mi o p i 
ceived notion.—If either the obftinacy of the pope’s am¬ 
bition, or the wilfulnefs or fcrupulofity of any opiniona- 
tive minillers, fliould oppofeagainft and impeach the unity 
of charity ; then, the unity of authority to be interpofed 
to aiTift it. Sir E. Sandy's State cif Rel. —Imagined ; not 
proved.—It is difficult to find out truth, becaufe it is in 
fuch inconfiderable proportions fcattered in a mafs of 
dpinialive uncertainties j like the filver in Hiero’s crown 
of gold. Glanville. 
OPIN'IATIVENESS, f. Inflexibility of opinion ; ob¬ 
ftinacy.—The firft obftacle to good counfel is pertinacy 
or opirAativenej's. Raleigh's Arts of Errp. 
OPIN'IATOR, / One fond of his own notion; in¬ 
flexible; adherent to his own opinion.—What will not 
ojnniators and felf-believing men difpute of and make 
doubt of? Raleigh. 
OPINIA'TRE, adj. [French.] Obftinate ; ftubborn ; 
inflexible.—What in common life would denote a mart 
rail), fool-hardy, hair-brained, opiniatre, crazed, is recom¬ 
mended in this fchemeas the true method in fpeculation. 
Rent ley's Phil. Lips. 
OPINIATRE, / One fond of his own notions; one 
ftiff in his own opinions.—To be termed a foppith fun- 
pleton, a clownifh fingularift, or non-conformilt to ordi¬ 
nary ufage, a ftiff opiniatre, are opprobrious name's, which 
divert many perfons from their duty. Harrow. 
OPINIA'TRETY, or Opih'iatrv,/ [ oniniatret'e, Fr.] 
Obftinacy; inflexibility; determination of mind; lfub- 
bornnefs. “ This word, though it has been tried in dif¬ 
ferent forms,' is not yet received, nor is it wanted,” fays 
T)i. Johnfon.—I can pafs by opiniatry, and the bufy med¬ 
dling of thofe who thruft themlelves into every thing. 
Woodward's Letters. —I was extremely concerned at his 
apiniatrety in leaving me : but he fhall not get rid lb. 
Pope. 
OPINION, f. [Fr. from opinio, Lat.] Perfuafion of the 
mind, without proof or certain knowledge.— Opinion is, 
when the aflent of the underftanding is fo far gained by 
evidence of probability, that it rather inclines to one 
perfuafion than to another, yet not altogether without a 
mixture of incertainty or doubting. Hale. 
Bleft be the princes who have fought 
For pompous names, or wide dominion, 
Since by their error we are taught, 
That happinefs is but opinion. Prior. 
Sentiment; judgment; notion.—Charity itfelfcommands 
us, where we know no ill, to think well of all; but friend- 
fliip, that always goes a pitch higher, gives a man a pecu¬ 
liar right and claim to the good opinion of his friend. 
South. —Philofophers are of opinion, that infinite fpace is 
poflefled by God’s infinite omniprefence. Lockc .— Fa¬ 
vourable judgment.—In actions of arms fmall matters are 
of great moment, efpecially when they ferve to raife an 
opinion of commanders. Hayward. —Reputation.— Thou 
haft redeem’d thy loft opinion. ShaheJ’peare's Hen.lV . P.I. 
You have the opinion 
Of a valiant gentleman, one that dares 
Fight, and maintain your honour, againft odds. Shirley. 
To OPINTON, v. a. To opine ; to think. A word out 
of ufe, and unworthy of revival. —The Stoicks opinioned the 
folds of wife men dwell about the moon, and thole of 
fools wandered about the earth: whereas the Epicu- 
rians held nothing after death. Brown. —That the foul 
and the angels are devoid of quantity and dimenfion, is 
generally opinioned. Glanville's Scepfis. 
OPIN'IONATE, or Opinionated, adj, Obftinate ; 
inflexible in opinion.—Are you fo Ample as not to dif- 
cern between the choler of fome few' opinionate men, and 
the confequence of their opinions? Bp. Bedell's Letter to 
Mr. Waddefwurth. —People of clear heads are what the 
world calls opinionated. Shenjlone. 
OPIN'IONATELY, adv. Obftinately; conceitedly; 
in one’s own opinion.—Self-conceited people never agree 
well together: they are wilful in their brawls, and reafon 
4 
O P I 
cannot reconcile them : where either are only opinionated/ 
wife, hell is there; unlefs the other be a patient merely. 
Feltham. 
OPIN'IONATIVE, adj. Fond of preconceived no¬ 
tions ; ftubborn.—Striking at the root of pedantry and 
opinionative affurance, would be no hindrance to the 
world’s improvement. Glanville. 
OPIN'IONATIVELY, adv. Stubbornly. 
OPINIONATIVENESS,/ Obftinacy. 
OPIN'IONED, adj. Attached to particular opinions; 
conceited.—He may call: him upon a bold fe\f-opinioned 
phyfician, worfe than his diftemper. South's Sermons. 
OPIN'IONIST, / One fond of his own notions.— 
Every conceited opinioniji fets up an infallible chair in 
his own brain. Glanville to Albius. 
OPIOL'OGY, f. [from the Gr. ottiov, opium, and Aoyor, 
a defeription.] A deferiptiqn or treatife on opium. Scott. 
OPIP'AROUS, adj. [opiparus, Lat.] Sumptuous. 
OPISTHOCYPH'OSIS, / [Greek.] A gibbofity of 
the back-bone. Scott. 
OPISTHODO'MOS, f. in architecture; a poftern, a 
back gate. 
OPIS'THOGRAPH, /. [Greek.] Among the an¬ 
cients, a wafte-book, or fchedule, on which were writ 
extemporary things that wanted to be reviled and cor¬ 
rected afterwards. The word is compounded of oa-ia-Osp, 
afterwards, or on the back, and yp«,(pco, I write; becaufe 
the corrected particulars were generally written on the 
back llde of the leaf. 
OPISTHOGRAPH'IC, adj. Written on both fides. 
Cole. 
OPISTIIOTO'NUS, f. [Greek.] A kind of cramp in 
the neck, w'hich bends it backwards. 
To OPIT'ULATE, v. a. [<opitulor , Lat. to help.] To 
aid ; to aiTift. Cole. 
OPITULA'TION, J. [opitulatio , Lat.] An aiding ; a 
helping. 
OPIT'IUS, or Opitz (Martin), a poet and philologift, 
was born in 1595 at Buntflow in Sileiia. He was educa¬ 
ted in the univeriities of Frankfort on the Oder, Heidel¬ 
berg, and Straftourg; and afterwards accompanied a Danifh 
gentleman in a tour to the Low Countries. Returning 
to Silefia, he pafled fome time at Breflau, where he was 
engaged by Bethlem Gabor, prince of Tranfylyania, to 
teach claifical literature at his new fchool of Weiftenberg. 
During his refidence in Tranfylvania, he diligently em¬ 
ployed himfelf in inquiries relative to the hiftory of the an¬ 
cient Dacians, and the Roman antiquities exifting in that 
country. He copied various inferiptions, y/hich he tranf- 
mitted toGruter, Grotius, and Bernegger, with whom, as 
well as with other learned men, he was in habits ofcor- 
refpondence. Returning to Germany, he was made fecr®- 
tary to a burgrave in the imperial fervice, who furnilhed 
him with the means of a journey to France. In that 
country he became perfonally acquainted with G.rotius, 
and made a conftderable collection of manuferipts and 
medals. He afterwards pafled fome time in thefervica of 
the prince of Lignitz; and finally retired to Dantzig, 
where he died of the plague in 1632. 
Martin Opitz particularly diftinguifhed himfelf as a 
writer of Latin and German poetry. As a Latin poet he 
was reckoned inferior to few of his countrymen. In 
1631 he publifned at Frankfort two books of Syfoce, and 
one of Epigrammaia. Of his felect epigrams, a volume 
was printed at Dantzig in 1640. He obtained greater 
fame from his German poems, which were accounted the 
moft exadt and finiihed in language and verfification that 
had hitherto appeared; infomuch that fome have thought 
him entitled to the appellation of the father of German 
poetry ; and his name is revered by the Germans as that 
of Chaucer is by us. He had to ftruggle with many dif- 
ad vantages arifing from the rude and uncultivated ftate 
of the language at the period in which he lived; for, 
before the reformation, Latin being uled in the fervice of 
the qjiurch, and by all thofe writers who had enjoyed 
* the 
