OPE 
510 
affairs, they only gaze upon the vifi'ble fuccefs, and there¬ 
after condemn or cry np the whole progreffion. Brown's 
Vnlg. Err. 
OP'ERANT, adj. [French.] Aftive; having power to 
produce any effeft. A word not in life, though elegant.—- 
My operant powers their funftions leave to do. Shakifp. 
Earth, yield me roots ! 
Who feeks far better of thee, fauce his palate 
With thy molt operant poifon. Shakejpeare's Timim. 
OPERA'RII, f Such tenants, under feudal tenures,as 
had Come little portions of land by the duty of performing 
bodily labours and fervile works for their lord ; being no 
other than the Jirvi and bondmen. 
To OP'ERATE, v.n. [operor, Lat. operer, Fr. j To aft; 
to have agency ; to produce eftefts : with on before the 
fubjeft of operation.—The virtues of private perfons 
operate but on a few; their fpbere of aft ion is narrow, 
and their influence is confined te-it. Atterlury. —Where 
caufes operate freely, with a liberty of indifference to 
this or the contrary, the eft-eft will be contingent, and 
the certain knowledge of it belongs only to God. Watts. 
OPERAT'ICAL, adj. [from opera. ] Belonging to an 
opera. 
OPERA'TIO, f. in old records, a day’s work. 
OPERA'TION, f. [operatio, Lat.] Agency; produc¬ 
tion of effefts ; influence.—There are in men operations, 
natural, rational, fupernatural, fome politic, fome finally 
ecclefiaftical. Hooker. 
By all the operations of the orbs, 
From whom we do exift and ceafe to be, 
Here I difclaim all my paternal care. Shakcfpearc. 
Aftion; effeft. This is often confounded with the former 
j'cnfe. —The offices appointed, and the powers exercifed, 
in the church, by their in-ftitution and operation , are holy. 
Pearfon. 
That falfe fruit 
Far other operation firft dilplay’d, 
Carnal defire inflaming. Milton's P. L. 
That part of the art of furgery w'hich depends on theufe 
of inftruments.—The motions or employments of an 
army. 
OP'ERATIVE, adj. Having the pow'er of afting; 
having forcible agency; aftive ; vigorous; efficacious.— 
Many of the nobility endeavoured to make themfelves 
popular, by fpeaking in parliament again ft thofe things 
which were molt grateful to his majefty ; and he thought 
a little difcountenance upon thofe perfons would fupprefs 
that fpirit within themfelves, or make the poifon of it 
lefs operative upon others. Clarendon. —In actions of reli¬ 
gion we fhould be zealous, aftive, and operative, fo far as 
prudence will permit. Bp. Taylor. —The will is the con- 
clufion of an operative fyllogifm. Norris. 
OP'ERATIVENESS, /.’ A tendency to operate; fuit- 
ablenefsto produce its effeft. 
OP'ERATOR, f. One that performs any aft of the 
hand ; one who produces any effeft.—To udminifter this 
dofe there cannot be fewer than fifty thoufand operators, 
allowing one operator to every thirty. Swift. 
OPERBAN'DA, a town of Bengal: twenty-five miles 
north-weft of Nagore. 
OPERCULA'RIA, f. [from operculum, Lat. a lid, be- 
caufe the feeds are fixed to the bottom of the lid or cover¬ 
ing of the receptacle.] In botany, a genus of the clafs 
tetrandria, order monogynia. Generic charafters—Calyx: 
perianthium common one-leafed, bell-lhaped, three to fix 
flowered, fix to nine toothed; teeth acute, unequal; per¬ 
manent; perianthium proper, none. Corolla: univerfal 
equal; proper one-petalled, funnel-form; mouth four 
or five cleft, ereft. Stamina: filaments four, inferted 
into the receptacle; antheras diftinft. Piftillum: gerrnen 
inferior, immerfed in the receptacle ; ftyle filiform ; ftigma 
thickifli, bifid. Pericarpium : none. Seeds: folitary, 
convex on one fide, grooved on the other. Receptacle : 
% 
O P H 
common, flat above, doling the aperture of the calyx be¬ 
low the teeth, below pyramidal, grooved angular; the 
angles continued into partitions, by which the cavity of 
the calyx is divided into cells equal to the number of 
feeds ; deciduous. — Bjjential 'CharulAer. Flower com¬ 
pound ; calyx common one-leafed, unequally toothed, 
doled by a common receptacle, flowering above, feeding 
below, falling when ripe. There are four fpecies. 
1. Opercularia mnbeilat-at flowers urnbellated, monan- 
cl rous. Native of New Holland. Stem round, hairy, 
with oppofite branches; leaves oppofite, ffaiked, oblong, 
hairy on both fides; flowers •terminal, umbellated. Thrs 
fpecies is remarkable for having three feparute three¬ 
toothed flowers in the ditk ; a Angle ffamen ; and occa- 
fionally two ftyles. 
2. Opercularia afpera: flowers capitate; calyx fur¬ 
rowed, fmooth. Native of New South Wales. Intro¬ 
duced at Kew in 1790 by fir Jofeph Banks, where it 
flowers in June and July. Stems upright, forked, round, 
furrowed, fmooth; leaves oppofite, ovato-lanceolate, en¬ 
tire, fmooth, veined ; flowers capitate, terminal, drooping. 
3. Opercularia paieata : receptacle globular, chaffy. 
Native alfo of New South Wales. It flowers at Kew in 
July and Auguft. This new fpecies of Opercularia may 
poffibly be a diItinft genus; at leaft fuch a lufpicion is 
ftarted by Dr. Young, who originally defcribed it in the 
iiid vol. of the Linn. Tranf. and, thould that opinion be 
eftablilhed, he propofes to call it Crypt of per mum. Root 
perennial, fibrous. Stem herbaceous, ereft, three or four 
feet high, flightly quadrangular, fmooth, rather Itriated, 
branched. Leaves oppofite, fpreading, lefiile, acute, 
fometimes pointed, green. Stipules lateral, awl-fhaped, 
greenifh. Flowers aggregated, terminal, on Iongiffi Italks, 
which at firft are ereft, then drooping, and afterwards be¬ 
come ereft again. The whole herb has rather a naufeou6 
Ifnell, refembling decaying pot-herbs. A fprig of this 
plant is fltown, of the natural iize, on the preceding 
Plate, at fig. 2. the corolla, with its proper calyx, ftamens, 
and piftillum, are lhown magnified, at b; the unripe fruit, 
magnified, at c; and the receptacle, with the calyx con¬ 
joined, at d. 
4. Opercularia diphylla : flowers capitate ; calyx hifpid. 
Native of New Zealand. Very fimilar to the two firft 
fpecies in habit. Its bead of flowers about half the fize 
of that of O. afpera. 
OPER'CULATE, adj. [from the Lat. operculum, a 
cover.] Covered ; clofe covered. Cole. 
OPERO'SE, or Op'erous, adj. [operofus, Lat.] Labo¬ 
rious ; full of trouble and tedioufnefs.—Such an exolica- 
tion is purely imaginary, and alfo very operofe; they would 
be as bard put to it to get rid of this water, when the de¬ 
luge was to ceafe, as they were at firft to procure it. 
Burnet's Theory. —Written language, as it is more operous, 
fo it is more digefted, and is permanent. Hooker. 
OPERO'SENESS, f. State of being operofe.—They are 
far more eafy, and reach the main delign in a lefs compafs 
of words ; and, have not that opernfenejs of fynchronifms 
neceflarily hanging on them, as the other have for the 
clearing of the fenfe. More on the Seven Churches, 1669. 
OPEROS'ITY, /! Operation ; adf ion.—There is a kind 
of operojily in fin, in regard whereof, finners are ftyled the 
workers of iniquity, Bp. Hall's Sc-left Thoughts. 
OPERTA'NEOUS, adj. [opertaneus, Lat.j Secret; done 
in private. Cole. 
OPETO'PEC, or Mumbacho, a fmall but beautiful 
and fertile ifland of Mexico, with a town of the fame 
name, in the fouth part of Lake Nicaragua. 
OPF'FERSHAUSEN, a town of Germany, in the 
county of Henneberg: feven miles north-weft of Mei- 
nungen. 
OP'HEIM, a town of Norway, in the province of 
Bergen : forty-five miles north-eaft of Bergen. 
O'PHEL, [Heb. acceleration.] A wall and tower of Je- 
rufalem, which leems to have been near the temple, and 
is rendered Jlrong-hold in Mic. iv. 8. Kingjothamerefted 
4 feveral 
