The beneficence of the Roman emperors and conJohnson. suls was merely occasional. What wonder if so near Looks intervene, and smiles, or object new, Casual discourse draws on. OCCULT, v. Secret. Milton. OCCUPANCY, Occupation, ARE words which derive their meaning from the different acceptations of the primitive verb occupy: the former being used to express the state of holding or possessing any object; the latter to express the act of taking possession of, or keeping in possession. He who has the occupancy of land enjoys the fruits of it: the occupation of a country by force of arms is of little avail, unless one has an adequate force to maintain one's ground. As occupancy gave the right to the temporary use of the soil; so it is agreed on all hands, that occupancy gave also the original right to the permanent property in the substance of the earth itself. Blackstone. The unhappy consequences of this temperature is, that my attachment to any occupation seldom outlives its novelty OCCUPATION, v. Business, OCCUPATION, v. Occupancy. ODD, UNEVEN. Cowper. ODD, probably a variation from add, seems to be a mode of the UNEVEN; both are opposed to the even, but odd is only said of that which has no fellow; the uneven is said of that which does not square or come to an even point: of numbers we say that they are either odd or uneven; but of gloves, shoes, and every thing which is made to correspond, we say that they are odd, when they are single; but that they are uneven when they are both different: in like man ECONOMY. ner a plank is uneven which has an unequal ODIOUS, v. Hateful. ODOUR, v. Smell. ECONOMICAL, SAVING, SPARING, THRIFTY, THE idea of not spending is common to SAVING is keeping and laying by with care; SPARING is keeping out of that which ought to be spent; THRIFTY or THRIVING is accumulating by means of saving: PENURIOUS is suffering as from penury by means of saving: NIGGARDLY, after the manner of a niggard, nigh or close person, is not spending or letting go, but in the smallest possible quantities. To be aconomical is a virtue in those who have but narrow means; all the other epithets, however, are employed in a sense more or less unfavourable; he who is saving when young, will be covetous when old; he who is sparing will generally be sparing out of the comforts of others; he who is thrifty commonly adds the desire of getting with that of saving; he who is penurious wants nothing to make him a complete miser; who is niggardly in his dealings will be mostly avaricious in his character. he I may say of fame as Falstaff did of honour, "if it comes it comes unlook'd for, and there is an end on't." I am content with a bare saving game. Youth is not rich, in time it may be poor, Pope. Young. Nothing is penuriously imparted, of which a more liberal distribution would increase real felicity. Johnson. Who by resolves and vows engag'd does stand, No niggard nature; men are prodigals. Cowley. ECONOMY, FRUGALITY, PARSIMONY. ECONOMY, from the Greek omvoμia, implies management. FRUGALITY, from the Latin fruges fruits, implies temperance. PARSIMONY (v.Avaricious) implies simply forbearing to spend, which is in fact the common idea included in these terms: but the economical man spares expense according to circumstances; he adapts bis expenditure to his means, and renders it by contrivance as effectual to his purpose as possible: the frugal man spares expense on himself or on his indulgences; he may, however, be liberal to others whilst he is frugal towards himself: the parsimonious man saves from himself as well as others; he has no other 557 object than saving. By economy a man OFFENCE. may make a limited income turn to the best account for himself and his family; by frugality he may with a limited income be enabled to do much good to others; by parsimony he may be enabled to accumulate great sums out of a narrow income; hence it is that we recommend a plan for being aconomical; we recommend a diet for being frugal; we condemn a habit or a character for being parsimonious. Your economy I suppose begins now to be settled; your expenses are adjusted to your revenue. Johnson. I accept of your invitation to supper, but I must make this agreement beforehand, that you dismiss zne soon, and treat me frugally Melmoth's Letters of Pliny. War and aconomy are things not easily reconciled, and the attempt of leaning towards parsimony in such a state may be the worst economy in the world. Burke. ECONOMY, MANAGEMENT. ECONOMY (v. Economy) has a more comprehensive meaning than management; for it includes the system of science and of legislation as well as that of domestic arrangements, as the economy of agriculture: the internal economy of a government; political, civil, or religious economy; or the aconomy of one's household. Management, on the contrary, is an action that is very seldom abstracted from its agent, and is always taken in a partial sense, namely, as a part of economy. The internal economy of a family depends principally on the prudent management of the female: the economy of every well-regulated community requires that all the members should keep their station, and preserve a strict subordination; the management of particular branches of this economy should belong to particular individuals. Oh spare this waste of being half divine, Young What incident can show more management and address in the poet (Miton,) than this of Sampson's refusing the summons of the idolaters, and obeying the visitation of God's Spirit. Cumberland. OF COURSE, v. Naturally. OF DISTINCTION, v. Of fashion. DEMEANOUR, MISDEED, affront. OFFENCE is here the general term, signifying merely the act that offends (v. To displease,) or runs counter to something else. Offence is properly indefinite; it merely implies an object without the least signification of the nature of the object; TRESPASS and TRANSGRESSION have a positive reference to an object trespassed upon or transgressed, trespass is contracted from trans and pass, that is, a passing beyond; 558 OFFENCE. and transgress from trans and gressus a going beyond. The offence therefore which constitutes a trespass arises out of the laws of property; a passing over or treading upon the property of another is a trespass; the offence which constitutes a transgression flows out of the laws of society in general which fix the boundaries of right and wrong: whoever therefore goes beyond or breaks through these bounds is guilty of a transgression. The trespass is a species of offence which peculiarly applies to the land or premises of individuals, transgression is a species of moral as well as political evil. Hunters are apt to commit trespasses in the eagerness of their pursuit; the passion of men are perpetually misleading them and causing them to commit various transgressions; the term trespass is sometimes employed improperly as respects time and other objects; transgression is always used in one uniform sense as respects rule and of another; we transgress the moral or law; we trespass upon the time or patience civil law. An offence is either public or private; a fence, althoug improperly applied to an MISDEMENDUR is properly a private of it signifies a wrong demeanour, or an of ffence against public law (v. Crime ;) for fence in one's demeanour against propriety; a MISDEED is always private, it signifies one's du y. Rotous and disorderly behaa wrong deed, or a deed which offends against viour in company are serious misdemeanfraud, or immorality of every kind are ours; every act of drunkenness, lying, misdeeds. An offence is that which affects persons or principles, communities or individuals, and is committed either directly or indirectly against the person; an AFFRONT is altogether personal, and is directly brought to bear against the front of some particular person; it is an offence against another to speak disrespectfully of him in his absence; it is an affront to push past him with violence and rudeness. Offences are either against God or man ; a trespass is always an offence against man; a transgression is against the will of God or the laws of men; the misdemeanour is more particularly against the established against the Divine Law; an affront is an order of society; a misdeed is an offence offence affainst good manners. Slight provocations and frivolous offences are the Otway. To whom with stern regard thus Gabriel spake: Milton Smiller faults in violation of a public law are comprised under the name of misdemeanour. Blackstone 1 2. OFFER. Fierce famine is your lot, for this misdeed, Dryden. God may sometime or other think it the concern of his justice and providence too to revenge the afSouth. fronts put upon the laws of man. TO OFFEND, v. To displease. OFFENDER, DELINQUENT. THE OFFENDER (v. To displease) is he who offends in any thing, either by commission or omission; the DELINQUENT, from delinquo to fail, signifies property he who fails by omission, but it is extended to signify failing by the violation of the law. Those who go into a wrong place are of fenders; those who stay away when they there are ought to go are delinquents: many offenders against the sabbath who commit violent and open breaches of decorum; there are still more delinquents who never attend a public place of worship. When any offender is presented into any of the ecclesiastical courts he is cited to appear there. Beveridge. The killing of a deer or boar, or even a hare, was punished with the loss of the delinquent's eyes. Hume. OFFENDING, OFFENSIVE. OFFENDING signifies either actually offending or calculated to offend (v. To displease ;) OFFENSIVE signifies calculated to offend at all times; a person may be of fending in his manners to a particular individual, or use an offending expression on a particular occasion without any imputation on his character; but if his manners are offensive, it reflects both on his temper and education. And tho' th' offending part felt mortal pain, Denham. Gentleness corrects whatever is offensive in our manners. OFFENSIVE, v. Obnoxious. OFFENSIVE, v. Offending. to offer, v. To give. TO OFFER, BID, TENDER, PROPOSE. OFFER, v. To give. BID, v. To ask. Blair. TENDER, like the word tend, from tendo to stretch, signifies to stretch forth by way of offering. PROPOSE, in Latin proposui, perfect of propono to place or set before, likewise characterizes a mode of offering. Offer is employed for that which is literally transferable, or for that which is indirectly communicable: bid and tender belong to offer in the first sense; propose heTo offer longs to offer in the latter sense. is a voluntary and discretionary act; an offer may be accepted or rejected at pleasure; to bid and tender are specific modes of offering which depend on circumstances; OFFERING. one bids with the hope of its being accept- ment. By the To offer and propose are both employed in matters of practice or speculation; but the former is a less definite and decisive act than the latter; we offer an opinion by way of promoting a discussion; we propose a plan for the deliberation of others. Sentiments which differ widely from the major part of those present ought to be offered with modesty and caution; we should not propose to another what we should be unwilling to do ourselves. We commonly offer by way of obliging; we commonly propose by way of arranging or accommodating. It is an act of puerility to offer to do more than one is enabled to perform; it does not evince a sincere disposition for peace to propose such terms as we know cannot be accepted. Should all these offers for my friendship call, "Tis he that offers, and I scorn them all." Pope. When the Earl of Oxford was told that Dr. Parnell waited among the crowd in the outer room, he went by the persuasion of Swift with his treasurer's Johnson. staff to bid him welcome. Aulus Gellius tells a story of one Lucius Neratius who made it his diversion to give a blow to whomsoever he pleased, and then tender them the Blackstone. legal forfeiture. We propose measures for securing to the young the possession of pleasure, (by connecting with it reBlair. ligion.) OFFERING, OBLATION. the OFFERING from offer, and OBLATION from oblatio and oblatus or oflatus, come both from effero (v. To offer :) the former is however a term of much more general and familiar use than the latter. Offerings are both moral and religious; oblation is religious only; the money which is put into the sacramental plate is an offering; consecrated bread and wine at the sacrament is an oblation. The offering in a religious sense is whatever one offers as a gift by way of reverence to a superior; the oblation is the offering which is accompanied with some particular ceremony. The wise men made an offering to our Saviour, but not properly an oblation; the Jewish sacrifices, as in general all the religious sacri fices, were in the proper sense oblations. 559 pay due honours to your awful king. OFFICE, v. Business. Pope. Pitt. OFFICE, PLACE, CHARGE, FUNCTION. OFFICE, in Latin officium, from officio or efficio, signifies either the duty performed or the situation in which the duty is performed. PLACE comprehends no idea of duty, for there may be sinecure places which are only nominal offices, and designate merely a relationship with the government: every office therefore of a public nature is in reality a place, yet every place is not an office. The place of secretary of state is likewise an office, but that of ranger of a park is a place only, and not always an of fice. An office is held; a place is filled, the office is given or intrusted to a person; the place is granted or conferred; the of fice reposes a confidence, and imposes a responsibility; the place gives credit and influence: the office is bestowed on a man from his qualification; the place is granted to him by favour or as a reward for past services; the office is more or less honourable; the place is more or less profitable. In an extended application of the terms office and place, the latter has a much lower signification than that of the former, since the office is always connected with the State; but the place is a private concern; the office is a place of trust, but the place is a place for menial labour: the offices are multiplied in time of war; the places for domestic service are more numerous in a state of peace and prosperity. The office is frequently taken not with any reference to the place occupied, but simply to the thing done; this brings it nearer in signification to the term CHARGE (v. Care.) An office imposes a task, or some performance: a charge imposes a responsibility; we have always something to do in an office, always something to look after in a charge: the office is either public or private, the charge is always of a private and personal nature: a person performs the office of a magistrate, or of a minister; he undertakes the charge of instructing youth, or of being a guardian, or of conveying a person's property from one place to another. The office is that which is assigned by another; FUNCTION is properly the act of discharging or completing an office or business, from fungor, viz. finem and ago, to put an end to or bring to a conclusion; it is extended in its acceptation to the office itself or the thing done. The office therefore in its strict sense is performed only by conscious or intelligent agents, who act according to their instructions; the function, on 560 OFTEN. the other hand, is an operation of uncon scious objects according to the laws of nature. The office of a herald is to proclaim public events or to communicate circum stances from one public body to another: the function of the tongue is to speak; that of the ear, to hear; that of the eye, to see, The word office is sometimes employed in the same application by the personification of nature, which assigns an office to the ear, to the tongue, to the eye, and the like. When the frame becomes overpowered by a sudden shock, the tongue will frequently refuse to perform its office; when the animal functions are impeded for a length of time, the vital power ceases to exist. To those that wring under the load of sorrow. 'Tis all men's office to speak patience, Shakspeare. When rogues like these, (a sparrow cries) for the king, but he soon resigned that charge and retreated to Oxford. Johnsen. OFFICIOUS, v. Active. OFFSPRING, PROGENY, ISSUE. OFFSPRING is that which springs off or from; PROGENY that which is brought forth or out of; ISSUE that which issues or proceeds from ; and all in relation to the family or generation of the human species. Offspring is a familiar term applicable to only as a collective noun for a number; one or many children; progeny is employed issue is used in an indefinite manner without particular regard to number. When we speak of the children themselves, we denominate them the offspring; when we speak of the parents, we denominate the children their progeny. A child is said to be the only offspring of his parents, or he is said to be the offspring of low parents; a man is said to have a numerous or a healthy progeny, or to leave his progeny in circumstances of honour and prosperity. The issue is said only in regard to a man that is deceased: he dies with male or female issue; with or without issue; his property descends to his male issue in a direct line. The same cause that has drawn the hatred of God and man upon the father of liars, may justly entail it upon his offspring too. Seuth The base, degen'rate iron offspring ends, OFTEN, FREQUENTLY. fashion. OBSOLETE, in Latin obsoletus, participle of obsoleo, signifies literally out of use. Old respects what has long existed and still exists; ancient what existed at a distant period, but does not necessarily exist at present; antique, that which has been long ancient, and of which there remain but faint traces: antiquated, old-fashioned, and obsolete, that which has ceased to be any longer used or esteemed. A fashion is old when it has been long in use; a custom is ancient when its use has long been passed; a bust or statue is antique when the model of it only remains; a person is antiquated whose appearance is grown out of date; manners which are gone quite out of fashion are old-fashioned; a word or custom is obsolete which is grown out of use. The old is opposed to the new: some things are the worse for being old; other things are the better. Ancient and antique are opposed to modern: all things are valued the more for being ancient or antique; hence we esteem the writings of the an cients even above those of the moderns. The antiquated is opposed to the customary and established; it is that which we cannot like, because we cannot esteem it: the oldfashioned is opposed to the fashionable: * Vide Traster: "Often, frequently." OMEN. there is much in the old-fashioned to like and esteem there is much that is ridiculous in the fashionable: the obsolete is opposed to th current; the obsolete may be good; the current may be vulgar and mean. The Venetians are tenacious of old laws and cus- Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out, That from the hunters aim had ta'en a hurt, Shakspeare. OMEN, PROGNOSTIC, PRESAGE. ALL these terms express some token or sign what is to come. OMEN, in Latin omen, probably comes from the Greek at to think, because it is what gives rise to much conjecture. PROGNOSTIC, in Greek pyrasimov, from porn to know before, signifies the sign by which one judges a thing beforehand, because a prognostic is rather a deduction by the use of the understanding. PRESAGE, v. Augur. The omen and prognostic are both drawn from external objects; the presage is drawn from one's own feelings. The omen is drawn from objects that have no necessary connexion with the thing they are made to represent; it is the fruit of the imagination, and rests on superstition; the prognos tic, on the contrary, is a sign which partakes in some degree of the quality of the thing denoted. Omens were drawn by the heathens from the flight of birds, or the entrails of beasts; prognostics are discovered only by an acquaintance with the objects in which they exist, as the prognostics of a mortal disease are known to none so well as the physician; the prognostics of a storm or tempest are best known to the mariner. The omen and presage respect either good or bad events; prognostic respects mostly the bad. It is an omen of our success, if we find those of whom we have to ask a favour in a good humour; the spirit of discontent which pervades the countenances and discourse of a people is a prognostic of some popular commotion; the quickness of powers discoverable in a boy is sometimes a presage of his future greatness. A signal omen stopp'd the passing host. Pope. |