Old Man of the Sea, The
The, in the story of Sinbad the Sailor, Arabian Nights' Entertainments , an old man whom Sinbad undertook to carry across a brook. When he had been hoisted to Sinbad's shoulders he clung so tightly that he could not be dislodged. At last Sinbad succeeded in getting his disagreeable burden drunk and then shook him off. The expression, "old man of the sea," has come to be used in a figurative sense for a bore, or for any sort of inconvenience which cannot be gotten rid of, and more particularly for one who has become a load for his party or who is seriously in the way.
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Old Mortality
the popular name of a Scottish stone mason. His real name was Robert Paterson (1715-1801). He was a native of Hawick, Scotland. His business was that of a stone-cutter. He worked a quarry, making a specialty of the flat slabs used as gravestones in the district about Galloway. These slabs were of suitable size to cover a grave. They were laid flat on the ground. In 1745 he took part in the insurrection of Prince Charlie, the Pretender. He was taken prisoner and carried to England. On his return he became so much interested in the restoration of the Covenanters' graves that he abandoned his family and traveled about Southern Scotland with a kit of tools. Whenever the inscription on a slab above a Covenanter's grave had been worn down by the hobnails of those frequenting the churchyard so as to become illegible, he set to work cutting the letters anew. An account of the old man reached Walter Scott and was taken as the basis of a novel known as Old Mortality. See Covenanter
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Old Probabilities
. See Weather Bureau
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Old Red-sandstone
This group of sandstone lies below the carboniferous strata, and was called "old" to distinguish it from a series of similar strata which occur above the coal-measures. See NEW RED-SANDSTONE.
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Old Town
a town in Penobscot co., Me., near the W. bank of the Penobscot river, and on the Maine Central and Bangor and Aroostook railroads; 12 miles N. N. E. of Bangor. It has extensive water power, and is a center of the lumber industry, having one of the largest lumber mills in the world. Pop. (1920) 6,956.
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Old World
the Eastern Hemisphere, so named in popular parlance subsequent to the discovery of the New World, in 1492.
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Oldcastle
SIR JOHN, LORD COBHAM, as English reformer; born in the 14th century, in the reign of Edward III., and obtained his peerage by marrying the daughter of Lord Cobham. He excited the resentment of the clergy by his zealous adherence to the doctrines of Wyclif, whose works he collected, transcribed, and distributed among the people. Under Henry V. he was accused of heresy; but the king, with whom he was a favorite, delayed the prosecutions against him, and tried to convince him of his alleged errors, but in vain. He was then cited before the Archbishop of Canterbury (1413), condemned as a heretic, and committed to the Tower, whence he escaped into Wales. Four years afterward he was retaken and burned alive in St. Giles' Fields, in December, 1417. He wrote "Twelve Conclusions," addressed to the Parliament of England.
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Oldenburg
a republic since 1918, formerly a Grand Duchy of North Germany, between lat. 52° 30′ and 53° 43' having N., lon. 7° 35' and 8° 50' E., N. the North Sea, E. the territory of Bremen, S. and W. Hanover; area, 2,417 square miles. The surface is level, and 1 so low on the coast as to render necessary the formation of dykes, as in Holland, to prevent inundations of the sea. The soil is rich on the banks of the rivers, but in other parts sandy or marshy. The principal rivers are the Weser, Hunte, Haase, Leda, and Jahde. Of the lakes, Drummersee is the principal. The productions include flax, hemp, hops, rape seed, corn and potatoes. Horses and cattle of superior breed, and sheep, are extensively reared. Its commerce is principally carried on in small the vessels of to 40 tons, along coast with Denmark, Holland, Hanover, etc. The duchy of Oldenburg was formed in 1773 by Joseph II., of the counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine in 1808, incorporated with the French empire by Napoleon I. in 1810, and was restored to the duke in 1814. Augustus first assumed the title of grand duke in 1829. Kniphausen was added to the grand-duchy in 1854. Oldenburg entered into an alliance with Hanover against Prussia in 1865, and after the defeat of the Austrians, submitted to Prussia, with which it signed a treaty of alliance in 1866. Capital, Oldenburg. Pop. about 500,000.
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Oldham
a town of England, in Lancashire, 6 miles N. E. of Manchester. The spinning and weaving of cotton are the staple industries of the town, and employ within it and in its vicinity about 250 mills; and there are several large machine shops, foundries, tanneretc. Pop. (1917) 133,721.
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Oldham
JOHN, an English author; born in Shipton, in August, 1653; was educated at the school of Tetbury, and then at Oxford. He had many patrons, the last being the Earl of Kingston, in whose house he died. His works have been published in three volumes. He died in 1683. OLD RED SANDSTONE. The old red sandstone, or Devonian system, may be considered as embracing the whole series of strata which lies between the Silurian and Carboniferous systems. Certain portions of the formation were first distinguished in Devonshire, from which it derives its second name. The lower margin of the system is characterized by strata containing the fossil remains of fishes, and forming a line of separation between it and the Silurian system. On its upper margin it is distinguished by the rarity of the vegetation which so remarkably distinguishes the over-lying carboniferous rocks. The Devonian formation is nowhere found so largely developed as in the United States. In the New York system of rocks it includes the following rocks: Approximate thickness in New York. Names. Catskill group, or old red sandstone... 2,000 feet. 1,500 66 Chemung 1,000 66 Portage, and Genesee 1,000 66 Hamilton 50 66 Marcellas Upper Helderberg 66 50 Schoharie, and Cauda-galli 66 10 .5 to 30 feet. Oriskany sandstone
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