O vs. Or: What's the Difference?
O and Or Definitions
O
Used before the name of or a pronoun referring to a person or thing being formally addressed
"How can I put it to you, O you who prepare to travel with important matters on your mind?" (Jo Durden-Smith).
Or
Used to indicate an alternative, usually only before the last term of a series
Hot or cold.
This, that, or the other.
O
Used to express surprise or strong emotion
"O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches" (Henry David Thoreau).
Or
Used to indicate the second of two alternatives, the first being preceded by either or whether
Your answer is either ingenious or wrong. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
O
The 15th letter of the modern English alphabet.
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Or
(Archaic) Used to indicate the first of two alternatives, with the force of either or whether.
O
Any of the speech sounds represented by the letter o.
Or
Used to indicate a synonymous or equivalent expression
Acrophobia, or fear of great heights.
O
The 15th in a series.
Or
Used to indicate uncertainty or indefiniteness
Two or three.
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O
Something shaped like the letter O.
Or
Before. Followed by ever or ere
"I doubt he will be dead or ere I come" (Shakespeare).
O
O One of the four major blood groups in the ABO system. Individuals with this blood group have neither A nor B antigens on the surface of their red blood cells, and have both anti-A and anti-B antibodies in their blood serum.
Or
A logical operator that returns a true value if one or both operands are true.
O
A zero.
Or
Gold, represented in heraldic engraving by a white field sprinkled with small dots.
O
Of
Lots o' luck.
Top o' the morning.
Or
Before.
O
Alternative form of oh
Or
(logic) An operator denoting the disjunction of two propositions or truth values. There are two forms, the inclusive or and the exclusive or.
O
Operator
Or
Otherwise a consequence of the condition that the previous is false.
It's raining! Come inside or you'll catch a cold!
O
(acronym of) Object, see SVO
Or
(tincture) The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms.
O
A zero used in reading out numbers.
It is currently two-o-five in the afternoon (2:05 PM).
The first permanent English settlement in America was in Jamestown in sixteen-o-seven (1607).
Or
(tincture) Of gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms.
O
Over
Or
(obsolete) Early (on).
O
O, the fifteenth letter of the English alphabet, derives its form, value, and name from the Greek O, through the Latin. The letter came into the Greek from the PhŒnician, which possibly derived it ultimately from the Egyptian. Etymologically, the letter o is most closely related to a, e, and u; as in E. bone, AS. bān; E. stone, AS. stān; E. broke, AS. brecan to break; E. bore, AS. beran to bear; E. dove, AS. dūfe; E. toft, tuft; tone, tune; number, F. nombre.
Or
(obsolete) Earlier, previously.
O
Among the ancients, O was a mark of triple time, from the notion that the ternary, or number 3, is the most perfect of numbers, and properly expressed by a circle, the most perfect figure.
Or
Before; ere. Followed by "ever" or "ere".
O
The letter O, or its sound.
Or
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 claimsAre paramount.
Maugre thine heed, thou must for indigenceOr steal, or beg, or borrow thy dispence.
O
Something shaped like the letter O; a circle or oval.
Or
Ere; before; sooner than.
But natheless, while I have time and space,Or that I forther in this tale pace.
O
A cipher; zero.
Thou art an O without a figure.
Or
Yellow or gold color, - represented in drawing or engraving by small dots.
O
One.
Or
A state in northwestern United States on the Pacific
O
An exclamation used in calling or directly addressing a person or personified object; also, as an emotional or impassioned exclamation expressing pain, grief, surprise, desire, fear, etc.
For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
O how love I thy law ! it is my meditation all the day.
O for a kindling touch from that pure flame!
But she is in her grave, - and ohThe difference to me!
Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness!
We should distinguish between the sign of the vocative and the emotional interjection, writing O for the former, and oh for the latter.
Or
A room in a hospital equipped for the performance of surgical operations;
Great care is taken to keep the operating rooms aseptic
O
The blood group whose red cells carry neither the A nor B antigens;
People with type O blood are universal donors
O
A nonmetallic bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas; constitutes 21 percent of the atmosphere by volume; the most abundant element in the earth's crust
O
The 15th letter of the Roman alphabet
