OR

prep. & adv. or='#AEB5C0'>[ AS. &unr_;r ere, before. √204. See Ere, prep. & adv. ] Ere; before; sooner than. or='#AEB5C0'>[ Obs. ] or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

But natheless, while I have time and space,
Or that I forther in this tale pace. Chaucer. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

Or ever,
Or ere. See under Ever, and Ere. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

n. or='#AEB5C0'>[ F., fr. L. aurum gold. Cf. Aureate. ] (Her.) Yellow or gold color, -- represented in drawing or engraving by small dots. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

n. or='#AEB5C0'>[ AS. See 2d Ore. ] A money of account among the Anglo-Saxons, valued, in the Domesday Book, at twenty pence sterling. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. (Zool.) A South American monkey of the genus Callithrix, esp. Callithrix Moloch. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. or='#AEB5C0'>[ F. arroche, corrupted fr. L. atriplex, Gr. &unr_;. Cf. Arrach. ] (Bot.) A genus (Atriplex) of herbs or low shrubs of the Goosefoot family, most of them with a mealy surface. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

Garden orache, a plant (Atriplex hortensis), often used as a pot herb; -- also called mountain spinach. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

n. or='#AEB5C0'>[ F., fr. L. oraculum, fr. orare to speak, utter, pray, fr. os, oris, mouth. See Oral. ] or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

1. The answer of a god, or some person reputed to be a god, to an inquiry respecting some affair or future event, as the success of an enterprise or battle. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

Whatso'er she saith, for oracles must stand. Drayton. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: The deity who was supposed to give the answer; also, the place where it was given. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

The oracles are dumb;
No voice or hideous hum
Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. Milton. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

3. The communications, revelations, or messages delivered by God to the prophets; also, the entire sacred Scriptures -- usually in the plural. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

The first principles of the oracles of God. Heb. v. 12. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Jewish Antiq.) The sanctuary, or Most Holy place in the temple; also, the temple itself. 1 Kings vi. 19. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

Siloa's brook, that flow'd
Fast by the oracle of God. Milton. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

5. One who communicates an oracle{ 1 } or divine command; an angel; a prophet. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

God hath now sent his living oracle
Into the world to teach his final will. Milton. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

6. Any person reputed uncommonly wise; one whose decisions are regarded as of great authority; as, a literary oracle. “Oracles of mode.” Tennyson. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

The country rectors . . . thought him an oracle on points of learning. Macaulay. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

7. A wise pronouncement or decision considered as of great authority. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. i. orph>or='#AEB5C0'>[ imp. & p. p. Oracled p. pr. & vb. n. Oracling ]orph> To utter oracles. or='#AEB5C0'>[ Obs. ] or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

a. or='#AEB5C0'>[ L. oracularius. See Oracle. ] 1. Of or pertaining to an oracle; uttering oracles; forecasting the future; as, an oracular tongue. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

2. Resembling an oracle in some way, as in solemnity, wisdom, authority, obscurity, ambiguity, dogmatism. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

They have something venerable and oracular in that unadorned gravity and shortness in the expression. Pope. or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]

-- ordforms>O*rac"u*lar*ly, adv. -- O*rac"u*lar*ness, n.ordforms> or='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]