O

Oafery, Ludowick

228; [O.E.D.: Oaf. An elf's child; a changeling left by the elves or fairies; hence a misbegotten, deformed or idiot child; a half-wit, dolt or booby]; 232; transformation, 237; hit by lightning, 463; 603; 757

Oafery, Ma

232; Lud's mother

Oakboys

721; Insurgents in Ireland in 1763 who rose against forced labor on the roads and the exacting of tithes. Their badge was a sprig of oak worn in the hat.

Oast

132; "from Bush to Oast unmediated"; this would refer to the brewing of beer, from the hops to the oast which is a conical kiln used for drying hops, malt or tobacco.

Obra, La

522; Spanish: "the work"

O'Brian, Pat

54; this is a reference to Patrick O'Brian, the novelist of the Napoleonic Wars whose nautical tales of Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin qualify him as "the best Yarn-Spinner in all the Fleets"

Octuple Gloucester

167; big cheese; [Check this out!]

Ogham

497; an ancient Irish & British writing "invented by Hu Gadarn the Mighty"; 600; [MUCH MORE]

Ohio Company

281

Oily Leon

342

Old Clasher

503

Old Q, the Star of Piccadilly

260; Douglas, William, third Earl of March and fourth Duke of Queensberry — 'Old Q' — (1724 - 1810): Only son of William, second Earl of March, and his wife, Lady Anne Hamilton. He succeeded his father to the Earldom of March in 1731, and his cousin to the Dukedom in 1786. An inveterate speculator, he was notorious for his behaviour on the Turf. As an early mentor of Fox, he was blamed for teaching the future political his extravagant gambling habits. He lived in Picadilly, London, and was indeed known as "Old Q, the Star of Piccadilly" or "Old Q, the Rake of Piccadilly." [Thanks to The Robert Burns Encyclopedia]

Onandaga

532; on of the five nations of North American Indians, near what is now Syracuse; the name is variously translated as "keepers of the flame," "people of the hills" and "people of the mountains"; Hiawatha was an Indian belonging to the Onandaga tribe and was recruited by a prophet who brought the people of the five nations to peace after extensive war.

O.O.

138; Once Over

Oölite

440; a rock consisting of small round grains, usually of calcium carbonate cemented together

Oortman

154; a gun

Ophelia

351; in Hamlet

Orchid Tavern

292; by Dock Creek, in Philadelphia

Ordure

668; shit, or something that is morally degrading

Orleanist

377; any of the constitutional monarchists in 18th- and 19th-century France who favoured the Orléans branch of the house of Bourbon (the descendants of Philippe, duke d'Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV). Its zenith of power occurred during the July Monarchy (1830-48) of Louis-Philippe (duke d'Orléans from 1793 to 1830). (From Encyclopedia Britannica Online)

Ormazd

219; also Ormudz, Mithraic god of light and good, one of two gods in the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism, the other being Ahriman, god of darkness and evil. Zoroastrians were known as Fire and Sun worshippers because their ritual identifies Ormudz with fire and with the Sun. Fire was used in some of their religious ceremonies.

O'Rooty

441; Crimp (An agent or contractor for unloading coal-ships; agent whose business was to entrap men for service in the army, navy, etc, esp by decoying or pressing them; a deceptive or coercive agent) on M-D Line crew

Orpheus

147; In Greek myth, the Thracian poet who could move even inanimate things by his music. When his wife Eurydice died, he journeyed to the underworld and so charmed Pluto that Eurydice was released on the condition that Orpheus not look back to see if she was following him when he led her out. He did and she immediately vanished. Thracian women, enraged at Orpheus' prolonged grieving, tore him to pieces; See also Eurydice; [Orpheus myth in Gravity's Rainbow]

Orpiment

689; native orange to lemon yellow arsenic trisulfide

Orrery

94; an apparatus showing the relative positions and motions of bodies in the solar system by balls moved by wheelwork; 209; of Engagement, 536

Osnabrigs

510; A course unbleached linen or hempen cloth first made in Osnabruck, Germany. It was commonly used for trousers, sacking, and bagging. Osnabrigs were used at Williamsburg to strengthen wallpaper. They are to have been made in brown, blue, and white although other colors were probably available. In the colonial period (1767) Osnabrig was woven in Germany, Lancashire, and Scotland.

Otick Catarrh

420; "otick" is a noun-thing that currently escapes you; "catarrh" refers to any Inflammation of a mucous membrane, caused by one of many factors, including the common cold. The symptoms of catarrh are well known to most people - progressive nasal obstruction, inflammation of mucous passageways, polyps on mucous membranes, and coughing.

Oven

86; 205

Owl

210; "terrible massed beat of their wings [...] Snowy Owl Year [...] white visitors from afar" 513; 597

Oxenstjerna, Axel (1583-1654)

272; Swedish chancellor (1612-54) who, while head of the regency during the minority of Queen Christina, caused the founding of a trading and colonizing agency, the New South Company, giving it a land grant in the area of Delaware Bay. Fort Christina, at the present site of Wilmington, DE, was erected in 1638, and several other forts subsequently. However, Swedish influence in America was ended in 1655 when Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Netherland, captured the forts with ease.

Oxford

557