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oss

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OSS¹

noun OSSes · OSS's · OSSs

  1. abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of open-source software
  2. abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of out-of-school suspension
  3. abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of operations/operational support system
  4. abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of over-the-shoulder shot

proper noun

  1. abbreviation, historical, initialism Initialism of Office of Strategic Services (a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II).

oss²

  • /ɒs/ UK

Sounds like os · Rhymes with -ɒs

Where it comes from

Unclear. Middle English ōssen had a rather different meaning, "to reveal, to prophesy", but the OED suggests it could nonetheless be the same verb. The origin of the Middle English verb is itself obscure, but it may be a variant of halsen, from Old English hālsian, although this too had a rather different meaning, "to beseech, entreat; to exorcise; to imprecate".

verb

  1. dialectal To set about, or intend be inclined to set about (doing something). JENNET. [...] Soa yee see Ise ossin towart hausekeepin. SARAH. Whya nowt but weel. Wees nit hev the weddin an kirsenin at yaa time, that's a cumfort. JENNET. Hed Sammy ivver offerd onny thing that's mismannerd to me, awr courtship wod sean hae[…]
  2. dialectal To offer (to do something). an' nobody ossin' to do it

oss³

noun osses

  1. alternative Alternative spelling of 'oss

OSs⁴

noun

  1. plural plural of OS

Oss⁵

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Dutch Oss.

proper noun

  1. A city and municipality of North Brabant, Netherlands.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: operating system, osmium, bone, foss, soa, software, sdo, observatory, sos, ros, asos, observatoire, soas, efter, addr, ver

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MLA

"oss." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/oss. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

oss. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/oss

Chicago

"oss." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/oss.

BibTeX
@misc{oss_2026,
  title = {oss},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/oss},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}