354 
O A S 
exprefiion of ploughingthe water, from the fame root with 
tiro, Lat. to plough.] Along pole with a broad end, by 
which vefl'els are driven in the water, the refiftance made 
by the water to the oar pu thing on the veflel.—Its progreflive 
motion may be eft'edled by the help of feveral oars, which 
in the outward ends of them fhall be like the fins of a lifh, 
to contraft and dilate. Wilkins. 
The oars were filver, 
Which to the tune of flutes kept ftroke, and made 
The water, which they beat, to follow fatter, 
As amorous of their ftrokes. ShakeJ'peare's Ant. and Cleop. 
To OAR, v. n. To row : 
He more undaunted on the ruin rode, 
And oar'd with labouring arms along the flood. Pope. 
To OAR, v. a. To impel by rowing : 
His bold head 
’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd 
Himfelf with his good arms in lufty ftrokes 
To the fnore. Shahefpeare's Tempejl. 
O'AR-FINNED, adj. Having oars; furnifhed with oars, 
as a fifti with fins. Denham. 
OARAC'TA, in ancient geography, a large ifland of 
the Perfian Gulf, fituated upon the coaft of Caramania, 
and inhabited, according to the journal of Nearchus’s 
navigation. 
OA'RII, a province of Angola, on the north bank of 
the Coanza. 
OARIS'TUS, or Oaristys , f. A term in the Greek 
poetry, fignifyinga dialogue between a hufband and his 
wife; fuch as that in the fixth book of the Iliad, between 
Heflor and Andromache. Scaliger obferves, that the 
oarifiius is not properly any particular little poem, or entire 
piece of poetry; but always a part of a great one. He 
adds, that the paflage now cited in Homer is the only 
proper oariftus extant in the ancient poets. Chambers. 
OA'RUS, in ancient geography, a river of Scythia, 
which, according to Herodotus, fprung from the coun¬ 
try of the Thyflagetse, traverfed that of the Maeonse, and 
difcharged itfelf into the Pains Maoris. 
O'ARY, adj. Having the form or ufe of oars : 
The fwan with arched neck, 
Between her white wings mantling, proudly rows 
Her date with vary feet. Milton's P. L. 
His hair transforms to down, his fingers meet 
In fkinny films, and fhape his oary feet. Addifon. 
O'AST, f. [perhaps from the Lat. vjhis, of nro, to burn. 
In fome places it is pronounced oofti] A kiln for drying 
hops.— Empty the binn into a hop-bag, and carry them 
immediately to the oaft or kiln, to be dried. Mortimer. 
OA'SIS, /! [derived from the Coptic word oualie, figni- 
fving a habitable place.] A fertile fpot in the midft of 
the fandy defert of Africa. Of thefe Oafes, which are 
called i/lands, becaufe they appear like fuch in the midft 
of an ocean of fand, there are feveral that lie at the dif- 
tance of a hundred miles or more from the Nile, to the 
weft of it. The Arabian geographers were acquainted 
with thefe detached fertile fpots, and called them Elouah, 
or Ehvah. Abulfeda fays, thefe Elouahs are dependent 
on the Said, and that they are iflands in the middle of 
fand. On quitting the Nile, this author ftates that it 
takes three days’journey acrofs the defert to arrive at 
them. Jacout, who reckons three of them, places them 
in the weft of Lower Egypt, beyond the chain of moun¬ 
tains parallel with the river. Abulfeda adds, that the 
firftis well cultivated; that itpoflefles abundant rivulets, 
hot fprings, fields covered with harvefts, and other fur- 
prifing things ; but that the people there are wretched. 
Ptolemy places the largeft of them, Oajis Magna, or El- 
wah, under the parallel of 27 0 ; the fecond in 25°45'; 
and the moft northerly in 29 0 30', under the parallel of 
the lake Moeris. The fandy defert in which thefe Oafes 
are fituated, is occafionally traverfed by the Muggrebin 
OAT 
Arabs, who form a ferocious tribe, and might fend forth, 
if they could be united, 30,000 men capable of bearing 
arms ; but, as the tribes are divided by inteftine enmities, 
their parties feldom exceed 4 or 500. Oajis Parva, now 
El-wah-el-Ghurbi, forms a kind of capital fettlement of 
the Muggrebin Arabs, who extend even to Fezzan and 
Tripoli. The moft northern Oaiis known near Egypt is 
that of Siwah, or Seewah. 
Under the fovereigns of the lower empire, the Oaiis be¬ 
came a place of exile; and both Sectaries and Catholics 
were fent thither alternately. Neftorius and Athanafius 
were exiled thither. Thefe habitations, become famous 
on account of the banifhment of the moft learned per- 
fonages of the lower empire, were little known by the 
Perfians. Cambyfes, after ravaging Egypt, wifhed to 
carry offthefpoils of the temple of Jupiter Ammon. The 
troops he fent againft the Ammonians left Thebes, and ar¬ 
rived at the city of Oafis, fays Herodotus, inhabited by 
the Samians of the tribe of Efcrionia. This country, 
dillant feven days’ march from the capital of Egypt, is 
called by the Greeks “ the Ifle of the Happy.” It is re¬ 
ported that the army reached their place of deftination ; 
but the Ammonians alone knew what become of it, for it 
has never fince been heard of. It is faid alfo, that being on 
their march towards the temple of Jupiter, and having 
got half-way, it was fwallowed by torrents of burning 
land blown up by the foutherly wfind. 
The Oafis of Ammon is little known by the modern 
Egyptians. They are better acquainted with the fecond, 
where Abulfeda places a city called Behnefe, different 
from that on Jofeph’s canal. He marks another higher 
up, correfponding with that of Achmounain, around 
which are obferved magnificent remains of antiquity. 
The Great Oafis, which is the moft frequented of the 
three, being on the road of the caravans of Abyflinia, con¬ 
tains a great number of inhabitants. The bey of Girge 
lends a cachef there as governor, and to collect a tribute. 
The geographer of Nubia defcribes the country of the 
Elouah, fituated to the weft of Aflbuan, as having been 
formerly much peopled. At prefent, he fays, it has no in¬ 
habitants. We meet with abundant fprings there,.and 
fruit-trees, with cities buried under ruins. 
OAT, J. [are, Sax.] A grain ; rarely ufed in the Angu¬ 
lar number, except in compolition.— A grain, which in 
England is generally given to horfes, but in Scotland fup- 
ports the people. Johnjbn. — Oats are of the grafs-leaved 
tribe; the flowers have no petals, and are difpofed in a 
loofe panicle: the grain is eatable. The meal makes to¬ 
lerable good bread. Miller. See Avena. —The oats have 
eaten the horfes. Shakefpeare. —His horfe’s allowance of 
oats and beans, was greater than the journey required. 
Swift. —A final! pipe made of an oaten ft raw.—But now 
my oat proceeds. Milton's Lycidas. 
OAT (Sea-fide Carolina). See Uni 0la. 
OAT (Water). See Zizania. 
OAT (Wild, bearded). See Bromus. 
O'AT-BEARD, f. The beard of an oat; commonly 
ufed as the index of an hygrometer, or inftrument for 
meafuring moifture anddrynefs —It is a bare mechanifm, 
no otherwife produced than the turning of a wild oat- 
heard by the infinuation of the particles of moifture. 
Locke. 
O'AT-BOOK, A book for keeping account of the 
purchafe, fide, &c. of oats.—The hay and oat booh was 
theregifter. Gayton on Don Quixote. 
OAT-CA'KE, f. Cake made of the meal of oats.—■ 
Take a blue ftone they make haver or oat-cakes upon, and 
lay it upon the crofs-bars of iron. Peacham. 
O'AT-GRASS. See Aristida, Avena, and Bp.omus. 
O'AT-MALT, f. Malt made of oats.—In Kent they 
brew with one half oat-malt, and the other half barley- 
malt. Mortimer. 
O'AT-MEAL, / Flour made by grinding oats.— Oat¬ 
meal and butter, outwardly applied, dry the fcab on the 
head. Arbulhnot on Aliments. 
Our 
