CS Knowledge Base

Clipping of English Oriya or Odia ଓଡ଼ିଆ (oṛiā).

or

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Odia.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Odia terms

Clipping of English orbicula.

or

1. (entomology) Abbreviation of orbicula.

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”).

• (Received Pronunciation)
  • (weak form) IPA^(key): /ə(ɹ)/
  • (strong form) IPA^(key): /ɔː(ɹ)/

  • Audio (strong form):

    (file)

• (General American)
  • (weak form) IPA^(key): /ɚ/
  • (strong form) IPA^(key): /oɹ/

  • Audio (strong form):

    (file)

    • (STL) IPA^(key): /ɑɹ/
• (Canada)
  • (weak form) IPA^(key): [ɚ], [əɹ]
  • (strong form) IPA^(key): [oːɹ]
    • (Dialectal) IPA^(key): [ɔ(ː)ɹ]
• (Northwestern US)
  • (strong form) IPA^(key): /ʔɹ/, /ʌɹ/
• Homophones: oar, ore, o'er (horse–hoarse merger); aw, awe (non-rhotic)
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)

or

1. Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc., each of which could make a passage true.

   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. Used to present two or more options from which a choice is to be made.

   Do you want tea or coffee?

   You may stay or go.

4. Otherwise (a consequence of the condition that the previous is false).

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

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:

     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.

5. Connects two equivalent names.

   The country Myanmar, or Burma

6. Used in between two numbers to denote a range between them.

   A man of 18 or 20 years

• (connecting alternative terms): When not implied by the meaning of the conjoins, it is generally ambiguous whether “or” is intended in an exclusive or inclusive sense. In speech, various means may be used to convey exclusivity, such as stress on the word “or” or a rising intonation before it.^[1] In a formal or technical register, and/or may be used to specify inclusivity.

• either
• neither
• nor
• i.e.

From Etymology 1 (sense 2 above).

or (plural ors)

1. (logic, electronics) Alternative form of OR.

• and
• nand
• nor
• xor

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

• (US) IPA^(key): /oɹ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɔː(ɹ)/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

or (countable and uncountable, plural ors)

2. (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.

   or:  

• This word may be capitalized (azure, a bend Or) to avoid confusion with the conjunction or.

• (gold or yellow tincture): o., Or

• Au (chemical symbol for gold)
• d'or
• ormolu

or (not comparable)

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

• gold

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

or

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

or

1. (archaic or dialectal) Before; ere. Generally followed by "ever" or "e'er".
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 12:6-7:

     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.

   • 1834, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

     I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;
     But or ever a prayer had gusht,
     A wicked whisper came, and made
     My heart as dry as dust.

   • 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods‎^[2], London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 3:

     And Time went forth into the worlds to obey the commands of the gods, yet he cast furtive glances at his masters, and the gods distrusted Time because he had known the worlds or ever the gods became.

• r/o, Ro, R&O, RO

• oru, auredz, auredzu, aor, aoru

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

or (participle uratã)

1. to pray

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

• urari / urare
• urat
• urãciuni

• hor (Soule)

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

• IPA^(key): /oɾ/ [or]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: or

or anim

1. dog

• txakur
• zakur

• “or”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
• “or”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Chemical element ()
Au Atomic number 79 or
Classification data Period 6 Group 11 Block d-block Class transition metal
Previous: ← platí (Pt)
Next: mercuri (Hg) →

• aur (obsolete)

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

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈo̞r]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Menorca) [ˈɔr], (Mallorca) [ˈɔ]
• IPA^(key): (Central, Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈɔr]

• Audio (Valencia):

  (file)

or m (plural ors)

1. gold
2. (heraldry) or

• Costa d'Or

• IPA^(key): /ɔʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Paris)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔʁ
• Homophones: hors, ore, ores, ors

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
• ⇒ Mauritian Creole: lor

• Appendix:Colors

From Middle French ore, from Old French ore, from Vulgar Latin hā horā, alteration of hāc horā (“(in) this hour”, ablative). Compare Italian ora, Spanish ahora, Portuguese agora.

or

1. (obsolete) now, presently

or

1. yet, however, now, that said, as it happens (introduces the second term in a syllogism)

   L'Homme meure. Or Platon est un Homme, alors Platon meure

   Man dies. Now, Plato is a Man; therefore Plato dies

   On a f(x_0)<-1. Or f est une application positive, c'est donc absurde

   We suppose f(x_0)<-1. However, f is a positive map; hence the supposition is absurd

   • 1943, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, chapter II, in Le petit prince [The Little Prince], New York: Reynal & Hitchcock:

     Je regardai donc cette apparition avec des yeux tout ronds d’étonnement. N’oubliez pas que je me trouvais à 1000 milles de toute région habitée. Or mon petit bonhomme ne me semblait ni égaré, ni mort de fatigue, ni mort de faim, ni mort de soif, ni mort de peur.

     So I looked at this apparition with eyes all round with astonishment. Do not forget that I was a thousand miles from any inhabited region. Now my little man did not seem to me to be lost, nor dead from fatigue, nor dead from hunger, nor dead from thirst, nor dead from fear.

This is often used to introduce contrasting information (like English however). However, the information need not be contrasting, but can simply be supplemental information that leads to a subsequent conclusion (similar to English as it happens).

• “or”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

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 (apocopated)

1. apocopic form of ora (“now”), used almost exclusively in the forms or ora (“just now”) and or sono (“ago”)

• ormai
• or ora
• or sono

• ro

or(オア) • (oa) 

1. alternative form of オア (“or”)

or

1. head

• Amy Krell, Rapid Appraisal Sociolinguistic Survey Among Ama, Karko, and Wali Language Groups (2012, SIL Journal of Language Survey Reports)

From ọ̄̆ther and outher.

• ore, ar

• IPA^(key): /ɔr/, /ɔːr/

or

1. or

• English: or
• Yola: ar, or, o'

• “ō̆r, conj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Inherited from Old English ōr, from Proto-West Germanic *ōʀ, from Proto-Germanic *ōsaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃éh₁os (“mouth”).

• IPA^(key): /oːr/

or

1. (Early Middle English, hapax legomenon) beginning, start

• “ọ̄r, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

or

1. (chiefly Early Middle English and West Midland) alternative form of here (“their”)

or

1. alternative form of ore (“honour”)

or

1. alternative form of ore (“ore”)

or

1. alternative form of your

• aur (alternate latinized spelling)

Inherited from Old French or.

or m (uncountable)

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

• French: or
  • ⇒ Haitian Creole: lò
  • ⇒ Mauritian Creole: lor
• → English: or

See ore.

or

1. alternative form of ore

• French: or
  • ⇒ Haitian Creole: lò
  • ⇒ Mauritian Creole: lor

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈoːr/

ōr n

1. alternative form of œre

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.

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

• IPA^(key): /uːr/
• Homophone: ord

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.

• (dialectal): ur

• IPA^(key): /uːr/, (chiefly dialectal) /uː/
• IPA^(key): /o/ (unstressed)

or

1. out of

   Gå or minne

   Fade out of memory

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 […] .

The use of or is largely similar to av (“of”), but have more or less the same relation as i (“in”) and på (“on”) (å, oppå), so that something that is i comes or, and something that is på comes av. E.g. koma or sjøen (“come out of the sea”) referring to fish, but koma av sjøen (“come off the sea”), referring to a fisherman.

From Old Norse ǫr f (“arrow”). Cognate with Faroese ørv f (“arrow”).

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

1. (archaic) arrow

   Synonym: pil

2. (archaic) arrowhead

   Synonyms: pilodd, pilspiss

   1. (archaic, in compounds) barb

      agnor, holvor

      Synonym: hake

• “or” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “or”, in Norsk Ordbok: Ordbok over det Norske Folkemålet og det Nynorske Skriftmålet (in Norwegian Nynorsk), Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1950–2016, →ISBN.

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

• IPA^(key): /oːr/
• Rhymes: -oːr

ōr n

1. origin, beginning
2. front, vanguard

Strong a-stem:

• ōra

• Middle English: or (early, hapax)

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “ōr”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔɾ/

Inherited from Latin aurum.

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

1. gold (metal)
   • c. 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
  • French: or
    • ⇒ Haitian Creole: lò
    • ⇒ Mauritian Creole: lor
  • → English: or
• Walloon: ôr

See ore.

or

1. alternative form of ore

• IPA^(key): /ˈoːr/

ōr

1. Old West Frisian form of ōther

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

• 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

or (modal auxiliary, ? form of avea, used with ? to form ? tenses)

1. (informal, sometimes proscribed) Variation of o in the third person plural.

   Or să vină într-un minut.

   They will come in a minute.

or

1. alternative form of ori

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

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, nominative plural ora or orthachan or orrachan or orthannan)

1. hymn, incantation, petition, prayer

• ob

or (past dh’or, future oridh, verbal noun oradh, past participle orte)

1. chant, sing

   Tha Màiri ag oradh. ― Mary is singing.

Related to orna (“moldy, spoiled by mites”), Danish oret, of obscure ultimate origin. Compare oren (“impure, dirty, unclean, rotten”).^[1]

or n

1. any mite in the superfamily Acaroidea, order Astigmata

Popular as a crossword entry.

• kvalster (“mite”)

• “or”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “or”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

• ro

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)

or

1. blood

or

1. head

• Amy Krell, Rapid Appraisal Sociolinguistic Survey Among Ama, Karko, and Wali Language Groups (2012, SIL Journal of Language Survey Reports)

or

1. bamboo

• Charles E. Grimes, Owen Edwards, The Austronesian languages of eastern Indonesia and Timor Leste (2026), page 228

or

1. alternative form of ar
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 78:

     Wich ad wough bethther kwingokee or baagchoosee vursth?

     Whether had we better churn or bake first?

   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 9, page 88:

     Na, now or neveare! w' cry't t' Tommeen,

     Nay, now or never! we cry'd to Tommy,

   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 11, page 88:

     Up caame ee ball, an a dap or a kewe

     Up came the ball, and a tap or a shove

   • 1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 4, page 104:

     Hea pryet ich mought na ha chicke or hen,

     He prayed I might not have chicken nor hen,

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867