Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Plural of obolus.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word oboli.

Examples

  • Peter, instead of warning her charitably that he had just destroyed her husband by apoplexy for having kept back a few oboli, and cautioning her therefore to look well to herself, leads her as it were intentionally into the snare.

    A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

  • Take one drachm of ebeny and nine oboli of burnt copper, rub them upon a whetstone, add three oboli of saffron; triturate all these things reduced to a fine powder, pour in an Attic hemina of sweet wine, and then place in the sun and cover up; when sufficiently digested, use it.

    On Regimen In Acute Diseases 2007

  • The old firm's national animal is the spider and its currency is the oboli.

    mordicai: crown me king! mordicai 2003

  • For though at first two oboli might be sufficient, yet when once it is become customary, they continually want something more, until they set no limits to their expectations; for it is the nature of our desires to be boundless, and many live only to gratify them.

    Politics: A Treatise on Government 384 BC-322 BC Aristotle

  • Gladly the hairdresser accepted many and many oboli, many and many golden gifts, and all

    A Book of Myths Jeanie Lang

  • Caraccio, Aretine, and Raphael studied the figures on the old oboli and drachmas.

    The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

  • In his most prosperous year he is said to have delivered nearly 80,000 replies, concerning bodily, mental, and social afflictions, for each of which he received a drachma and two oboli.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913

  • I disguised myself as a beggar on this journey, for these reasons: first, as I imagined I should thus carry my jewels with greater safety; and, secondly, to lessen my expenses; which latter expedient succeeded so well, that I begged two oboli on my way more than my traveling cost me, my diet being chiefly roots, and my drink water.

    The Works of Henry Fielding, Volume Six: Miscellanies 1900

  • The clink of glasses and the popping of corks punctuated the music with a frequency which would have delighted the soul of the most ardent lover of commas, all of which so overpowered the grand master boatman of the Stygian Ferry Company that he dropped three oboli and an American dime, which he carried as a pocket-piece, overboard.

    A House-Boat on the Styx John Kendrick Bangs 1892

  • "A hundred oboli a month," said Sir Walter, uneasily.

    A House-Boat on the Styx John Kendrick Bangs 1892

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.