Chapter O to Oberthal of O by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

became the residence of General Burgoyne, from whom it passed to the 11th Earl of Derby. It was Edward Smith Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby, who originated the Oak Stakes, May 14, 1779. On his death, in 1834, the estate was sold to Sir Charles Guy, and was then held by Joseph Smith. The Oaks Stakes are for fillies three years old. (See Debby. )

Oaks Famous in Story
   (1) Owen Glendower's Oak, at Shelton, near Shrewsbury, was in full growth in 1403, for in this tree Owen Glendower witnessed the great battle between Henry IV. and Henry Percy. Six or eight persons can stand in the hollow of its trunk. Its girth is 40 ¼ feet.
   (2) Cowthorpe Oak, near Wetherby, in Yorkshire, will hold seventy persons in its hollow. Professor Burnet states its age to be 1,600 years.
   (3) Fairlop Oak, in Hainault Forest, was 36 feet in circumference a yard from the ground. It was blown down in 1820.
   (4) The Oak of the Partisans, in Parcy Forest, St. Ouen, in the department of the Vosges, is 107 feet in height. It is 700 years old. (1895.)
   (5) The Bull Oak, Wedgenock Park, was growing at the time of the Conquest.
   (6) The Winfarthing Oak was 700 years old at the time of the Conquest.
   (7) William the Conqueror's Oak, in Windsor Great Park, is 38 feet in girth.
   (8) Queen's Oak, Huntingfield, Suffolk, is so named because near this tree Queen Elizabeth shot a buck.
   (9) Sir Philip Sidney's Oak, near Penshurst, was planted at his birth in 1554, and has been memorialised by Ben Jonson and Waller.
   (10) The Ellerslie Oak, near Paisley, is reported to have sheltered Sir William Wallace and 300 of his men.
   (11) The Swilcar Oak, in Needwood Forest, Staffordshire, is between 600 and 700 years old.
   (12) The Abbot's Oak, near Woburn Abbey, is so called because the Woburn abbot was hanged on one of its branches, in 1537, by order of Henry VIII.
   (13) The Major Oak, Sherwood Forest, Edwinstowe, according to tradition, was a full-grown tree in the reign of King John. The hollow of the trunk will hold 15 persons, but of late years a new bark has considerably diminished the opening. Its girth is 37 or 38 feet, and the head covers a circumference of 240 feet.
   (14) The Parliament Oak, Clipston, in Sherwood Forest, Notts, is the tree under which Edward I., in 1282, held his parliament. He was hunting in the forest, when a messenger came to tell him of the revolt of the Welsh. He hastily convened his nobles under the oak, and it was resolved to march at once against Llewellyn, who was slain. The oak is still standing (1895), but is supported by props.
   (15) Robin Hood's Larder is an oak in that part of Sherwood Forest which belongs to the Duke of Portland. The tradition is that Robin Hood, the great outlaw, used this oak, then hollow, as his larder, to put the deer he had slain out of sight. Not long ago some school-girls boiled their kettle in the hollow of the oak, and burnt down a large part; but every effort has been made to preserve what remains from destruction.
   (16) The Reformation Oak, on Mouse-hold Heath, near Norwich, is where the the rebel Ket held his court in 1549, and when the Rebellion was stamped out, nine of the ringleaders were hanged on this tree.

Oakum Untwisted rope; used for caulking the seams (i.e. spaces between the planks) of a ship. It is forced in by chisel and mallet.
   To pick oakum. To make oakum by untwisting old ropes. A common employment in prisons and workhouses.

Oannes The Chaldean sea-god. It had a fish's head and body, and also a human head; a fish's tail, and also feet under the tail and fish's head. In the day-time he lived with men to instruct them in the arts and sciences, but at night retired to the ocean. Anedotes or Idotion was a similar deity, so was the Dagon [dag-On, fish On] of the Philistines.

Oar To put your oar into my boat. To interfere with my affairs. “Paddle your own canoe, and don't put your oar into my boat.” “Bon homme, garde ta vache.” “Never scald your lips with another man's porridge” (Scotch). “Croyez moi chacun son metier, et les vaches sont bien gardées.”

“I put my oar in no man's boat.” - Thackeray.

Oars To rest on one's oars. To take an interval of rest after hard work. A boating phrase.
   To toss the oars. To raise them vertically, resting on the handles. It is a form of salute.