o’er-hill’d, covered over. B. Jonson, Masque of Beauty (January). See [hill].
oes, bright round spots. Bacon, Essay 36; stars, Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 188; O’s, small metallic spangles, as in ‘embroidered with O’s’, B. Jonson, Masque of Hymen, prose description at the end, § 3.
oil: oil of angels, oil of gold coins (i.e. coin employed in bribes). Massinger, Duke of Milan, iii. 2 (Officer). Oil of ben (or been), oil from the ben-nut, or winged seed of the horse-radish tree (Moringa pterygosperma). Middleton, The Widow, ii. 1 (Ricardo). Arab, bân, the horseradish tree, or ben-nut. See Stanford (s.v. Ben). Oil of devil, a ‘momentous preparation’ of unknown ingredients. Beaumont and Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, iii. 3 (Leontius). Oil of height, the red elixir, a red oil, fabled to transmute other metals into gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). Oil of luna, the white elixir, for transmuting other metals into silver. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle). Oil of mace, oil from the spice called mace; but with a punning reference to the mace borne by a serjeant who arrested a prisoner. Middleton, A Mad World, iii. 2 (Sir B.). Oil of talc, a cosmetic, said to have been obtained from talc. B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Subtle); Massinger, City Madam, iv. 2 (Shave ’em).
old, great, plentiful, abundant; ‘Old utis’, high merriment, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 2. 22; ‘Ould filching’, abundant stealing, Arden of Fev. ii. 2. 53. ‘Old’ is used as an intensitive in many parts of England and Scotland, e.g. in Cheshire ‘old doings’ signify great sport, great merriment, an uncommon display of hospitality, see EDD. (s.v. Old, 11). ME. ‘gode olde fyghtyng’, Bone Florence, 681 (NED.).
old, a country pronunc. of ‘wold’, plain open country. King Lear, iii. 4. 125; also ould, Drayton, Pol. xxvi. 38.
oilet-hole, an ‘eyelet-hole’, a small round hole worked in cloth. Shirley, Opportunity, ii. 1 (Pimponio); Gent. of Venice, iii. 1. 7. F. œillet, a little eye, an eilet-hole (Cotgr.). From F. œil, an eye. See NED. (s.v. Oillet).
olfact, to smell; a pedantic form. Butler, Hud. i. 1. 742. L. olfactus, pp. of olfacere, to smell.
oliphant, elephant. Heywood, Brazen Age (Meleager), vol. iii, p. 187. ME. oliphant (Kingis Quair, 156); Anglo-F. olifant (Ch. Rol. 3119), oliphant (Bozon, 19).
olla podrida, a medley. Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, i. 4 (Roscius solus). Span. olla podrida (lit. rotten pot), a dish composed of many kinds of meats and vegetables stewed or boiled together; for detailed account of ingredients, see Stevens.
on cai me on; ‘Bid on cai me on, farewell’, Marlowe, Faustus, 40 (ed. Tucker Brooke). Gk. ὂν καὶ μὴ ὄν, existence and non-existence (Aristotle). The meaning is, Bid farewell to Aristotle and philosophy.