Wordnet 3.0
ADVERB (1)
1.
after a negative statement used as an intensive meaning something like `likewise';
or `also';
- Example: "he isn't stupid, but he isn't exactly a genius either"- Example: "I don't know either"- Example: "if you don't order dessert I won't either"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Either \Ei"ther\ ([=e]"[th][~e]r or [imac]"[th][~e]r; 277), a. &
pron. [OE. either, aither, AS. [=ae]g[eth]er,
[=ae]ghw[ae][eth]er (akin to OHG. [=e]ogiwedar, MHG.
iegeweder); [=a] + ge + hw[ae][eth]er whether. See Each,
and Whether, and cf. Or, conj.]
1. One of two; the one or the other; -- properly used of two
things, but sometimes of a larger number, for any one.
[1913 Webster]
Lepidus flatters both,
Of both is flattered; but he neither loves,
Nor either cares for him. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Scarce a palm of ground could be gotten by either of
the three. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
There have been three talkers in Great British,
either of whom would illustrate what I say about
dogmatists. --Holmes.
[1913 Webster]
2. Each of two; the one and the other; both; -- formerly,
also, each of any number.
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His flowing hair
In curls on either cheek played. --Milton.
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On either side . . . was there the tree of life.
--Rev. xxii.
2.
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The extreme right and left of either army never
engaged. --Jowett
(Thucyd).
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Either \Ei"ther\, conj.
Either precedes two, or more, co["o]rdinate words or phrases,
and is introductory to an alternative. It is correlative to
or.
[1913 Webster]
Either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a
journey, or peradventure he sleepeth. --1 Kings
xviii. 27.
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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.
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Note: Either was formerly sometimes used without any
correlation, and where we should now use or.
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Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive
berries? either a vine, figs? --James iii.
12.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
either
adv 1: after a negative statement used as an intensive meaning
something like `likewise' or `also'; "he isn't stupid,
but he isn't exactly a genius either"; "I don't know
either"; "if you don't order dessert I won't either"