<B>onomastic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or connected with a name or names, or with the naming of something. <BR> <I>Ex. Naming a horse is not an easy matter ... The result was that for the seven years we had him the onomastic question remained pending (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Law.) designating the signature of a legal document the body of which is in the handwriting of another person. </DL>
<A NAME="onomasticon">
<B>onomasticon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a vocabulary of names, especially of persons, arranged in alphabetical or other order. </DL>
<A NAME="onomastics">
<B>onomastics, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the study of names. <BR> <I>Ex. Onomastics shows that a name like Puddifoot is not as hard to combat as, say, the stumpy foot that the name describes (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> </DL>
<B>onomatopoeia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the formation of a name or word by imitating the sound associated with the thing designated, as in <I>buzz, hum, cuckoo, hiss, slap, splash.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a word or phrase so formed. <DD><B> 3. </B>the adaptation of the sound to the sense for rhetorical effect. (Examples:) The tintinnabulation that so musicallywells From the bells (Edgar Allan Poe). The double double double beat of the thundering drum (John Dryden). </DL>
<A NAME="onomatopoeic">
<B>onomatopoeic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with or like onomatopoeia; imitative in sound; echoic. adv. <B>onomatopoeically.</B> </DL>
<B>Onondaga, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ga</B> or <B>-gas.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a member of a tribe of Iroquois Indians formerly living in central New York State. <DD><B> 2. </B>the Iroquoian language of this tribe. </DL>
<A NAME="onrush">
<B>onrush, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a violent forward rush. <BR> <I>Ex. He was knocked down by the onrush of water. ... the tremendous onrush and check of the German attack in the west that opened the great war (H. G. Wells).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="onrushing">
<B>onrushing, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that rushes on; moving forward rapidly. <BR> <I>Ex. the onrushing crowd at a bargain sale, onrushing vehicles; the onrushing advent of television (Maclean's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="onscreen">
<B>onscreen, </B>adjective, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>seen on the motion-picture or television screen. <BR> <I>Ex. an onscreen moderator.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>while acting for motion pictures or television. <BR> <I>Ex. onscreen showmanship.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="onset">
<B>onset, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the beginning or start. <BR> <I>Ex. The onset of this disease is gradual.</I> (SYN) commencement. <DD><B> 2. </B>an attack. <BR> <I>Ex. The onset of the enemy took us by surprise.</I> (SYN) assault, onslaught. </DL>
<A NAME="onshore">
<B>onshore, </B>adverb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>toward the shore. <DD><B> 2. </B>on the shore. </DL>
<A NAME="onside">
<B>onside, </B>adjective, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a position allowed by the rules of the game; not offside. </DL>
<A NAME="onsite">
<B>on-site, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> at the location of something; on the actual site where something takes place regularly. <BR> <I>Ex. on-site maintenance of aircraft. The working group of seismologists and physicists failed to agree on criteria for on-site inspection (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="onslaught">
<B>onslaught, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a vigorous attack. <BR> <I>Ex. The Indians made an onslaught on the settlers' fort.</I> (SYN) onset. </DL>
<A NAME="onstage">
<B>onstage, </B>adjective, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>on the part of the stage that the audience can see. <BR> <I>Ex. During the battle scene, a ship was sunk onstage.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>while acting for an audience. <BR> <I>Ex. The children begin their onstage Kabuki experience from the age of five (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="onstream">
<B>on-stream, </B>adjective, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> operating in a fluid manner; using a fluid method; of or by means of flow. <BR> <I>Ex. On-stream process control by fluorescent spectrometry has become established ... for control of the zinc coating of sheet metal (G. L. Clark).</I> <DD><I>adv. </I> into fluid operation. <BR> <I>Ex. The plant ... is expected to come on-stream early next year (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="onsweep">
<B>onsweep, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act or fact of sweeping onward. <BR> <I>Ex. the onsweep of our van (Rudyard Kipling).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="ont">
<B>Ont.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> Ontario. </DL>
<A NAME="ontarian">
<B>Ontarian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with Ontario, a province in Canada, north of the Great Lakes. <DD><I>noun </I> a native or inhabitant of Ontario. </DL>
<A NAME="onthecuff">
<B>on-the-cuff, </B>adjective, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) on credit. <BR> <I>Ex. And the proud symbol of the growing enthusiasm for on-the-cuff spending is the credit card (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="onthejob">
<B>on-the-job, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> during the actual performance of one's job or duties; not away from, prior to, or in preparation for a job. <BR> <I>Ex. on-the-job teaching, on-the-job experience. The boys would be put into on-the-job training situations throughout the conservation field (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="ontherecord">
<B>on-the-record, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>for public consumption; not off-the-record. <BR> <I>Ex. In both on-the-record statements and private comments, leading officials portrayed [him] as a man of uncertain political purpose (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>official. <BR> <I>Ex. Chiang's demand for an on-the-record commitment from Washington held up ... the planned evacuation (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<B>on-the-spot, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><B> 1. </B>on the location of; at that very place. <BR> <I>Ex. on-the-spot news coverage. On-the-spot camerawork in Europe ... (Maclean's).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>that takes place immediately and usually without formality. <BR> <I>Ex. on-the-spot diagnoses of illnesses, an on-the-spot business deal.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="ontic">
<B>ontic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Philosophy.) of or having to do with being or actual existence. <BR> <I>Ex. ontic reality.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="onto">
<B>onto, </B>preposition.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>on to; to a position on or upon. <BR> <I>Ex. to throw a ball onto the roof, to get onto a horse, a boat driven onto the rocks.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) familiar with; aware of; experienced in. <BR> <I>Ex. to get onto a new job. It doesn't take long to get onto him and his alibis.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="ontogenesis">
<B>ontogenesis, </B>noun. <B>=ontogeny.</B></DL>
<A NAME="ontogenetic">
<B>ontogenetic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with ontogeny. <BR> <I>Ex. It is Gesell who has uniquely been the draftsman of the architecture of the developing mind--what he calls "the ontogenetic patterning of behavior" (Harper's).</I> adv. <B>ontogenetically.</B> </DL>
<B>ontogenist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person skilled in the study of ontogeny. </DL>
<A NAME="ontogeny">
<B>ontogeny, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Biology.) the development of an individual organism, or the history of its development. <BR> <I>Ex. The development of any organism demonstrates the biological law that ontogeny repeats phylogeny (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="ontological">
<B>ontological, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with ontology. <BR> <I>Ex. The root of every philosophy, says Tillich, is the ontological question. What is "being," what is "real," what is "ultimate reality beyond everything that seems to be real?" (Time).</I> adv. <B>ontologically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="ontologicalargument">
<B>ontological argument</B> or <B>proof,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the contention that since our idea of God is that of a perfect being and since existence is part of perfection, our idea of God is an idea of a necessarily existent being. This argument, used by Anselm and Descartes, is repeated by Thomas Aquinas. </DL>
<A NAME="ontologism">
<B>ontologism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the doctrine that human beings have an intuitive knowledge of God and that this knowledge is the basis of all other knowledge. </DL>
<A NAME="ontologist">
<B>ontologist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person skilled in ontology. </DL>
<A NAME="ontology">
<B>ontology, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of reality. </DL>
<A NAME="onus">
<B>onus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a burden; responsibility. <BR> <I>Ex. The onus of housekeeping fell upon the daughters. The onus of proving it was not right lay with those who disputed its being so (Samuel Butler).</I> (SYN) duty, obligation. </DL>
<A NAME="onusprobandi">
<B>onus probandi,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) the burden of proof. </DL>
<A NAME="onward">
<B>onward, </B>adverb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adv. </I> <B>1. </B>toward the front; further on; on; forward. <BR> <I>Ex. The crowd around the store window began to move onward.</I> (SYN) forth. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Archaic.) at a position in advance. <BR> <I>Ex. My grief lies onward and my joy behind (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> on; further on; toward the front; forward. <BR> <I>Ex. An onward movement began. Resuming his onward course (Washington Irving).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="onwards">
<B>onwards, </B>adverb. <B>=onward.</B></DL>
<A NAME="onycha">
<B>onycha, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an ingredient of the incense used in the Mosaic ritual, supposed to be the operculum of a marine gastropod. </DL>
<A NAME="onychia">
<B>onychia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> inflammation of the matrix of the nails or claws. </DL>
<A NAME="onychomycosis">
<B>onychomycosis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a fungous disease of the nails characterized by thickened, brittle, white nails. </DL>
<A NAME="onyx">
<B>onyx, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a variety of quartz with straight bands of different colors and shades. It is a semiprecious stone used in making cameos. </DL>
