ostend, v. Now rare.
(ɒˈstɛnd)
[ad. L. ostendĕre to stretch out before one's face, expose to view, f. ob-, obs- (ob- 1) + tendĕre to stretch. Ostendĕre had ppl. stem either ostens- or ostent-; hence ostensible, ostension, ostention, ostent.]
trans. To show, reveal; to manifest, exhibit.
| c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 3486 Dwellyng fourty dayes after oft sith he hym ostendit. Ibid. 4144 For vs his Cicatrices he ostendid. 1489 Sc. Acts Jas. IV (1814) 222/1 [To] ostend and schew quhat richt þai haid to þe taking of the samyn. 1590 J. Proctor in C. S. Right Relig. A ij b, To ostend the good will..I alwaies bare toward your worship. 1613 Heywood Silver Age v. Wks. 1874 III. 163 The mortals Ostend their gratitude to vs the Gods. 1897 H. G. Wells Plattner Story (ed. 2) 11 He concealed rather than ostended this curious confirmatory circumstance. |
[The sense ‘to appear prominently, to show itself’ given in Davies and copied by later dicts., founded on a quot. from Bp. Hall, has no existence; the word is offended.]
Hence oˈstended ppl. a., displayed, manifested.
| 1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1880) 45, I am..made bould in your ostended curtesies. |