[awr] /ɔr/ Heraldry.
the tincture, or metal, gold: represented either by gold or by yellow.
of the tincture, or metal, gold:
a lion or.
a Boolean operator that returns a positive result when either or both operands are positive.
/ɔː; unstressed ə/
used to join alternatives: apples or pears, apples or pears or cheese, apples, pears, or cheese
used to join rephrasings of the same thing: to serve in the army, or rather to fight in the army, twelve, or a dozen
used to join two alternatives when the first is preceded by either or whether: whether it rains or not we’ll be there, either yes or no
one or two, a few
or else, See else (sense 3)
a poetic word for either or whether as the first element in correlatives, with or also preceding the second alternative
(subordinating; foll by ever or ere) before; when
(usually postpositive) (heraldry) of the metal gold
(military) other ranks
c.1200, from Old English conjunction oþþe “either, or,” related to Old Frisian ieftha, Middle Dutch ofte, Old Norse eða, Old High German odar, German oder, Gothic aiþþau “or.” This was extended in early Middle English (and Old High German) with an -r ending, perhaps by analogy with “choice between alternative” words that ended thus (e.g. either, whether), then reduced to oþþr, at first in unstressed situations (commonly thus in Northern and Midlands English by 1300), and finally reduced to or, though other survived in this sense until 16c.
The contraction took place in the second term of an alternative, such as either … or, a common construction in Old English, where both words originally were oþþe (see nor).
Orthopaedic Research Society
Operations Research Society of America
[awr-seyl, -sey, -sel] /ɔrˈseɪl, -ˈseɪ, -ˈsɛl/ noun 1. .
[awr-shuh] /ˈɔr ʃə/ noun 1. a city in NE Byelorussia (Belarus), on the Dnieper River, NE of Minsk.
/Italian orˈsiːni/ noun 1. an Italian aristocratic family that was prominent in Rome from the 12th to the 18th century