Owned, verb. (obsolete ecclesiastical).—See quot.
1853. Dean Counybeare, in Edin. Rev., Oct., 295 note. A preacher is said in this phraseology to be owned when he makes many converts and his converts are called his 'seals.'
Owt, adj. (back-slang).—Two: e.g.
owt-yannep-flatch = two-pence-halfpenny;
owt-gens =
two shillings.
Ox. The black ox has trod
on his foot, phr. (old colloquial).—To
know decay, misfortune, or
old age.—B. E. (c. 1696).
1537. Tusser, Wiving and Thriving [Brewer]. Why then, do folk this proverb put, The black ox near trod on thy foot, If that way were to thrive?
1581. Lyly, Euphues, E 1. When the black crowe's foote shall appeare in their eie, or the black oxe tread on their foote—who will like them in their age who liked non in their youth.
1646. Heywood [Brewer]. The black oxe had not trode on his or her foote; But ere his branch of blisse could reach any roote, The flowers so faded, that in fifteen weekes a man might copy the change in the cheekes Both of the poore wretch and his wife.
1670. Ray, Proverbial Phrases, 205. The black ox never trod on his foot, i.e., he never knew what sorrow or adversity meant.
1850. Leigh Hunt, Autobiography, iv. The black ox trod on the fairy foot of my Cousin Fan.
Oxer, subs. (sporting).—An ox-fence.
1879. Cornhill Mag., v. 722. Across the road, over, an oxer, "like a bird."
1886. Kennard, Girl in Brown Habit, ix. Good mare that, Sir, you are on. That double oxer has choked most of them off.
Oxford, subs. (common).—A
crown piece; half-oxford =
half-a-crown: see Bull.
1898. Pink 'Un and Pelican, 65. In peacocked the little man with the long chain, the 'wine-steward' who chucked away Ernest's half-oxford.
Oxford Blues, subs. phr. (military).—The
Royal Horse Guards.
[From their facings, 1690].
Oxford clink, subs. phr. (old).—1.
A play upon words.
2. (theatrical).—A free pass.
Oxford grove, subs. phr. (old).—See
quot.
1608. Dekker, Dead Tearme [Nares]. Conscience goes like a fool in pyed colours, the skin of her body hanging so loose, that like an oxford glove, thou wouldst swear there wer a false skin within her.
Ox-house. To go through the
Ox-house to bed, verb. phr.
(old).—To be cuckolded; to
wear horns (q.v.).
c.1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Ox-house . . . of an old Fellow that marries a young woman.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Ox-pop, subs. (old).—A butcher.
Oyl-of-Barley. See Oil.
Oyster, subs. (common)—1. Profit
or advantage: because it has a
beard.
2. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Oyster, a gob of thick phlegm, spit by a consumptive man, unum viridum gobbum (law Latin).
3. (venery).—The female pudendum: see Monosyllable.
4. (common).—A gob of spittle.
