2. Hopeful; sanguine; as, an optimistic view.
Optimity
(Op*tim"i*ty) n. [L. optimitas, fr. optimus the best.] The state of being best. [R.] Bailey.
Option
(Op"tion) n. [L. optio; akin to optare to choose, wish, optimus best, and perh. to E. apt: cf. F.
option.]
1. The power of choosing; the right of choice or election; an alternative.
There is an option left to the United States of America, whether they will be respectable and prosperous,
or contemptible and miserable, as a nation.
Washington. 2. The exercise of the power of choice; choice.
Transplantation must proceed from the option of the people, else it sounds like an exile.
Bacon. 3. A wishing; a wish. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.
4. (Ch. of Eng.) A right formerly belonging to an archbishop to select any one dignity or benefice in
the gift of a suffragan bishop consecrated or confirmed by him, for bestowal by himself when next vacant; —
annulled by Parliament in 1845.
5. (Stock Exchange) A stipulated privilege, given to a party in a time contract, of demanding its fulfillment
on any day within a specified limit.
Buyer's option, an option allowed to one who contracts to buy stocks at a certain future date and at
a certain price, to demand the delivery of the stock (giving one day's notice) at any previous time at
the market price. — Seller's option, an option allowed to one who contracts to deliver stock art a
certain price on a certain future date, to deliver it (giving one day's notice) at any previous time at the
market price. Such options are privileges for which a consideration is paid. — Local option. See
under Local.
Syn. — Choice; preference; selection. — Option, Choice. Choice is an act of choosing; option often
means liberty to choose, and implies freedom from constraint in the act of choosing.
Optional
(Op"tion*al) a. Involving an option; depending on the exercise of an option; left to one's discretion
or choice; not compulsory; as, optional studies; it is optional with you to go or stay. — n. See Elective,
n.
If to the former the movement was not optional, it was the same that the latter chose when it was optional.
Palfrey.
Original writs are either optional or peremptory.
Blackstone. Optionally
(Op"tion*al*ly), adv. In an optional manner.
Optocœle
(Op"to*cœle ||Op`to*cœ"li*a) n. [NL. optocoelia, fr. Gr. optic + koi^los a hollow.] (Anat.) The
cavity of one of the optic lobes of the brain in many animals. B. G. Wilder.
Optogram
(Op"to*gram) n. [Optic + - gram: cf. F. optogramme.] (Physiol.) An image of external objects
fixed on the retina by the photochemical action of light on the visual purple. See Optography.
Optography
(Op*tog"ra*phy) n. [Optic + -graphy.] (Physiol.) The production of an optogram on the
retina by the photochemical action of light on the visual purple; the fixation of an image in the eye. The
object so photographed shows white on a purple or red background. See Visual purple, under Visual.
