More than one of these 7 encyclopedias carries each of the following subjects — but every one of them treats it in a sentence or two and then moves on. They are gathered here so the different accounts can sit side by side.
Oasis
1000 Classical Characters: The Greek form of an Egyptian word which was used to denote an island in the sea of sand of the great Libyan Desert. These oases are preserved from the shifting sands by steep hills of limestone round them, and watered by springs, which make them fertile and habitable. Oceanides and Oceanitides. Sea nymphs, daughters of Oceanus, from whom they received their name. According to Apollodorus they were three thousand in number, while Hesiod speaks of them as consisting of forty-one. 2026 Editor's Note: The page's claim that ' oasis ' is a Greek word for 'an island in the sea of sand' is a folk etymology. In reality, the term comes from the Demotic Egyptian word for 'dwelling place', which passed into Greek (óasis) and then Latin. This original meaning reflects the oasis as a place of habitation, not merely an island in sand. (Ed: BR 2026-07-12)
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Sahara
Covered by 1000 Classical Characters and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Oberlin College
Aiton's Encyclopedia: an institution of learning at Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1833 as Oberlin Collegiate Institute. The name was changed to Oberlin College in 1850. A collegiate department and a theological seminary are maintained. Oberlin admits both men and women. It claims, in fact, to have been the first coeducational college. Colored students were admitted from the first, but they have never attended in large numbers. The village of Oberlin was headquarters for the "Underground Railway." It was a violent Abolitionist center. In addition to the usual collegiate course there are departments of music and art. Much attention is paid to physical training . A summer school is maintained. There are nearly 100 instructors and about 1,500 students, two-thirds of whom are women. The library contains 70,000 books and as many pamphlets. The endowment is a little over $1,000,000. The annual income from tuition and invested funds is $140,000. Gifts are expected to bring the total income up to about $200,000 a year.
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a coeducational non-sectarian institution in Oberlin, O., founded in 1833; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 175; students, 1,535; volumes in the library, 196,000; productive funds, $7,761,303; *income, $540,000; number of graduates, 6,709; president, H. C. King, D. D.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Obolus
Aiton's Encyclopedia: or Obul, a small Greek coin. The name is thought to be akin to a word signifying a spit, and may have originated in a very probable use of copper or iron nails by the primitive Greeks as money. The Attic obolus was a silver coin, the sixth part of a drachma in value and weight. It weighed eleven and one-fourth grains and contained about one thirty-sixth as much silver as our standard dollar. The obolus of Aegina was heavier; that current in Asia Minor weighed but nine grains. The Attic obolus was a rude looking coin about three-eighths of an inch in diameter; it bore a face in profile on the obverse, and the owl, bird of Minerva, on the reverse. The obolus plays much the same part in Greek literature and proverb that penny plays in English literature . An obolus was placed in the mouth of a corpse before burial to pay the fee of Charon, ferryman across the river of Hades.
Collier's New Encyclopedia: in Greek antiquities, a small coin of ancient Greece, originally of copper, afterward of silver, the sixth part of an Attic drachma, and equal to two and one-half cents. Also a small weight, A GENERAL OBREGON the sixth part of an Attic drachma. In palæontology, a genus of Lingulidæ confined to the Silurian period; characteristic of the Lower Silurian.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Oceanus
Collier's New Encyclopedia: in classical mythology, the god of the stream Oceanus, and the offspring of Cœlus and Terra, or Heaven and Earth. He espoused his sister Tethys, and their children were the rivers of the earth, and the 3,000 Oceanides or Nymphs of Ocean.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: in classical mythology, one of the Titans, son of Saturn and Rhea. He was first ruler of the ocean, but after Zeus' war with the Titans, he was obliged to yield to Poseidon.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Ocelot
Aiton's Encyclopedia: o'se-lot, an American animal of the leopard kind. It is, in fact, a small leopard about four feet in length from the nose to the extremity of the tail. It is a grayish animal marked with black-edged, fawn-colored spots. The under parts are whitish, more or less marked with black. The tail is half ringed with black. The ocelot ranges from Louisiana to Central America . It preys chiefly on birds. The name is Mexican. It is seen frequently about Mexican farmhouses in a semi-do-mesticated condition. It has the reputation and the faithless disposition of the domestic cat.
Collier's New Encyclopedia: Felis pardalis. The fur has a tawny reddish ground, marked with black spots, aggregated in spots and blotches. It ranges through the wooded OCELOT parts of tropical America, from Arkansas to Paraguay. Length, about four feet, legs short. It destroys a vast number of animals for the sake of sucking the blood. In captivity it is playful and gentle.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Ochre
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a combination of peroxide of iron with water; but the name is generally applied to clays colored with the oxides of iron obtained from the ferruginous mud separated from tin and copper ores; and it is also found in natural beds some feet thick. Ochres vary in color from a pale sandy yellow to a brownish red.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: o'ker. See Paint
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Octavia
Collier's New Encyclopedia: sister of Augustus, renowned for her beauty and purity of character, and practical wisdom. She was first married to Marcellus, a noble Roman of consular dignity, and soon after his death (40 B. c.), to Mark Antony This marriage, it was hoped, would strengthen the new alliance between Octavius, her brother, and Antony, her husband. But Antony had seen Cleopatra, and he treated his wife with a contempt and cruelty which Octavius could not forgive, and which became the occasion of renewed war. When Antony set out for the East again, Octavia was not allowed to accompany him. She died in 11 B. C.
1000 Classical Characters: A Roman lady, sister to the emperor Augustus, celebrated for her beauty and virtues. She married Claudius Marcellus , and, after his death, Antony, who for some time was attentive to her, but eventually deserted her for Cleopatra . Octavianus, or Octavius Caesar . The first Roman emperor, who, after the battle of Actium, had bestowed on him by the senate the surname Augustus, as expressing his dignity and greatness.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and 1000 Classical Characters