Nysa, daughter of Silēno and Mys´is, and sister of Daphnê. Justice Mi´das is in love with her; but she loves Apollo, her father’s guest.—Kane O’Hara, Midas (1764).
Nysê, Doto, and Neri´nê, the three nereids who went before the fleet of Vasco da Gama. When the treacherous pilot steered the ship of Vasco towards a sunken rock, these three sea-nymphs lifted up the prow and turned it round.—Camoens, Lusiad, ii. (1569).
O (Our Lady of). The Virgin Mary is so called in some old Roman rituals, from the ejaculation at the beginning of the seven anthems preceding the Magnificat, as: “O, when will the day arrive...?” “O, when shall I see...?” “O, when...?” and so on.
Oakly (Major), brother to Mr. Oakly, and uncle to Charles. He assists his brother in curing his “jealous wife.”
Mr. Oakly, husband of the “jealous wife.” A very amiable man, but deficient in that strength of mind which is needed to cure the idiosyncrasy of his wife; so he obtains the assistance of his brother, the major.
Mrs. Oakly, “the jealous wife” of Mr. Oakly. A woman of such suspicious temper, that every remark of her husband is distorted into a proof of his infidelity. She watches him like a tiger, and makes both her own and her husband’s life utterly wretched.
Charles Oakly, nephew of the major. A fine, noble-spirited young fellow, who would never stand by and see a woman insulted; but a desperate debauchee and drunkard. He aspires to the love of Harriot Russet, whose influence over him is sufficiently powerful to reclaim him.—George Colman, The Jealous Wife (1761).
Oates (Dr. Titus), the champion of the popish plot.
Forth came the notorious Dr. Oates, rustling in the full silken canonicals of priesthood, for ... he affected no small dignity of exterior decoration and deportment.... His exterior was portentous. A fleece of white periwig showed a most uncouth visage, of great length, having the mouth ... placed in the very centre of the countenance, and exhibiting to the astonished spectator as much chin below as there was nose and brow above it. His pronunciation was after a conceited fashion of his own, in which he accented the vowels in a manner altogether peculiar to himself.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Oaths.