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Fine Dictionary

option

ˈɔpʃən
WordNet
View of one of the four walls of a room, with various numbered storage options in the wall. In the center a fireplace and a chair. In the foreground a dog and a cat with a dead bird.
View of one of the four walls of a room, with various numbered storage options in the wall. In the center a fireplace and a chair. In the foreground a dog and a cat with a dead bird.
  1. (n) option
    the act of choosing or selecting "your choice of colors was unfortunate","you can take your pick"
  2. (n) option
    one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen "what option did I have?","there no other alternative","my only choice is to refuse"
  3. (n) option
    the right to buy or sell property at an agreed price; the right is purchased and if it is not exercised by a stated date the money is forfeited
Illustrations
View of one of the four walls of a room, with various storage options in the wall. Behind the open door a bed.
View of one of the four walls of a room, with various storage options in the wall. Behind the open door a bed.
View of one of the four walls of a room, with various numbered storage options in the wall. Books are stored in the wall cabinets. To the left a desk with several books; on the right a cabinet. In the middle an entrance door to the garden.
View of one of the four walls of a room, with various numbered storage options in the wall. Books are stored in the wall cabinets. To the left a desk with several books; on the right a cabinet. In the middle an entrance door to the garden.
View of one of the four walls of a room, with various numbered storage options in and on the wall. On the left a telescope and on the right a globe. On a table an armillary and a measuring instrument.
View of one of the four walls of a room, with various numbered storage options in and on the wall. On the left a telescope and on the right a globe. On a table an armillary and a measuring instrument.
Western courtyard with dividing walls for additional exhibition options. The courtyard just before a thorough overhaul and reorganization between 1930 and 1933. The space is cleared out. There are all kinds of tile pictures on the floor. In the right-hand courtyard, the arrangement and restoration of paneling and building fragments had progressed gradually. The plans had to be changed because of the very extensive loan from Sir Arthur Isaac, consisting of a collection of approximately 700 Dutch tile pictures.
Western courtyard with dividing walls for additional exhibition options. The courtyard just before a thorough overhaul and reorganization between 1930 and 1933. The space is cleared out. There are all kinds of tile pictures on the floor. In the right-hand courtyard, the arrangement and restoration of paneling and building fragments had progressed gradually. The plans had to be changed because of the very extensive loan from Sir Arthur Isaac, consisting of a collection of approximately 700 Dutch tile pictures.
A soul in purgatory prays for mercy and an angel points to the two options: heaven or hell. Below the image is a quote from the Bible, Job 19, in three languages.
A soul in purgatory prays for mercy and an angel points to the two options: heaven or hell. Below the image is a quote from the Bible, Job 19, in three languages.
Western courtyard with dividing walls for additional exhibition options. There are all kinds of tile pictures on the floor. In the right-hand courtyard, the arrangement and restoration of paneling and building fragments had progressed gradually. The plans had to be changed because of the very extensive loan from Sir Arthur Isaac, consisting of a collection of approximately 700 Dutch tile pictures. Eastern courtyard. The courtyard is being thoroughly renovated, for which the space here is being cleared.
Western courtyard with dividing walls for additional exhibition options. There are all kinds of tile pictures on the floor. In the right-hand courtyard, the arrangement and restoration of paneling and building fragments had progressed gradually. The plans had to be changed because of the very extensive loan from Sir Arthur Isaac, consisting of a collection of approximately 700 Dutch tile pictures. Eastern courtyard. The courtyard is being thoroughly renovated, for which the space here is being cleared.
In purgatory a soul prays for mercy. An angel points to the two options: heaven or hell.
In purgatory a soul prays for mercy. An angel points to the two options: heaven or hell.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Interesting fact
In most places, when a drawbridge is open, the only land vehicle that can claim priority over boats is a truck hauling the US mail. This option is seldom if ever exercised, of course.
  1. Option
    (Ch. of Eng) A right formerly belonging to an archbishop to select any one dignity or benefice in the gift of a suffragan bishop consecrated or confirmed by him, for bestowal by himself when next vacant; -- annulled by Parliament in 1845.
  2. Option
    A wishing; a wish.
  3. Option
    The exercise of the power of choice; choice. "Transplantation must proceed from the option of the people, else it sounds like an exile."
  4. Option
    The power of choosing; the right of choice or election; an alternative. "There is an option left to the United States of America, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a nation."
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  1. (n) option
    Choice; wish; preference; election.
  2. (n) option
    The power or liberty of choosing; the right or power of choice; the opportunity of electing or selecting an alternative or one of several lines of conduct; the power of deciding on a course of action: as, that is not left in my option; it is at your option to take it or leave it.
  3. (n) option
    In Eng. canon law, the right, now obsolete, which an archbishop formerly had, on consecrating a bishop, of selecting a benefice in the bishop's diocese for one of his own chaplains.
  4. (n) option
    On stock and other exchanges, a privilege, secured by the payment of a certain premium or consideration, either of calling for the delivery, or
  5. (n) option
    of making delivery, of a certain specified amount of some particular stock or kind of produce, at a specified price, and within specified limits of time. The first kind of option is usually designated a call, and the second a put; but both are sometimes called futures.
  6. (n) option
    A wishing; a wish.
  7. (n) option
    Synonyms Option, Choice, Preference, Election. Option is the right of choice, the freedom to choose between two or more: as, “there is no option,”
  8. (n) option
    Choice is primarily the act of choosing, but, by extension, may be the same as option: as, he gave him the choice. Preference is primarily the state of mind determining the choice, and secondarily the act of choosing. Election emphasizes the leaving of some while choosing others. Choice and preference may apply to that which is chosen; the others not.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  1. (n) Option
    op′shun act of choosing: power of choosing or wishing: wish
Quotations
Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
M Kathleen Casey
Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.
Karen Kaiser Clark
It horrifies me that ethics is only an optional extra at Harvard Business School.
Sir John Harvey
Failure is not an option.
Apollo 13 Movie
When a person acts without knowledge of what he thinks, feels, needs or wants, he does not yet have the option of choosing to act differently.
Clark Moustakas
Strategic planning will help you fully uncover your available options, set priorities for them, and define the methods to achieve them.
Robert J. Mckain
Idioms

Keep your options open - If someone's keeping their options open, they aren't going to restrict themselves or rule out any possible course of action.

Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary L. optio,; akin to optare, to choose, wish, optimus, best, and perh. to E. apt,: cf. F. option,

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary L. optio, optionis—optāre, to choose.

Usage in the news

Even if he planned on using two quarterbacks, James Madison coach Mickey Matthews won't have the option. 2.timesdispatch.com

Steel Cut Oatmeal slow cooked, fruit & spice- infused with toasted almonds (optional) milk 5. nymag.com

The long dirt path has a few optional routes and some extremely big drop-offs. 4wheeloffroad.com

When Tal Soltz set out to design a reusable water bottle, dissatisfied with the clunky and chunky options on the market, she refused to compromise aesthetics to be environmentally friendly. dwell.com

You've got a few options for nighttime running. mensjournal.com

RPS offers variety of preschool, child care options. rockfordsquire.com

Add 'Cut' and ' Bleep ' To a DVD's Options. nytimes.com

Shrimp is just one of the options for your B's po-boy. ibj.com

Skiing and snowboarding destination Mount Bohemia is weighing its options due to a crack in a tooth in the gearbox that has shut down the triple chairlift. mininggazette.com

There are just too many options, and you can only enjoy so many a day. dallasobserver.com

BOMA to consider children's home option. columbiadailyherald.com

Wireless Speakers Offer More Compatibility Options. blackenterprise.com

Our mayor's preferred option for viaduct replacement would have patently screwed over truckers. seattleweekly.com

As more companies decide to freeze their traditional pension plans, it's important to view the pros and cons of the frozen-plan option -- and make sure the right communication strategy is in place should you choose it. hreonline.com

If you're going to attack the hardest of targets, you've got two options: go for the weak spot, like the Air Force's Portal Defeat program does. blog.wired.com

Usage in scientific papers

This tutorial will provide (scientific) rationale for selecting options along with way.
A GRB Tool Shed

Side-lemmas 2, 5, 6 and 7 follow from an estimate on the overshooting of level h by the processes Yt and Zt stopped at σh ∧ ω , respectively, τh and from optional stopping arguments.
No more than three favourite sites for simple random walk

The optional conditions are Caml expressions following the keyword when.
From Syntactic Theories to Interpreters: A Specification Language and Its Compilation

Another option is that the scalar field gets a bulk potential.
Fine-Tuning of the Cosmological Constant in Brane Worlds

Condition c) gives us two options with regard to the surface S (Γ).
Bicomplex algebra and function theory

Usage in literature

I would hold an option of taking over the business on ninety days' notice. "Burned Bridges" by Bertrand W. Sinclair

At the end of that time, he declared, I would become either a pauper or his heir, at my option. "Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad" by Edith Van Dyne

This collar is made in portions, and joined together with needle and thread, or worked together with one plain at the option of the worker. "The Ladies' Work-Book" by Unknown

Allcraft hired it at once for one month certain, reserving to himself the option of continuing it for any further period. "Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843" by Various

Only two days of his option remained and therefore delay would be fatal. "The Furnace of Gold" by Philip Verrill Mighels

I don't know just yet how much it is goin' to take to capitalize you, but here's ten dollars for an option. "The Skipper and the Skipped" by Holman Day

Wherever it is placed, we have the option of seven squares for the second rook in the second row. "Amusements in Mathematics" by Henry Ernest Dudeney

But a priest has no option when an expression of matrimonial consent is made to him in the presence of two witnesses. "Jacqueline of Golden River" by H. M. Egbert

Perhaps this opposition of authority may give the court an option between the two. "Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson" by Thomas Jefferson

It was to be left optional to other Churches to follow the example. "The English Church in the Eighteenth Century" by Charles J. Abbey and John H. Overton

Usage in poetry
"Her spouse was her lackey—no option
'Twixt wedlock and worse things;
A lapse over-sad for a lady
Of her pedigree!"
"My Cicely" by Thomas Hardy Author object (646)
Cou'd I my option have —— my soul
Wou'd chuse in Hell's fierce flames to roll,
Before it to God's bar wou'd mount,
For its misdeeds, there to account!
"The Unhappy State Of The Ungodly, After Death" by Rees Prichard
Who digs the mine or quarry, digs with glee;
No slave!—His option and his gain are free:
Him the same laws the same protection yield,
Who plows the furrow, as who owns the field.
"Of Public Spirit In Regard To Public Works: An Epistle, To His Royal Highness Frederick Prince of Wa" by Richard Savage
I do not know, nor do I give a whoop,
But this I know: if she is so inclined
She can come play with me on our back stoop,
Even in office hours, I do not mind -
In fact I know I'm nice and good and ready
To get an option on her as my steady.
"The Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum" by Wallace Irwin