-or
-or , suffix
[Latin -or: compare Old French -or, -ur, -our, French -eur.]
1.
A noun suffix denoting an act; a state or quality; as in error, fervor, pallor, candor, etc.
2.
A noun suffix denoting an agent or doer; as in auditor, one who hears; donor, one who gives; obligor, elevator. It is correlative to -ee. In general -or is appended to words of Latin, and -er to those of English, origin. See -er.
Or (ôr) , conjunction
[Old English or, outher, other, auther, either, or, Anglo-Saxon āweer, contr. from āhwaeeer; ā aye + hwaeeer whether. See Aye, and Whether, and compare 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.
If man's convenience, health,
Or safety interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount.
Maugre thine heed, thou must for indigence
Or steal, or beg, or borrow thy dispence.
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.
Or , preposition and adverb
[Anglo-Saxon {not transcribed}r ere, before. r204. See Ere, prep. & adv.]
Ere; before; sooner than. [Obsolete]
But natheless, while I have time and space,
Or that I forther in this tale pace.
Or , noun
[French, from Latin aurum gold. Compare Aureate.]
(Heraldry) Yellow or gold color, -- represented in drawing or engraving by small dots.