<B>occasion, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a particular time. <BR> <I>Ex. We have met him on several occasions. He has said this on several occasions.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a special event; important time. <BR> <I>Ex. The jewels were worn only on great occasions, such as a royal wedding or a coronation. A pair of gloves ... were to be worn on some great occasion of state (Hawthorne).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a good chance; opportunity. <BR> <I>Ex. The trip we took together gave us an occasion to get better acquainted.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a cause; reason; ground. <BR> <I>Ex. The dog that was the occasion of the quarrel had run away.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>need; necessity. <BR> <I>Ex. A simple cold is no occasion for alarm.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Scottish.) a religious function. <BR> <I>Ex. They should see about getting him [a minister] to help at the summer Occasion (John Galt).</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(Obsolete.) excuse; pretext. <BR> <I>Ex. Delay ... Whose manner was all passengers to stay And entertaine with her occasions sly (Edmund Spenser).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>(Obsolete.) occurrence. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to cause; bring about. <BR> <I>Ex. to occasion an argument. His strange behavior occasioned a good deal of talk. I said nothing: I was afraid of occasioning some shock by declaring my identity (Charlotte Bronte).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>improve the occasion,</B> </I>to take advantage of an opportunity. <BR> <I>Ex. The friends improved the occasion of their meeting by celebrating it with a party.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>occasions,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>affairs; business. </I> <I>Ex. Such as pass on the seas upon their lawful occasions (Book of Common Prayer).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Archaic.) particular needs or requirements. <BR> <I>Ex. Martin ... could not supply his occasions any other way than by taking to the road (Tobias Smollett).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>on occasion,</B> </I>now and then; once in a while. <BR> <I>Ex. [Jenny Marx] had had herself on occasion to write begging letters to Engels (Edmund Wilson).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>rise to the occasion,</B> </I>to be equal to a situation requiring courage, discretion, or other decisive action; be able to handle a situation effectively. <BR> <I>Ex. By post time, he'll have had almost a fortnight in Maryland in which to recuperate, and I hope he'll rise to the occasion (Audax Minor).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="occasional">
<B>occasional, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>happening or coming now and then, or once in a while. <BR> <I>Ex. occasional visits. We had fine weather all through July except for an occasional thunderstorm.</I> (SYN) irregular, sporadic. <DD><B> 2. </B>caused by or used for some special time or event. <BR> <I>Ex. occasional poetry. Occasional music was played at the graduation. The ruin of the ancient democracies was, that they ruled ... by occasional decrees (Edmund Burke).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>for use once in a while. <BR> <I>Ex. occasional chairs. Upon a little occasional table, was a tray with breakfast things (H. G. Wells)</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>acting or serving for the occasion or on certain occasions. <BR> <I>Ex. The occasional soldier is no match for the professional soldier (Macaulay).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="occasionally">
<B>occasionally, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> now and then; once in a while; at times. <BR> <I>Ex. We have a shower occasionally on a summer day.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="occident">
<B>Occident, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the countries in Europe and America as distinguished from those in Asia; the West. <BR> <I>Ex. The Occident and the Orient have different ideals and customs.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the Western Hemisphere. </DL>
<A NAME="occident">
<B>occident, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the west. </DL>
<A NAME="occidental">
<B>Occidental, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> Western; of the Occident. <DD><I>noun </I> a native of the West. Europeans and Americans are Occidentals. adv. <B>Occidentally.</B> </DL>
<B>Occidentalism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the customs, characteristics, or institutions of the peoples and countries of the Occident. </DL>
<A NAME="occidentalist">
<B>Occidentalist, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a student or admirer of Occidental habits, customs, or institutions. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with Occidentalism or Occidentalists. </DL>
<A NAME="occidentalization">
<B>Occidentalization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a making Occidental, especially in habits, customs, or character. </DL>
<A NAME="occidentalize">
<B>Occidentalize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make Occidental in habits, customs, or character. </DL>
<A NAME="occipital">
<B>occipital, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of, belonging to, or situated in the back part of the head or skull. <BR> <I>Ex. occipital artery, occipital nerve, occipital condyle.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B><B>=occipital bone.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>any occipital part. adv. <B>occipitally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="occipitalbone">
<B>occipital bone,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the compound bone forming the lower part of the skull. </DL>
<A NAME="occipitallobe">
<B>occipital lobe,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the posterior lobe of each cerebral hemisphere. </DL>
<A NAME="occiput">
<B>occiput, </B>noun, pl. <B>occipita.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the back part of the head or skull. </DL>
<A NAME="occlude">
<B>occlude, </B>verb, <B>-cluded,</B> <B>-cluding.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to stop up (as a passage or pores); close. <DD><B> 2. </B>to shut in, out, or off. <BR> <I>Ex. The rain, in a grey occluding storm, thrashed the windows (Eric Linklater).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Chemistry.) to absorb and retain (gases and other substances). <BR> <I>Ex. Platinum occludes hydrogen.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> (Dentistry.) to meet closely in proper positions. <BR> <I>Ex. The teeth in the upper jaw and those in the lower jaw should occlude.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="occludedfront">
<B>occluded front,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Meteorology.) the front formed when a cold air mass overtakes a warm air mass and displaces it upward in a system of low barometric pressure. <BR> <I>Ex. Occluded fronts ... move more slowly than ordinary fronts and therefore bring persistent bad weather over the affected area (Neuberger and Stephens).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="occludent">
<B>occludent, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> serving to shut up or close so as to prevent passage in or out. <DD><I>noun </I> anything that closes. </DL>
<A NAME="occlusal">
<B>occlusal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Dentistry.) of or for occlusion; used in biting or chewing. </DL>
<A NAME="occlusion">
<B>occlusion, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an occluding or being occluded. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Medicine.) the blocking of a blood vessel, as by thrombosis, embolism, or gradual narrowing. <BR> <I>Ex. The President had suffered a mild cerebral occlusion (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Dentistry.) the meeting of the teeth of the upper and lower jaws when closed. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Phonetics.) the momentary cutting off of the stream of air in the articulation of a stop, produced as by pressing the lips together or the tongue against the upper teeth. <BR> <I>Ex. Nasal consonants are produced by the obstruction or occlusion of the buccal passage (Simeon Potter).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Meteorology.) <DD><B> a. </B>the process in which a cold air mass overtakes and forces upward a warm air mass in a cyclone, thereby meeting a second cold air mass originally in front of the warm air mass. Occlusion increases the intensity of a cyclone. <DD><B> b. </B>the contact between these two cold air masses. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Chemistry.) the absorption and retention of a gas or other substances, as by a metal. </DL>
<A NAME="occlusive">
<B>occlusive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> serving to close; closing. <BR> <I>Ex. an occlusive dressing for a wound.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="occult">
<B>occult, </B>adjective, verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>beyond the bounds of ordinary knowledge; mysterious. <BR> <I>Ex. At once the metaphysical panic turned into something physical--physical but at the same time occult (Harper's).</I> (SYN) secret, hidden, mystic. <DD><B> 2a. </B>outside the laws of the natural world. <DD><B> b. </B>of or having to do with laws or forces outside of the natural world; magical. <BR> <I>Ex. Astrology and alchemy are occult sciences.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>not disclosed; secret; revealed only to the initiated. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Archaic.) hidden from sight; concealed. <BR> <I>Ex. We two will stand beside that shrine, Occult, withheld, untrod (Dante Gabriel Rossetti).</I> <DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> to cut off, or be cut off, from view by interposing some other body, as one heavenly body hiding another by passing in front of it; eclipse. <BR> <I>Ex. Because the corona-graph occults the photosphere it is difficult to observe the low- and high-altitude components of a flare simultaneously (Harold Zirin).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>the occult,</B> the occult sciences. <BR> <I>Ex. There were many students of the occult in northern Europe in the 1100's and 1200's.</I> adv. <B>occultly.</B> noun <B>occultness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="occultation">
<B>occultation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the action or fact of hiding the light of one heavenly body by another passing between it and the observer. <BR> <I>Ex. the occultation of a star by the moon.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>disappearance from view or notice; concealment; hiding. </DL>
<A NAME="occultism">
<B>occultism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>belief in occult powers. <DD><B> 2. </B>the study or use of occult sciences. </DL>
<A NAME="occultist">
<B>occultist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who believes or is skilled in occultism. </DL>
<A NAME="occupance">
<B>occupance, </B>noun. <B>=occupancy.</B></DL>
<A NAME="occupancy">
<B>occupancy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or fact of occupying; holding (land, houses, a pew, or other structure or area, or office) by being in possession. <BR> <I>Ex. The occupancy of the land by farmers was opposed by the cattlemen.</I> (SYN) tenure. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Law.) the act of taking possession of a thing belonging to no one in order to become its owner. </DL>
<A NAME="occupant">
<B>occupant, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who occupies. <BR> <I>Ex. The occupant of the shack stepped out as I approached.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a person in actual possession of a house or other structure or area, or office. <BR> <I>Ex. The occupant will not pay rent and must be removed.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Law.) a person who becomes an owner by occupancy. </DL>
