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Webster 1913 Edition


Ostent

Os′tent

,
Noun.
[L.
ostentus
,
ostentum
, fr.
ostendere
(p. p.
ostensus
and
ostentus
) to show. See
Ostensible
.]
1.
Appearance; air; mien.
Shak.
2.
Manifestation; token; portent.
Dryden.
We asked of God that some
ostent
might clear
Our cloudy business, who gave us sign.
Chapman.

Webster 1828 Edition


Ostent

OS'TENT

,
Noun.
[L. ostentum, from ostendo.]
1.
Appearance; air; manner; mien. [Little used.]
2.
Show; manifestation; token. [Little used.]
3.
A prodigy; a portent; any thing ominous. [Little used.]

Definition 2024


ostent

ostent

See also: ôtent

English

Noun

ostent (plural ostents)

  1. appearance; air; mien
    Use all the observance of civility / Like one well studied in a sad ostent / To please his grandam Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
    In every object, mountain, tree and star-In every birth and life / As part of each-evolv'd from each-meaning, behind the ostent / A mystic cipher waits infolded. Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass: Shakespere-Bacon's Cipher Project Gutenberg
  2. manifestation; token; portent
    We asked of God that some ostent might clear / Our cloudy business, who gave us sign. Chapman.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)