O P P 
government.—He has never omitted a fair occafion, with 
whatever detriment to his intereft as a member of oppofi¬ 
tion, to affert the very fame doftrines which appear in that 
book. Burke. 
Opposition, in aftronomy, is that afpeft or fituation 
of two ftars or planets, wherein they are diametrically op- 
pofite to each other, or 18o°, that is, a femicircle, apart. 
•—When the Moon is diametrically oppolite to the Sun, 
fo that the fliovvs her whole illumined face, die is faid, 
with regard to the Sun, to be in oppojition ; and flie is 
then faid to be in her full, and Ihines all night long. 
Chambers .—Mars, in his oppofition to the Sun, is nearer 
the Earth than he is to the Sun. Chambers. 
OPPOS'ITIVE, adj. Capable of being put in oppofi¬ 
tion.—Here not without fome oppofitive comparifon; not 
Mofes, not Elias, but This: Moles and Elias were fer- 
vants ; This, a fon. Bp. Hall's Contempt, 
To OPPRESS', v. a. [ oppreffhs , Lat.] To crulh by hard- 
fliip or unreafonable feverity.—Ifrael and Judah were op¬ 
preffed together, and all that took them captives held them, 
fait, they refufed to let them go. Jer. i. 33. 
Alas ! a mortal mod: opprejl of thofe 
Whom fate has loaded with a weight of woes. Pope. 
To overpower; to fubdue.—The fun, opprefs'd, is plung’d 
in thickell gloom. Thomfon. 
We’re not ourfelves, 
When nature, being opprefs'd, commands the mind 
To fuffer with the body. Shahefpeare's K. Lear. 
OPPRESSION, f. [from opprefs.] The a£l of opprefs- 
ing; cruelty ; feverity.— If thou feed the opprejfions of 
the poor, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher 
than the highed regardeth. Eccles. v. 8. — The date of 
being oppreffed ; mifery : 
Need and opprejfion dare within thine eyes, 
Contempt and beggary hang on thy back. Shahefpeare. 
Hardfliip; calamity,—We are all fubjeft to the fame ac¬ 
cidents ; and, when we fee any under particular opprejfion, 
we (hould look upon it as the common lot of human na¬ 
ture. Addifon.- —Dulnefs of fpirits; laflitude of body.— 
Droufinefs, opprejfion , heavinefs, and lalfitude, are figns 
of a too plentiful meal. Arbuthnot on Aliments. 
OPPRESSIVE, adj. Cruel ; inhuman ; unjudly ex¬ 
actions or 1 eve re. Heavy; overwhelming: 
To eafe the foul of one oppreffive weight. 
This quits an empire, that embroils a date. Pope. 
OPPRESSIVELY, adv. In an oppreffive or fevere man¬ 
ner.—Her taxes are more injudicioufly and more oppref- 
fively impofed, more vexatioufly collected. Burke on the 
State of the Nation, 1769. 
OPPRESSIVENESS,/! The quality of being oppreffive. 
OPPRESSOR, J\ One who haraffes others with unrea¬ 
fonable orunjud feverity.—Power, when employed to re¬ 
lieve the oppreffed and to puniili the opprejfur , becomes 
a great bleffing. Swift. 
I from opprejfors did the poor defend. 
The fatherlels, and fuch as had no friend. Sandys. 
OPPRO'BRIOUS, adj. [from opprobrium, Lat.] Re¬ 
proachful; difgraceful; caufing infamy; fcurrilous.— 
Himfelf pronounceth them blelfed, that fliould for his 
name fake be fubjeCt to all kinds of ignominy and oppro¬ 
brious malediction. Hooker. —They fee themfelves unjudly 
afperfed, and vindicate themfelves in terms no lefs oppro¬ 
brious than thofe by which they are attacked. AddiJbn's 
Freeholder. —Bladed with infamy : 
I will not here defile 
My undain’d verfe with his opprobrious name. Daniel , 
OPPRO'BRIOUSLY, adv. Reproachfully; fcurriloufly: 
Think you, this little prating York 
Was notincenfed by his fubtle mother 
To taunt and fcorn you thus opprobrioujly, Shahefpeare. 
OPS 539 
OPPRO'BRIOUSNESS, /! Reproachfulnefs; fcurrility. 
OPPRO'BRIUM, f [Latin. We had formerly the 
harfh Englifh- word opprobtie , which is in' Sherwood’s 
Dictionary. Opprobrium has long been in ufe, though 
Dr. Johnfon has overpaffed it. Todd.] Difgrace ; infamy. 
—Whoever prefumes to give check to our infolence, is 
fure to be made the mark of our malice, and to be perfe- 
cuted with all the reproach and opprobrium that the mod 
inveterate rancour can invent. Scott's Sermon before the 
Ld, Mayor , 1683. 
OPPS, a town of Pennfylvania : fix miles fouth-ead of 
Bethelem. 
To OPPU'GN, v. a. [ oppugner , old Fr. from oppugno, 
Lat.] To oppofe ; to attack ; to refid.—Not fo fubtle to 
invent falfe matters to oppugne the truth. Martin's Marr. 
of Priejls, 1554. —They faid the manner of their impeach¬ 
ment they could not but conceive did oppugn the rights 
of parliament. Clarendon. 
If nothing can oppugn love, 
And virtuous envious ways can prove. 
What cannot he confide to do 
That brings both love and virtue too ? Hudibras. 
OPPUG'NANCY, f [from oppugn.] Oppofition: 
Take but degree away, untune that firing, 
And hark what difcord follows, each thing meets 
In mere oppugnancy. Shakejpeare's Troil. and Crejf 
OPPUGNA'TION, f. [old Fr.] Refinance. Huloet. — 
Which being done by way of tithes, in thofe countries 
wherein they obtain, there is juft caufe of thankful nefs to- 
God for fo meet a provifion, none for a Jult oppugnation.. 
Bp. Hall's Cafes of Confidence. 
OPPU'GNER, f [from oppugn,] One who oppofes or 
attacks.—The modern and degenerate Jews be, upon the 
fcore of being the great patrons of man’s free will, not 
caufelefsly efteemed the great oppugners of God’s free 
grace. Boyle. 
OP'PURG, a town of Saxony, in the circle of Neu- 
ftadt. Here is a citadel which gave name to a lordlhip, 
and was formerly fortified with walls and towers. It is 
four miles fouth-weft of Neuftadt, and nine weft of Auma- 
OPS, in fabulous hiftory, a daughter of Ccelus and 
Terra, the fame as the Rhea of the Greeks, who married 
Saturn, and became mother of Jupiter. She was known 
among the ancients by the different names of Cybele 
Bona Dea, Magna Mater , Thy a, Tellus, Proferpina, and 
even of Juno and Minerva; and the worfhip which was 
paid to thefe apparently feveral deities, was offered merely 
to one and the fame perfon, mother of the gods. The 
word Ops feems to be derived from opus; becaufe the god- 
defs, who is the fame as the earth, gives nothing without 
“labour.” Tatius built her a temple at Rome. She was 
generally reprefented as a matron, with her right hand 
opened, as if offering affiftance to the helplefs, and hold¬ 
ing a loaf in her left hand. Her feftivals were called 
opalia, See . 
OP'SA,a town of Lithuania,in the palatinate of Wilna 5 
twelve miles fouth-fouth-weft of Breflau.. 
OP'SAL, a town of Norway, in the province of Agger- 
huus : forty miles north of Konfwinger. 
OPSAN'THA, J\ in botany. See Gentiana ama~ 
RELLA. 
OPSICEL'LA, in ancient geography, a town of Spain,, 
in Cantubria; built, according to Strabo, by the compa¬ 
nions of Antenor, and named by him. 
OPSIM'ATHY, f [from the Gr. o-fiz, late, and p.xQa.tu, 
to learn.] An education begun late in life. Johnfon. — Opji- 
mathie, which is too late beginning to learn, was counted 
a great vice, and very unfeemly amongft moral and natu¬ 
ral men. Hale's Remains. 
OPSIUKO'VA, a town of Rulfia, in the government of 
Novgorod, on the Tchagodo : eighty miles eaft-north-eaft 
of Novgorod. 
OP'SLO. See Crristiana.. 
OFSO„ 
