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. human sciencesAn 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.

   You may stay or go.

   1 more example

   Do you want tea or coffee?

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

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

   1 more example

   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.

   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

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

plural ors

1. alternativebusinessAlternative form of OR.

plural ors

1. countableuncountablegovernmentThe gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms.

   In engraving, "Or" is expressed by dots.

   1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry

   1 more example

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

   1909, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry

   Synonyms: o., Or

1. not comparablegovernmentOf gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms.

   Synonyms: gold

1. obsoleteEarly (on).
2. obsoleteEarlier, previously.

1. archaicdialectalBefore; ere. Generally followed by "ever" or "e'er".

   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.

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

   2 more examples

   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.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

   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.

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

1. human sciencesInclusive or; either one proposition or the other is true or both.
2. computerA lexical symbol to implement inclusive or in a computer language.
3. businessA logic gate to implement inclusive or.

1. uncountablehuman sciencesThe binary operator inclusive or, true if one at least one of two inputs is true. In infix notation.

   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.

   2022 August 4, William Bahn, “Boolean Algebra Laws—Delving Into Boolean Identities”, in All About Circuits

   Synonyms: ∨

plural ORs

1. abbreviationcountableinitialismgovernmentInitialism of operating room.

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

   1998, Rushmore, 00:27:55

2. PhilippinesabbreviationcountableinitialismaccountingInitialism of official receipt.
3. abbreviationinitialismuncountablesciencesInitialism of operations research.
4. abbreviationcountableinitialismhobbiesInitialism of Olympic Record.
5. abbreviationcountableinitialismanatomyInitialism of odorant receptor.
6. abbreviationcountableinitialismanatomyInitialism of olfactory receptor.
7. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablechiefly Wikimedia jargonInitialism of original research.
8. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablegovernmentInitialism of other ranks.

1. abbreviationpostalAbbreviation of Oregon: a state of the United States.
2. abbreviationAbbreviation of Orissa, former name of Odisha: a state of India.

plural Ors

1. A surname.