else, adv.
(ɛls)
Forms: 1–6 elles, (2 helles, Orm. elless, 3–4 ? el(le, 4 eles), 4 ellez, 4–5 ellus, 4–6 ellis, -ys, (4 hellis), 4–7 ells, els, 6– else.
[OE. ęlles = OHG. elles, alles, OSw. äljes (Sw. eljest), adverbial use of the genit. case neuter (= Goth. aljis:— OTeut. *aljeso) of OTeut. *aljo- other (whence OE. ęl- in compounds: see elelendish) = L. alius.
Senses 1 and 2 appear to arise from phrases in which the word retained its original force as an adj. used absol.; senses 3–5 are prob. strictly adverbial genitives.]
1. a. A synonym of other, used in connexion with indef., rel., or interrog. pronouns, or with words or phrases equivalent to any of these, such as anything, nothing, everything, anybody, some one; also with all (absol.), much, little, a great deal. (In mod. language else follows the pronominal word or phrase.) In this use else, like its synonym other, admits contextually of two different interpretations: e.g. something else may mean ‘something in addition’ to what is mentioned, or ‘something as an alternative or a substitute’. In the former case else may be replaced by besides, further, more; in the latter case it may sometimes be rendered by different, instead, with that exception, etc. Often (like other) followed by but (see but 5 b.) or than.
In OE. elles, as thus used, admits of being construed, in accordance with its etymology, as a neut. adj. in gen. case; e.g. áwiht elles (aught else) is lit. ‘aught of other’, cf. áwuht gódes (Metr. Boeth. xxv. 59) lit. ‘anything of good’; also Lat. quid novi, amari aliquid, Fr. quelquechose de bon. The extension of this construction seen in phrases like anyone else, who else, etc., and in the examples under 1 b, may be compared with Fr. il n'y a personne de blessé; voilà trois hommes de mort, etc. It is however probable that even in OE. the consciousness of the genitival character of else was already obscured; and from the standpoint of mod. usage, it is hard to say whether the word should be regarded as an adj. in concord with the words that from the point of view of historical grammar would be said to ‘govern’ it, or whether it should be classed as an adverb.
| a 1000 Seafarer (Gr.) 46 Ne biþ him to hearpan hyge.. ne ymbe owiht elles nefne, etc. c 1200 Ormin 9304 Nohht elless ne nohht mare Þann þatt tatt ȝuw iss sett. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 4096 Alle elles he driuen in deades weph. a 1300 Cursor M. 13471 (Cott.) Þis he said..To fand him and nathing elles. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1550 For to haf wonnen hym to woȝe, what-so scho þoȝt ellez. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1072 Þe world..es noght elles, Bot þe maners of men þat þar-in dwelles. 1532 G. Hervet tr. Xenophon's Househ. (1768) 55 Shall he nede any thynge elles. 1535 Coverdale Zeph. ii. 15, I am, and there is els none. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. Ded. 6 Were there nothing else to commend Religion to the minds of men. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 II. 38 What do they else, but scrape and scramble..for these things? 1705 Addison Italy Pref., Antiquities that no Body else has spoken of. 1842 Tennyson Audley Court, Emilia, fairer than all else but thou, For thou art fairer than all else that is. 1879 Stainer Music of Bible 2 Singing is little else than a highly beautiful speaking. |
b. In the same sense, referring to a n., chiefly preceded by an adj. correlative with one of the pronouns, etc. mentioned in 1. Formerly common; now only poet. or arch.
Modern usage permits us to say ‘Have you seen anybody else?’ ‘have you read anything else?’ because body and thing have lost their substantival force; but not ‘Have you seen any soldier else?’ ‘have you read any book else?’
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 39 Hwylc beren mænde he þonne elles buton heofona rice? 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 1017 Þo bostful dedeus..Schal ȝou procre to pryde & to no profit ellus. 1538 Bale God's Promises in Dodsley (1780) I. 25 The adders ded stynge other wycked persones els In wonderfull numbre. 1577 T. Vautrollier Luther on Ep. Gal. 92 Sharpe chidings and bitter wordes are as necessary..as any other vertue els. 1613 Purchas Pilgr., Descr. India (1864) 19 Hee is Lord of all nor hath any else possession of any thing, but at the will of the King. 1615 Chapman Odyss. xvii. 186 By force She kept his person from all else recourse. 1803 Wordsworth Airey-Force Valley Wks. VI. 33 Where all things else are still and motionless. 1827 Pollok Course T. x, This silence..Was now forgot, and every silence else. |
† c. elliptically. Something, anything else; ‘otherwise’. Obs.
| 1525 Tale of the Basyn 2 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 44 Summe byn trew and sum byn ellis. 1571 in W. H. Turner Select Rec. Oxford 339 Noe freman of the Cytie, beyng baker or els. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 276 Bastards, and else. |
d. Forming a quasi-compound n. with inflected genitive: somebody else's (anybody else's, everybody else's, some one else's, any one else's, every one else's) else's. Very common colloq.
| 1668 Pepys Diary 9 Dec., My..pleasure was just the same as yesterday, and no more, nor anybody else's about us. 1860 Sat. Rev. IX. 12/1 A clergyman who is inclined to misconduct himself will prefer to do so in somebody else's parish. Mod. If it be not my business, it is nobody else's. |
2. Subjoined to one of the advbs. or adverbial expressions correlative with the pronouns, etc. mentioned in 1: = ‘in (some, any, what, etc.) other manner, place, or time’.
| c 1200 Ormin 8471 Seldenn owwhær elless. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. vii. 32 Groundid sumwhere ellis. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 19. §11 Wher he then shalbe most conversaunte..& no wher elles. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Pref. 2 Are than and neuer els. 1827 Pollok Course T. iii, Sinks—where could he else?—to endless woe. 1878 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 199 Here more than anywhere else. |
† 3. a. In a different manner, by other means. Obs.
| Beowulf 2520 (Gr.) Gif ic wiste hu wið ðam aᵹlæcean elles ic meahte ȝylpe wið gripan. c 1000 ælfric Gram. 38 Aliter, elles. c 1200 Ormin Ded. 107 He ne maȝȝ nohht elless Onn Ennglish writtenn rihht te word. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ii. 174 Þe same mesure þat ȝe meteþ amys oþer ellys. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. v. in Ashm. 148 For Bodies ells may not be alterat naturally. |
† b. In another direction; = elsewhither. Obs.
| c 1320 Sir Tristr. 2139 Of lond ichil elles fare. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. ii. 125 Since the substance of your perfect selfe is else deuoted, I am but a shadow. |
† c. At another time, or at other times. Hence, Already, formerly. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. i. 89 In lentene, and elles. c 1400 Mandeville xi. 125 On the Saturday, hyt renneth faste; and alle the Wooke elles, hyt stondeth stylle. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. vi. 136 Contrar hys kene dartis ellis stand haue we. 1597 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 1491 Did he not els, quod he, consent the cherrie for to pow? 1691 Ray N.C. Words 24, I have done that else, i.e. already. Mod. Sc. Have you come back else? |
4. a. In another case, under other circumstances; otherwise, on any other supposition; if not.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. vi. 1 Elles næbbe ᵹe mede mid eowrum Fæder þe on heofenum ys. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 111 Elles ne bið his rixlunge ne fest ne lonsum. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3072 Beter ist laten hem vt-pharen, Al sal egipte elles for-faren. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 451 El [v.r. elles] yt were amys. c 1400 Mandeville xxii. 241 And elle he rytt in a Charett with 4 Wheles. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 19 Strangle her, els she sure will strangle thee. 1642 Rogers Naaman 89 The land certainly had..vomited them out else. 1765 H. Walpole Otranto v. (1798) 80 It comes to warn your highness; why should it appear to me else? 1837 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 3) I. v. 115 Else how should any one be saved? 1873 Browning Red Cott. Nt.-Cap 115 Boughs above, Darken, deform the path, else sun would streak. |
b. preceded by or. Also or else, with aposiopesis (the alternative to be imagined), as a colloq. form of warning or threat.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9715 Or ells agh dom be cald a-gain. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 723 Bot he com þyder ryȝt as a chylde, Oþer ellez neuer more com þer-inne. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 480 Oþers elles Satan him-self sente hem fro hell. c 1440 Generydes 2732 The helm was sure, or ellys he had hym slayn. 1555 Tract in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xliv. 126 Make your hearts pure or els your prayers are sin. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 208 Speak fair words, or else be mute. 1659 Hammond On Ps. xlviii. 13 Annot. 249 Or els it will be impossible to number them exactly. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xii, Follow me, child, or else these stones will be thy bier. 1833 Examiner 6 Jan. 1/2 The Chronicle puts a case in strict analogy:—Suppose a landlord were to say to his tenant, ‘I have got a cause coming on at Chelmsford Assizes; you must give me your pledge to be there as a witness, and swear to such and such a falsehood, or else..’ 1872 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 323 The tunnel should be owned by the mines..or else it should be constructed upon some agreement. 1879 J. McCarthy Hist. our own Times II. 275 Correspondence..between two Irish chieftains. ‘Pay me my tribute,’ wrote the one, ‘or else!’ 1940 Harrisson & Madge War begins at Home viii. 205 Air-Raid Wardens..could knock on your door and tell you that your lights must be properly masked or else. 1958 M. Dickens Man Overboard xiii. 196 You've been engaged to make this small-boys' penitentiary show a profit, or else. 1959 J. Verney Friday's Tunnel vi. 61 If I do..have children..they'll jolly well obey me and no argument. Or else. |
c. idiomatically. = ‘If it is not believed’. Now rare or dial.
| 1590 Greene Orl. Fur. (1599) 28, I am Orgalio, Aske all these people else. 1595 Shakes. John iv. i. 108 The fire is dead with griefe, See else your selfe. 1741 Richardson Pamela II. 108 Shew her else, Madam. 1809 Parkins Culpepper's Eng. Physic. Enl. 245 St. Peter being the greater Apostle, ask the Pope else. |
d. qualifying an adj. rhetorical.
| 1800–24 Campbell Ode Burns iii, Love..The choicest sweet of Paradise, In life's else bitter cup distill'd. 1839 De Quincey Recoll. Lakes Wks. II. 222 Carrying the reader fluently along the else monotonous recurrences. 1871 Hawthorne Sept. Felton (1879) 191 To wander with her through places else so desolate. |
† 5. quasi-conj. If only, provided that, so long as. Obs. (Cf. Ger. anders in same sense.)
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 466 Þe rauen..reches ful lyttel How alle fodez þer fare, ellez he fynde mete. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 215 Ellez þou wyl diȝt me þe dom to dele hym an oþer. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, St. Paulus 903 Ellis þat till our saweoure Þe will of þe mane knawyne be. |