See oss in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_number": 1,
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "ōssen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English ōssen",
"name": "m+"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "hālsian"
},
"expansion": "Old English hālsian",
"name": "m+"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Unclear. Middle English ōssen had a rather different meaning, \"to reveal, to prophesy\", but the OED suggests it could nonetheless be the same verb. The origin of the Middle English verb is itself obscure, but it may be a variant of halsen, from Old English hālsian, although this too had a rather different meaning, \"to beseech, entreat; to exorcise; to imprecate\".",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "verb"
},
"expansion": "oss",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "24 45 31",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
30,
35
]
],
"ref": "1840, Ann Coward Wheeler, The Westmoreland Dialect in Four Familiar Dialogues: In which an Attempt is Made to Illustrate the Provincial Idiom, page 64:",
"text": "JENNET. [...] Soa yee see Ise ossin towart hausekeepin. SARAH. Whya nowt but weel. Wees nit hev the weddin an kirsenin at yaa time, that's a cumfort. JENNET. Hed Sammy ivver offerd onny thing that's mismannerd to me, awr courtship wod sean hae[…]",
"type": "quote"
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32,
38
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],
"ref": "1872, Notes and Queries, page 492:",
"text": "\"Dun you know if the glasses is ossing to sattle?\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
29,
35
]
],
"ref": "1876, Richard Morris, On the Survival of Early English Words in Our Present Dialects, page 60:",
"text": "Eh, Mary, w'ereta for? / O'm ossin' t' goo t' Eccles",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
5,
10
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],
"ref": "1885, Thomas Hallam, Four Dialect Words: Clem, Lake, Nesh, and Oss, Their Modern Dialectal Rang, Meanings, Pronunciation, Etymology, and Early Or Literary Use, page 58:",
"text": "Aw'm ossin t' goo t' Buxton",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
42,
45
]
],
"ref": "1903, Bye-gones: Relating to Wales and the Border Counties, page 136:",
"text": "I told you to do so and so, but you dunna oss to do it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
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18,
21
]
],
"ref": "2024 August 1, Deborah Mutch, British Socialist Fiction, 1884-1914, Volume 3, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN:",
"text": "... but he didn't oss for t' goo any ner.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To set about, or intend be inclined to set about (doing something)."
],
"id": "en-oss-en-verb-UCfSwHwe",
"raw_glosses": [
"(dialectal) To set about, or intend be inclined to set about (doing something)."
],
"tags": [
"dialectal"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1870, Axon, Black Kt., page 56, quoted in the EDD",
"text": "an' nobody ossin' to do it"
},
{
"ref": "1875, Bickerdike, Beacon Alm., page 41, quoted in the EDD",
"text": "They owe fer cannels, an' meyle, an' nivver oss to pay."
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
14,
19
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],
"ref": "1886, Robert Holland, A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Chester, page 459:",
"text": "\"... he ne'er osses pay me, an aw hearn foaks sen he isna gettingk on gradely reet, so aw'st just caw an ax for th' brass afore he goes to th' wa', an then aw'st caw an get thee a yew pair o' pattens as aw coom hwom!\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
14,
19
]
],
"ref": "1897, Hamilton Kingsford, Vigornian Monologues: A Series of Papers in Illustration of the Dialect of Worcestershire, page 11:",
"text": "Tom Stokes 'e ossed to goo an' ketch 'er, an' wen 'er runned by 'im 'e thraowed a stone vicious, an' 'it 'er ov the heye, an' 'er worn't good fur nothin' ahterwards, an' I sowld 'er fur wot 'er 'ud fetch[…]",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To offer (to do something)."
],
"id": "en-oss-en-verb-q12kZ7PV",
"links": [
[
"offer",
"offer"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(dialectal) To offer (to do something)."
],
"tags": [
"dialectal"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ɒs/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"other": "/ɒːs/"
},
{
"other": "/ɔːs/"
}
],
"word": "oss"
}
{
"etymology_number": 2,
"forms": [
{
"form": "osses",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "oss (plural osses)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
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"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "'oss"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Alternative spelling of 'oss."
],
"id": "en-oss-en-noun-YUYM7OMW",
"links": [
[
"'oss",
"'oss#English"
]
],
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{
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},
{
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}
],
"word": "oss"
}
{
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"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
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"Pages with 10 entries",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_number": 1,
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "ōssen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English ōssen",
"name": "m+"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "hālsian"
},
"expansion": "Old English hālsian",
"name": "m+"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Unclear. Middle English ōssen had a rather different meaning, \"to reveal, to prophesy\", but the OED suggests it could nonetheless be the same verb. The origin of the Middle English verb is itself obscure, but it may be a variant of halsen, from Old English hālsian, although this too had a rather different meaning, \"to beseech, entreat; to exorcise; to imprecate\".",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "verb"
},
"expansion": "oss",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English dialectal terms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
30,
35
]
],
"ref": "1840, Ann Coward Wheeler, The Westmoreland Dialect in Four Familiar Dialogues: In which an Attempt is Made to Illustrate the Provincial Idiom, page 64:",
"text": "JENNET. [...] Soa yee see Ise ossin towart hausekeepin. SARAH. Whya nowt but weel. Wees nit hev the weddin an kirsenin at yaa time, that's a cumfort. JENNET. Hed Sammy ivver offerd onny thing that's mismannerd to me, awr courtship wod sean hae[…]",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
32,
38
]
],
"ref": "1872, Notes and Queries, page 492:",
"text": "\"Dun you know if the glasses is ossing to sattle?\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
29,
35
]
],
"ref": "1876, Richard Morris, On the Survival of Early English Words in Our Present Dialects, page 60:",
"text": "Eh, Mary, w'ereta for? / O'm ossin' t' goo t' Eccles",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
5,
10
]
],
"ref": "1885, Thomas Hallam, Four Dialect Words: Clem, Lake, Nesh, and Oss, Their Modern Dialectal Rang, Meanings, Pronunciation, Etymology, and Early Or Literary Use, page 58:",
"text": "Aw'm ossin t' goo t' Buxton",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
42,
45
]
],
"ref": "1903, Bye-gones: Relating to Wales and the Border Counties, page 136:",
"text": "I told you to do so and so, but you dunna oss to do it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
18,
21
]
],
"ref": "2024 August 1, Deborah Mutch, British Socialist Fiction, 1884-1914, Volume 3, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN:",
"text": "... but he didn't oss for t' goo any ner.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To set about, or intend be inclined to set about (doing something)."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(dialectal) To set about, or intend be inclined to set about (doing something)."
],
"tags": [
"dialectal"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English dialectal terms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1870, Axon, Black Kt., page 56, quoted in the EDD",
"text": "an' nobody ossin' to do it"
},
{
"ref": "1875, Bickerdike, Beacon Alm., page 41, quoted in the EDD",
"text": "They owe fer cannels, an' meyle, an' nivver oss to pay."
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
14,
19
]
],
"ref": "1886, Robert Holland, A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Chester, page 459:",
"text": "\"... he ne'er osses pay me, an aw hearn foaks sen he isna gettingk on gradely reet, so aw'st just caw an ax for th' brass afore he goes to th' wa', an then aw'st caw an get thee a yew pair o' pattens as aw coom hwom!\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
14,
19
]
],
"ref": "1897, Hamilton Kingsford, Vigornian Monologues: A Series of Papers in Illustration of the Dialect of Worcestershire, page 11:",
"text": "Tom Stokes 'e ossed to goo an' ketch 'er, an' wen 'er runned by 'im 'e thraowed a stone vicious, an' 'it 'er ov the heye, an' 'er worn't good fur nothin' ahterwards, an' I sowld 'er fur wot 'er 'ud fetch[…]",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To offer (to do something)."
],
"links": [
[
"offer",
"offer"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(dialectal) To offer (to do something)."
],
"tags": [
"dialectal"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ɒs/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"other": "/ɒːs/"
},
{
"other": "/ɔːs/"
}
],
"word": "oss"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"Pages with 10 entries",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_number": 2,
"forms": [
{
"form": "osses",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "oss (plural osses)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "'oss"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Alternative spelling of 'oss."
],
"links": [
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"'oss",
"'oss#English"
]
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"tags": [
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"ipa": "/ɒs/",
"tags": [
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]
},
{
"other": "/ɒːs/"
},
{
"other": "/ɔːs/"
}
],
"word": "oss"
}
Download raw JSONL data for oss meaning in English (4.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-10-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-10-21 using wiktextract (bd88cf0 and 0a198a9). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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