optimum (optimum)

[NL., neut. of L. optimus, optumus, best, very good, superl. (a ociated with bonus, good), Every vegetative (and fructificative) proce has certain limits of temperature, and a fixed optimum in each species. De Bary , Fungi (trans.), p. 353. option (op's hon), n. [ Transplantation must proceed from the option of the people, else it sounds like an exile. Bacon . 2. The power or liberty of choosing; the right or power of choice; the opportunity of electing or selecting an alternative or one of several lines of conduct; the power of deciding on a course of action: as, that is not left in my op tion ; it is at your option to take it or leave it. In the European nations a constantly increasing number of persons find themselves in circumstances in which a large option is allowed them as to the plan on which they will conduct their lives. T. H. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 335. 3. In Eng. canon law, the right, now obsolete, which an archbishop formerly had, on consecrating a bishop, of selecting a benefice in the bishop's diocese for one of his own chaplains. -4. On stock and other exchanges, a privilege, secured by the payment of a certain premium or consideration, either (1) of calling for the delivery, or (2) of making delivery, of a certain specified amount of some particular stock or kind of produce, at a specified price, and within specified limits of time. The first kind of option is usually designated a call, and the second a put; but both are sometimes called futures. 5t. A wishing; a wish. I shall conclude this epistle with a pathetick option : O that men were wise! Layman's Def. of Christ (1730), p. 23. itual world a spiritual being, as such, cannot find an abso- lute limit or foreign nece ity, against which his life must be broken in pieces; but that, on the contrary, all app a- rent outward limits, and even death itself, are for it but the means to a higher freedom and realisation of self. E. Caird , Hegel, p. 217. Preference, Election. Option is the right of choice, the freedom to choose between two or more: as, "there is no option," Shedd, Homiletics, p. 30. Choice is primarily the act of choosing, but, by extension, may be the same as option: as, he gave him the choice. Preference is primarily the state of mind determining the choice, and sec IMG:content-1775.png:[blocks in formation] 2. Leaving something to choice; involving a power of choice or option. — Optional writ, in law, a writ which commands the defendant to do the thing required, or show the reason why he has not done it: in distinction from a peremptory writ. See peremptory. II. n. In the colleges of the United States, an elective study, or one left to choice; an elective. optionally (op's hon-al-i), adv. In an optional manner; with the privilege of choice.