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Webster 1913 Edition
Ostent
Os′tent
,Noun.
1.
Appearance; air; mien.
Shak.
2.
Manifestation; token; portent.
Dryden.
We asked of God that some
Our cloudy business, who gave us sign.
ostent
might clearOur cloudy business, who gave us sign.
Chapman.
Webster 1828 Edition
Ostent
OS'TENT
,Noun.
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)
- 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
- 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?)