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 1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan]. Optime. The senior and junior optimes are the second and last classes of Cambridge honours conferred on taking a degree. That of wranglers is the first. The last junior optime is called the Wooden Spoon.

Oracle, subs. (Old Cant).—A watch: see Ticker.

1708-10. Swift, Polite Conversations, 1. Pray, my lord, what's o'clock by your oracle?

2. (venery).—The female pudendum: see Monosyllable.

To work the oracle, verb. phr. (common).—To plan; to succeed by stratagem: specifically to raise money.

1863. All the Year Round, 10 Oct., 168. He has a double, who worked the oracle for him.

1888. Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xii. They fetched a rattling price through Starlight's working the oracle with those swells.

1891. Newman, Scamping Tricks, 116. Well, what with, so they told me, big local loan-mongers to work the oracle and swim with them, etc.

To work the dumb (double, or hairy) oracle, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate: see Greens and Ride.

orange. To suck the orange dry, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To exhaust; to deplete.

1888. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, 47. It is rather rough on the boy, I admit, to suddenly discover that his father has sucked the orange, and that he has merely inherited the skin; but it is so.

Orange Lilies, subs. phr. (military).—The Thirty-fifth Foot. [From the facings till 1832 and the plumes awarded for gallantry at Quebec in 1759]. Now the 1st Batt. Royal Sussex.

Orate, verb. (American).—To make a speech.

1877. Besant & Rice, Golden Butterfly, xxvi. I am not, he said, going to orate. You did not come here, I guess, to hear me pay out chin-music.

1883. Referee, 15 July, 2, 4. There was a panic among the two thousand people who were being orated by Mr. Ballington Booth, the general's son.

1888. Fortnightly Review, N.S. xliii. 848. Men are apt to orate on any topic that chances to be uppermost.

Orator, subs. (old).—See quot. [Cf. oration, dialectical for 'noise' or 'uproar'].

1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Orator to a Mountebank, the Doctor's Decoy who in conjunction with Jack Pudding, amuses, diverts and draws in the Patients.

Orchard, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum: see Monosyllable. To get jack in the orchard = to effect intromission.

Orchid, subs. (Stock Exchange).—A titled member.

1871. Atkins, House Scraps A young sprig of nobility was once heard to tell a friend that when he was in the house he felt like an 'orchid' in a turnip field orchid has become the nickname for any member who has a 'handle' to his name.

1890. Cassel's Saturday Journal, 26 Ap. All members [of the Stock Exchange] who have handles to their names are described as orchids.

Order. A large order, subs. phr. (common).—Something excessive.

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 Feb., 7, 1. A large order [Title].

1891. Tit Bits, 8 Aug., 274, 1. In asking me to tell you about my clients and their wills, you give a pretty large order.

1892. Illustrated Bits, 22 Oct, 10. Well, sir, that's a largish order.