Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Optional

Optional , adjective

Involving an option; depending on the exercise of an option; left to one's discretion or choice; allowed but not compulsory; as, optional studies; it is optional with you to go or stay.
See Elective, n.
If to the former the movement was not optional, it was the same that the latter chose when it was optional. — Palfrey
Original writs are either optional or peremptory. — Blackstone