OGHAMS, a particular kind of stenography, or writing in cypher, practised by the Irish; of which there were three kinds: The first was composed of certain lines and marks, which derived their power from their situation and position, as they stand in relation to one principal line, over or under which they are placed, or through which they are drawn; the principal line is horizontal, and serveth for a rule or guide, whose upper part is called the left, and the under side the right; above, under, and through which line, the characters or marks are drawn, which stand in the place of vowels, consonants, diphthongs, and triphthongs. Some authors have doubted the existence of this species of writing in cypher, called Ogham among the Irish; but these doubts are perhaps ill founded: for several MSS. in this character still exist, from which Mr Astle has given a plate of them.
Ogive, in Architecture, an arch or branch of a Gothic vault; which, instead of being circular, passes diagonally from one angle to another, and forms a cross with the other arches. The middle, where the ogives cross each other, is called the key; being cut in
form of a rose, or a cul de lampe. The members or mouldings of the ogives are called nerves, branches, or reins; and the arches which separate the ogives, double arches.