ôm rơm rặm bụng
to take on unnecessary burden; to bring trouble upon oneself
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ôn cố nhi tri tân
Warm the old to know the new — revision is where discovery lives.
ôn cố tri tân
One should be able to derive new understanding while revising what one has learned.
ôn, lương, cung, kiệm, nhượng
Be cordial, kind, courteous, modest, and deferential.
ông chẳng bà chuộc
He says 'chẳng', she says 'chuộc' — two people forever at cross purposes, like the toad-call pair.
ông già bà cả
The old folks and elders — the aged, taken together with respect.
ông nói gà, bà nói vịt
he said, she said
ông tha mà bà chẳng tha, đánh một cái lụt mồng ba tháng mười
Grandfather forgives, grandmother doesn't — the tenth-month flood that always comes anyway; mercy overruled at home.
ông thông bà phán
The clerk and the madam commissioner — the petty officialdom that swaggers around an office.
ông ăn chả, bà ăn nem
he eats chả, she eats nem
ơ mây zing gút chóp
Amazing, good job! — the English phrase respelled in Vietnamese, popularized as a catchphrase by coach Binz on Rap Việt (2020).
ơn cả nghĩa dày
A debt of kindness broad and deep — gratitude owed past measuring.
ố nhơn thắng kỉ
Hating whoever betters you — envy dressed as judgment.
ốc chẳng nổi mình ốc
The snail can't even carry its own shell — and offers to carry moss for others.
ốc như huyền khánh
A house like a hung chime-stone — four bare walls and the wind; poverty with nothing left to list.
ống tre đè miệng giạ
The bamboo strickle levels the measure — the honest scrape across the brim; full measure, no heap, no hollow.
ớt cay gừng đắng
Chili hot, ginger bitter — the sharp seasonings of shared life.
ớt nào mà ớt chẳng cay, gái nào mà gái chẳng hay ghen chồng Vôi nào là vôi chẳng nồng, gái nào là gái có chồng chẳng ghen
What chili isn't hot, what girl doesn't guard her husband — jealousy as natural as spice.
Ở hiền gặp lành
One good turn deserves another.
ở cho phải phải phân phân, cây da cậy thần, thần cậy cây da
The banyan leans on the spirit, the spirit on the banyan — legitimacy and shelter propping each other up.
ở sao vừa được lòng người, ở rộng người cười, ở hẹp người chê
Live so as to please everyone? Live broadly they laugh, live narrowly they sneer — the impossibility of universal approval.
ở đâu còn lâu mới nói
'As if — like I'd ever tell' — the interrogation-proof teenage stonewall.
ở đời muôn sự của chung, hơn nhau một tiếng anh hùng mà thôi
In this life all things are held in common — we outdo each other only by the name of hero left behind.
o be joyful
I'll make you sing O be joyful on the other side of your mouth; a threat, implying the party threatened will be made to cry. To sing O be easy; to appear contented when one has cause to complain, and dare not.
O'Donohue's white horses
Waves which come on a windy day, crested with foam. The hero reappears every seventh year on May-day, and is seen gliding, to sweet but unearthly music, over the lakes of Killarney, on his favourite white horse. He is preceded by groups of fairies, who fling spring flowers in his path.
o'ergrown
overgrown.
O, God, if there be a God, save my soul if I have a soulǃ (A soldier before the battle of Blenheim in 1704)
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
o. k
A matter to be O. K. (OLL KORRECT, i.e., all correct), must be on the "square," and perfectly in order. This is an Americanism, and is derived from the initials O. K., said to have been marked on a document by an official to signify that all was right and proper.
o. p
Publishers’ reply to an inquiry for a book or paper that is OUT OF PRINT.
oaf
A lumbering, awkward fellow.
oak
A rich maa, a man of good substance and credit. To sport oak; to shut the outward door of a student's room at college. An oaken towel; an oaken cudgel. To rub a man down with an oaken towel; to beat him.
oak
The outer door of college rooms; to "sport one’s OAK," to be "not at home" to visitors. See SPORT.—University.
Oakes's Oath
Unreliable testimony delivered on oath. The phrase is said to derive from one Oakes who was asked in a Court of Law if he could identify a pair of horns as belonging to one of his own cattle. After hesitating a moment he is reported to have said, "I'll chance it; Yes!" Oakley, Annie. An expert American marks- woman (1860-1926), who in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, using a playing card as a target, centred a shot in each of the pips.
oar
To put in one's oar; to intermeddle, or give an opinion unasked: as, To be sure, you must put in your oar!
oar
"to put in an OAR," to interfere.
oat
An atom. Probable corruption of iota, or perhaps from the small size of an oat. "I never got an OAT of it," I never received the smallest portion.
oat opera
a soap opera or melodrama about rural or farming life
oat soda
Beer.
oaten pipe
A rustic musical pipe made of an oat straw so cut as to be stopped at one end with a knot, the other end being left open.
oaths
The favourite oaths of the thieves of the present day are, "God strike me blind!" "I wish my bloody eyes may drop out if it is not true!" "So help me God!" "Bloody end to me!"
Oaths upon the Te Igitur
Oaths sworn on this service-book, which were regarded as especially sacred.
oats
He has sowed his wild oats; he is staid, or sober, having left off his wild tricks.
obfuscated
Drunk.
obliquitous
Oblivious of distinction between right and wrong.—American.
obstropolous
Cockney corruption of obstreperous.
obstropulous
Vulgar misnomer of OBSTREPEROUS: as, I was going my rounds, and found this here gemman very obstropulous, whereof I comprehended him as an auspicious parson.
occabot
Tobacco; "tib fo OCCABOT," bit of tobacco.
Occam's Razor
Entla non sunt multiplicanda (entities are not to be multiplied). With this axiom, which means that all unnecessary facts or constituents in the subject being analysed are to be eliminated, Occam dissected every question as with a razor.
occupy
To occupy a woman; to have carnal knowledge of her.
ochre
Money, generally applied to gold, for a very obvious reason.
October Club
A club of extreme Tories founded in 1710, with the password "October" — easily remembered "by a country gentleman who loved his ale." In the last years of Queen Anne's reign the October Club was a staunch supporter of the Jacobites.
od rot it
(Colman’s Broad Grins), DRAT IT, OD’S BLOOD, and all other exclamations commencing with OD, are nothing but softened or suppressed oaths. OD is a corruption of GOD, and DRAT of ROT.
odd and curious
Unusual and intriguing
odd duck
A person who is unusual or unconventional
Odd Fellows
A secret society with benevolent aims and of uncertain antiquity.
odd fish
A strange or unconventional person
odd man
A man who trains in company with a boat’s crew, so that in the event of any one falling ill the seat will be fairly occupied.
odd man out
A street or public-house game at tossing. The number of players is three or more. Each tosses up a coin, and if two come down head, and one comes tail, or vice versâ, the ODD MAN loses or wins, as may have been agreed upon. Frequently used to victimize a "flat." If all be alike, then the toss goes for nothing, and the coppers are again "skied." It is easy for two men to arrange matters beforehand at this game, and so swindle a third.
odd-come-shortlys
I'll do it one of these odd-come-shortly's; I will do it some time or another.
oddfellows
A convivial society; the introduction to the most noble grand, arrayed in royal robes, is well worth seeing at the price of becoming a member.