[els] 
| 1. | other than the persons or things mentioned or implied: What else could I have done? |
| 2. | in addition to the persons or things mentioned or implied: Who else was there? |
| 3. | other or in addition (used in the possessive following an indefinite pronoun): someone else's money. |
| 4. | if not (usually prec. by or): It's a macaw, or else I don't know birds. |
| 5. | in some other way; otherwise: How else could I have acted? |
| 6. | at some other place or time: Where else might I find this book? |
| 7. | or else, or suffer the consequences: Do what I say, or else. |
| else (ěls) adj.
[Middle English elles, from Old English; see al-1 in Indo-European roots.] Usage Note: Else is often used redundantly in combination with prepositions such as but, except, and besides. The sentence No one else but Sam saw the accident would thus be better without else. · When a pronoun is followed by else, the possessive form is generally written with the 's following else: That must be someone else's (not someone's else) book. Both who else's and whose else are in use, but not whose else's: Who else's book could it have been? Whose else could it have been? See Usage Notes at who, whose. |
else
see in someone's (else's) shoes; or else; something else; something else again.
