Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Or \Or\, prep. & adv. [AS. ?r ere, before. [root]204. See {Ere},
   prep. & adv.]
   Ere; before; sooner than. [Obs.]

         But natheless, while I have time and space, Or that I
         forther in this tale pace.               --Chaucer.

   {Or ever}, {Or ere}. See under {Ever}, and {Ere}.

Ever \Ev"er\adv. [OE. ever, [ae]fre, AS. [ae]fre; perh. akin to
   AS. [=a] always. Cf. {Aye}, {Age},{Evry}, {Never}.]
   [Sometimes contracted into {e'er}.]
   1. At any time; at any period or point of time.

            No man ever yet hated his own flesh.  --Eph. v. 29.

   2. At all times; through all time; always; forever.

            He shall ever love, and always be The subject of by
            scorn and cruelty.                    --Dryder.

   3. Without cessation; continually.

   Note: Ever is sometimes used as an intensive or a word of
         enforcement. ``His the old man e'er a son?'' --Shak.

               To produce as much as ever they can. --M. Arnold.

   {Ever and anon}, now and then; often. See under {Anon}.

   {Ever is one}, continually; constantly. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

   {Ever so}, in whatever degree; to whatever extent; -- used to
      intensify indefinitely the meaning of the associated
      adjective or adverb. See {Never so}, under {Never}. ``Let
      him be ever so rich.'' --Emerson.

            And all the question (wrangle e'er so long), Is only
            this, if God has placed him wrong.    --Pope.

            You spend ever so much money in entertaining your
            equals and betters.                   --Thackeray.

   {For ever}, eternally. See {Forever}.

   {For ever and a day}, emphatically forever. --Shak.

            She [Fortune] soon wheeled away, with scornful
            laughter, out of sight for ever and day. --Prof.
                                                  Wilson.

   {Or ever} (for or ere), before. See {Or}, {ere}. [Archaic]

            Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I
            had seen that day, Horatio!           --Shak.

   Note: Ever is sometimes joined to its adjective by a hyphen,
         but in most cases the hyphen is needless; as, ever
         memorable, ever watchful, ever burning.