Oad (od), n. See Woad. [Obs.] Coles.

Oak (ok), n. [OE. oke, ok, a. , AS. a. ; akin to D. eik, G. eiche, OHG. eih, Icel. eik, Sw. ek, Dan. eeg.]
1. (Bot.) Any tree or shrub of the genus Quercus. The oaks have alternate leaves, often variously lobed, and staminate flowers in catkins. The fruit is a smooth nut, called an acorn, which is more or less inclosed in a scaly involucre called the cup or cupule. There are now recognized about three hundred species, of which nearly fifty occur in the United States, the rest in Europe, Asia, and the other parts of North America, a very few barely reaching the northern parts of South America and Africa. Many of the oaks form forest trees of grand proportions and live many centuries. The wood is usually hard and tough, and provided with conspicuous medullary rays, forming the silver grain.
2. The strong wood or timber of the oak. Among the true oaks in America are: Barren oak, orBlack-jack, Q. nigra. — Basket oak, Q. Michauxii. — Black oak, Q. tinctoria; — called also yellow or quercitron oak. — Bur oak (see under Bur.), Q. macrocarpa; — called also over-cup or mossy-cup oak. — Chestnut oak, Q. Prinus and Q. densiflora. — Chinquapin oak (see under Chinquapin), Q. prinoides. — Coast live oak, Q. agrifolia, of California; — also called enceno. — Live oak (see under Live), Q. virens, the best of all for shipbuilding; also Q. Chrysolepis, of California. — Pin oak. Same as Swamp oak. - - Post oak, Q. obtusifolia. — Red oak, Q. rubra. — Scarlet oak, Q. coccinea. — Scrub oak, Q. ilicifolia, Q. undulata, etc. — Shingle oak, Q. imbricaria. — Spanish oak, Q. falcata. — Swamp Spanish oak, orPin oak, Q. palustris. — Swamp white oak, Q. bicolor. — Water oak, Q. aguatica. — Water white oak, Q. lyrata. — Willow oak, Q. Phellos. Among the true oaks in Europe are: Bitter oak, or Turkey oak, Q. Cerris (see Cerris). — Cork oak, Q. Suber. — English white oak, Q. Robur. — Evergreen oak, Holly oak, or Holm oak, Q. Ilex. — Kermes oak, Q. coccifera. — Nutgall oak, Q. infectoria. Among plants called oak, but not of the genus Quercus, are: African oak, a valuable timber tree ( Oldfieldia Africana). — Australian, or She, oak, any tree of the genus Casuarina (see Casuarina). — Indian oak, the teak tree (see Teak). — Jerusalem oak. See under Jerusalem. — New Zealand oak, a sapindaceous tree ( Alectryon excelsum). — Poison oak, the poison ivy. See under Poison. — Silky, or Silk-bark, oak, an Australian tree ( Grevillea robusta). Green oak, oak wood colored green by the growth of the mycelium of certain fungi. — Oak apple, a large, smooth, round gall produced on the leaves of the American red oak by a gallfly ( Cynips confluens). It is green and pulpy when young. — Oak beauty (Zoöl.), a British geometrid moth ( Biston prodromaria) whose larva feeds on the oak. — Oak gall, a gall found on the oak. See 2d Gall. — Oak leather (Bot.), the mycelium of a fungus which forms leatherlike patches in the fissures of oak wood. — Oak pruner. (Zoöl.) See Pruner, the insect. — Oak spangle, a kind of gall produced on the oak by the insect Diplolepis lenticularis. — Oak wart, a wartlike gall on the twigs of an oak. — The Oaks, one of the three great annual English horse races (the Derby and St. Leger being the others). It was instituted in 1779 by the Earl of Derby, and so called from his estate. — To sport one’s oak, to be "not at home to visitors," signified by closing the outer (oaken) door of one’s rooms. [Cant, Eng. Univ.]

Oaker
Oak´er, n. See Ocher. [Obs.] Spenser.

Oakum
Oak´um, n. [AS. acumba; pref. (cf.G. er-, Goth. us-, orig. meaning, out) + cemban to comb, camb comb. See Comb.]
1. The material obtained by untwisting and picking into loose fiber old hemp ropes; — used for calking the seams of ships, stopping leaks, etc.
2. The coarse portion separated from flax or hemp in nackling. Knight. White oakum, that made from untarred rope.

Oar, n [AS. a. ; akin to Icel. a. , Dan. aare, Sw. åra; perh. akin to E. row, v. Cf. Rowlock.]
1. An implement for impelling a boat, being a slender piece of timber, usually ash or spruce, with a grip or handle at one end and a broad blade at the other. The part which rests in the rowlock is called the loom. An oar is a kind of long paddle, which swings about a kind of fulcrum, called a rowlock, fixed to the side of the boat.
2. An oarsman; a rower; as he is a good oar.
3. (Zoöl.) An oarlike swimming organ of various invertebrates. Oar cock (Zoöl), the water rail. [Prov. Eng.] — Spoon oar, an oar having the blade so curved as to afford a better hold upon the water in rowing. — To boat the oars, to cease rowing, and lay the oars in the boat. — To feather the oars. See under Feather., v. t. — To lie on the oars, to cease pulling, raising the oars out of water, but not boating them; to cease from work of any kind; to be idle; to rest. — To muffle the oars, to put something round that part which rests in the rowlock, to prevent noise in rowing. — To put in one’s oar, to give aid or advice; — commonly used of a person who obtrudes aid or counsel not invited. — To ship the oars, to place them in the rowlocks. — To toss the oars, To peak the oars, to lift them from the rowlocks and hold them perpendicularly, the handle resting on the bottom of the boat. - - To trail oars, to allow them to trail in the water alongside of the boat. — To unship the oars, to take them out of the rowlocks.

Oar, v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Oared p. pr. & vb. n. Oaring.] To row. "Oared himself." Shak.
"Oared with laboring arms." Pope.

Oarfoot
Oar´foot (-f&oomcr;t•), n. (Zoöl.) Any crustacean of the genus Remipes.

Oar-footed
Oar´-foot•ed a. Having feet adapted for swimming.

Oarless
Oar´less, a. Without oars. Sylvester.

Oarlock
Oar´lock (or"lok•), n. (Naut.), The notch, fork, or other device on the gunwale of a boat, in which the oar rests in rowing. See Rowlock.

Oarsweed
Oars´weed (or"wed•), n. (Bot.) Any large seaweed of the genus Laminaria; tangle; kelp. See Kelp.

Oasis
O´as•is (o"a•sis or o•a"sis; 277), n. ; pl. Oases (-sez). [L., fr. Gr. ’o•asis; cf. Copt. ouahe.] A fertile or green spot in a waste or desert, esp. in a sandy desert.
"My one oasis in the dust and drouth Of city life." Tennyson.

Oast (ost), n. [OE. ost, AS. ast; cf. Gr. a’i^qos burning heat.] A kiln to dry hops or malt; a cockle. Mortimer.

Oat (ot), n. ; pl. Oats (ots). [OE. ote, ate, AS. ata, akin to Fries. oat. Of uncertain origin.]
1. (Bot.) A well-known cereal grass ( Avena sativa), and its edible grain; — commonly used in the plural and in a collective sense.
2. A musical pipe made of oat straw. [Obs.] Milton. Animated oats or Animal oats (Bot.), A grass ( Avena sterilis) much like oats, but with a long spirally twisted awn which coils and uncoils with changes of moisture, and thus gives the grains an apparently automatic motion. — Oat fowl (Zoöl.), the snow bunting; — so called from its feeding on oats. [Prov. Eng.] — Oat grass (Bot.), the name of several grasses more or less resembling oats, as Danthonia spicata, D. sericea, and Arrhenatherum avenaceum, all common in parts of the United States. — To feel one’s oats, to be conceited ro self-important. [Slang] — To sow one’s wild oats, to indulge in youthful dissipation. Thackeray. — Wild oats (Bot.), a grass ( Avena fatua) much resembling oats, and by some persons supposed to be the original of cultivated oats.

Oatcake
Oat´cake, n. A cake made of oatmeal.

Oaten
Oat´en, a.
1. Consisting of an oat straw or stem; as an oaten pipe. Milton.
2. Made of oatmeal; as oaten cakes.

Oath (oth), n. ; pl. Oaths (othz). [OE. othe, oth, ath, AS. a. ; akin to D. eed, OS. eð, G. eid, Icel. eiðr, Sw. ed, Dan. eed, Goth. aiþs; cf. OIr. oeth.]
1. A solemn affirmation or declaration, made with a reverent appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed. "I have an oath in heaven" Shak.
"An oath of secrecy for the concealing of those [inventions] which we think fit to keep secret." Bacon.
2. A solemn affirmation, connected with a sacred object, or one regarded as sacred, as the temple, the altar, the blood of Abel, the Bible, the Koran, etc.
3. (Law) An appeal (in verification of a statement made) to a superior sanction, in such a form as exposes the party making the appeal to an indictment for perjury if the statement be false.
4. A careless and blasphemous use of the name of the divine Being, or anything divine or sacred, by way of appeal or as a profane exclamation or ejaculation; an expression of profane swearing. "A terrible oath" Shak.

Oathable
Oath´a•ble, a. Capable of having an oath administered to. [Obs.] Shak.

Oathbreaking
Oath´break•ing, n. The violation of an oath; perjury. Shak

Oatmeal
Oat´meal, n.
1. Meal made of oats. Gay.
2. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Panicum; panic grass.