Glossary
Terms starting with O
127 definitions · page 2 of 3.
- opera
- A drama set to music; the dominant form of Western music from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries.
- opera buffa
- A comic form of eighteenth-century Italian opera featuring everyday characters involved in outlandish plot intrigues.
- opera seria
- A serious, heroic form of eighteenth century opera featuring historical or mythological figures in stereotypical plots stressing the tension between love and duty.
- OPERATING EXPENSES
- The cost of maintaining a business’s property, includes insurance, property taxes, utilities and rent, but excludes income tax, depreciation and other financing expenses.
- Operating system
- A software heart of the computer. It is a set of programs that manage the hardware resources of a computer, provide the environment for application programs to run and provide the user interface. Most known operating systems are: different flavors of Unix…
- operator
- A DNA region at one end of an operon that acts as the binding site for repressor protein. A DNA sequence that is recognized by a repressor protein or repressor-corepressor complex. When the operator is complexed with the repressor, transcription is prevented.
- operetta
- A light, entertaining version of Romantic opera with spoken dialogue between numbers.
- operon
- A set of adjacent structural genes in bacteria whose mRNA is synthesized in one piece, together with the adjacent regulatory signals that affect transcription of the structural genes. A sequence of adjacent bacterial genes all under the transcriptional…
- opposition
- the moment when a planet farther from the sun than Earth appears opposite the sun in the sky; it is the best time to observe a planet
- Opt-in email
- email that is explicitly requested by the recipient.
- Opt-out
- (1) type of program that assumes inclusion unless stated otherwise. (2) to remove oneself from an opt-out program.
- optical double
- Two stars at different distances that lie along nearly the same line of sight and thus appear close together
- optics
- the study of light and its properties; or lenses and mirrors
- Optimal CD to Cassette Edit
- The CD changer calculates the number of tracks, in the best order, to optimize the use of available recording time.
- OPTIONS
- An option is a contractual agreement that gives the holder the right to buy (call option) or sell (put option) a fixed quantity of a security or commodity (for example, a commodity or commodity futures contract), at a fixed price, within a specified period…
- OPTIONS
- Contracts that allow, but do not oblige, the buying or selling of property or assets at a certain date at a set price.
- opus
- A "work"; opus numbers were introduced by publishers in the seventeenth century to identify each of a composer's works.
- oratorio
- (English) A musical entertainment usually on a sacred subject and including recitatives, arias, choruses, and an overture.
- orbit
- the path an object follows around a more massive object or common center of mass; usually elliptical in shape
- orbital period
- the length of time it takes one body to orbit another
- orchestration
- The designation of what instruments are to play what voices or notes in a composition. The process of orchestrating is often referred to as scoring.
- ORDINANCE OR LAW COVERAGE
- Endorsement to a property policy, including homeowners, that pays for the extra expense of rebuilding to comply with ordinances or laws, often building codes, that did not exist when the building was originally built. For example, a building severely damaged…
- ORDINARY LIFE INSURANCE
- A life insurance policy that remains in force for the policyholder’s lifetime.
- Ordinary of the Mass
- In the Roman Catholic liturgy, the five items (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) that arc part of every celebration of the Mass.
- Oregano
- A pungent green culinary herb with a great affinity for a variety of foods, from lamb to vegetables, stuffings and egg dishes. There are many species and varieties of the genus Origanum, each with quite different characteristics and flavours. Oregano is…
- ORF (open reading frame)
- A section of a sequenced piece of DNA that begins with an initiation (methionine ATG) codon and ends with a nonsense codon. ORFs all have the potential to encode a protein or polypeptide, however many may not actually do so.
- organ
- An instrument in which air forced through pipes by mechanical means is controlled by one or more keyboards, including a foot-operated pedal keyboard.
- organelle
- A subcellular structure having a specialized function for example the mitochondrion, the chloroplast, or the spindle apparatus.
- organogenesis
- The production of organ systems during animal embryogenesis.
- organum
- The earliest type of medieval polyphonic music, in which voices were added above a plainchant.
- ORIENTATION
- the position of a building relative to the points of a compass.
- origin of replication
- The point of specific sequence at which DNA replication is initiated.
- ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER (OEM)
- refers to the manufacturers of complete vehicles or heavyduty engines, as contrasted with remanufacturers, converters, retrofitters, up-fitters, and repowering or rebuilding contractors who are overhauling engines, adapting or converting vehicles or engines…
- ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER PARTS OEM
- Sheet metal auto parts made by the manufacturer of the vehicle. (See Generic auto parts)
- ornament
- An embellishment, such as a trill, used to decorate a melodic line.
- Orphan
- A child who has no parents because of death, disappearance, desertion or abandonment of the parents. A child may also be considered an orphan if the child has an unwed mother, or a single living parent who cannot care for the child and has released him/her…
- Orphan Petition
- Form I-600
- OSI
- (Open System Interconnection). A network standard developed by ISO and CCITT. It describes the way in which protocols of different layers communicate. This enables machines of different vendors to communicate over the network.
- ostinato
- A brief pattern repeated over and over again at the same pitch, often in the bass.
- Out of status
- Not following the terms of the visas with which the foreign citizen entered the United States. See in status glossary definition.
- OUTAGE (Electric utility)
- An interruption of electric service that is temporary (minutes or hours) and affects a relatively small area (buildings or city blocks). See BLACKOUT.
- outbreeding
- The mating of genetically unrelated individuals.
- OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF (OCS)
- The submerged lands extending from the out limit of the historic territorial sea (typically three miles) to some undefined outer limit, usually a depth of 600 feet. In the United States, this is the portion of the shelf under federal jurisdiction. See…
- outgassing
- the release of gas from a rocky body
- Outgoing link
- A link to a site outside of your site.
- OUTSIDE AIR
- Air taken from outdoors and not previously circulated through the HVAC system.
- outside markers
- loci on either side of another locus or specified region.
- OUTSOURCING
- Paying someone who is not an employed by your restaurant to do a project.
- Ouzo
- A Greek spirit flavoured with aniseed. Like French pastis, it's usually served with water which turns it whiteish and opaque.
- OVER GENERATION
- A condition that occurs when total PX participant demand is less that or equal to the sum of regulatory must-take generation, regulatory must-run generation, and reliability must-run generation.
- OVER-THE-COUNTER (OTC)
- Security that is not listed or traded on an exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange. Business in over-the-counter securities is conducted through dealers using electronic networks.
- overdominance
- A relationship in which the phenotypic expression of the heterozygote is greater than that of either homozygote.
- Overdue
- A digit that has not been drawn in more days than the norm. These numbers are favored because they can only reach normality by being drawn.
- OVERHANG
- Any horizontal projection that serves as a shading element for a window.
- Overqualification
- Used by employers to describe job seekers who have one of three points working against them: Too many years of work experience Too much education Too highly paid in their previous employment An example of an overqualified job seeker would be an office…
- Oversampling (CD players)
- Multiplying the sampling frequency (44.1kHz) in a CD player to a higher frequency to shift noise components above audible levels. This feature creates a gentler low pass filter with more musical characteristics. This process usually yields a data rate of…
- overskirt
- A skirt worn over another skirt.
- Overstay
- When visitors enter the United States on a visa, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S immigration inspector gives them a white card called an Arrival-Departure Record, Form or I-94. On this card the DHS, the U.S. immigration inspector records the…
- overtones
- The spectrum of the higher-pitched frequencies that accompany the fundamental of any pitch and determine its tone color (also called harmonic or partials).
- overture
- An instrumental piece that precedes a dramatic work such as an opera (some overtures are nevertheless independent compositions).