Etymology : Middle English, alter. of other, alteration of Old English oththe; akin to Old High German eddo or
Pronunciation : &r, or,
Southern also <
Function : conjunction
Date : 13th century
1. male or female name (Hebrew). conj. connecting two alternatives; indicating the result in the case of failure to do the preceding action; restating or clarifying the first item mentioned. Operating Room - in a hospital Before entering the OR the doctors carefully washed their hands. or\or\ , conj. [oe. or, outher, other, auther, either, or, as. āw er, contr. from āhw? er; ā aye + hw? er whether. see:
aye, and whether, and cf. either.] a particle that marks an alternative; as, you may read or may write, -- that is, you may do one of the things at your pleasure, but not both. it corresponds to either. you may ride either to london or to windsor. it often connects a series of words or propositions, presenting a choice of either; as, he may study law, or medicine, or divinity, or he may enter into trade. if man's convenience, health, or safety interfere, his rights and claims are paramount.note: or may be used to join as alternatives terms expressing unlike things or ideas (as, is the orange sour or sweet?), or different terms expressing the same thing or idea; as, this is a sphere, or globe.note: or sometimes begins a sentence. in this case it expresses an alternative or subjoins a clause differing from the foregoing. "or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone?" vii. 9 (rev. ver. ). or for either is archaic or poetic. maugre thine heed, thou must for indigence or steal, or beg, or borrow thy dispence.or \or\, n. [f., fr. l. aurum gold. cf. aureate.] (her.) yellow or gold color, -- represented in drawing or engraving by small dots.or \or\, prep. & adv. [as. r ere, before. ?204. see:
ere, prep. & adv.] ere; before; sooner than. [obs.] but natheless, while i have time and space, or that i forther in this tale pace.or ever,or ere. see:
under ever, and ere.or n.
2. a state in northwestern united states on the pacific [syn: oregon, beaver state, or].
3. a room in a hospital equipped for the performance of surgical operations; "great care is taken to keep the operating rooms aseptic" [syn: operating room, or, operating theater , operating theatre, surgery].
4. A noun suffix denoting an act; a state or quality; as in error, fervor, pallor, candor, etc.
5. A noun suffix denoting an agent or doer; as in auditor, one who hears; donor, one who gives; obligor, elevator.
6. It is correlative to - ee.
7. In general -or is appended to words of Latin, and - er to those of English, origin.
8. See -er.
9. A particle that marks an alternative; as, you may read or may write, that is, you may do one of the things at your pleasure, but not both.
10. It corresponds to either.
11. You may ride either to London or to Windsor.
12. It often connects a series of words or propositions, presenting a choice of either; as, he may study law, or medicine, or divinity, or he may enter into trade.
13. Ere; before; sooner than.
14. Yellow or gold color, represented in drawing or engraving by small dots.
15. or WEAK STRONG.
16. You use or to link two or more alternatives. `Tea or coffee?' John asked He said he would try to write or call as soon as he reached the Canary Islands Students are asked to take another course in English, or science, or mathematics.
17. You use or to give another alternative, when the first alternative is introduced by `either' or `whether'. Items like bread, milk and meat were either unavailable or could be obtained only on the black market Either you can talk to him, or I will I don't know whether people will buy it or not.
18. You use or between two numbers to indicate that you are giving an approximate amount. Everyone benefited from limiting their intake of tea to just three or four cups a day Normally he asked questions, and had a humorous remark or two.
19. You use or to introduce a comment which corrects or modifies what you have just said. The man was a fool, he thought, or at least incompetent There was nothing more he wanted, or so he thought.
20. If you say that someone should do something or something unpleasant will happen, you are warning them that if they do not do it, the unpleasant thing will happen. She had to have the operation, or she would die. = otherwise.
21. You use or to introduce something which is evidence for the truth of a statement you have just made. He must have thought Jane was worth it or he wouldn't have wasted time on her, I suppose. = otherwise.
22. emphasis You use or no or or not to emphasize that a particular thing makes no difference to what is going to happen. Chairman or no, if I want to stop the project, I can The first difficulty is that, old-fashioned or not, it is very good.
23. You use or no between two occurrences of the same noun in order to say that whether something is true or not makes no difference to a situation. The next day, rain or no rain, it was business as usual.
24. or else: see:
else or other: see other or so: see so or something: see something. A logical operator that returns a true value if one or both operators are true. Gold, represented in heraldic engraving by a white field sprinkled with small dots. the written abbreviation of Oregon.