or

• (stressed)
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ɔː(ɹ)/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ɔɹ/
  • (St. Louis (Missouri)) IPA^(key): /ɑɹ/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Homophones: oar, ore, o'er, awe (non-rhotic accents)
  • Rhymes: -ɔː(r)
• (unstressed)
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ɚ/

From Middle English or; partially contracted from other, auther, from Old English āþor, āwþer, āhwæþer ("some, any, either"; > either); and partially from Middle English oththe, from Old English oþþe, from Proto-Germanic *efþau (“or”).

or

1. Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. each of which could make a passage true. In English, this is the "inclusive or." The "exclusive or" is formed by "either […] or".

   In Ohio, anyone under the age of 18 who wants a tattoo or body piercing needs the consent of a parent or guardian.

   He might get cancer, or be hit by a bus, or God knows what.

2. (logic) An operator denoting the disjunction of two propositions or truth values. There are two forms, the inclusive or and the exclusive or.
3. Counts the elements before and after as two possibilities.
4. Otherwise (a consequence of the condition that the previous is false).
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:

     No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

   It's raining! Come inside or you'll catch a cold!

5. Connects two equivalent names.

   The country Myanmar, or Burma

• and/or

• neither
• nor
• i.e.

From Etymology 1 (sense 2 above)

or (plural ors)

1. (logic, electronics) Alternative form of OR

• and
• nand
• nor
• xor

Borrowed from Old French or (“yellow”), from Latin aurum (“gold”). Doublet of aurum.

or (countable and uncountable, plural ors)

1. (heraldry) The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms.
   • 1909, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry

     The metals are gold and silver, these being termed "or" and "argent".

   • 1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry

     In engraving, "Or" is expressed by dots.

• (gold or yellow tincture): o., Or

• Au (chemical symbol for gold)

or (not comparable)

1. (heraldry) Of gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms.

• gold

Late Old English ār, from Old Norse ár. Compare ere.

or

1. (obsolete) Early (on).
2. (obsolete) Earlier, previously.

or

1. (now archaic or dialectal) Before; ere.
   • 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London]: […] [by William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:

     , Book VII:

     "Sey ye never so," seyde Sir Bors, "for many tymys or this she hath bene wroth with you, and aftir that she was the firste that repented hit."

• R&O, RO, r/o

• oru, auredz, auredzu, aor, aoru

From Latin ōrō. Compare Daco-Romanian ura, urez.

or (past participle uratã)

1. I pray.

• angrec, ngrec
• pricad
• ncljin
• pãlãcãrsescu, pãrãcãlsescu
• rog

• urari / urare
• urat
• urãciuni

• hor (dialectal)
• ora (dialectal)

1103; variant of hor, from Proto-Basque *hor. Mostly replaced by zakur.

• Audio

  (file)

or

1. dog

• txakur
• zakur

From a variant of Old Occitan aur, from Latin aurum, from Proto-Italic *auzom, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂é-h₂us-o- (“glow”), from *h₂ews- (“to dawn, become light, become red”).

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈɔr/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɾ/

or m (plural ors)

1. gold
2. (heraldry) or

• IPA^(key): /ɔʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔʁ

From Middle French or, from Old French or, from Latin aurum, from Proto-Italic *auzom, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂é-h₂us-o- (“glow”), from *h₂ews- (“to dawn, become light, become red”).

or m (plural ors)

1. gold
2. (heraldry) or (yellow in heraldry)

• aurifère
• dorer
• orfèvre

• Haitian Creole: lò

• Appendix:Colors

From Vulgar Latin hā horā, alteration of hāc horā.

or

1. (obsolete) now, presently

or

1. yet, however

• “or” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Borrowing from French or, Italian ora and Spanish ahora.

• IPA^(key): /ɔr/

or

1. now, but (in argument)

Or expresses not only a sequence of two propositions, but induces a new argument, a further premise, explanation, motive. When the premise (motive) follows the conclusion, nam is used instead.

or

1. but, yet

or

1. Apocopic form of ora (now), used almost exclusively in the archaic forms or ora (just now) and or sono (ago), the latter with an indication of the time elapsed until the present

   Tre anni or sono comprammo questa casa – It is (now) three years since we bought this house / Three years ago we bought this house

   Ho trovato quasi più giovani e certo più belle le signore ch'io conobbi or sono dodici anni a Bologna – I found the ladies I knew twelve years ago in Bologna almost(?) younger and certainly more beautiful

   — Ugo Foscolo

• ormai
• or ora
• or sono

or

1. Alternative form of youre

• “your (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 20 May 2018.

or

1. (chiefly early and West Midland dialectal) Alternative form of here (“their”)

• “her(e (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 June 2018.

• aur

From Old French or.

or m (uncountable)

1. gold (metal)
2. gold (color)

• French: or
  • Haitian Creole: lò

From Old Norse ǫlr, órir

or f or m (definite singular ora or oren, indefinite plural orer, definite plural orene)

1. an alder (tree of genus Alnus)

• older

• “or” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /uːr/
• Homophone: ord

From Old Norse ǫlr, órir. Akin to English alder.

or f (definite singular ora, indefinite plural orer, definite plural orene)

or m (definite singular oren, indefinite plural orar, definite plural orane)

1. an alder (tree of genus Alnus)

From Old Norse ór

or

1. out of
2. from
   • 1956, Olav H. Hauge, "Gjer ein annan mann ei beine":

     Han kom or fjellet, skulde heim, […] .

     He came from the mountain, was heading home […] .

• “or” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-Germanic *ōzô, *ōsaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃éh₁os (“mouth”).

ōr n

1. origin, beginning

• ōr in Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary

From Latin aurum.

or m (oblique plural ors, nominative singular ors, nominative plural or)

1. gold (metal)
   • circa 1250, Marie de France, Guigemar

     En bacins d'or ewe aporterent

     They brought water in basins made of gold

2. gold (color)
3. (by extension) blond(e) color

• Middle French: or, aur
  • French: or
    • Haitian Creole: lò
• Walloon: ôr
• → English: or

See ore.

or

1. Alternative form of ore

• IPA^(key): [or]

(ele/ei) or (modal auxiliary, third-person plural form of vrea, used with infinitives to form presumptive tenses)

1. (they) might

   fiindcă or avea ceva pe care noi nu-l avem, va trebui să așteptăm puțin

   being that they might have something that we don't, we will need to wait a bit

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) aur
• (Surmiran) ôr

From Latin aurum.

or m

1. (Sutsilvan, Puter, Vallader) gold

A variant of ere, obsolete in modern English.

or

1. before or until (only in certain senses)

   It'll nae be lang or A gang ma holiday.- It'll not be long until/ before I go on holiday

Not archaic, but rare amongst young people.

Possibly from Old Irish amar (“song, singing”). See òran.

or m (genitive singular ora, plural ora or orthachan or orrachan or orthannan)

1. hymn, incantation, petition, prayer

• ob

or n

1. a mite

• kvalster

From Proto-Indo-European *dóru, with unexplained loss of initial */d/. Compare Tocharian B or.

or n

1. wood

From Proto-Indo-European *dóru, with unexplained loss of initial */d/. Compare Tocharian A or.

or n

1. wood

• ārwa (from plural)