otherwise, n., adv., a.
(ˈʌðəwaɪz)
Forms: see other a. and wise n.
[Orig. a phrase of three words: OE. on oðre w{iacu}san, in other manner, in late OE. also oðre wisan, ME. oþre wise, at length written otherwise: cf. in any wise, anywise, crosswise, etc.: see wise n.]
A. n. phr. Phrase with wise, manner, way, as distinct n., e.g. in other wise, OE. on oðre wisan..on oðre, in one way..in another; no otherwise, OE. on náne oðre wisan, ME. non oþer wise, 16th c. none other-wise, in no other way. arch.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §10 We onᵹitað hwilum man on oðre wisan, on oðre hine God onᵹit. c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xii. [xiv.] 194 Ac hit feorr on oðre wisan wæs. c 1050 Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 341/26 Aliter, on æniᵹe oðre wisan. a 1200 Fragm. ælfric's Gram. 1 On oþre wisen. a 1300 Cursor M. 3887 Þat mai be nanoþer wis. Ibid. 17528 For-soth it es nan oiþer wise. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. iii. (1885) 114 Thai mowe in non oþer wyse leve. 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 50 For I take yt no nother wyse. 1540 R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592) O vj, Shee ought to love him none other-wise than her selfe. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 6 Could you sing it no other wise? 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 60 To be led any otherwise than blindly. a 1873 Mill Ess. Relig. (1874) 211 The fact of death will make no sudden break in our spiritual life, nor influence our character any otherwise than as any important change in our mode of existence may always be expected to modify it. |
b. (pl.) = other ways. nonce-use.
| 1869 Browning Ring & Bk. xi. 1455 Some one of the hundred otherwises. |
c. Phr. or (occas. and) otherwise, following a noun, adjective, adverb, or verb, to signify a corresponding word of opposite or different meaning.
| 1886 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1885 872 The index number..is 1 or 100, according to the use or otherwise of the decimal point. 1892 [see playing week s.v. playing vbl. n. 2]. 1895 Pall Mall Mag. Jan. 35 The most amusing feature of the case was the conflict of professional evidence as to the merits, or otherwise, of Mr. Whistler's paintings. 1910 Practitioner Jan. 84 The question of operability or otherwise is a matter in which surgeons differ considerably. 1911 E. C. Worden Nitrocellulose Industry II. xiv. 697 These enamels may be closely imitated..by taking a given pattern, enlarging it pantographically or otherwise, [etc.]. 1922 C. Mackenzie Altar Steps vii. 56 Mrs. Lidderdale's dread..was that her son would acquire a West country burr, and it was considered more prudent, economically and otherwise, to let him go on learning with his grandfather and herself. 1966 Listener 22 Sept. 427/2, I do not question the eruption at Santorin,..but the supposed connection of the underwater survey with the historicity or otherwise of the Atlantis myth. 1972 W. A. Pantin Oxf. Life iv. 52 Professor Southern gave us some stimulating reflections about the aims, development, and achievements (or otherwise) of the Honour School of Modern History. 1972 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Oct. 1233/1 The circumstances of the publication of the Penguin Books version of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover in November 1960 led to much public discussion of the desirability or otherwise of printing these long-banned sexual words. 1973 Oxford Times 30 Nov. 10, 12,000 Cowley workers enjoyed (or otherwise) an enforced holiday because of a strike by plant attendants at the car assembly factory. |
B. adv. † αother wise; βotherwise.
1. In another way, or in other ways; in a different manner, or by other means; differently. Constr. than († but).
| α [971 Blickl. Hom. 177 Þe læs þe oðre wisan æniᵹ mæn leoᵹe.] c 1315 Shoreham 42 And ȝyf he hyt othere wyse fangeth, He taketh bote the sygne. 13.. Cursor M. 1588 (Gött.) Bot god al oþer wise [so Trin.; Cott., Fairf. oþer gates] had mint. 1482 Monk of Evesham 79 He studyd..by a colur of symulacyon odyr wise then he schulde to troble hem. 1535 Coverdale 1 Macc. ii. 4 Iudas, other wyse called Machabeus. |
| β c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 208 Of som he grantise his wille for to do, & som said oþerwise, þat it suld not be so. c 1386 Chaucer's Sqr.'s T. 526 God woot and he þat ootherwise noght [4 MSS. oþer wise]. 1511 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 7 George Pykeryng otherwyse Smythe. 1606 Holland Sueton. 98 Yet can I not be perswaded other⁓wise, but to thinke, that [etc.]. 1712 Budgell Spect. No. 404 ¶3 Applying his Talents otherwise than Nature designed. 1864 Pusey Lect. Daniel (1876) 553 God saw otherwise. |
† b. otherwise..otherwise: in one way..in another way. Obs. rare.
| 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. (1847) 198/1 (Matt. xix. 4–5) On which place Paræus notes..that Christ is wont otherwise to answer hypocrites, otherwise those that are docible. |
2. In another case; in other circumstances; if the case be not so; if not; else.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 74 For otherwise she scholde have failed, If that he had noght travailed. a 1425 Cursor M. 23505 (Trin.) Oþerwise is not synne forȝyuen But to bete hit whil we may lyuen. 1552 Bk. Com. Prayer Communion, Otherwyse the receiuing of the holy Communion, doth nothyng els but encrease your damnacion. 1611 Bible Matt. vi. 1 Take heed that ye doe not your almes before men,..otherwise yee haue no reward of your father which is in heauen. 1790 Cook's Voy. V. 1685 Enabled them to perform a journey of three or four leagues, which, otherwise, they must have perished before they could have accomplished. 1846 Trench Mirac. xxxii. (1862) 448 We learn, what perhaps otherwise we might have guessed. Mod. I went at once; otherwise I should have missed him. |
3. In other respects; with regard to other points.
| 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. xvi. §6 The best men otherwise are not alwayes the best in regard of societie. 1647 Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. Wks. 1836 II. 371 By the report of persons otherwise pious and prudent. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 24 Having otherwise no reason to suspect them. 1857 Buckle Civiliz. I. ii. 45, I will give one instance of this from an otherwise sensible writer. |
† 4. On the other hand. Obs. rare.
| 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 2 b, A skilfull artificer maie sone put the vain Sophister to silence..Whereas otherwise an argumente made by the rules of Logike can not bee auoided. 1673 Vain Insolency of Rome 35 And otherwise the people could observe him advanced..a cubit above the earth. |
C. Adjectival uses.
1. Predicatively, approaching an adj.: In another state or condition; differently conditioned or existing; not so; different; other.
| c 1400 Chaucer's Melib. ¶99 (Harl. MS.) Whan þe þing semeþ oþerwise [Gg. 4. 27 othir wyse, Petw. oþer wise, Lansd. oþerewise; Ellesm. etc. ootherweyes, etc.] þan it was biforn. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxx. 238, I byleue the mater be other wyse than he hath sayd. c 1680 Hickeringill Hist. Whiggism i. Wks. 1716 I. 20 Scholars are like other Men, some are wise, and some are otherwise. 1736 Mandeville World Unmasked 380 The matter is quite other⁓wise. 1844 Ld. Macaulay Speeches 320 Can an Established Church which has no hold on..the people be otherwise than useless? 1879 M. Arnold Mixed Ess. 192 Only one or two sentences I could wish otherwise. |
2. as adj. That would otherwise be{ddd}; that would otherwise exist.
| 1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 51 At the table aboue all others their otherwise equals. 1892 D. A. Clarke in A. E. Lee Hist. Columb. (Ohio) II. 650 Stone crosses..give a decided relief to their otherwise dullness. |
D. Comb., as otherwise-minded adj.; hence otherwise-mindedness.
| [1611 Bible Phil. iii. 15 If in any thing ye be otherwise minded.] 1865 Lowell New Eng. Two Cent. Ago Pr. Wks. 1890 II. 23 One of the jarring atoms in a chaos of otherwise-mindedness. 1889 ― Walton Latest Lit. Ess. (1891) 72 Many-membered periods which in unskilful hands become otherwise-minded as a herd of swine. |
Hence ˈotherwiseness (nonce-wd.), condition or quality of being otherwise.
| 1890 J. H. Stirling Gifford Lect. vi. 103 The other, as the difference, the otherwiseness, is just as it is named. |