What does "other" mean?
Other: Different from that which, or the one who, has been specified; not the same; not identical; additional; second of two. Each of them made other for to win. Chaucer. Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matt. v.
Additional senses
- 2.2. Not this, but the contrary; opposite; as, the other side of a river.
- 3.Alternate; second; -- used esp. in connection with every; as, every other day, that is, each alternate day, every second day.
- 4.Left, as opposed to right. [Obs.] A distaff in her other hand she had. Spenser. Note: Other is a correlative adjective, or adjective pronoun, often in contrast with one, some, that, this, etc. The one shall be taken, and the other left. Matt. xxiv. 4 And some fell among thorns . . . but other fell into good ground. Matt. xiii. 7, 8. It is also used, by ellipsis, with a noun, expressed or understood. To write this, or to design the other. Dryden. It is written with the indefinite article as one word, another; is used with each, indicating a reciprocal action or relation; and is employed absolutely, or eliptically for other thing, or other person, in which case it may have a plural. The fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Ps. xlix.
- 5.If he is trimming, others are true. Thackeray. Other is sometimes followed by but, beside, or besides; but oftener by than. No other but such a one as he. Coleridge. Other lords beside thee have had dominion over us. Is. xxvi.
- 6.For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid. 1 Cor. iii.
- 7.The whole seven years of . . . ignominy had been little other than a preparation for this very hour. Hawthorne. Other some, some others. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] -- The other day, at a certain time past, not distant, but indefinite; not long ago; recently; rarely, the third day past. Bind my hair up: as't was yesterday No, nor t' other day. B. Jonson.
- 8.Otherwise. "It shall none other be." Chaucer. "If you think other." Shak.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00