366 O B L 
be known to moll of them. Walton's Life of Bp. San¬ 
der fun. 
OBLIGOR', [a law term.] He that binds himfelf by 
contra6l.—An obligation, or bond, is a deed whereby the 
obligor obliges himfelf, his heirs, executors, and adnii- 
niftrators, to pay'a certain fum of money to another at a 
dav appointed. Black/lone. 
To OBLIG'URATE, v n. [from the Lat. oUigutio.] 
To fpend all on the belly. Bailey. 
OBLIMA'TION, f [from the Lat. oh, again!!, and 
linio, to fmear.] The aft o! daubing over 3 the aft o! 
plaftering. Bailey. 
OBLIQUA'TION, f. [ obliquatio , from obliquo, Lat.] 
Declination from ftraightnefs or perpendicularity ; obli¬ 
quity.—The change made by the obliquation of the eyes, 
is lead in colours of the denfeft than in thin fubftances. 
Newton's Optics. 
OBLI'QUE, aclj. [Fr. obliquns, Lat.] Not direft; not 
perpendicular ; not parallel.—If found be flopped and re- 
percufled, it cometh about on the other fide in an oblique 
line. Bacon's Nat. Hijl. 
One by bis view 
Mought deem him born with ill-difpofed {kies, 
When oblique Saturn fat in the houfe of agonies. Spenfer. 
Bavaria’s flars nmll be accus’d, which {hone, 
That fatal day the mighty work was done, 
With rays oblique upon the Gallick fun. Prior. 
Not direft:; indireft; by a fide-glance : 
Has he given the lie 
In circle, or oblique, or femicircle, 
Or direft parallel ; you muft challenge him. Shaltefpeare. 
[In grammar.] Any cafe in nouns except the nominative. 
OBLI'QUELY, adv. Notdireftly; not perpendicularly. 
—Of meridian altitude it hath but twenty-three degrees, 
fo that it plays but obliquely upon us, and as the fun doth 
about the twenty-third of January. Brown. 
Declining from the noon of day, 
The fun obliquely {hoots his burning ray. Pope. 
Not in the immediate or dire ft meaning.—His difcourfe 
tends obliquely to the detrafting from others, or the extol¬ 
ling of himfelf. Addifons Spectator, 
OBLI'QUENESS, or Obliquity, f. Deviation from 
phyfical reftitude 3 deviation from parallelifm, or per¬ 
pendicularity : 
Which elfe to feveral fpheres thou muft afcribe, 
Mov’d contrary with thwart obliquities. Milton. 
Deviation from moral reftitude.—There is in reftitude, 
beauty; as contrariwife in obliquity , deformity. Hooker. 
—For a rational creature to conform himfelf to the will 
of God in all things, carries in it a rational reftitude or 
goodnefs; and to difobey or oppofe his will in any thing, 
imports a moral obliquity. South. 
OBLIQ'UID, adj. [a word which feems coined by 
Spenfer to fuit his verfe.] Oblique : 
Befides, that power and virtue which yefpake 
Is checkt and changed from his nature trew, 
By other’s oppofition or obliquid view. Fairy Queen. 
To OBLITERATE, v.u. [ oblite.ro, of ob and litera, 
Lat.] To efface any thing written. To wear out; to de- 
ftroy ; to efface.—Wars and defolations obliterate many 
ancient monuments. Hale's Orig. of Mankind. —Let men 
confider themfelves as enfnared in that unhappy contraft 
which has rendered them part of the devil’s pofleffion, 
and contrive how they may obliterate that reproach, arid 
difentangle their mortgaged fouls. Decay of Chr. Piety. 
OBLITERATION, f. Effacement; extinftion.— 
Confidering the cafualties of wars, tranfmigrations, ef- 
pecially that of the general flood, there might probably 
bean obliteration of all thofe monuments of antiquity 
that ages precedent at fome time have yielded. Ilalc's 
Orig. of Mankind. 
O B M 
OBLIV'IAL, adj. Caufmg oblivion, tending to forget- 
fulnefs. Bailey. 
OBLIV'ION, f. [old Fr. from oblivio, Lat.] Forgetful- 
nefs ; ceffation from remembrance.—Knowledge is made 
by oblivion, and to purchafe a clear and warrantable body 
or truth, we muft forget and part with much we know. 
Brown. —Can they imagine, that God has therefore for¬ 
got their fins, becaufe they are not willing to remember 
them ? or will they meafurehis pardon by their own obli¬ 
vion? South. 
Water-drops have worn the ftones of Troy, 
And blind oblivion fwallow’d cities up, 
And mighty dates charafterlefs are grated 
To dufty nothing. Shakejpeare's Trail, and Crcff. 
Amnefty; general pardon of crimes in a ftate.—By the 
aft of oblivion, all offences againft the crown, and all par¬ 
ticular trefpafles between fubjeft and fubjeft, were par¬ 
doned, remitted, and utterly extinguished. Davies. 
OBLIV'IOUS, adj. Caufing forgetfulnefs.—Behold the 
wonders of th’ oblivious lake ! Pope. 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain. 
And with fome fweet oblivious antidote 
Cleanfe the lluff’d bofom. Shakejpeare's Macbeth. 
Forgetful.—There was never thing that repented me 
more that ever I did, than doth the remembrance of 
my great and mo ft oblivious negligence. CavendijhfsLife of 
Wolfey. 
OBIZES'ZTI, a town of Walachia forty miles eaft of 
Buchareft. 
OBLOCU'TION, f. [from the Lat. ob, againft, and lo- 
quor, to fpeak.] Obloquy, ill report. 
OBLOC'UTOR, f. [Latin.] A gainfayer. Not in life .— 
There be dy verle oblocutors, which , by report of hisene- 
myes, faye that he would never have fet forth fuch thinges 
as he promyfed. Bale's Pref. to Leland's Itinerary. 
OB'LONG, adj. [Fr. oblongus, Lat.] Longer than 
broad ; the fame with a reftangle parallelogram, whofe 
fides are unequal. Harris. —The belt figure of a garden I 
efteem an oblong upon a defcent. Temple's Mijcell. 
OB'LONG, /.' [from the adj.'] A parallelogram. 
OB'LONGLY, adv. In an oblong form.—The furface 
of the temperate climates is larger than it would have 
been, had the globe of our earth or of the planets been 
either fpherical, or oblongly fpheroidical. Cheyne. 
OB'LONGNF.SS, J\ The ftate of beingoblong. 
OBLO'QUIOUS, adj. [from obloquy.'] Reproachful.— 
Emulations which are apt to rife and vent in obloquious 
acrimony. Natation's Fragm. Regal. 
OB'LOQUY, f. [ obloquor, Lat.] Cenforious fpeech ; 
blame; fiander; reproach.—Shall names that made your 
city the glory of the earth, be mentioned with obloquy 
and detradlion ? Addifon. —Every age might perhaps pro¬ 
duce one or two true genius’s, if they were not funk un¬ 
der the cenfure and obloquy of plodding, fervile, imitating, 
pedants. Swift. 
Canft thou with impious obloquy condemn 
The juft decree of God, pronounc’d and {‘worn. Milton. 
Caufe of reproach 5 difgrace. Not proper. 
My chaftity’s the jewel of our houfe, 
Bequeathed down from many anceftors ; 
Which were the greateft obloquy i’ the world 
In me to lofe. Shakejpeare's All's Well. 
OBLUCTA'TION, f. [from obluElor , Lat. to ftruggle 
againft.] Oppofition ; refiltance.—He hath not the com¬ 
mand of himfelf, to ufe that artificial obluttatiun, and fa¬ 
cing out of the matter, which he doth at other times. 
Father by's Atheom. 
OBMUTES'CENCE, f [from obmntefco, Lat.] Lofs of 
fpeech.—A vehement fear often produceth obmutejcence. 
Brown. —Obfervation of filence.—Compare Chriftianity, 
as it came from Chrift, with the fame religion after it fell 
into other hands 5 with the extravagant merit very fioon 
2 aferibed 
