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‖ [ It. See Octave, and Rhyme. ] (Pros.) A stanza of eight lines of heroic verse, with three rhymes, the first six lines rhyming alternately and the last two forming a couplet. It was used by Byron in “Don Juan, ” by Keats in “Isabella, ” by Shelley in “The Witch of Atlas, ” etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. pl.; sing. Ottawa /sing>. (Ethnol.) A tribe of Indians who, when first known, lived on the Ottawa River. Most of them subsequently migrated to the southwestern shore of Lake Superior. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. oter, AS. otor; akin to D. & G. otter, Icel. otr, Dan. odder, Sw. utter, Lith. udra, Russ, vuidra, Gr. "y`dra water serpent, hydra, Skr. udra otter, and also to E. water. √137, 215. See Water, and cf. Hydra.] [1913 Webster]

1. (Zool.) Any carnivorous animal of the genera Lutra, Enhydra, and related genera of the family Mustelidae. Several species are described. They have large, flattish heads, short ears, and webbed toes. They are aquatic, and feed on fish. The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) also eats clams, crabs, starfish, abalone, and other marine animals; they may come to the surface, and lying on their backs using the stomach as a table, may be seen cracking open the shell of its prey with a rock. The common otter of Europe is Lutra vulgaris; the North American otter (or American otter) is Lutra Canadensis, which inhabits marshes, streams and rivers; other species inhabit South America and Asia. The North American otter adult is about three to four feet long (including the tail) and weighs from 10 to 30 pounds; the sea otter is commonly four feet long and 45 pounds (female) or 60 pounds (male). Their fur is soft and valuable, and in the nineteenth century they were hunted extensively. The sea otter was hunted to near extinction by 1900, and is now protected. Fewer than 3,000 sea otters are believed to live along the central California coast. [1913 Webster +PJC]

2. (Zool.) The larva of the ghost moth. It is very injurious to hop vines. [1913 Webster]

Otter hound,
Otter dog (Zool.), a small breed of hounds, used in England for hunting otters; see otterhound . --
Otter sheep. See Ancon sheep, under Ancon. --
Otter shell (Zool.), very large bivalve mollusk (Schizothaerus Nuttallii) found on the northwest coast of America. It is excellent food, and is extensively used by the Indians. --
Sea otter. (Zool.) See in the Vocabulary. [1913 Webster]

n. A corruption of Annotto. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A small hardy British hound having long pendulous ears and a thick coarse shaggy coat with an oily undercoat; bred in England for hunting otters. Called also otter dog. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. See Attar. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Thermodynamics) A four-stroke cycle for internal-combustion engines consisting of the following operations: First stroke, suction into cylinder of explosive charge, as of gas and air; second stroke, compression, ignition, and explosion of this charge; third stroke (the working stroke), expansion of the gases; fourth stroke, expulsion of the products of combustion from the cylinder. This is the cycle invented by Beau de Rochas in 1862 and applied by Dr. Otto in 1877 in the Otto-Crossley gas engine, the first commercially successful internal-combustion engine made. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. An engine using the Otto cycle. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]