oblate (oblat)

[L. oblatus, taken in sense of 'spread out, namely, at the sides of the sphere, pp. of obferre, offerre, bring forward, present, offer: see offer.] In geom., flattened at the poles: said of a figure generated by the revolution of an ellipse about its minor axis: as, the earth is an oblate spheroid. See prolate. oblatene (ob-lat'nes), n. The condition of being oblate or flattened at the poles. oblation (ob-lā'shon), n. [F. oblation = Sp. oblacion = Pg. oblação = It. oblazione, sec rated elements as sacramentally the body and blood of Christ. This is called the great oblation, in distinction from the le er oblation or offertory. The great oblation forms the second part of the prayer of consecration, the first part being the words of institution, or the consecration in the stricter sense. In the Oriental liturgies, in the Scotch communion office of 1764, and in the American Book of Common Prayer, the great oblation is succeeded by the invocation or epiclesis. The earliest theory of Liturgies recognised three distinct Oblations in the Holy Action. J. M. Neale , Eastern Church, i. 339. (d) The whole office of holy communion; the eucharist. 2. In Rom. law ( oblatio ), a mode of extinguishment for debt by the tender of the precise amount due. It had to be followed, in Roman and French law, in order to become an effectual tender, by depositio, or consignation into the hand of a public officer. Holland. 3. Anything offered or presented; an offering; a gift. Take thou my oblation , poor but free. Shak ., Sonnets, cxxv. I could not make unto your majesty a better oblation than of some treatise. Bacon , Advancement of Learning, i. 5. Specifically-4. Anything offered or presented in worship; an offering or sacrifice; especially, eccles ., a eucharistic offering or donation; usu IMG:content-1566.png:[blocks in formation] A few Years after, K. Lewis of France comes into England of purpose to visit the Shrine of St. Thomas; where, having paid his Vows, he makes Oblations with many rich Presents. Baker , Chronicles, p. 58. This oblation of an heart fixed with dependence on and affection to him is the most acceptable tribute we can pay him, the foundation of true devotion and life of all religion. Locke, Reasonablene of Christianity. 5. In canon law, anything offered to God and the church, whether movables or immovables. The name of Oblations , applied not only here to those small and petit payments which yet are a part of the minister's right but also generally given unto all such allowances as serve for their needful maintenance, is both ancient and convenient. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 74..