obedient 
4054 
.Joseph being, at the end of seven years, . . . ascer- obeisingt, Obeishingt, . [* 
tallied by an angel of thedeath of Herod, and commanded ( ,ft r ,\ r) ,,/;w/l, I'.] Obedience. 
[ME., verbal n. of 
to return to the land of Israel, he v 
Jet. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 75. 
His wandering step, 
Obedient to high thoughts, has visited 
The awful ruins of the days of old. 
Shelley, Alast 
2t. Correspondent; subject. 
Thise croked signes ben obedient to the signes that ben of 
riht assencioun. Chaucer, Astrolabe, u. 28. 
= Syn. 1. Compliant. See obedience. 
H(j wo[ meke aftjr jn Ms berynK 
Been, for service and obetjxxhyng. 
obesity 
Small models of obelisks are found in the tombs of the 
age of the pyramid builders, and represented in their 
hieroglyphics. J. Fergusson, iiist. Arch., I. 129. 
2. In printing and writing, a sign resembling a 
* VMyMiiyivj. jr i/ - - -~J _ ,~ 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 3380. small dagger (t), and hence also called a dag- 
obeisinet obeishingt, P-a. [ME., ppr. of obeise, get: It was formerly employed in editions of ancient 
.ibiiiBT, uueiouiiisT, i L authors to point out and censure spurious or doubtful pas- 
or. obeish,r.\ Obedie sages and for like purposes, but is now generally used as a 
Take heed now of this grete gentilman, 
This Troyan, that so wel her plesen can, 
That feyneth him so trewe and obeising, 
So gentil and so privy of his doing. 
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1266. 
, ____ , ------ ,, ,,,. 
obediential (o-be-di-en'shal), a. [= F. obedi- oljc i eyt . gee oble. 
entteZ, < ML. obedientialis (as a noun, obedien- Qbelia (6-be'li-a), n. [NL., 
cer), < L. obaidientia, obedientia, obedience : see gee j e j,J gi ] A genus of campanularian polyps, 
obedience.] 1. Characterized by obedience or distinguished from Campanvlaria 
!.:,,; ,* 4-rt c, .tl\\m,\t*r f\v rtml^TV^l HllTlTnl SSI VP '. i 3> .3 _ 1 .:*!. i 
reference-mark to direct the reader to a marginal note or 
foot-note on the same page, in dictionaries to distinguish 
obsolete words, or before dates in biographical or histori- 
cal works of reference to indicate the year of death. The 
double obelisk is a mark of reference of the form i. 
The Lord Keeper . . . was scratched with their obelisk, 
that he favoured the Puritans. 
' :, Abp. Williams, i. 95. 
submission to authority or control ; submissive; by tne flat aiseoidai meduste with 
dutiful. many marginal tentacles and eight 
The subject matter and object of this new creation isa i n terradial vesicles. 0. longissima is 
free agent : in the first it was purely otedtenfeoJ : and pas- alargean( i beautiful species found in deep 
sive. Jer. Taylor, W orks (ed. 1835), I. 666. water ^ on g the New England coast, the 
2 Incumbent; obligatory. colonies measuring sometimes twelve 
3S8SS!BStt&&SRfS^^ 
Sir M. Bale, Orig. of Mankind, p. 38. T -ac.J t or pertaining 
n which they are placed, as the obligation upon parents craniom a po i, lt i n the sagittal 
Obe'dlettty^-bl'dtent-li), a*. In an obedi- snt,i of the skull, between the 
ent manifi-Vwith due or 'dutiful submission to ^ff^^^TeTome^'more 
SuTy dS ' aUtll0rity ' rCOntr ' S U " '' "IS* ^ee cut uu^cra^l 
obeisance (o-ba'- or o-be'saus), n. [Formerly 
also obeysance; < ME. obeisance, obeisaunce, obey- 
saunce, < OF. obeissance, F. obeissance, obedi- 
ence, < obeissant, F. obeissant, obedient: see 
obeisant.] It. Authority; subjection; power 
or right to demand obedience. 
Ye shall here haue the rewle and gouernaunce 
Of this contre, with all my full powre ; nsk, + 
My men shall be vnder your ofeisrarance. an obelisk; obeliscal. 
Qenerydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1096. obellSO, . t. See obelise. 
All other people . . . within t] 
where viider our obeysance, iurisd 
2t. Obedience. 
He bynt him to perpetuall obeisaunce. 
Chaucer, Complaint of Mars, L 
3. Deferential deportment. 
obelize (ob'e-liz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. obelized, 
ppr. obelizing. [< obelus + -ize.] To mark with 
an obelisk; condemn as spurious, doubtful, or 
objectionable, by appending an obelisk; hence, 
to censure. Also obelise, and formerly obolize. 
Next comes the young critic : she is disgusted with age ; 
and upon system eliminates(or, to speak with Aristarchus, 
' ' obelizes ") all the gray hairs. De Quincey, Homer, i. 
Recent editors who have taken on themselves the high 
office of guiding English youth in its first study of Shake- 
speare have proposed to excise or to obelise whole passages. 
Swinburne, Shakespeare, p. 19. 
Obelus (ob'e-lus), it.; pi. obeli (-Ii). [< LL. obelus, 
an obelisk, < Gr. o/JeAof, a spit, a pointed pillar, 
a mark used in writing (see def.). Of. obolus.] 
A mark, so called from its resemblance to a spit, 
usually made like a dash, thus , or like an obe- 
lisk, thus t, and employed in ancient manu- 
scripts to indicate a suspected passage or read- 
ing. The latter of these signs is still commonly used in 
editions of the classics for the same purpose. Another 
form of the obelus, -H, similar to our sign of division, was 
used by the ancients to mark passages as superfluous, es- 
__._ . . pecially in philosophical writings. 
Obeliscar (ob'e-lis-kar), a. [< L. obeliscus, obe- "S^^JPJ^'^tL!' Jff,, 1 ^,.",^' 
' 
euscal (ob e-lisKal), a. L\-L 
--, . . , - 
kavim? the form or character of tutus, PP- of obeqmtare, ride toward or up to, 
iiavmg tn hpforp rownrd + emiitare ride- seeeowi- 
eliscal. < > betore, towaia, -I- equu ire, in soymr 
tation.] To ride about. 
spit, a pointed pillar, a coin stamped with a spit, eram. 
a aWorcl-blade, spear-head, etc., dim. of M&tf, oberhaus (o'ber-hous), n. [G. : ober = E. 
' a spit, a pointed pillar, a mark used in writing: upper ; /" = E. house.] The upper hoi 
= E. over, 
house in 
a ail LI , a ijviuu^^* tsuic**, 01 iiiaii* uoi/u **i " nuclei . fm > , .,,. . j i_ T_ i 
see obelus.] 1 . A tapering shaft of rectangular those German legislative bodies which have 
plan, generally finished with a pyramidal apex. t wo chambers. 
The apex in the typical obelisks of ancient Egypt was Oberon (o'be-ron), n. [Also Aiiberon, Alberon; 
sheathed with a bronze cap. The proportion of the thick- of OHG. origin, ult. akin to elf.] 1. In meat- 
Of thy wordes farsed with plesaunce, 
And of thy feyned trowthe and thy manere, 
With thyne obeysamwe and humble ^chere. sheathed with a bronze cap. The proportion of tne thick- of UHtr. origin, ult. aKin to e(/.J 
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1375. eM to the helght is nearlv the 8ame in aU Egyptian obe- eval myt j, the king of the fairies. 
Henzibah had unconsciously flattered herself with the lisks that is, between one ninth and one tenth; and the 
thickness at the top is never less than half nor greater Why should Titama cross her Oberon > 
Shak., M. N. D., n. 1. 119. 
idea that there would be a gleam, or halo, of some kind 
or other, about her person, which would insure an obei- 
sance to her sterling gentility, or at least a tacit recogni- 
tion of it. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, iii. 
4. A bow or courtesy ; an act of reverence, 
dutifulness, or deference. 
Ryght as a serpent hit him under floures 
Til he may sen his tyme for to byte, 
Ryght so this god of love, this ypocryte, 
Doth so his ceremonies and obeisances. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 507. 
See him dress'd in all suits like a lady : 
That done, conduct him to the drunkard s chamber ; 
And call him "madam," do him obeisance. 
Shak., T. of the S., Ind., i. 108. 
All making obeysance to bold Robin Hood. 
Robin Uood and the Bishop of Hereford (Child's Ballads, 
[V. 296). 
To this both knights and dames their homage made, 
And due obeisance to the daisy paid. 
Dryden, Flower and Leal, L 363. 
She, curtseying her obeisance, let us know 
The Princess Ida waited. Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
There are the obeisances : these, of their several kinds, 
serve to express reverence in its various degrees, to gods, 
to rulers, and to private persons. 
H. Spemer, Prin. of Sociol., 345. 
obeisancy (o-ba'- or o-be'san-si), n. [As obei- 
sance (see -cy).] Same as obeisance. [Rare.] 
obeisantt (o-ba'- or o-be'sant), a. [< ME. obei- 
sant, < OF. obeissant, F. obeissant, obedient, ppr. 
of obeir, obey: see obey.] Obedient; subject. 
And obeisant and redy to his honde 
Were alle his liges. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 10. 
In that Lond thei have a Queen, that governethe alle 
that Lond ; and alle thei ben obeyssant to hire. 
2. A satellite of the planet Uranus. 
Oberonia (6-be-ro'ni-a), n. [NL. (Lindley, 
1830), named after the fairy king, Obercn.] A 
genus of orchids of the tribe Epidendrea; and the 
subtribe Lipariete, peculiar in the many leaves 
in two ranks. There are about 50 species, of tropical 
Asia, Australia, the llascarene Islands, and the islands of 
the Pacific. They are tufted epiphytes destitute of bulbs, 
with many small flowers in a dense terminal spike or ra- 
ceme. The flowers of all the species mimic insects or other 
animal forms. 
oberration (ob-e-ra'shon), n. [< L. as if *ober- 
ratio(n-), < oberrare, wander about, < ob, about, 
+ errare, wander: see err.] The act of wander- 
ing about. Bailey. [Rare.] 
Obesa (o-be'sa), n. pi. [NL., < L. obesus, fat, 
stout, plump:' see obese.] InrooV., in Illiger's 
classification (1811), a division of his Multvngu- 
lata, consisting of hippopotamuses. 
obese (o-beV), a. [= F. obese = Sp. Pg. It. 
obeso, < L. obesus, fat, stout, plump, gross, lit. 
'eaten up' (having eaten oneself fat), being also 
used in the passive sense 'eaten up,' 'wasted 
away,' 'lean,' pp. of obedere (only in the pp.), 
eat up, eat away, < ob, before, to, up, + edere = 
E. eat.] I. Exceedingly corpulent ; fat; fleshy. 
The author's counsel runs upon his corpulency, just as 
one said of an over-o(xe priest that he was an Armenian. 
Gayton, Notes on Don Quixote, p. 8. 
than three fourths of the thickness at the base. Egypt An obese person, with his waistcoat in closerconnection 
abounded with obelisks, which were set up to record the with his legs than is quite reconcilable with the established 
Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit, xix. 
Obelisks of Thothmes and Hatasou, at Karnak (Thebes), Egypt 
honors or triumphs of the kings ; and many have been ideas of grace. 
removed thence, in both ancient and modern times. The T , i___ ,. n, OT1 ,,annl a-n 
ii ; two largest were erected by Sesostris in Heliopolis ; the 2. In entom., very much larger tnan i 
Mandemlle, Iravels, p. 155. height of these was 78 feet; they were removed to Rome pearing as if distended with food, as the abdo- 
by Augustus. Two obelisks in Alexandria, known as Cleo- men of a meloe or oil-beetle. 3. Specifically, 
patra's Needles, were offered by Mehemet Ali to Great n * :,, 4... ty-p njifxtn 
Britain and France respectively. The French chose in- f ol Pertaining to "" >S "- . , ,., 
stead the Luxor obelisk, which was erected in the Place obeseneSS (o-bes lies), . The state or quality 
de la Concorde in Paris in 1833. That chosen by the British of being obese; excessive fatness ; corpulency. 
And all this word Dominus of name 
Shuld haue the ground obeysant wilde and tame, 
That name and people togidre might accord 
Al the ground subject to the Lord. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 200. 
Obeiset, Obeisht, . t. and i [ME. obeissen, obei- %$$^*\Zg^SZ%M*$ priv'a* The fatness of monks, and the obese,*,* of abbots 
schen, obcschen, obechen, < OF. obeiss-, stem of enterprise. Its height is 68 feet 5* inches, and its dimen- * Gavden, Hieraspistes, p. 560. (L( 
certain parts of obeir, obey: see obey.] To sions at the base are 7 feet 10J inches by 7 feet 5 inchr- 
obey; be obedient. See obeiximi. The companion obelisk was afterward presented to the c 
of New York, where it now stands in Central Park, havi 
Alle that obeischen to hym. 
WycHf, Heb. v. 9. been transported thither in 1880 by private enterprise. 
tham.) 
? t s - Obesity (o-bes'i-ti), . [= F. obexitr =J$p.obe- 
tag 
. ' = It. obesita, < L. obesi- 
ta(t-)s, fatness, < obeaus, fat: see obese.] The 
