ər; pronoun
(a form of the possessive case of we used as an attributive adjective): Our team is going to win. Do you mind our going on ahead?
00:10
Our
is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
plural pronoun, possessive our or ours, objective us.
1.
nominative plural of I.
2.
(used to denote oneself and another or others): We have two children. In this block we all own our own houses.
3.
(used to denote people in general): the marvels of science that we take for granted.
4.
(used to indicate a particular profession, nationality, political party, etc., that includes the speaker or writer): We in the medical profession have moral responsibilities.
5.
Also called the royal we. (used by a sovereign, or by other high officials and dignitaries, in place of I in formal speech): We do not wear this crown without humility.
6.
7.
you (used familiarly, often with mild condescension or sarcasm, as in addressing a child, a patient, etc.): We know that's naughty, don't we? It's time we took our medicine.
8.
(used in the predicate following a copulative verb): It is we who should thank you.
9.
(used in apposition with a noun, especially for emphasis): We Americans are a sturdy lot.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English, Old English wē; cognate with Dutch wij, German wir, Old Norse vēr, Gothic weis
before 900; Middle English, Old English wē; cognate with Dutch wij, German wir, Old Norse vēr, Gothic weis
I
[ahy] pronoun, nominative I, possessive my or mine, objective me; plural nominative we, possessive our or ours, objective us; noun, plural I's. pronoun
1.
the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.
noun
2.
(used to denote the narrator of a literary work written in the first person singular).
3.
Metaphysics. the ego.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English ik, ich, i; Old English ic, ih; cognate with German ich, Old Norse ek, Latin ego, Greek egṓ, OCS azŭ, Lithuanian aš, Sanskrit ahám
before 900; Middle English ik, ich, i; Old English ic, ih; cognate with German ich, Old Norse ek, Latin ego, Greek egṓ, OCS azŭ, Lithuanian aš, Sanskrit ahám
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To our
Collins
World English Dictionary
i or I (aɪ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n , pl i's, I's, Is | |
| 1. | the ninth letter and third vowel of the modern English alphabet |
| 2. | any of several speech sounds represented by this letter, in English as in bite or hit |
| 3. | a. something shaped like an I |
| b. (in combination): an I-beam | |
| 4. | dot the i's and cross the t's to pay meticulous attention to detail |
| I or I | |
| —n | |
| i or I (aɪ) | |
| —n , pl i's, I's, Is | |
| 1. | the ninth letter and third vowel of the modern English alphabet |
| 2. | any of several speech sounds represented by this letter, in English as in bite or hit |
| 3. | a. something shaped like an I |
| b. (in combination): an I-beam | |
| 4. | dot the i's and cross the t's to pay meticulous attention to detail |
| I or I | |
| —n | |
| i | |
| —symbol for | |
| Also called: j the imaginary number √--1 | |
| I1 (aɪ) | |
| —pron | |
| (subjective) refers to the speaker or writer | |
| [C12: reduced form of Old English ic; compare Old Saxon ik, Old High German ih, Sanskrit ahám] | |
| I2 | |
| —symbol for | |
| 1. | chem iodine |
| 2. | physics current |
| 3. | physics isospin |
| 4. | logic A E Compare O a particular affirmative categorial statement, such as some men are married, often symbolized as SiP |
| 5. | Roman numeral See Roman numerals one |
| —abbreviation for | |
| 6. | Italy (international car registration) |
| [(for sense 4) from Latin (aff)i(rmo) I affirm] | |
| our (aʊə) | |
| —determiner | |
| 1. | of, belonging to, or associated in some way with us: our best vodka; our parents are good to us |
| 2. | belonging to or associated with all people or people in general: our nearest planet is Venus |
| 3. | a formal word for my used by editors or other writers, and monarchs |
| 4. | informal (often sarcastic) used instead of your: are our feet hurting? |
| 5. | dialect belonging to the family of the speaker: it's our Sandra's birthday tomorrow |
| [Old English ūre (genitive plural), from | |
| -our | |
| —suffix forming nouns | |
| indicating state, condition, or activity: behaviour; labour | |
| [in Old French -eur, from Latin -or, noun suffix] | |
| we (wiː) | |
| —pron | |
| 1. | refers to the speaker or writer and another person or other people: we should go now |
| 2. | refers to all people or people in general: the planet on which we live |
| 3. | a. when used by editors or other writers, and formerly by monarchs, a formal word for I |
| b. (as noun): he uses the royal we in his pompous moods | |
| 4. | informal used instead of you with a tone of persuasiveness, condescension, or sarcasm: how are we today? |
| [Old English wē, related to Old Saxon wī, Old High German wir, Old Norse vēr, Danish, Swedish vi, Sanskrit vayam] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
I
12c. shortening of O.E. ic, first person sing. nom. pronoun, from P.Gmc. *ekan (cf. O.Fris. ik, O.N. ek, Norw. eg, Dan. jeg, O.H.G. ih, Ger. ich, Goth. ik), from PIE *ego(m) (cf. Skt. aham, Hitt. uk, L. ego, Gk. ego, Rus. ja). Reduced to i by 1137 in northern England, it began to be capitalized c.1250
to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts.
"The reason for writing I is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral 'one' was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun." [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language," p.233]The form ich or ik, especially before vowels, lingered in northern England until c.1400 and survived in southern dialects until 18c. The dot on the "small" letter -i- began to appear in 11c. L. manuscripts, to distinguish the letter from the stroke of another letter (such as -m- or -n-). Originally a diacritic, it was reduced to a dot with the introduction of Roman type fonts. The basic word for "I" in Japanese is watakushi, but it is not much used. Words that boys usually use are boku (polite) or ore (OH-ray), a rougher word, which can be rude depending on the situation. Girls usually use atashi (a feminine-sounding word) or the neutral watashi, but a tomboy might use boku like boys do.
we
O.E. we, from P.Gmc. *wiz (cf. O.S. wi, O.N. ver, Dan. vi, O.Fris. wi, Du. wij, O.H.G., Ger. wir, Goth. weis "we"), from PIE *wei- (cf. Skt. vayam, O.Pers. vayam, Hitt. wesh "we," O.C.S. ve "we two," Lith. vedu "we two"). The "royal we" (use of plural pronoun to denote oneself) is at least as old as
"Beowulf" (c.725); use by writers to establish an impersonal style is also from O.E.; it was especially common 19c. in unsigned editorials, to suggest staff consensus, and was lampooned as such since at least 1853 (cf. also wegotism).
our
O.E. ure "of us," genitive plural of the first person pronoun, from P.Gmc. *ons (cf. O.S. usa, O.Fris. use, O.H.G. unsar, Ger. unser, Goth. unsar "our"). Ours, formed c.1300, is a double possessive, originating in northern England, and has taken over the absolute function of our. Ourselves (1495), modeled
on yourselves, replaced original construction we selfe, us selfum, etc.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
I
The symbol for the element iodine.
iThe symbol for current.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
| i (ī) Pronunciation Key
The number whose square is equal to -1. Numbers expressed in terms of i are called imaginary or complex numbers. |
I
|
| iodine (ī'ə-dīn') Pronunciation Key
Symbol I A shiny, grayish-black element of the halogen group. It is corrosive and poisonous and occurs in very small amounts in nature except for seaweed, in which it is abundant. iodine compounds are used in medicine, antiseptics, and dyes. Atomic number 53; atomic weight 126.9045; melting point 113.5°C; boiling point 184.35°C; specific gravity (solid, at 20°C) 4.93; valence 1, 3, 5, 7. See Periodic Table. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage
Abbreviations & Acronyms
| i imaginary unit |
I
|
| OUR oxygen utilization rate |
| We Wednesday |
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Example sentences
The leaves come off the stalks frozen and stiff but become pliant in our bare hands.
Our sense of space is crucial to our understanding of the world around us.
They represent our societal and generational fears, or something.
For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating.
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