1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan]. Optime. The senior and junior optimes are the second and last classes of Cambridge honours conferred on taking a degree. That of wranglers is the first. The last junior optime is called the Wooden Spoon.
Oracle, subs. (Old Cant).—A
watch: see Ticker.
1708-10. Swift, Polite Conversations, 1. Pray, my lord, what's o'clock by your oracle?
2. (venery).—The female pudendum: see Monosyllable.
To work the oracle, verb. phr. (common).—To plan; to succeed by stratagem: specifically to raise money.
1863. All the Year Round, 10 Oct., 168. He has a double, who . . . worked the oracle for him.
1888. Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xii. They fetched a rattling price through Starlight's working the oracle with those swells.
1891. Newman, Scamping Tricks, 116. Well, what with, so they told me, big local loan-mongers to work the oracle and swim with them, etc.
To work the dumb (double, or hairy) oracle, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate: see Greens and Ride.
orange. To suck the orange
dry, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To
exhaust; to deplete.
1888. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, 47. It is rather rough on the boy, I admit, to suddenly discover that his father has sucked the orange, and that he has merely inherited the skin; but it is so.
Orange Lilies, subs. phr. (military).—The
Thirty-fifth Foot.
[From the facings till 1832 and
the plumes awarded for gallantry
at Quebec in 1759]. Now the 1st
Batt. Royal Sussex.
Orate, verb. (American).—To
make a speech.
1877. Besant & Rice, Golden Butterfly, xxvi. I am not, he said, going to orate. You did not come here, I guess, to hear me pay out chin-music.
1883. Referee, 15 July, 2, 4. There was a panic among the two thousand people who were being orated by Mr. Ballington Booth, the general's son.
1888. Fortnightly Review, N.S. xliii. 848. Men are apt . . . to orate on any topic that chances to be uppermost.
Orator, subs. (old).—See quot.
[Cf. oration, dialectical for 'noise'
or 'uproar'].
1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Orator to a Mountebank, the Doctor's Decoy who in conjunction with Jack Pudding, amuses, diverts and draws in the Patients.
Orchard, subs. (venery).—The
female pudendum: see Monosyllable.
To get jack
in the orchard = to effect
intromission.
Orchid, subs. (Stock Exchange).—A
titled member.
1871. Atkins, House Scraps. . . . A young sprig of nobility . . . was once heard to tell a friend that when he was in the house he felt like an 'orchid' in a turnip field . . . orchid has become the nickname for any member who has a 'handle' to his name.
1890. Cassel's Saturday Journal, 26 Ap. All members [of the Stock Exchange] who have handles to their names are described as orchids.
Order. A large order, subs.
phr. (common).—Something excessive.
1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 Feb., 7, 1. A large order [Title].
1891. Tit Bits, 8 Aug., 274, 1. In asking me to tell you about my clients and their wills, you give a pretty large order.
1892. Illustrated Bits, 22 Oct, 10. Well, sir, that's a largish order.
