Or

//ə(ɹ)// adj, adv, conj, name, noun, prep

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. not-comparable
Adverb
  1. 1
    Early (on). obsolete
  2. 2
    Earlier, previously. obsolete
Conjunction
  1. 1
    Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc., each of which could make a passage true.

    "You may either stay or come."

  2. 2
    Inclusive or; either one proposition or the other is true or both.
  3. 3
    An operator denoting the disjunction of two propositions or truth values. There are two forms, the inclusive or and the exclusive or.
  4. 4
    A lexical symbol to implement inclusive or in a computer language.
  5. 5
    Counts the elements before and after as two possibilities.
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A logic gate to implement inclusive or.
  2. 7
    Otherwise (a consequence of the condition that the previous is false).

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

  3. 8
    Connects two equivalent names.

    "The country Myanmar, or Burma"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Abbreviation of Oregon: a state of the United States. abbreviation, alt-of
  2. 2
    A surname.
  3. 3
    Abbreviation of Orissa, former name of Odisha: a state of India. abbreviation, alt-of
Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of OR. alt-of, alternative
  2. 2
    The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. countable, uncountable

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

  3. 3
    The binary operator inclusive or, true if one at least one of two inputs is true. In infix notation. uncountable

    "The proof (Tables 9 and 10) of idempotence for both OR and AND follows from examining the definition of each operation under the constraint that both inputs have the same value."

  4. 4
    Initialism of operating room. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism

    "Max Fischer: I like your nurse's uniform, guy. -- Dr. Peter Flynn: These are O.R. scrubs. -- Max Fischer: Oh, are they?"

  5. 5
    a room in a hospital equipped for the performance of surgical operations wordnet
Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    Initialism of official receipt. Philippines, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism
  2. 7
    Initialism of operations research. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
  3. 8
    Initialism of Olympic Record. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism
  4. 9
    Initialism of odorant receptor. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism
  5. 10
    Initialism of olfactory receptor. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism
  6. 11
    Initialism of original research. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  7. 12
    Initialism of other ranks. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
Preposition
  1. 1
    Before; ere. Generally followed by "ever" or "e'er". archaic, dialectal

    "Or euer the siluer corde be loosed, or the golden bowle be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountaine, or the wheele broken at the cisterne. Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall returne vnto God who gaue it."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

From Etymology 1 (sense 2 above).

Etymology 3

From late Middle English or (“gold”), borrowed from Middle French or (“yellow”), from Old French or, from Latin aurum (“gold”). Doublet of aurum.

Etymology 4

From late Middle English or (“gold”), borrowed from Middle French or (“yellow”), from Old French or, from Latin aurum (“gold”). Doublet of aurum.

Etymology 5

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

Etymology 6

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

Etymology 7

Borrowed from Cantonese 柯 (o1) or from Hebrew אור ('ór). This surname is mostly found in Hong Kong.

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