obsceneness

[Eng. obscene; -ne .] The quality or state of being obscene; obscenity, immodesty, lewdne . "Wee avoid lo e by it, and escape obscenene ."- Ben Jonson: Discoveries. õb-sçěn-1-tě, s. [Fr. obscénité .] 1. The quality or state of being obscene; impurity or immodesty in word or action; ribaldry, lewd. ne . "I wish, at least, our sacred rights were free From those pollutions of obscenity." Dryden: Juvenal, sat. vi. Geol.: A green-grained calcareous grit of Lower Silurian age, containing the Obolus Mollusks, found in Ru ia under the castle of Narva and elsewhere. Called originally, by Sir Roderick Murchison and others, Ungulite-grit, Ungula being Pander's synoribaldry, indecency. nym for Obolus. *õb-ol-ize, v . t . [OBELIZE.] 2. Obscene or impure words or actions; that which is obscene, indecent, or unchaste; lewdne , "Wit employed in dre ing up obscenity is like the art used in painting a corpse." -Goldsmith: Polite Learning, ob-8-10, s . [OBOLUS.] A copper coin current in ch. viii. the Ionian Islands, value about one cent. ob-o-lus, s . [Lat., from Gr. obolos .] 1. Greek Antiquities : (1) A small coin of ancient Greece, originally of copper, afterward of silver, the sixth part of an Attic drachma, and equal to two and one-half cents. Multiples and sub-multiples of the obolus were also used, as 5, 4, 3, 2, 14 oboli, and,, and of an obolus. (2) A small weight, the sixth part of an Attic drachma. 2. Paleontology : A genus of Lingulide, confined to the Silurian period; characteristic of the Lower Silurian. Valves orbicular, sub-equal, smooth, unarticulated, kept in apposition by muscular action; the ventral valve has a longitudinal furrow for the fibers of attachment, which pa out between the beaks.