nor
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Appendix:Variations of "nor"
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Symbol
nor
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Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nô, IPA(key): /nɔː/
- (General American) enPR: nôr, IPA(key): /nɔɹ/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
- Homophone: gnaw (non-rhotic)
Etymology 1
From Middle English nauther, from nother. Cognate with neither. By surface analysis, not + or.
Conjunction
nor
- (literary) And... not (introducing a negative statement, without necessarily following one).
- Nor did I stop to think, but ran.
- They are happy, nor need we worry.
- 1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
- Water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink.
- 1825, Sir Walter Scott, The Talisman:
- And, moreover, I had made my vow to preserve my rank unknown till the crusade should be accomplished; nor did I mention it […]
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXV, page 54:
- The cheeks drop in; the body bows;
Man dies: nor is there hope in dust: […]
- A function word introducing each except the first term of a series, indicating none of them is true.
- I am neither hungry nor thirsty nor tired.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- I love your majesty / According to my bond, nor more nor less.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- But neither breath of Morn when she ascends / With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun / On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower, / Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers; / Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night / With this her solemn bird; nor walk by moon, / Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.
- 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
- The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them […] is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
- (archaic) Neither.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- I love your majesty / According to my bond, nor more nor less.
- 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii:
- Nor you nor your house were so much as spoken of before I disbased myself.
- Used to introduce a further negative statement.
- The struggle didn't end, nor was it diminished.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.
- (UK, dialect) Than.
- He's no better nor you.
- 1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner, London: Penguin Books, published 1967, page 131:
- 'I used to think, when you first come into these parts, as you were no better nor you should be.'
- 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 92:
- I wouldn’t like to live here though, not after dark. Sooner you nor me.
Derived terms
- buff nor stye
- common sense is neither common nor sensical
- for love nor money
- gentle nor simple
- hide nor hair
- make head nor tail of
- make neither head nor tail of
- neither a borrower nor a lender be
- neither fish, flesh, nor fowl
- neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring; neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring
- neither fish nor flesh
- neither fish nor fowl
- neither here nor there
- neither use nor ornament
- neither … nor
- tide nor time tarrieth no man
Translations
nor
|
See also
Etymology 2
From Etymology 1 (sense 2 above), reinterpreted as not + or or negation + or.
Noun
nor (plural nors)
- (logic, electronics) Alternative form of NOR
Coordinate terms
Anagrams
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Noun
nor
- Alternative form of norã
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