O
American Library Association abbreviation of octavo, a book size (20-25 cm).
Entries starting with O
93 entries.
oberhefe
nounManufacturing
The yeast that forms at the top surface of the vat.
observation car
nounRail equipment
A railway passenger car made so as to facilitate seeing the scenery en route, sometimes with glass sides or with a kind of open balcony at the rear.
OCR
nounConstruction
Initialism of one coat render.
octal data rate
A memory interface which performs eight bits per clock cycle per lane
octavo
A sheet of paper 7 to 10 inches (= 17.78 to 25.4 cm) high and 4.5 to 6 inches (= 11.43 to 15.24 cm) wide, the size varying with the large original sheet used to create it. It is made by folding the original sheet three times to produce eight leaves.
octode
A thermionic valve that has eight electrodes or similar elements
OD
nounManufacturing
(of a pipe, tube, or shaft) Initialism of outer diameter or outside diameter.
oddment
A part of a book that is not a portion of the text, such as the title, index, etc. (usually plural).
odometer fraud
nounAutomotive
The illegal practice of rolling back an odometer to make it appear that a vehicle has lower mileage than it actually does.
odontograph
An instrument for marking or laying off the outlines of teeth of gear wheels.
OFDM
Initialism of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing.
off time
The time interval when no current flows.
off-gas
nounManufacturing
Gas produced as a side effect of a chemical reaction, sometimes hazardous.
off-the-rack
adjectiveManufacturing
Ready-made in a range of standard sizes.
offbear
verbConstruction
To carry off from the moulding-table and place on the ground to dry.
offset
nounSurveying
A short distance measured at right angles from a line actually run to some point in an irregular boundary, or to some object.
offset time
In optical burst switching, the amount of time between the burst header and the control packet.
OHLE
Initialism of overhead line equipment (overhead lines, and supporting infrastructure, that provide power to electric trains).
ohmic resistance
That portion of the apparent resistance or impedance of a circuit which depends only upon the dimensions of the conductors, their temperature, and the materials of which they are composed.
oil change
nounAutomotive
The process of draining old oil from an engine or gearbox and refilling it with fresh oil, often done at recommended intervals.
oil filter
A filter designed to remove contaminants from engine oil, transmission oil, lubricating oil, or hydraulic oil.
oil-canning
A moderate deformation or buckling of sheet material, particularly common with flat sheet metal surfaces.
OL
open line (open circuit, no continuity).
old rose
A rose belonging to any of the classes of cultivated roses in existence before the hybrid tea roses were developed.
old woman's tooth
nounCarpentry
A traditional hand-operated router.
Old World ROM
A Macintosh model that uses a read-only memory chip.
on silent
adjectiveEnergy and utilities
A setting on an electronic device that prevents it from producing noise when it receives a call or a message, such as an alert or a notification.
on the bias
prep phraseManufacturing
Describing the method of cutting fabric diagonally across the grain (so as to make the clothing cling to the body)
one engine in steam
A principle in railway signalling where only one train or locomotive is allowed to run on a section of single-track line, such as a branch line, at any one time.
one under
A person under a train; a person hit by a train after jumping or falling in front of it.
one-cold
A set of bits with only a single low (0) bit, with the remaining bits high (1).
one-hot
A set of bits with only a single high (1) bit, with the remaining bits low (0).
one-hour fuel
Vegetation with a high surface-to-mass ratio, able to dry out and become flammable within an hour of having been moist.
one-size-fits-all
adjectiveTextile production
Of a garment, designed to be worn with comfort by people with a wide range of sizes.
online service provider
Any company, organization, or group that provides services over the Internet, including web hosting, Internet access, social media platforms, and cloud storage.
onsetter
A worker at the bottom of a mineshaft who exchanges the empty and full corves.
op-amp
A certain active circuit element useful in creating various kinds of amplifiers and filters.
opalite
nounConstruction
Opal glass, formed into tiles or bricks.
OPC
nounConstruction
Initialism of ordinary portland cement.
OPD
Initialism of overcurrent protective device.
open
A defect in an electrical circuit preventing current from flowing.
open assembly time
nounWoodworking
The measure of time commencing from the application of an adhesive on a substrate until it is assembled without the loss of bonding strength.
open differential
A type of differential gear used in automobile construction, allowing for output shafts to have different angular velocity, while equalizing torque applied to each output shaft.
open time
nounConstruction
The period of time after an adhesive has been applied and allowed to dry, during which an effective bond can be achieved by joining the two surfaces.
open valley
nounConstruction
a method of valley construction in which the steep-slope roofing on both sides are trimmed along each side of the valley, exposing the metal valley flashing.
open wagon
nounRail equipment
An uncovered vehicle used for goods that do not need protection from the weather, although tarpaulins can be used to cover the load.
open-field system
The prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages, in which each manor or village had two or three large fields divided into narrow strips of land individually cultivated by tenants or serfs.
openband
adjectiveManufacturing
Right-handed or "Z shaped", with individual fibers pointing up and to the right when the thread, yarn, or rope is vertical.
opener
nounMetalworking
A person employed to separate sheets of hot metal that become stuck together.
operating time
The time interval between the instant a request for service is received from a user and the instant of final release of all facilities by the user or either of two users.
operator
The company that operates a mine; often the same one that owns the mine.
opposed cylinder
nounAutomotive
A type of engine cylinder, with two pistons, horizontally opposed with each other, and the combustion chamber sitting centrally between the two pistons.
optical switch
A switch that can selectively change signals between optical fibers or integrated optical circuits.
optomechanics
The design and manufacture of precision mechanical components of optical devices
OR gate
A logic gate performing a Boolean logic OR operation.
orange peel
nounManufacturing
An uneven surface resembling orange peel, especially cellulite or an imperfect finish on a spray-painted object such as a car.
order
A power of polynomial function in an electronic circuit’s block, such as a filter, an amplifier, etc.
ore car
An open-top bulk material car of heavy construction for carrying dense ores, usually emptying through one or more hoppers.
organic farming
An approach to farming based on biological methods that avoid the use of synthetic crop or livestock production inputs and on a broadly defined philosophy of farming that puts value on ecological harmony, resource efficiency, and non-intensive animal husbandry practices.