o 
O A D 
&">2 
botany, a genus of the clafs tetrandria, order monogynia, 
natural order amaranthi, or amaranthacete. Ejfential 
Generic Character —Calyx in four deep fegments ; the two 
outer ones unequal, hardening into fpines; ftamens two or 
four, combined at the bafe, with intermediate fcales; an¬ 
thers of two cells ; ftignia capitate ; capfule membranous, 
not burfting; feed folitary. 
1. Nyffanthes eredla : ftamens four; fegments of the ca¬ 
lyx downy, five-ribbed ; the awn of the lower one fcarcely 
fo long as itfelf; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute; with 
a very fliort weakifh point; Item ere ft. Gathered by Mr. 
Brown near Port Jackfon, New South Wales. 
2. Nyfl'anthes media: ftamens two; fegments of the 
calyx downy, three-ribbed ; the awn of the lower one 
longer than itfelf; leaves oval-oblorrg, bluntilli; with a 
pungent point. From the fame country. 
3. Nyffanthes diffufa ; ftamens two; fegments of the 
calyx fmooth, five-ribbed; awns longer than themfelves; 
leaves of the branches oval-oblong; with a pungent point 5 
Item difrufe. Gathered by Mr. Brown in the tropical part 
of New Holland. The leaves are fcarcely half an inch 
long. This is a newly-difcovered genus, very nearly al¬ 
lied to Aciiyranthes, being chiefly diftinguilhed by the 
fpinous nature of the calyx-leaves and braftes. See 
Brown's Prodr. Nov. Holl. vol. i. p. 4.18. 
NY'STADT, a feaport-town of Sweden, fituated on 
the coaft of the Gulf of Bothnia, in Finland, built in 
the year 1616, and pleafantly fituated. It has a commo¬ 
dious harbour, and a confiderahie trade in all kinds of 
wooden veflels. In the year 1721, a treaty of peace was 
concluded in this town between Sweden and Ruflia. It 
is thirty-two miles north-weft of Abo. tat. 61.5. N. 
Ion. 21. 20. E. 
NY'STED, or Nyest^d, a town of Denmark, in the 
ifland of Lai and. This town is not large, but flourilhing. 
It was formerly of a much larger extent ; but, in 1650, 
and 1700, it fullered greatly by fire. This place carries 
on a confiderable trade to the duchy of Mecklenburg and 
other provinces of Germany. Here are ftill fome remains 
of a (lately monaftery, built in the year 1286. It is nine¬ 
teen miles fouth-eaft of Nafkow. Lat. 54.48.N. Ion. 11. 
48. E. 
NYU-CI-IE', or Kin, an empire which arofe in Eaftern 
Tartary in the beginning of the nth century. From the 
founder of this empire the late Chinefe emperor ICangrhi 
faid that his family was defceaded. See the article China, 
vol. iv. p. 438, 9. 
NYWICHWAN'NOK, one of the branches of the 
river Pifcataqua, in United America. 
o. 
O THE fourteenth letter of the alphabet; and the 
? fourth vowel. 
The Greeks had two O’s; viz. omicron 0, and omega a ■. 
the firft pronounced with the tip of the lips with a (harper 
found ; the fecond in the middle of the mouth, with a 
fuller found, equal to 00 in our language. The long 
and (hort pronunciation of our O are equivalent to the 
two Greek ones ; the firft as in fuppofe ; the lecond, as 
in obey. 
Among the Latins, the O bore fo great an affinity to 
the U, that they frequently confounded them; writing 
c'onfol, and pronouncing conful; they wrote alio aquom 
for eequnm, aoreliits for aurelius, cotnpafcuos, duomvir, &c. 
O, among the ancients, was a numerical letter fignify- 
ing eleven ; as in the verfe “ O numerum geftat, qui 
nunc undecimus extat.” When a dafii was added at the 
top, it lignified eleven thoufand. 
Among the Irifli, the letter O, at the beginning of the 
name of a family, is a character of dignity, annexed to 
great houfes. And Camden obferves, that it was the 
cuftom of the lords of Ireland to prefix an O to their 
names, to diltinguilh them from the commonalty. 
O has in Englifti a long found ; as, drone, groan, fione, 
alone, cloke, broke, coal, droll; or fliort, got, knotjhot, prong, 
long. It is ufually denoted long by a lervile a fubjoined ; 
as moan, or by c at the end of the fyllable, as bone; when 
tbefe vowels are not appended, it is generally fhort, except 
before ll, as droll, feroil; and even then fometimes fliort, 
as loll. 
O is ufed as an interjeftion of wifliing or exclamation. 
_ O that we, who have refilled all the defigns of his love, 
would now try to defeat that of his anger ! Decay of Chr. 
Piety. 
Q! were he prefent, that his eyes and hands 
Might fee, and urge, the death which lie commands. 
Dryden. 
But this is improper. The Angle O is the mark of the vo¬ 
cative cafe; Oh! is the interjection, and Ihould have been 
fo ufed in the preceding examples. See Oh. 
O, f. Ufed with no great elegance by Shakefpeare for a 
circle or oval, Dr. Johnfon fays ; citing only the example 
from the Prologue to Shakefpeare’s Henry the Fifth. It 
is alfo ufed by Bacon; and, indeed, was common in 
Shakefpeare's time. Todd. —Yon fiery ocs and eyes of light. 
Shakefpeare's Midf. N. Dream .— The colours that Ihew 
bell by candle-light, are white, carnation, and a kind ol 
fea-water green ; and oes or fpangs, as they are of no great 
coll, fo are they of moft glory. Bacon s Ejf. ed. 1632. 
Can this cockpit hold 
The vafty field of France ? or may we cram 
Within this wooden O, the very cafques 
That did affright the air at Agincourt ? Shakefpeare. 
O, or St. Mar'tin d’O, a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Orne : five miles fouth of Argentan. 
O SAPIEN'TIA. Our reformers having left in our 
calendar (16th of December) the expreffion of O Sapicntia, 
much ingenuity has been exerted by certain writers to 
prove, that a female faint and martyr, fo called, was wor¬ 
thy of fuch remembrance ; and we are thence told of her 
having been one of the fufferers who fell a facrifice with 
St. Url'ula and her eleven thoufand virgins ! As, how¬ 
ever, the filiv tale refpefting thefe alleged female martyrs 
has long fince loft its credit, except among the moft ig¬ 
norant of the Catholics, this mode of accounting for the 
title of the day will not be deemed worthy, of any atten¬ 
tion. The anthem in the Latin fervice in honour of our 
Saviour’s Advent, commenced with the words O Sapicntia 
qua ex ore altiffimi prodidijli, See. which may confidently 
account for its continued notice in our calendar ; parti¬ 
cularly as, in the old Romilh ritual, the Virgin had a fefti- 
val afiigned to her honour by the title of Our Lady of O ! 
or our Lady in expedlation of the promifed Meffiah, whofe 
vehement defire of that important event they exprefled by 
the ejaculation “ O !•” and made the beginning of the 
feven anthems preceding the Magnificat 5 O, token will 
the day arrive ? O, when Jhall I fee with my eyes? O, when, 
lye. fyc. The 0 Sapientia ufed to be fung in the church 
from this day (Dec. 16) until Chriftmas eve. Brady's 
Claris Calendaria. Time's Telcfeope, 1815. 
OAC'CO, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of Ben- 
guela: it is the capital of a province of the fame name, 
bordering on Malemba. 
OACHA'TE, a harbour on the fouth point of the 
ifland of Ulietea. Lat. 16. 55. S. Ion. 151. 24. W. 
O AD, f. Woad ; a plant tiled in dying. See Woad.— 
He mull admit no difference between oadi md frankincenfe, 
or the moft precious balfamum and a tar-barrel. B. Jonfon's 
Poetafter. 
OAF. 
