or

Conjunction (1)

or

1. Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc., each of which could make a passage true.
   • You may stay or go.
   • He might get cancer, or be hit by a bus, or God knows what.
2. An operator denoting the disjunction of two propositions or truth values. There are two forms: the inclusive or and the exclusive or.
3. Counts the elements before and after as two possibilities.
4. Otherwise (a consequence of the condition that the previous is false).
   • It's raining! Come inside or you'll catch a cold!
   • 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

Noun (1)

US/oɹ/UK/ɔː(ɹ)/

or (countable and uncountable, plural ors)

1. The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms.
   • The metals are gold and silver, these being termed "or" and "argent".1909, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry
   • In engraving, "Or" is expressed by dots.1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry

   Synonyms:

   o.

Adjective

US/oɹ/UK/ɔː(ɹ)/

or (not comparable)

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

   Synonyms:

   gold

Adverb

or

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

Preposition

or

1. (archaic, dialectal) Before; ere. Generally followed by “ever” or “e'er”.
   • 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
   • 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

Conjunction (2) capitalized: OR

OR

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

Noun (2) capitalized: OR

OR (uncountable)

1. The 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:

   ∨

Noun (3) capitalized: OR

OR (countable and uncountable, plural ORs)

1. (abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism 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. (Philippines, abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of official receipt.
3. (abbreviation, initialism, uncountable) Initialism of operations research.
4. (abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of Olympic Record.
5. (abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of odorant receptor.
6. (abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of olfactory receptor.
7. (abbreviation, initialism, chiefly Wikimedia jargon) Initialism of original research.
8. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of other ranks.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: OR

OR

1. (abbreviation, postal) Abbreviation of Oregon: a state of the United States.
2. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Orissa, former name of Odisha: a state of India.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Or

Or (plural Ors)

1. A surname.