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or else

 - 4 dictionary results
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else

  [els]
Use or else in a Sentence
–adjective
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.
–adverb
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?
—Idiom
7. or else, or suffer the consequences: Do what I say, or else.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME, OE elles (c. OHG elles), equiv. to ell- other (c. Goth aljis, L alius, OIr aile Gk állos, Armenian ayl other; cf. eldritch ) + -es -s1

Usage note:
The possessive forms of somebody else, everybody else, etc., are somebody else's, everybody else's, the forms somebody's else, everybody's else being considered nonstandard in present-day English. One exception is the possessive for who else, which is occasionally formed as whose else when a noun does not immediately follow: Is this book yours? Whose else could it be? No, it's somebody else's.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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else   (ěls)   
adj.  

  1. Other; different: Ask somebody else.

  2. Additional; more: Would you like anything else?

adv.  

  1. In a different or additional time, place, or manner: I always do it this way and I don't know how else it could be done. Where else do you want to go besides Miami?

  2. If not; otherwise: Be careful, or else you will make a mess.


[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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

else 
O.E. elles "other, otherwise, different," from P.Gmc. *aljaz (cf. Goth. aljis "other," O.H.G. eli-lenti, O.E. el-lende, both meaning "in a foreign land;" see also Alsace), an adverbial genitive of the neut. of PIE base *al- "beyond" (cf. Gk. allos "other," L. alius; see alias). Synonym of other, the nuances of usage are often arbitrary. Elsewhere is O.E. elles hwær. It survived, but elsewhen (1418), elsewhat (O.E.), elsewho (c.1542) did not.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

or else

  1. Otherwise, in different circumstances, as in Present your case now, or else you won't have a chance. [c. 1300]

  2. Regardless of any extenuating circumstances, no matter what, as in Be there on time or else! [Second half of 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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