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. &fist; 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.
Ei"ther (ē"&thlig;&etilde;r or ī"&thlig;&etilde;r; 277),
a. & pron. [OE. either, aither, AS.
&aemacr;gðer,
&aemacr;ghwæðer
(akin to OHG.
ēogiwedar, MHG. iegeweder); ā + ge + hwæðer 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. Lepidus flatters both,
Of both is flattered; but he neither loves,
Nor either cares for him. Shak. Scarce a palm
of ground could be gotten by either of the three. Bacon. There have been three talkers in Great British, either of whom would
illustrate what I say about
dogmatists. Holmes. 2. Each of two; the one and the other; both; -- formerly, also, each of
any number.
His flowing hair
In curls on either cheek played. Milton.
On either
side . . . was there the tree of life. Rev. xxii. 2.
The extreme right and left of either army never engaged.
Jowett (Thucyd).
Quotes From Classical Literature on 'either'You can hear pronunciation of the quotes if you click on  . The sound files tend to be pretty big.
 And neuer see the Louure
Lou. They must either
( For so run the Conditions) leaue those remnants
Of Foole and Feather, that they got in France,
With all their honourable points of ignorance
Pertaining thereunto; as Fights and Fire-workes,
Abusing better men then they can be
geographical character. For though the plains and plateaus could be
crossed by the trunk-roads, the rest of the country is so broken up by
mountain and valley that it presented few facilities either to foreign
penetration or to external control. The physical barriers to local
intercourse, reinforced by striking differences in soil, altitude, and
climate, while they precluded Syria herself from attaining national
unity, always tended to protect her separate provinces, or "kingdoms,"
from the full effects of foreign aggression. One city- state could be
had helped Mrs. Shlessinger in the nursing of the convalescent
saint. He spent his day, as the manager described it to me, upon
a lounge- chair on the veranda, with an attendant lady upon either
side of him. He was preparing a map of the Holy Land, with
special reference to the kingdom of the Midianites, upon which he
was writing a monograph. Finally, having improved much in
health, he and his wife had returned to London, and Lady Frances
had started thither in their company. This was just three weeks
that his culture of ideal beauty had never brought him a penny. His
poverty, I supposed, was his motive for n either inviting me to his
lodging nor mentioning its whereabouts. We met either in some public
place or at my hotel, where I entertained him as freely as I might
without appearing to be prompted by charity. He seemed always
hungry, and this was his nearest approach to human grossness. I made
a point of asking no impertinent questions, but, each time we met, I
ventured to make some respectful allusion to the magnum opus, to
Society might enter into competition with it. But a large
proportion of Mr. Darwin' s critics had a lamentable resemblance
to the ' Quarterly' reviewer, in so far as they lacked either the
will, or the wit, to make themselves masters of his doctrine;
hardly any possessed the knowledge required to follow him through
the immense range of biological and geological science which the
' Origin' covered; while, too commonly, they had prejudiced the
case on theological grounds, and, as seems to be inevitable when
drastic measures which were afterward adopted by Congress over
the President' s vetoes, would have been in a very large degree
avoided, and THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO IMPEACHMENT-- either of Mr.
Lincoln had he lived, or of Mr. Johnson after him.
It was the misfortune of the time, and of the occasion, which
determined Mr. Lincoln to institute a plan of restoration during
the interim of Congress, that the Republican party, then in
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