Adjacent Words

Our definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

OUR, a.
1. Pertaining or belonging to us; as our country; our rights; our troops.
2. Ours, which is primarily the possessive case of our, is never used as an adjective, but as a substitute for the adjective and the noun to which it belongs. Your house is on a plain; ours is on a hill. This is good English, but certainly ours must be the nominative to is, or it has none.
Their organs are better disposed than ours for receiving grateful impressions from sensible objects.
Here ours stands in the place of our organs, and cannot, in conformity with any rule of construction, be in the possessive case.
The same thing was done by them in suing in their courts, which is now done by us in suing in ours.

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English oure, from Old English ?re; akin to Old High German uns?r our, Old English ?s us Date: before 12th century of or relating to us or ourselves or ourself especially as possessors or possessor, agents or agent, or objects or object of an action <our throne> <our actions> <our being chosen>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

poss.pron. (attrib.) 1 of or belonging to us or ourselves (our house; our own business). 2 of or belonging to all people (our children's future). 3 (esp. as Our) of Us the king or queen, emperor or empress, etc. (given under Our seal). 4 of us, the editorial staff of a newspaper etc. (a foolish adventure in our view). 5 Brit. colloq. indicating a relative, acquaintance, or colleague of the speaker (our Barry works there). Phrases and idioms: Our Father 1 the Lord's Prayer. 2 God. Our Lady the Virgin Mary. Our Lord 1 Jesus Christ. 2 God. Our Saviour Jesus Christ. Etymology: OE ure orig. genit. pl. of 1st pers. pron. = of us, later treated as possessive adj.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

We We (w[=e]), pron.; pl. of I. [Poss. Our (our) or Ours (ourz); obj. Us ([u^]s). See I.] [As. w[=e]; akin to OS. w[=i], OFries. & LG. wi, D. wij, G. wir, Icel. v[=e]r, Sw. & Dan. vi, Goth. weis, Skr. vayam. [root]190.] The plural nominative case of the pronoun of the first person; the word with which a person in speaking or writing denotes a number or company of which he is one, as the subject of an action expressed by a verb. Note: We is frequently used to express men in general, including the speaker. We is also often used by individuals, as authors, editors, etc., in speaking of themselves, in order to avoid the appearance of egotism in the too frequent repetition of the pronoun I. The plural style is also in use among kings and other sovereigns, and is said to have been begun by King John of England. Before that time, monarchs used the singular number in their edicts. The German and the French sovereigns followed the example of King John in a. d. 1200.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Our Our, possessive pron. [AS. ?re our, of us; akin to ?s us, to us, and to G. unser our, of us, Goth. unsara. [root]186 See Us.] Of or pertaining to us; belonging to us; as, our country; our rights; our troops; our endeavors. See I. The Lord is our defense. --Ps. lxxxix. 18. Note: When the noun is not expressed, ours is used in the same way as hers for her, yours for your, etc.; as, whose house is that? It is ours. Our wills are ours, we known not how. --Tennyson.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

I I ([imac]), pron. [poss. My (m[imac]) or Mine (m[imac]n); object. Me (m[=e]). pl. nom. We (w[=e]); poss. Our (our) or Ours (ourz); object. Us ([u^]s).] [OE. i, ich, ic, AS. ic; akin to OS. & D. ik, OHG. ih, G. ich, Icel. ek, Dan. jeg, Sw. jag, Goth. ik, OSlav. az', Russ. ia, W. i, L. ego, Gr. 'egw`, 'egw`n, Skr. aham. [root]179. Cf. Egoism.] The nominative case of the pronoun of the first person; the word with which a speaker or writer denotes himself.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. Note: 'Our' is the first person plural possessive determiner. 1. You use our to indicate that something belongs or relates both to yourself and to one or more other people. We're expecting our first baby... I locked myself out of our apartment and had to break in... DET 2. A speaker or writer sometimes uses our to indicate that something belongs or relates to people in general. We are all entirely responsible for our actions, and for our reactions. DET