opuscule, opusculum, opuscle (cle as el)

[Lat. opusculum, dim in. of opus =a work; Fr. opuscule; Sp.opusculo; Ital. opusculo, oposcolo.] A little work. -or, suff . [Lat.) A suffix used with Latin words and their English derivatives to expre an agent, as actor; also in law terms, as le or, mortgagor. or, conj . [A contraction of other , owther , outher, auther, .] [EITHER.] A disjunctive particle marking, or seeming to mark, an alternative. 1. It answers: (1) To a preceding either . "At Venice you may go to any house either by land or water."-Add is on: On Italy . (2) To a preceding whether . "Imagine concerning this world, whether it was to perish or no."-Burnet: Theory of the Earth. 2. It is used in poetry for either . "Approach me as ye are, Or one, or all, in your accustom'd forms." Byron: Manfred, i. 1. 3. It is used in poetry for whether . " Or in the ocean drenched, or in the fire." Shakesp.: Venus and Adonis, 494. 4. It is used to connect a series of words or propositions, presenting a choice between any two of them. "Be it of werre or pees, or hate or love." Chaucer: C. T. , 1673. 5. It is used to expre an alternative of terms, definitions, or explanations of the same thing in different words; as, a figure with four equal sides and angles, or a square. 6. Or sometimes begins a sentence, in which case it expre es an alternative with the preceding sentence, or a transition to a fresh argument, illustration, or topic. " Or if son ask eat it. O. tuna furnishes a rich carmine pigment, used in Naples as a water-color. O. dillenii is used in the Deccan as a hedge-plant about cantonments. Cochineal insects brought to India flourished on it, and it yields a coarse fiber used in paper-making.