conj. [ OE. or, outher, other, auther, either, or, AS. āwðer, contr. from āhwaeðer; ā aye + hwaeðer 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

If man's convenience, health,
Or safety interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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?” Matt. vii. 9 (Rev. Ver.). [ 1913 Webster ] Or for either is archaic or poetic. [ 1913 Webster ] Maugre thine heed, thou must for indigence
Or steal, or beg, or borrow thy dispence. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

prep. & adv. [ AS. &unr_;r ere, before. √204. See Ere, prep. & adv. ] Ere; before; sooner than. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

But natheless, while I have time and space,
Or that I forther in this tale pace. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Or ever,
Or ere. See under Ever, and Ere. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. aurum gold. Cf. Aureate. ] (Her.) Yellow or gold color, -- represented in drawing or engraving by small dots. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. See 2d Ore. ] A money of account among the Anglo-Saxons, valued, in the Domesday Book, at twenty pence sterling. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. (Zool.) A South American monkey of the genus Callithrix, esp. Callithrix Moloch. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ F. arroche, corrupted fr. L. atriplex, Gr. &unr_;. Cf. Arrach. ] (Bot.) A genus (Atriplex) of herbs or low shrubs of the Goosefoot family, most of them with a mealy surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

Garden orache, a plant (Atriplex hortensis), often used as a pot herb; -- also called mountain spinach. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. oraculum, fr. orare to speak, utter, pray, fr. os, oris, mouth. See Oral. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The answer of a god, or some person reputed to be a god, to an inquiry respecting some affair or future event, as the success of an enterprise or battle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whatso'er she saith, for oracles must stand. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: The deity who was supposed to give the answer; also, the place where it was given. [ 1913 Webster ]

The oracles are dumb;
No voice or hideous hum
Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The communications, revelations, or messages delivered by God to the prophets; also, the entire sacred Scriptures -- usually in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

The first principles of the oracles of God. Heb. v. 12. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Jewish Antiq.) The sanctuary, or Most Holy place in the temple; also, the temple itself. 1 Kings vi. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

Siloa's brook, that flow'd
Fast by the oracle of God. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. One who communicates an oracle{ 1 } or divine command; an angel; a prophet. [ 1913 Webster ]

God hath now sent his living oracle
Into the world to teach his final will. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Any person reputed uncommonly wise; one whose decisions are regarded as of great authority; as, a literary oracle. “Oracles of mode.” Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

The country rectors . . . thought him an oracle on points of learning. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A wise pronouncement or decision considered as of great authority. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Oracled p. pr. & vb. n. Oracling ] To utter oracles. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. oracularius. See Oracle. ] 1. Of or pertaining to an oracle; uttering oracles; forecasting the future; as, an oracular tongue. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Resembling an oracle in some way, as in solemnity, wisdom, authority, obscurity, ambiguity, dogmatism. [ 1913 Webster ]

They have something venerable and oracular in that unadorned gravity and shortness in the expression. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- O*rac"u*lar*ly, adv. -- O*rac"u*lar*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Oracular; of the nature of an oracle. [ R. ] “Equivocations, or oraculous speeches.” Bacon. “The oraculous seer.” Pope. -- O*rac"u*lous*ly, adv. -- O*rac"u*lous*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]