370 O B S 
See how the obfeqnious wind and liquid air 
The Theban Iwan does upward bear. Cowley. 
His fervants weeping, 
Obfeqnious to his orders, bear him hither. Addifm's Cato. 
In Shakefpeare it feems to fignify, funereal; fuch as the 
rites of funerals require : 
Your father loft a father ; 
That father his; and the furvivor bound 
In filial obligation, for fome term. 
To do obfeqnious forrow. Hamlet. 
OBSE'QUIOUSLY, adv. Obediently; with compliance. 
■—We cannot reafonably expeft, that any onfe fhould rea¬ 
dily and obfeqnioufty quit his own opinion, and embrace 
ours with a blind refignation. Locke. 
They rife, and with refpeftful awe, 
At the word given, obfequioujly withdraw. Dry den. 
In Shakefpeare it fignifies, with funeral rites; with reve¬ 
rence for the dead : 
I a while obfequioujly lament 
The untimely fall of virtuous Lancafter. Richard III. 
OBSE'QUIOUSNESS, f. Obedience ; compliance.—No 
lefs famous for her liberty than obfequioufnefs towards her 
hulband. Bacon's Hift. of Life and Death. —An heart of 
ft ngnlar obfequioijhefs towards your father. IVotlou's Paneg. 
to K. Charles I. * 
OB'SEQUY, f. Funeral ceremony. See Obsequies.— 
Obfequioufnefs ; compliance. Natinvfe: 
Sway’d by ftrong necefiity, ' 
I am enforc’d to eat my careful bread 
With too much obfequy. Ben Jonfon's Fox. 
OBSERA'TION, / [from the Lat. ob, againft, and fera, 
a bolt.] The aft of fecuring with a bolt or lock. Bailey. 
OBSER'VABLE, adj. [from obfervo, Lat.] Remark¬ 
able; eminent; fuch as may deferve notice.—They do 
bury their dead with obfervable ceremonies. Abbot .— Thefe 
proprieties affixed unto bodies from confiderations de¬ 
duced from eaft, weft, or thofe obfervable points of the 
fphere, will notbejuftified from fuch foundations. Brown. 
—I took a juft account of every obfervable circumftance of 
the earth, ftone, metal, or other matter, from the furface 
quite down to the bottom of the pit, and entered it care¬ 
fully into a journal. Woodward's Nat. Hift .— The great 
and more obfervable occafions of exercifing our courage, 
occur but feldom. Rogers. 
OBSER'VABLE,/. Obfervation; that which has been 
obferved, or which merits obfervation or notice.— Obfer- 
vables upon a monftrous Head. Obfervables in the Body 
of the Earl of Balcarras. Phil. Tranf. vol. i. 
OBSER'VABLENESS, / [from obfervable.'] The ftate 
of being obfervable. 
OBSERVABLY, ado. [from obfervable.] In a manner 
worthy of note.—It is prodigious to have thunder in a 
clear Iky, as is obfervably recorded in fome hiftories. 
Brown's Vulg. Err. 
OBSERVANCE,/ [Fr. olfervo, Lat.] Refpeft; cere¬ 
monial reverence : 
Arcite left his bed, refolv’d to pay 
Otfervance to the month of merry May. Dryden. 
Religious rite.—Some reprefent to themfelves the whole 
of religion as confifting in a few' eafy olfervances, and 
never lay the leaft reftraint on the bufinefs or diverfions 
of fhis life. Rogers .— Attentive praftice. — If the divine 
laws were propofed to our obfervance, with no other mo¬ 
tive than the advantages attending it, they would be little 
more than an advice. Rogers's Sermons. 
Love rigid honefty, 
And ftrift obfervance of impartial laws. Rofcommon. 
Rule of praftice. — There are other ftrift observances. 
Shahefpearc's Love's Labour lojl. —Careful obedience.—We 
muft attend our Creator in all thofe ordinances, which he 
O B S 
has preferibed to the obfervance of his church. Rogers. — 
Obfervation ; attention.—There can be no obfervation or 
experience of greater certainty, as to the increafe of man¬ 
kind, than the ftrift and vigilant obfervance of the calcula¬ 
tions and regifters of the bills of births and deaths. Hale's 
Orig. of Mankind. —Obedient regard; reverential atten¬ 
tion.—Having had fuch experience of his fidelity and ob¬ 
fervance abroad, he found himfeif engaged in honour to 
fupport him. Wolton. 
Observance is particularly underftood, in a monadic 
fenfe, of a community of religious who are bound to the 
perpetual obfervation of the fame rule. The Cordeliers 
denominated themfelves, Religious of the Obfervance. 
Thofe Francifcans are called Brethren of the Obfervance, 
who religioufly obferve the primitive laws and inftitutiori 
of their founder, in oppofition to Conventuals. Among 
the Bernardines, there are monks of the J'tricl obfervance , 
who eat nothing but fifth Chambers. 
OBSERVANCY, / Attention: 
We muft think, men are not gods ; ■ 
Nor of them look for fuch obfervancy 
As fits the bridal. Shakefpeare's Othello. 
OBSERVAN'DA, / pi. [Latin.] Things to be ob¬ 
ferved.—The ilfues of my obfervanda begin to grow too 
large for the receipts. Swift's Tale of a Tub. 
OBSER'VANT, adj. Jthfervans, Lat.] Attentive [dili¬ 
gent ; watchful.—Thefe writers, which gave themfelves 
to follow and imitate others, were olfemaiut feftators of 
thofe mailers they admired. Raleigh's Hift. of the World. 
Wandering from clime to clime, ohfervant ftray’d ; 
Their manners noted, and their Hates furvey’d. Pope. 
Obedient; refpeftful : with of. —We are told how objir- 
vant Alexander was of his mailer Ariftotle. Digby on the 
Soul.— Refpeftfully attentive: with of: 
She now, ohfervant of the parting ray, 
Eyes the calm fun-let of thy various day. Pope. 
Meanly dutiful; fubmiffive.—How could the molt bafe 
men attain to honour but by fuch an obfervUnt flavilh 
courfe. Raleigh .— An epithet given to an order of Fran- 
eifean friars inftituted by-Bernard.—Here fometime flood 
an houfe of Ohfervant Friers, which came hither about 
the latter end of the reigne of king Edward the Fourth. 
Weever. 
OBSERVANT, / [This word has the accent on the 
firft Fyliable in Shakefpeare.] A flavilh attendant. Not in 
ife: 
Thefe kind of kijaves I know, which in this plainnefs 
Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends. 
Than twenty filly ducking obfervants 
That ftretch their duties nicely. Shahefpearc's Is. Lear. 
A diligent obferver. — Such obfervants they are thereof, 
[of the law.] Hooker's Eve. Pol. 
OBSERVAN'TINES, / in church-hiftory,,a particular 
order of Francifcans.—In Spain there are bare-footed ob- 
Jervantines. Chambers. 
OBSERVA'TION, f. [obfervatio , from obfervo., Lat.] 
The aft of obferving, noting, or remarking.—Thefe can¬ 
not be infufed by obfervation, becaufe they are the rules by 
which men take their firft apprehenfions and obfcrvalions of 
things ; as the being of the rule muft be before its appli¬ 
cation to the thing direfted by it. South .— The rules of 
our praftice are taken from the conduft of fuch perfons as 
fall within our obfervation. Rogers. —Show; exhibition.— 
The kingdom of God cometh not with obfervation. Luke. 
xvii. 20.—Notion gained by obferving; note; remark; 
animadverfion.—In matters of human prudence, we fhall 
find the greatefl advantage by making wife ob/irvations on 
our conduft, and of the events attending it. Watts's Logic. 
— Obedience; ritual praftice.—He freed and delivered the 
Chriftian church from the external objervation and obedi¬ 
ence of all fuch legal precepts as were not fimply and 
formally moraL White. 
OBSERVA'TOR 
