Whether

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Whether \Wheth"er\, conj.
     In case; if; -- used to introduce the first or two or more
     alternative clauses, the other or others being connected by
     or, or by or whether. When the second of two alternatives is
     the simple negative of the first it is sometimes only
     indicated by the particle not or no after the correlative,


     and sometimes it is omitted entirely as being distinctly
     implied in the whether of the first.
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           And now who knows
           But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?    --Shak.
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           You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest
           judge.                                   --Shak.
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           For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether
           we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live
           therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.    --Rom. xiv. 8.
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           But whether thus these things, or whether not;
           Whether the sun, predominant in heaven,
           Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun, . . .
           Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid. --Milton.
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     {Whether or no}, in either case; in any case; as, I will go
        whether or no.
  
     {Whether that}, whether. --Shak.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Whether \Wheth"er\, pron. [OE. whether, AS. hw[ae]?er; akin to
     OS. hwe?ar, OFries. hweder, OHG. hwedar, wedar, G. weder,
     conj., neither, Icel. hv[=a]rr whether, Goth. hwa?ar, Lith.
     katras, L. uter, Gr. ?, ?, Skr. katara, from the
     interrogatively pronoun, in AS. hw[=a] who. ????. See {Who},
     and cf. {Either}, {Neither}, {Or}, conj.]
     Which (of two); which one (of two); -- used interrogatively
     and relatively. [Archaic]
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           Now choose yourself whether that you liketh. --Chaucer.
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           One day in doubt I cast for to compare
           Whether in beauties' glory did exceed.   --Spenser.
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           Whether of them twain did the will of his father?
                                                    --Matt. xxi.
                                                    31.
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