EITHER (2)

Ei″ther, conj. Either precedes two, or more, coördinate words or phrases, and is introductory to an alternative. It is correlative to or. Either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth. 1 Kings xviii. 27. Few writers hesitate to use either in what is called a triple alternative; such as, We must either stay where we are, proceed, or recede. Latham. ☞ Either was formerly sometimes used without any correlation, and where we should now use or. Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? James iii. 12.