2. One who looks on; the beholder. (9.) The OBSERVATORY AT PEKIN. Father Le Compte describes a very magnificent obfervatory, erected and furnished by the predeceffor of the Donne. late emperor of China, in his capital, at the interceffion of fome Jefuit miffionaries, principally Fa--If he cannot wholly avoid the eye of the ob ther Verbeift, whom he made his chief observer. The inftruments are exceedingly large; but the divifion lefs accurate, and the contrivance in fome refpects less commodious, than that of the Europeans. The chief are, an armillary zodiacal fphere of fix feet diameter; an equinoctial sphere of fix feet diameter; an azimuthal horizon of fix feet diameter; a large quadrant fix feet radius; a fextant eight feet radius; and a celestial globe fix feet diameter. (10.) The OBSERVATORY OF TYCHO BRAHE was in the little inland Ween, or Scarlet Island, between the coafts of Schonen and Zealand in the Baltic. It was erected and furnished with inftruments at his own expenfe, and called by him Uraniburg. Here he spent 20 years in obferving the ftars; the refult is his catalogue. (11.) OBSERVATORY, PORTABLE. See ASTRONOMY, Index. (1.) To OBSERVE. v. a. [obferver, Fr. obfervo, Lat.] 1. To watch; to regard attentively.-Remember, as thine eye obferves others, fo art thou obferved by angels and by men. Taylor. 2. To find by attention; to note.-It is obferved, that many men who have feemed to repent when they have thought death approaching, have yet, after it hath pleased God to restore them to health, been as wicked, perhaps worse, as ever they were. Duty of Man.-If our idea of infinity be got from the power we observe in ourselves, of repeating without end our own ideas, it may be demanded why we do not attribute infinity to other ideas, as well as those of space and duration. Locke.One may obferve them difcourfe and reafon pretty well of several other things, before they can tell twenty. Locke. 3. To regard or keep religiously. -A night to be much obferved unto the Lord, for bringing them out of Egypt. Ex. xii. 42. 4. To practise ritually.-In the days of Enoch, people obferved not circumcifion, or the Sabbath. White, 5. To obey; to follow. * (2.) To OBSERVE. v. n. 1. To be attentive. -Obferving men may form many judgments by the rules of fimilitude and proportion, where caufes and effects are not entirely the fame. Watts's Logick. 2. To make a remark.-I obferve, that when we have an action against any man, we muft for all that look upon him as our neighbour, and love him as ourselves. Kettlewell.-Wherever I have found her notes to be wholly another's, I have barely quoted the true proprietor, without obferving upon it. Pope's Letters. OBSERVER. n. J. [from obferve.] 1. One who Jooks vigilantly on perfons and things; clofe re marker. He is a great obferver; and he looks Swift. Server, he hopes to diftract it at least by a multiplicity of objects. South.-Sometimes purulent matter may be difcharged from the glands in the upper part of the wind-pipe, while the lungs are found and uninfected, which now and then has imposed on undistinguishing obfervers. Blackmore. 3. One who keeps any law, or custom, or practice. Many nations are fuperftitious and diligent obfervers of old customs, which they receive by tradition. Spenfer.-The king, after the victory, as one that had been bred under a devout mother, and was in his nature a great obferver of religious forms, caufed Te Deum to be folemnly fung. Bacon-He was fo ftrict an obferver of his word, that no confideration whatever could make him break it. Prior.-Himself often read useful difcourses to his fervants on the Lord's day, of which he was always a very strict and folemn obJerver. Atterbury. * OBSERVINGLY, adv. [from observing.] Attentively; carefully. There is fome foul of goodness in things evil, Shak. Would men obfervingly diftil it out. * OBSESSION. n. f. [obfeffio, Lat.] 1. The act of befieging. 2. The firft attack of Satan, antecedent to poffeffion. OBSFELD, a town of Saxony, in Magdeburg. OBSIDIAN, or in the natural history OBSIDIANUS LAPIS, of the ancients, the name of a stone which they have also described under the name of the Chian marble. It is a very smooth and hard marble, extremely difficult to cut, but capable of a fine polish; and was used among the ancient Greeks for the purpose of making reflecting mirrors. The name obfidianus feems only a falfe fpelling of the word opfianus, a The i, from seeing the images of things in it. See GALLINACEUS LAPIS; and MINERALOGY, Part II. Ch. II. Cl. I. Ord. I. Gen. VII. Sp. 11. OBSIDIONAL adj [obfidionalis, Latin.] BeTonging to a fiege. Dia. ÖBSIDIONALIS, a Roman crown. See CROWN, N° VI. § iii. 8. OBSKAIA, a bay of Ruffia, in the Frozen Ocean; 360 miles long, and from 44 to 60 broad. Lon. from 90° to 94° E. of Ferro. Lat. 66° 40′ to 72° 15′ N. * OBSOLETE. adj. [obfoletus, Lat.] Worn out of ufe; difufed; unfashionable.-Objolete words may be laudably revived, when they are more founding or more fignificant than those in practice. Dryden.-What if there be an old dormant ftatute or two against him, are they not now obfolete? Swift. * OBSOLETENESS. n. f. [from obfolete.] State of being worn out of ufe; unfashionablenefs. (1.) OBSOPEUS, John, a German physician, born at Brettin in the Palatinate, in 1556. He was educated at Neunhaufs, and at Heidelburg, under Zach. Urfinus. He ftudied physic at Franckfort on the Maine, and, after travelling through England and Holland, was made proGg 2 feffor feffor of medicine at Heidelburg. He published feveral works, and died in 1596, aged 40. (2.) OBSOPEUS, Simon, brother to John, born in 1575, alfo acquired reputation as a phyfician, and became profeffor at Heidelburg, where he published some tracts, and died in 1619, aged 44. OBSTACLE. n. f. [obftacle, Fr. My fpoufe maintains her royal trust, Tho' tempted, chatte, and obftinately juft. Pope. *OBSTINATENESS. n.. [from obflinate. Stubbornnefs. OBSTIPATIO. Séc Medicine,' Index. Lat.] Something oppofed; hinderance; obThe act of stopping up any paffage. Confcience is a bluffing fhame-fac'd fpirit, That mutinies in a man's bofom: it fills One full of obRacles. Shak. Rich. III. If all obstacles were cut away, And that my path were even to the crown. Shak. Rich. III. -Difparity in age feems a greater obstacle to an intimate friendship than inequality of fortune. Collier on Friendship.-Some conjectures about the origin of mountains and iflands, I am obliged to look into, that they may not remain as obftacles to the lefs fkilful. Woodward's Nat. Hift.-What more natural and ufual obftacle to thofe who take voyages, than winds and ftorms. Pope. OBSTETRICAL. See OBSTETRICK. * OBSTETRICATION. n. J. [from obfletricor, Lat.] The office of a midwife. (1.) OBSTETRICK. adj. [from obftetrix, Lat.] Midwififh; befitting a midwife; doing the midwife's office. There all the learn'd fhall at the labour stand, And Douglas lend his foft obfletrick hand. Pope. (2.) OBSTETRICK ART, or the fame with (2.) OBSTETRICS, n.. MIDWIFERY. * OBSTINACY. . f. obftination, Fr. obftinatio, Lat. from obftinate.] Stubbornnefs; contumacy; pertinacy; perfiftency.-Chufing rather to use extremities, which might, drive men to defperate obftinacy, than apply moderate remedies. K. Ch. Moft writers ufe their words loosely and uncertainly, and do not make plain and clear deductions of words one from another, which were not difficult to do, did they not find it convenient to fhelter their ignorance, or obstinacy, under the obfcurity of their terms., Locke.-. What crops of wit and honefty appear, From fpieen, from obftinacy, hate, or fear! Pope. * OBSTINATE. adj. [obftinatus, Lat.] Stubborn; contumacious; fixed in refolution. Abfolutely used, it has an ill fenfe; but relatively, it is neutral. The queen is oblinate. Shak. Henry VIII. Except you mean with oblinate repulfe To flay your fov'reign. Shakefp. I have known great cures done by obftinate refolutions of drinking no wine. Temple. Yet thought he was not obftinate to die, Nor deem'd the death the promis'd was fo nigh, Dryden, Look on Simo's mate No afs fo meek, no als fo obftinate. Pope. OBSTINATELY.adv. [from obftinate.] Stubbornly; inflexibly, with unfhaken determination. -Pembroke abhorred the war as obftinately as he loved hunting and hawking, Clarendon. Fix'd on his aim, and obftinately bent To die undaunted, or to circumvent. Dryden, The man refolv'd, and fteady to his trust, Inflexible to ill, and obftinately juft, Can the rude rabble's influence defpife. Addif, *OBSTREPEROUS. adj. [obftreperus, Latin.] Loud; clamorous; noify; turbulent; vociferous. -Thefe obftreperous fcepticks are the bane of divinity. Howel's Vocal Foreft.-These obftreperous villains fhout, and know not for what they make a noife. Dryden.-The players do not only conive at his obftreperous approbation, but repair at their own cost whatever damages he makes. Speů. *OBSTREPEROUSLY. adv. [from obftreperous. Loudly; clamorously; noifity. OBSTRÉPEROUSNESS. n.. [from obftre He them beholding, foon In their paffage through the glands in the lungs, they obftruct and fwell them with little tumors. Blackmore.-Fat people are fubject to weakness in fevers, because the fat, melted by feverish heat, obstructs the fmall canals. Arbuthnot. 2. To op. pofe; to retard; to hinder; to be in the way of.No cloud interpos'd, Or ftar to obftru&t his fight. Milton. * OBSTRUCTER. n.. [from obftrua.] One that hinders or oppofes. ** (1.) OBSTRUCTION. n. S. Lobftru&io, Latin; obftruction, Fr. from obftruct.] 1. Hinderance; difficulty. Sure God by thefe difcov'ries did defign That his clear light thro' all the world should fhine; kings. But the sbftruction from that difcord fprings, The prince of darkness makes 'twixt Chriftian Denham. 2. Obftacle; impediment; that which hinders.All obtructions in parliament, that is, all freedom in differing in votes, and debating matters with reafon and candour, must be taken away. King Charles.-In his winter quarters the king expected to meet with all the obstructions and difficulties bis enraged enemies could lay in his way. Clarendon. -Whenever a popular affembly, free from obftructions, and already poffeffed of more power than an equal balance will allow, hall continue to think that they have not enough, I cannot fee how fame caufes can produce different effects among us, from what they did in Greece and Rome. Swift. 3. [In phyfick.]--The blocking up of any canal in the human body, fo as to prevent the flowing of any fluid through it, on account of the increafed bulk of that fluid, in proportion to the diameter of the veffel. Quincy. 4. In ShakeSpeare it, once fignifies fomething heaped toge ther Aye, Aye, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obftruction, and to rot; This fenfible warm motion to become A kneaded clod. Shak. Meafure for Measure. 2. OBSTRUCTION, in medicine, (§ 1, def. 3.) is such an obturation of the vessels as prevents the circulation of fluids, whether found and vital, or morbid and peccant, through them. (1.)* OBSTRUCTIVE. adj. [obfructif, Fr. from obftrud.] Hindering; caufing impediment.-Having thus feparated this doctrine of God's predetermining all events from three other things confounded with it, it will now be discernible how noxious and obstructive this doctrine is to the fuperftructing all good life. Hammond. (2.) OBSTRUCTIVE. n. f. Impediment; obftacle.-The fecond obftructive is that of the fiduciary, that faith is the only inftrument of his juftification, and excludes good works. Hammond. OBSTRUENT. adj. [obftruens, Lat.] Hindering; blocking up. OBSTUPEFACTION. n. [obftupefacio, Lat.] The act of inducing ftupidity, or interruption of the mental powers. OBSTUPEFACTIVE. adv. [from obftupefacio, Latin.] Obftructing the mental powers; ftupify. ing. The force of it is obftupefactive, and no other. Abbot. (1.)* To OBTAIN. v. a. [óbtenir, Fr. obtineo, Lat.] 1. To gain; to acquire; to procure.—May be that I may obtain children by her. Gen. xvi. 2.— We have obtained an inheritance. Eph. i. 1.-The juices of the leaves are obtained by expreffion. Arb. 2. To impetrate; to gain by the conceffion or excited kindness of another.-In fuch our prayers cannot ferve us as means to obtain the thing we defire. Hooker. Having obtained eternal redemp. tion for us. Heb. ix. 12.-If they could not be obtained of the proud tyrant, then to conclude peace with him upon any conditions. Knolles Some pray for riches, riches they obtain; But watch'd by robbers for their wealth are, Лlain.. Dryden, -The conclufion of the ftory I forebore, because I could not obtain from myself to fhew Abfalom unfortunate. Dryden.-Whatever once is denied them, they are certainly not to obtain by crying. Locke on Education. (2.)* TO OBTAIN. v. a. 1. To continue in ufe. -The Theodofian Code, several hundred years after, Juftinian's time, did obtain in the western parts of Europe, Baker. 2. To be eftablished; to fubfift in nature or practice. Our impious use no longer fhall obtain, Brothers no more by brothers fhall be flain. Dryden, The fituation of fun and earth, which the the orift fuppofes, is fo far, from being preferable to this which, at prefent, obtains that, this hath infit nitely, the advantage of it. Woods. Where waft, ing the public treasure has obtained in a court, all good order is banished. Davenant. The general laws of fluidity, elafticity, and gravity, obtain in animate and inanimate tubes. Cheyne's Phil. Prin. 3. To prevail; to fucceed. Not in ufe. There is due from the judge to the advocate, fome com. mendation where caufes are fair pleaded, efpecially towards the fide which obtaineth not. Bacon. * OBTAINABLE. adj. [from obtain] 1. To be procured. Spirits which come over in diftillations, mifcible with water, and wholly combuftible, are obtainable from plants by previous fermentation. Arbuthnot on Aliments. 2. To be gained. What thinks he of his redemption, and the rate it coft, not being obtainable unlefs God's only Son would come down from heaven, and be made man, and pay down his own life for it? Kettlewell. * OBTAINER. n. f. [from obtain.] He who obtains. *To OBTEMPERATE. v. a. [obtemperer, Fr. obtempero, Lat. To obey. Dia. *To OBTEND. v. a. [obtendo, Lat.] 1. To oppofe; to hold out in oppofition. 2. To pretend; to offer as the reafon of any thing. Thou doft with lies the throne invade, Obtending Heav'n for whate'er ills befal. Dryd. * OBTENEBRATION. n. f. [ob and tenebra, Lat.] Darkness; the ftate of being darkened; the act of darkening; cloudinefs.-In every megrim or vertigo, there is an obtenebration joined with a femblance of turning round. Bacon's Nat. Hift. * OBTENSION. n. f. [from obtend.] The act of obtending. * To OBTEST. v. a. [obteftor, Latin.] To befeech; to fupplicate. Suppliants demand A truce; with olive branches in their hand, Obteft his clemency. Dryden. * OBTESTATIÓN. n, s. [obteftatio, Latin; from obteft.] Supplication; entreaty. * OBTRECTATION. n. f. [obtre&o, Latin.] Slander; detraction; calumny. *To OBTRUDE. v. a. [obtrudo, Latin.] To thruft into any place or ftate by force or impofture; to offer with unreasonable importunity.-The thing they fhun doth follow them, truth, as it were, even obtruding itself into their knowledge. Hooker.-There may be as great a vanity in retiring and withdrawing men's conceits from the world, as in obtruding them. Bacon.-Some things are easily granted; the reft ought not to be obtruded upon me with the point of the fword. King Charles.-Who can abide, that against their own doctors fix books fhould, by their fatherhoods of Trent, be under pain of a curfe, imperiously obtruded upon God and his church? Hall. Why shouldst thou then obtrude this diligence In vain, where no acceptance it can find? Milt. -Whatever was not by them thought necessary, must not by us be obtruded on, or forced into that catalogue. Hammond.-A caufe of common error is the credulity of men; that is, an easy affent, to what is obtruded, or believing at firft ear what is delivered by others. Brown.-The objects of our fenfes obtrude their particular ideas upon our minds, whether we will or no. Locke. Savift. Whether thy great forefathers came From realms that bear Vefputio's name; For fo conjectures would obtrude, And from thy painted fkin conclude. * OBTRUDER. n. f. [from obtrude,] One that obtrudes.-Do juftice to the inventors or publishers of the true experiments, as well as upon the obtruders of false ones. Boyle. * OBTRUSION.. * OBTUSANGULAR. adj. [from obtufe and angle.] Having angles larger than right angles. (1.)* OBTUSE. adj. [obtufus, Latin.] 1. Not pointed; not acute. 2. Not quick; dull; ftupid. The fenfes then Obtufe, all tafte of pleasures muft forego. Milt. 3. Not thrill; obfcure: as an obtuse sound. (2.) OBTUSE is ufed in oppofition to acute or fharp. OBTUSE-ANGLED, adj. having blunted angles. * OBTUSELY. adv. [from obtufe.] 1. With out a point 2. Dully; ftupidly. * OBTUSENESS. n. f. [from obtuse.] Bluntnefs; dulnefs. * OBTUSION. n. f. [from obtufe] 1. The act of dulling. 2. The ftate of being dulled.-Obtufion. of the fenfes, internal and external. Harvey. OBVA, a river of Ruffia, in the prov. of Perm, which runs into the Kama, near Obvinfk. * OBVENTION. n. f. [obvenio, Latin.] Something happening not conftantly and regularly, but uncertainly; incidental advantage. When the country grows more rich and better inhabited, the tithes and other obventions, will also be more augmented and better valued. Spenfer. * To OBVERT. v. a. [obverto, Lat.] To turn towards.-The laborant with an iron rod ftirred the kindled part of the nitre, that the fire might be more diffused, and more parts might be obverted to the a. Boyle.-A man can from no place behold, but there will be amongst innumerable fuperficicule, that look fome one way, and fome another, enough of them obverted to his eye to afford a confused idea of light. Boyle-An erect cone placed in an horizontal plane, at a great diftance from the eye, we judge to be nothing but a flat circle, if its bafe be obverted towards us. Watts. *To OBVIATE. v. a [from obvius, Lat. obvier, Fr. To meet in the way; to prevent by interception. To lay down every thing in its full light, fo as to obviate all exceptions, and remove every difficulty, would carry me out too far. Woodward. OBVINSK, a town of Ruffia, in Perm, at the conflux of the Obva and Kama; '60 miles N. of Perm. Lon. 74. o. E. Ferro. Lat. 58. 44. N. 3. Eafily difcovered; plain; evident; easily found: Swift has ufed it harshly for eafily intelligible.Why was the fight To fuch a tender ball as th' eye confin'd, Where obvious duty ere while appear'd unfought. Milton. They are fuch lights as are only obvious to every man of fenfe, who loves poetry and underftands it. Dryden. I am apt to think many words difficult or obfcure, which are obvious to fcholars. Swift. These fentiments, whether they be impressed on the foul, or arife as obvious reflections of our reafon, I call natural, because they have been found in all ages. Rogers-All the great lines of our duty are clear and obvious. Rogers. * OBVIOUSLY. adv. [from obvious.] 1. Evidently; apparently. All purely identical propofitions obviously and at first blush, contain no inftructions. Locke. 2. Eafily to be found.-For France, Spain, and other foreign countries, the volumes of their laws and lawyers have obviously particulars concerning place and precedence of their magiftrates and dignities. Selden. 3. Naturally. We may then more obviously, yet truly, liken the civil ftate to bulwarks, and the church to a city. Holyday. * OBVIOUSNESS. n. f. [from obvious.] State of being evident or apparent.-Slight experiments are more easily and cheaply tried; I thought their eafinefs or obviousness fitter to recommend than depreciate them. Boyle. *To OBUMBRATE. v. a. [obumbro, Latin.] To fhade; to cloud. The rays of royal majefty, reverberated fo ftrongly upon Villerio, difpelled all those clouds which did hang over and obumbrate him. Howel's Vocal Foreft. * OBUMBRATION. n. S. [from obumbro, Lat.] The act of darkening or clouding. (1.) OBY, or Oв, a large and famous river of Afiatic Ruffia, which iffues from the Altin lake, (called by the Ruffians Telefkoi-Ofero,) in lat. 52°. and lon. 103° 30'. Its name fignifies Great; and accordingly in Ruffia it is often ftyled the Great River. The Calmucks and Tartars call it Umar. Its ftream is very large and fmooth, its current being ufually flow; and it is in general between 2 and 300 fathoms broad; though in fome places more. It affords plenty of fith, and is navigable almoft to the lake from which it fprings. After a long winding course through a vaft tract of land, in which it forms feveral islands, it empties itself, in latitude 67 degrees, and longitude 86 degrees, into a bay which, extending near 400 miles far ther, ther, joins the Frozen Ocean, in lat. 73. 30. and lon. 90. o. The fprings from which this river rifes, are not very copious; but it receives in its course the waters of a great number of confiderable ftreams. Of thefe, the Tom and the Irtis are the most confiderable: the Tom falls into it in lat. 58. and the Irtis in lat. 61, and lon. 86. The exact course of this river was unknown till the country was furveyed by the Ruffians; who have given us tolerable maps of it, and of all Siberia. The Oby forms the boundary between Europe and Afia, and its course is upwards of 2000 miles in length. (2.) OBY, a town of Norfolk, near Thurn. OBYE, a town of France, in the dep. of Jemappes, and ci-devant prov. of Austrian Hainault, 6 miles NW. of Conde. OCA. See Occa, N° 1. OCANA, a town of Spain, in New Caftile; containing 3 parishes, 10 convents, and about 2000 people. In 1106, it was taken from the Moors by Alphonfo VI. It is 23 miles ENE. of Toledo. OCANNA, a town of Terra, Firma. (1.) OCCA, or Oca, a chain of mountains in Spain, extending from Tortola in Catalonia to Burgos in Old Caftile. Me unweeting, and unware of fuch mishap, She brought to mifchief through occafion. Spenfer. -Because of the money returned in our facks are we brought in, that he may feek occafion, fall up on us, and take us for bondmen. Gen. xliii. 18. Ufe not liberty for an occafion. Gal, v. 13.— Let me not let pafs Occafion which now smiles. Milt. Par. Lof. I'll take th' occafion which he gives to bring Him to his death. Waller. With a mind as great as theirs he came To find at home occafion for his fame, Waller. -From this admonition they took only occafion to redouble their fault, and to fleep again. South.This, one has occafion of obferving more than once in feveral fragments of antiquity, that are ftill to be seen in Rome. Addison on Italy. 3. Accidental caufe. Have you ever heard what was the occafron and first beginning of this cuftom. Spenfer on Ireland.-That woman that cannot make her fault her bufband's occafion, let her never nurfe her child herself, for she will breed it like a fool. Shak. As you like it. 1 Nor-thought, when the beheld the fight from far, Her beauty was th' occafion of the war. Dryden. -Concerning ideas lodged in the memory, and upon occafion revived by the mind, it takes notice of them as of a former impreffion. Locke. 4. Rea" fon not cogent, but opportune. Your bufinefs calls on you, And you embrace th' occafion to depart. Shak. 5. Incidental need; cafual exigence.Never mafter had Shak. Cymbel. A page fo kind, fo duteous, diligent, So tender over his occafions. Antony will ufe his affection where it is: He married but his occafion here. Shak. -My occafions have found time to use them toward a fupply of money. Shak. Timon of Athens. —They who are desirous of a name in painting, fhould read with diligence, and make their obfervations of fuch things as they find for their purpofe, and of which they may have occafion. Dryden's Dufrefnoy. Syllogifm is made ufe of on occafion to difcover a fallacy hid in a rhetorical flourith Locke.-The ancient canons were very well fitted for the occafion of the church in its purer ages. Baker on Learning.-God hath put us into an imperfect ftate, where we have perpetual occafion of each other's affiftance. Swift. A prudent chief not always muft display His pow'rs in equal ranks and fair array, But with th' occafion and the place comply, Conceal his force, nay, seem sometimes to fly. Pope. *To OCCASION. v. a. (occafionner, Fr. from the noun.] 1. To cause cafually.-Who can find it reasonable that the foul fhould, in its retirement, during fleep, never light on any of those ideas it borrowed not from fenfation, preferve the memory of no ideas but fuch, which being occafioned from the body, muft needs be lefs natural to a fpirit? Locke.-The good Pfalmift condemns the foolish thoughts, which a reflection on the profperous ftate of his affairs had fometimes occafioned in him. Atterbury. 2. To caufe; to produce.I doubt not, whether the great encrease of thạt disease may not have been occafioned by the cus tom of much wine introduced into our common tables. Temple. Aconfumption may be occafioned by running fores, or finous fiftulas. Blackmore.By its ftyptic quality, it affects the nerves, very often occafioning tremors. Arbuthnot on Aliments. 3. To influence.-If we enquire what it is that occafions men to make feveral combinations of fimple ideas into diftinct modes, and neglect others which have as much an aptness to be combined, we shall find the reason to be the end of language. Locke. OCCASIONAL. adj. [occafionel, Fr. from occafion.] 1. Incidental; cafual. Thus much is fufficient out of fcripture, to verify our explication of the deluge, according to the Mofaical hiftory of the flood, and according to many occafional reflections difperfed in other places of fcripture concerning it. Burnet. 2. Producing by accident. -The ground or occafional original hereof, was the amazement and fudden filence the unexpected appearance of wolves does often put upon travellers. Brown's Vulgar Errours. 3. Produced by occafion or incidental exigence.-There are like wife occafional times for the performance of this duty. Duty of Man. Thofe letters were not writ to all; Nor firft intended but occafional. Dryden. • OCCA1 |