Chapter OEagrian Harpist to Oithona of O by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Og, king of Basan. Thus saith the rabbis—

The height of his stature was 23,033 cubits [nearly six miles]. He used to drink water from the clouds, and toast fish by holding them before the orb of the sun. He asked Noah to take him into the ark, but Noah would not. When the flood was at its deepest, it did not reach to the knees of this giant. Og lived 3000 years, and then he was slain by the hand of Moses.

Moses was himself ten cubits in stature [fifteen feet], and he took a spear ten cubits long, and threw it ten cubits high, and yet it only reached the heel of Og. … When dead, his body reached as far as the river Nile, in Egypt.

Og’s mother was Enac, a daughter of Adam. Her fingers were two cubits long [one yara], and on each finger she had two sharp nails. She was devoured by wild beasts.—Maracci.

In the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, Thomas Shadwell, who was a very large man, is called “Og.”

Og from a treason-tavern rolling home
Round as a globe. …
With all this bulk there’s nothing lost in Og,
For every inch, that is not fool, is rogue.
   —Pt. ii. 458, etc.

Ogdoistes or Ogdoists, the eight heretical writers which St. Jerome so v igorously assailed (345–420); viz. (1) the Montanists, (2) Helvetius, (3) Jovinian, (4) Rufinus, (5) the Origenists, (6) the Luciferians, (7) Vigilantius, and (8) Pelagius.

Ogier the Dane, one of the paladins of the Charlemagne epoch. When 100 years old, Morgue th e fay took him to the island of Avalon, “hard by the terrestrial paradise;” gave him a ring which restored him to ripe manhood, a crown which made him forget his past life, and introduced him to king Arthur. Two hundred years afterwards, she sent him to defend France from the paynims, who had invaded it; and, having routed the invaders, he returned to Avalon again.—Ogier le Danois (a romance).

In a pack of French cards, Ogier the Dane is knave of spades. His exploits are related in the Chansons de Geste; he is introduced by Ariosto in Orlando Furioso, and by Morris in his Earthly Paradise (“August”).

Ogier’s Swords, Curtana (“the cutter”) and Sauvagine.

Ogier’s Horse, Papillon.

Ogle (Miss), friend of Mrs. Racket. She is very jealous of young girls, and even of Mrs. Racket, because she was some six years her junior.—Mrs. Cowley: The Belle’s Stratagem (1780).

Ogleby (Lord), an old fop, vain to excess, but good-natured withal, and quite the slave of maidens young and fair. At the age of 70, his lordship fancied himself an Adonis, notwithstanding his qualms and his rheumatism. He required a great deal of “brushing, oiling, screwing, and winding up before he appeared in public,” but, when fully made up, was game for the part of “lover, rake, or fine gentleman.” Lord Ogleby made his bow to Fanny Sterling, and promised to make her a countess; but the young lady had been privately married to Lovewell for four months.—Colman and Garrick: The Clandestine Marriage (1766).

No one could deliver such a dialogue as is found in “lord Ogleby” and in “sir Peter Teazle” [School for Scandal, Sheridan] with such point as Thomas King [1730–1805].—Life of Sheridan.

Ogri, giants who fed on human flesh.

O’Groat (John), with his two brothers, Malcolm and Gavin, settled in Caithness in the reign of James IV. The families lived together in harmony for a time, and met once a year at John’s house. On one occasion a dispute arose about precedency—who was to take the head of the table, and who was to go