king of the faeries and husband of Titania in medieval lore, from French Obéron, from Old French Auberon, perhaps from a Germanic source related to elf. The satellite of Uranus of that name was discovered by William Herschel on Jan. 11, 1787, the same day he discovered the larger Uranian moon, Titania.

"condition or quality of being corpulent," 1610s, from French obésité and directly from Latin obesitas "fatness, corpulence," from obesus "that has eaten itself fat," past participle of obedere "to eat all over, devour," from ob "about; because of" (see ob-) + edere "eat" (from PIE root *ed- "to eat").

"exceedingly fat," 1650s, back-formation from obesity and in part from Latin obesus "fat, stout, plump," literally "that has eaten itself fat," past participle of obedere "to eat all over, devour," from ob "about; because of" (see ob-) + edere "eat" (from PIE root *ed- "to eat"). According to OED, "Rare before 19th c." Related: Obeseness. Latin obesus was translated in Old English as oferfæt "overfat." As Latin obesus also could be read as "eaten up," it also was used in a passive sense, "wasted away, lean."

"to darken, obscure, confuse, bewilder," 1530s, from Latin obfuscatus, past participle of obfuscare "to darken" (usually in a figurative sense), from ob "in front of, before" (see ob-) + fuscare "to make dark," from fuscus "dark" (see dusk). Related: Obfuscated; obfuscating.

"the act of obscuring," early 15c., obfuscacioun, originally medical, "the darkening of a sore," from Latin obfuscationem (nominative obfuscatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of obfuscare "to darken" (see obfuscate).

one of the annual awards given to off-Broadway theater, 1967, from O.B. as the abbreviation of Off-Broadway.

late 14c., "death," a sense now obsolete, from Old French obit or directly from Medieval Latin obitus "death" (a figurative use, literally "a going down, a going to a place"), noun use of past participle of Latin obire "to die," literally "to go toward" (see obituary).

From c. 1400 as "anniversary of a person's death; memorial service held on the anniversary of a person's death." In modern usage (since 1874) it is usually a clipped form of obituary, though it had the same meaning of "published death notice" 15c.-17c. The scholarly abbreviation ob. with date is from Latin obiit "(he) died," third person singular of obire.

"statement in passing," a judge's expression of opinion not regarded as binding or decisive, Latin, literally "something said incidentally;" from obiter "by the way" + dictum in the legal sense "a judge's expression of opinion which is not the formal resolution of a case or determination of the court."

Obiter dicta, legal dicta ... uttered by the way ( obiter), not upon the point or question pending, as if turning aside for the time from the main topic of the case to collateral subjects. [Century Dictionary]

Latin obiter is from ob "in front of, toward" (see ob-) + iter "journey" (from PIE root *ei- "to go"). Klein's sources, however, say it is ob with the suffix -iter on analogy of circiter "about" from circa. Also see obituary. 

1706, "register of deaths, a list of the dead," from Medieval Latin obituarius "a record of the death of a person," literally "pertaining to death," from Latin obitus "departure, a going to meet, encounter" (a euphemism for "death"), from stem of obire "go toward, go to meet" (as in mortem obire "meet death"), from ob "toward" (see ob-) + ire "to go" (from PIE root *ei- "to go").

The meaning "a record or announcement of a death," especially in a newspaper, and including a brief biographical sketch, is from 1738. As an adjective, "relating to or recording a death," from 1828.

A similar euphemism is in Old English forðfaran "to die," literally "to go forth;" utsið "death," literally "going out, departure." Old French trespasser (Modern French trépasser; see trespass (v.)) came to be used euphemistically for "to die" ("pass beyond" the limit or boundary of death), a sense also found 15c. in English. Also compare euphemistic passed, cross over, etc.

"the recorder of a death; a writer of obituaries," 1792, from obituary + -ist.