun [ Latin ] One who oppresses; one who imposes unjust burdens on others; one who harasses others with unjust laws or unreasonable severity.

The orphan pines while the oppressor feeds.

Shak.

To relieve the oppressed and to punish the oppressor .

Swift.

Oppressure Op·pres"sure noun Oppression. [ Obsolete]

Opprobrious Op·pro"bri·ous adjective [ Latin opprobriosus , from opprobrium . See Opprobrium .] 1. Expressive of opprobrium; attaching disgrace; reproachful; scurrilous; as, opprobrious language.

They . . . vindicate themselves in terms no less opprobrious than those by which they are attacked.

Addison. 2. Infamous; despised; rendered hateful; as, an opprobrious name.

This dark, opprobrious den of shame.

Milton. -- Op*pro"bri*ous*ly , adverb -- Op*pro"bri*ous*ness , noun

Opprobrium Op·pro"bri·um noun [ Latin , from ob (see Ob- ) + probrum reproach, disgrace.] Disgrace; infamy; reproach mingled with contempt; abusive language.

Being both dramatic author and dramatic performer, he found himself heir to a twofold opprobrium .

De Quincey.

Opprobry Op·pro"bry noun Opprobrium. [ Obsolete] Johnson.

Oppugn Op·pugn" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Oppugned ; p pr. & verbal noun Oppugning .] [ Old French oppugner , Latin oppugnare ; ob (see Ob- ) + pugnare to fight. See Impugn .] To fight against; to attack; to be in conflict with; to oppose; to resist.

They said the manner of their impeachment they could not but conceive did oppugn the rights of Parliament.

Clarendon.

Oppugnancy Op·pug"nan·cy noun [ See Oppugnant .] The act of oppugning; opposition; resistance. Shak.

Oppugnant Op·pug"nant adjective [ Latin oppugnans , present participle of oppugnare . See Oppugn .] Tending to awaken hostility; hostile; opposing; warring. " Oppugnant forces." I. Taylor. -- noun An opponent. [ R.] Coleridge.

Oppugnation Op`pug·na"tion noun [ Latin oppugnatio : confer Old French oppugnation .] Opposition. [ R.] Bp. Hall.

Oppugner Op·pugn"er noun One who opposes or attacks; that which opposes. Selden.

Opsimathy Op·sim"a·thy noun [ Greek ....] Education late in life. [ R.] Hales.

Opsiometer Op`si·om"e·ter noun [ Greek ... sight + -meter : confer French opsiomètre .] An instrument for measuring the limits of distincts vision in different individuals, and thus determiming the proper focal length of a lens for correcting imperfect sight. Brande & C.

Opsonation Op`so·na"tion noun [ Latin opsonatio .] A catering; a buying of provisions. [ Obsolete] Bailey.

Optable Op"ta·ble adjective [ Latin optabilis .] That may be chosen; desirable. [ Obsolete] Cockeram.

Optate Op"tate intransitive verb [ Latin optatus , past participle of optare .] To choose; to wish for; to desire. [ Obsolete] Cotgrave.

Optation Op·ta"tion noun [ Latin optatio . See Option .] The act of optating; a wish. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

Optative Op"ta·tive adjective [ Latin optativus : confer French optatif .] Expressing desire or wish. Fuller. Optative mood (Gram.) , that mood or form of a verb, as in Greek, Sanskrit, etc., in which a wish or desire is expressed.

Optative Op"ta·tive noun [ Confer French optatif .] 1. Something to be desired. [ R.] Bacon. 2. (Gram.) The optative mood; also, a verb in the optative mood.

Optatively Op"ta·tive·ly adverb In an optative manner; with the expression of desire. [ R.]

God blesseth man imperatively, and man blesseth God optatively .

Bp. Hall.

Optic Op"tic noun [ From Optic , adjective ] 1. The organ of sight; an eye.

The difference is as great between
The optics seeing, as the object seen.

Pope. 2. An eyeglass. [ Obsolete] Herbert.

Optic, Optical Op"tic, Op"tic·al adjective [ French optique , Greek ...; akin to ... sight, ... I have seen, ... I shall see, and to ... the two eyes, ... face, Latin oculus eye. See Ocular , Eye , and confer Canopy , Ophthalmia .] 1. Of or pertaining to vision or sight.

The moon, whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views.

Milton. 2. Of or pertaining to the eye; ocular; as, the optic nerves (the first pair of cranial nerves) which are distributed to the retina. See Illust. of Brain , and Eye . 3. Relating to the science of optics; as, optical works. Optic angle (Opt.) , the angle included between the optic axes of the two eyes when directed to the same point; -- sometimes called binocular parallax . -- Optic axis . (Opt.) (a) A line drawn through the center of the eye perpendicular to its anterior and posterior surfaces. In a normal eye it is in the direction of the optic axis that objects are most distinctly seen. (b) The line in a doubly refracting crystal, in the direction of which no double refraction occurs. A uniaxial crystal has one such line, a biaxial crystal has two. - - Optical circle (Opt.) , a graduated circle used for the measurement of angles in optical experiments. -- Optical square , a surveyor's instrument with reflectors for laying off right angles.

Optically Op"tic·al·ly adverb By optics or sight; with reference to optics. Optically active , Optically inactive (Chem. Physics) , terms used of certain metameric substances which, while identical with each other in other respects, differ in this, viz., that they do or do not produce right- handed or left-handed circular polarization of light. -- Optically positive , Optically negative . See under Refraction .

Optician Op·ti"cian noun [ Confer French opticien . See Optic , adjective ] 1. One skilled in optics. [ R.] A. Smith. 2. One who deals in optical glasses and instruments.

Optics Op"tics noun [ Confer French optique , Latin optice , Greek ... (sc. ...). See Optic .] That branch of physical science which treats of the nature and properties of light, the laws of its modification by opaque and transparent bodies, and the phenomena of vision.

Optigraph Op"ti·graph noun [ Optic + -graph : confer French opticographe . See Optic , adjective ] A telescope with a diagonal eyepiece, suspended vertically in gimbals by the object end beneath a fixed diagonal plane mirror. It is used for delineating landscapes, by means of a pencil at the eye end which leaves the delineation on paper.

Optimacy Op"ti·ma·cy noun [ Confer French optimatie . See Optimate .] 1. Government by the nobility. [ R.] Howell. 2. Collectively, the nobility. [ R.]

Optimate Op"ti·mate adjective [ Latin optimas , -atis , adj., optimates , noun plural, the adherents of the best men, the aristocrats, from optimus the best.] Of or pertaining to the nobility or aristocracy. [ R.] -- noun A nobleman or aristocrat; a chief man in a state or city. [ R.] Chapman.

Optimates Op`ti·ma"tes noun plural [ Latin See Optimate .] The nobility or aristocracy of ancient Rome, as opposed to the populares .

Optime Op"ti·me noun [ Latin , adverb from optimus the best.] One of those who stand in the second rank of honors, immediately after the wranglers, in the University of Cambridge, England. They are divided into senior and junior optimes.

Optimism Op"ti·mism noun [ Latin optimus the best; akin to optio choice: confer French optimisme . See Option .] 1. (Metaph.) The opinion or doctrine that everything in nature, being the work of God, is ordered for the best, or that the ordering of things in the universe is such as to produce the highest good. 2. A disposition to take the most hopeful view; -- opposed to pessimism .

Optimist Op"ti·mist noun [ Confer French optimiste .] 1. (Metaph.) One who holds the opinion that all events are ordered for the best. 2. One who looks on the bright side of things, or takes hopeful views; -- opposed to pessimist .

Optimistic Op`ti·mis"tic adjective 1. (Metaph.) Of or pertaining to optimism; tending, or conforming, to the opinion that all events are ordered for the best. 2. Hopeful; sanguine; as, an optimistic view.

Optimity Op·tim"i·ty noun [ Latin optimitas , from optimus the best.] The state of being best. [ R.] Bailey.

Option Op"tion noun [ Latin optio ; akin to optare to choose, wish, optimus best, and perhaps to English apt : confer French option .] 1. The power of choosing; the right of choice or election; an alternative.

There is an option left to the United States of America, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a nation.

Washington. 2. The exercise of the power of choice; choice.

Transplantation must proceed from the option of the people, else it sounds like an exile.

Bacon. 3. A wishing; a wish. [ Obsolete] Bp. Hall. 4. (Ch. of Eng.) A right formerly belonging to an archbishop to select any one dignity or benefice in the gift of a suffragan bishop consecrated or confirmed by him, for bestowal by himself when next vacant; -- annulled by Parliament in 1845. 5. (Stock Exchange) A stipulated privilege, given to a party in a time contract, of demanding its fulfillment on any day within a specified limit. Buyer's option , an option allowed to one who contracts to buy stocks at a certain future date and at a certain price, to demand the delivery of the stock (giving one day's notice) at any previous time at the market price. -- Seller's option , an option allowed to one who contracts to deliver stock art a certain price on a certain future date, to deliver it (giving one day's notice) at any previous time at the market price. Such options are privileges for which a consideration is paid. -- Local option . See under Local . Syn. -- Choice; preference; selection. -- Option , Choice . Choice is an act of choosing; option often means liberty to choose, and implies freedom from constraint in the act of choosing.

Optional Op"tion·al adjective Involving an option; depending on the exercise of an option; left to one's discretion or choice; not compulsory; as, optional studies; it is optional with you to go or stay. -- noun See Elective , noun

If to the former the movement was not optional , it was the same that the latter chose when it was optional .

Palfrey.

Original writs are either optional or peremptory.

Blackstone.

Optionally Op"tion·al·ly adverb In an optional manner.

Optocœle Op"to·cœle Op`to*cœ"li*a noun [ New Latin optocoelia , from Greek ... optic + koi^los a hollow.] (Anat.) The cavity of one of the optic lobes of the brain in many animals. B. G. Wilder.

Optogram Op"to·gram noun [ Opt ic + - gram : confer French optogramme .] (Physiol.) An image of external objects fixed on the retina by the photochemical action of light on the visual purple. See Optography .

Optography Op·tog"ra·phy noun [ Opt ic + -graphy .] (Physiol.) The production of an optogram on the retina by the photochemical action of light on the visual purple; the fixation of an image in the eye. The object so photographed shows white on a purple or red background. See Visual purple , under Visual .

Optometer Op·tom"e·ter noun [ Opt ic + -meter .] (Physiol.) An instrument for measuring the distance of distinct vision, mainly for the selection of eveglasses.

Optometrist Op·tom"e·trist noun One who is skilled in or practices optometry.

Optometry Op·tom"e·try noun 1. (Medicine) Measurement of the range of vision, esp. by means of the optometer. 2. As defined (with minor variations) in the statutes of various States of the United States: (a) "The employment of subjective and objective mechanical means to determine the accomodative and refractive states of the eye and the scope of its function in general." (b) "The employment of any means, other than the use of drugs, for the measurement of the powers of vision and adaptation of lenses for the aid thereof."

Opulence Op"u·lence noun [ Latin opulentia : confer French opulence . See Opulent .] Wealth; riches; affluence. Swift

Opulency Op"u·len·cy noun See Opulence . Shak.

Opulent Op"u·lent adjective [ Latin opulens , opulentus , from ops , opis , power, wealth, riches, perhaps akin to English apt : confer French opulent . Confer Copious , Couple , Office .] Having a large estate or property; wealthy; rich; affluent; as, an opulent city; an opulent citizen. -- Op"u*lent*ly , adverb

I will piece
Her opulent throne with kingdoms.

Shak.

Opuntia O·pun"ti·a noun [ New Latin ] (Botany) A genus of cactaceous plants; the prickly pear, or Indian fig.