optionn.
/ˈɒpʃn/, U.S. /ˈɑpʃ(ə)n/ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > [noun]
curec1000
custOE
chirec1175
choosingc1200
choice1297
walea1352
dilection1388
election1393
elect1398
choose1430
option1549
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > [noun] > ability to be chosen > that which or one who may be chosen
option1549
alternative1712
eligibilities1790
choice1806
possibility1902
otherwise1982
1549–50 in C. Innes Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (1845) I. 447 Ane berrall salmond..or thre pundis monye at the optioun of the said noble lord.
1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alphabet. Option, choosing or wishing.
c1615 F. Bacon Advice to G. Villiers vii. §2 Plantation..must proceed from the option of the people, else it sounds like an exile.
a1711 T. Ken Hymnarium 73 in Wks. (1721) II. Since, Lord, thou Man didst free create, That Heav'n might Option be, not Fate.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 346 They seem then to have made their option . View more context for this quotation
1854 J. Toulmin Smith Parish 118 This Act may, according to option, be put into operation in any parish, or in any defined part of any parish.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > wishing > [noun] > a wish
wishing1377
wish1390
option1593
would1753
1593 B. Barnes Parthenophil & Parthenophe 42 Vayne wordes which vanish with the cloudes why speake I? And bootlesse options builded with voyde ayer?
a1626 L. Andrewes Serm. (1856) I. 60 For this adoption is the fulness of our option, we cannot extend our wish..any farther.
1662 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 3rd Pt. 377 He adds his holy option, O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness!
c1730 Layman's Def. Christ. 23 (T.) I shall conclude this epistle with a pathetick option, O that men were wise.
3.
a. Power or liberty of choosing: opportunity or freedom of choice.local option: see local adj. and n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > [noun] > power or right of choosing
choicec1374
choosea1400
option1630
1630 Bp. J. Hall Occas. Medit. §lxxxi Might I haue my option, Oh God, giue mee rather a little with peace and loue.
1697 J. Potter Archæologiæ Græcæ I. ii. xi. 262 He gave them their option of two Things.
1755 E. Young Centaur vi, in Wks. (1757) IV. 272 It is, indeed, in man's option, which of these revelations he will admit.
1850 H. Martineau Introd. Hist. Peace II. v. i. 206 He had no option about accepting—his sovereign sent for him, and he must come.
1881 T. H. Huxley Hume i. 7 Hume's option lay between a travelling tutorship and a stool in a merchant's office.
1945 R. Hargreaves Enemy at Gate 230 Osman was left with no option but to submit in unconditional surrender.
1977 Congr. Q. Almanac 381/1 President Carter..had asked Congress to give him the option of going ahead with production and deployment of the enhanced radiation weapons.
1997 Guide to Crofting Acts (Crofters Commission) 1 The Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 1976 gave a crofter the option of acquiring his croft land.
b. spec. The ability to choose a fine as an alternative to a prison sentence; esp. in with (also without) the option (of a fine).
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > judging > sentencing > [phrase] > without the alternative
with (also without) the option (of a fine)1865
1865 Morning Star 28 Jan. 2/5 He would not now give the defendant the option of paying a fine, but would commit him for a month.
1903 ‘T. Collins’ Such is Life iii. 85 He has..words that burn, albeit with such sulphurous fumes that, when uttered in a public place, they frequently render him liable to fourteen days without the option.
1914 E. Pankhurst & R. C. Dorr My Own Story 71 They were given the option of a fine.
1925 P. G. Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves vii. 159 He will serve a sentence of thirty days in the Second Division without the option of a fine.
1995 Europe-Asia Stud. 47 913 The maximum jail term was reduced to three years and the option of a fine was added.
4.
a. Something that is or may be chosen; an alternative, a choice.
ΚΠ
1650 in H. J. F. Swayne Churchwardens' Accts. Sarum (1896) 222 Certeyne houses and options lying in the Close of Sarum.
1745 E. Young Complaint: Night the Eighth 4 He..In Heav'n's Register enrolls The Rise, and Progress, of each Option there.
1824 H. J. Stephen Treat. Princ. Pleading ii. §1. 254 As the party has no option in accepting the issue, when well tendered, and as the similiter may in that case be added for him, the acceptance of the issue when well tendered, may be considered as a mere matter of form.
1885 Guardian 544/1 Under this influence the State University introduced theological options into its arts course.
1971 J. B. Carroll et al. Word Frequency Bk. p. xv This decision was guided by the results of a pilot test undertaken to try out various procedural options for the eventual work on the AHI Corpus.
2000 N.Y. Times 3 Aug. a16 (advt.) Where a woman does not know her HIV status, breastfeeding remains the best option.
b. American Football. A play in which the halfback, fullback, or receiver, having received the ball from the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, chooses whether to pass or run with the ball.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > actions or manoeuvres
rush1857
punt-out1861
goal-kicking1871
safety1879
safety touchdown1879
scrimmage1880
rushing1882
safety touch1884
touchback1884
forward pass1890
run1890
blocking1891
signal1891
fake1893
onside kick1895
tandem-play1895
pass play1896
spiral1896
shift1901
end run1902
straight-arm1903
quarterback sneak1904
runback1905
roughing1906
Minnesota shift1910
quarterbacking1910
snap-back1910
pickoff1912
punt return1914
screen forward pass1915
screen pass1920
power play1921
sneak1921
passback1922
snap1922
defence1923
reverse1924
carry1927
lateral1927
stiff-arm1927
zone1927
zone defence1927
submarine charge1928
squib1929
block1931
pass rushing1933
safetying1933
trap play1933
end-around1934
straight-arming1934
trap1935
mousetrap1936
buttonhook1938
blitzing1940
hand-off1940
pitchout1946
slant1947
strike1947
draw play1948
shovel pass1948
bootleg1949
option1950
red dog1950
red-dogging1951
rollout1951
submarine1952
sleeper pass1954
draw1956
bomb1960
swing pass1960
pass rush1962
blitz1963
spearing1964
onsides kick1965
takeaway1967
quarterback sack1968
smash-mouth1968
veer1968
turn-over1969
bump-and-run1970
scramble1971
sack1972
nose tackle1975
nickel1979
pressure1981
1950 N.Y. Times 27 Nov. 33/1 With Bill Mackrides running brilliantly on bedeviling split-T option plays, the Eagles drove from their 38 to a first down on the Giant 15.
1954 Sun (Baltimore) 25 Nov. 15/4 We couldn't pass enough from it and our quarterbacks couldn't take the pounding on the option play as a steady diet.
1974 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 13 Oct. 1 c/3 He baffled the Badgers with the option run, gaining 146 yards and scoring on runs of 11 and six yards.
1992 Birmingham Post-Herald 8 Sept. c7/1 They called a running play, with quarterback Carl Lawrence faking a handoff up in the middle and rolling out on the option.
c. A supplementary item which may be chosen in addition to (or in place of one of) the standard features of a product, esp. a motor vehicle; an optional extra.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > any separate part > something added beyond basic requirements
option1952
1952 Southern Automobile Jrnl. Nov. 83 (caption) Wire wheels are an extra-cost option.
1966 Automobile Topics Jan. 35/2 From such beginnings the option and accessory business has grown into a huge industry.
1975 Economist 5 Apr. 90/3 If the industry makes smaller, standard cars with less options, it will have to raise the profit margin on them.
1987 Truck June 97/3 The Gardner engine has been relegated to the position of option just two years after its introduction.
d. to keep one's (also the) options open: to avoid committing oneself.
ΚΠ
1968 Science 15 Mar. 1215/1 To keep the options open, the committee would like to see most students taught mathematics until they leave school.
1969 Guardian 14 May 1/2 Mr. Callaghan..is understood to have reserved his decision—or, in the current jargon, ‘kept his options open’.
1973 ‘M. Innes’ Appleby's Answer xxi. 183 You've been most fiendishly clever... You've kept your options open.
1991 Computer Weekly 24 Jan. 5 VMS support for X/Open branding is part of Digital's commitment to help you keep your options open.
5. Anglican Church. The right of an archbishop, on the consecration of a bishop, to choose one benefice within the new bishop's see to be in his own patronage for the next presentation. Now historical.The right was abolished by Act of Parliament in 1845.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > benefice > advowson > [noun] > of archbishop: right of choosing benefice
option1701
1701 in W. Kennett Cowell's Interpreter sig. Llva When a new Suffragan-Bishop is consecrated, the Archbishop..does claim the collation of the first vacant Dignity or Benefice in that See, at his own choice, which is therefore called the Archbishop's Option.
1763 R. Burn Eccl. Law I. 172 In case the bishop dies, or is translated, before the present incumbent of the promotion chosen by the archbishop shall die or be removed, it is generally supposed, that the option is void.
1818 J. Bentham Church-of-Englandism 286 The valuable rectory of Almondsford, on the Severn, in the patronage of the Bishop of Bristol, having just become vacant, but the presentation to it devolving to his Grace, as an option, he has liberally waved his right, on condition that it be annexed to the See in perpetuity.
1988 Hist. Jrnl. 31 976 Thomas Tenison, the archbishop of Canterbury,..had presumably selected the archdeaconry as his option on Trelawny's translation to Winchester.
6.
a. Finance. A right (not an obligation: cf. future n. 6) to execute or to relinquish a commercial transaction within a specified period or at a specified future date on terms fixed when the right is bought; spec. a right to buy or to sell a particular stock, commodity, currency, etc., within a specified time at a specified price.The right to buy is termed a call (call n. 13b) and the right to sell a put (put n.1 4): the right to either is a double option.seller's, traded option: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trading conditions > [noun] > other trade conditions
option1746
market leadership1930
market share1954
society > trade and finance > other trading methods > [noun] > option
option1746
privilege1848
stock option1877
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > specific operations or arrangements
intromission1567
hedginga1631
retiring1681
partnership1704
put1718
time bargain1720
bargain for time1721
option1746
call1825
put and call1826
cornering1841
corner1853
raid1866
pooling1871
squeeze1872
call option1874
recapitalization1874
short squeeze1877
split-up1878
margin call1888
pyramid1888
profit taking1891
pyramiding1895
underwriting1895
melon-cutting1900
round turn1901
market-making1902
put-through1902
put and take1921
round trip1922
put and take1929
leverage1931
split-down1932
switching1932
give-up1934
mark to market1938
recap1940
rollover1947
downtick1954
stock split1955
traded option1955
leg1959
stock splitting1959
rollover1961
split1972
spread betting1972
unitization1974
marking-to-market1981
swap1982
telebroking1984
1746 G. G. Beekman Let. 20 Nov. in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) I. 11 This Serves to Acknowledge the receipt of yours per Brazier with a Trunck of good Amounting Cost and Charges to £70.17.3 Which you Left in My Option to keep or Deliver to Messrs. Martin and Burlin.
1755 N. Magens Ess. Insurances I. 401 The Sum given is called Premium, and the Liberty that the Giver of the Premium has to have the Contract fulfilled or not, is called Option, and the Contracts are made to the Bearer.
1817 W. Selwyn Abridgem. Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 980 The effect of the whole contract..was only to give the insured an option to continue the insurance or not, during fifteen days after the expiration of the year.
1857 Hunt's Merchants' Mag. 37 134 A purchase of stocks at the brokers' board, buyers' option, thirty, sixty, or ninety days, can call for the stock any day within that time.
1881 Spectator No. 2761. 695 Millions a year are lost on the Stock Exchange in buying and selling Options alone.
1928 Daily Mail 25 July 18/5 None of the shares of the Company are under option.
1950 Newsweek 1 May 45/1 I am going to..sell her on the idea of picking up the option for another 25 years.
1989 European Investor Feb. 68/3 The traditional options market..offers put, call and—for those who want an each way bet—double options on shares.
b. U.S. A right to a share in incidental profits from a property, esp. mineral rights.
ΚΠ
1882 Harper's Mag. May 897/1 The large land-owners have adopted the policy of granting ‘options’; that is, signing an agreement that if any person shall uncover a bed of ore on his land, the finder shall be entitled to a certain interest, generally one-third.
1983 Engin. & Mining Jrnl. (Nexis) Mar. 23 Anglo American Corp. is also drilling in the area, and Johannesburg Consolidated Investments (JCI) has taken up mineral options.
1999 Petroleum Finance Week (Nexis) 30 Aug. Prize retains a mineral option interest in approximately 5 million acres located throughout the central and western United States.
c. Baseball. A right held by a major league club to recall a player it has transferred to a minor league club; a transfer in which this right is retained; a period spent at a minor league club on this type of transfer (the number of which allowed to each player is limited).
ΚΠ
1889 N.Y. Times 3 Nov. 13/4 The interpretation we give to their contracts, that the players have bound themselves to the club for the season of 1889, and have given that club an option to have their services for the season of 1890.]
1895 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) 27 Nov. 6/5 Recently it was announced that the Cincinnati baseball club had an option on Doyle of New York.
1909 Washington Post 29 Aug. (Sporting section) 4/4 St. Louis National League bought the boy from Wheeling, but the Reds claimed that they had an option on him prior to the sale.
1917 N.Y. Times 12 Aug. 16/2 The list contains the name of the club holding the option, the minor league club to which the player is sent, and the name of the player, and the terms.
1971 H. Seymour Baseball II. iii. xi. 226 Whether he was sold outright, sent out on option, or whatever.
2003 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 16 Sept. s2 Vogelsong, out of minor-league options after this season, had won five of his last eight starts at triple-A Nashville.
d. A legal entitlement to acquire the rights to a literary work; spec. the right to make a particular book into a play, or a book or play into a film; the right to publish a particular book in a given country.
ΚΠ
1895 N.Y. Times 12 Dec. 14/2 Mr. Truax said that Gustav Amberg introduced Curtis to Lowenfield in London, and got him an option on the play.
1910 N.Y. Times 8 Mar. 9/1 ‘Chantecler’, on which I held an option until I had seen the preformance, is exclusively mine for American production.
1922 T. S. Eliot Let. 3 Apr. (1988) I. 519 Perhaps you would prefer an option on the new prose book, when it is ready.
1930 N.Y. Times 2 Mar. ix. 8/2 In return for this promise Mr. Remarque gave Mr. Laemmle an option on the photo-play rights to all of his forthcoming works.
1977 Gay News 7 Apr. 22/1 WH Allen, who have the option on it here, are wary of libel suits.
1990 Premiere July 28/2 Columbia Pictures has an option on the script, with a final buyout price of about $400,000.
2001 Independent on Sunday 6 May i. 22/4 Until fairly recently a film director bought an option on a novel with the idea of making some kind of fist of it.
Compounds
C1. (In sense 6a.)
option business n.
ΚΠ
1893 Econ. Jrnl. 3 406 The ‘bears’ are nearly all of them men constantly engaged in the option business.
1983 B. A. K. Rider Insider Trading iii. 161 No dealings, including option business, in any of the relevant securities should be effected..until the proposal has been announced or abandoned.
option day n.
ΚΠ
1881 Daily News 1 Sept. 3/1 At Paris this was option day, but that fact had no influence upon the Bourse, all options having been previously abandoned.
2000 AFX European Focus (Nexis) 19 June The Bovespa index of leading shares stood at 16,469 points, up 45 points or 0.27 pct from Friday..which was considered extremely thin for an options day.
option market n.
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1893 Econ. Jrnl. 3 406 A great number of the men who rank on the ‘bull’ side..are not ordinary operators in the option markets at all.
1989 European Investor Feb. 68/3 The traditional options market..offers put, call and—for those who want an each way bet—double options on shares.
option money n.
ΚΠ
1889 Daily News 7 Oct. 2/1 To give away money in the purchase of options is bad policy on the whole; and..those who take option money are on the right side of the hedge as a rule.
2002 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 27 Oct. (Real Estate section) 1/7 Nonrefundable option money is typically 1 percent to 3 percent of the option purchase price.
option note n.
ΚΠ
1909 D. Lloyd George in Hansard Commons 29 Apr. 519 ‘Option notes’ will be charged at similar rates, calculated upon the value of the securities to which the option relates.
1996 Jrnl. Finance 51 1821 Liquid Yield Option Notes ( lyons) were issued infrequently and most often by BB firms.
option plan n.
ΚΠ
1923 University Jrnl. Business 2 62 The larger banks which buy paper on the option plan.
1992 Rutgers Mag. Spring 11/1 The engines of this silent revolution have been Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs)—in which workers are periodically granted company shares—along with pension and savings plans and retiree medical plans.
option pool n.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > dealer in stocks and shares > syndicate, pool, or association
Open Board1862
option pool1889
concert party1973
daisy chain1982
1889 Daily News 7 Oct. 2/1 ‘Option-pools’..imply that a number of persons club together for the purchase of a large option for the put or call of specific securities.
2002 Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald (Nexis) 24 July (Business) 1 d Shareholders voted on Wednesday to add 50 million shares to the option pool.
option price n.
ΚΠ
1865 Shareholders' Guardian 8 Nov. 847/2 If at the expiration of the ‘option’ time the price be the same as the ‘option’ price, the person who paid the money has the right to buy, sell, or neither, as he thinks proper.
1998 Amer. Econ. Rev. 88 358/2 Fischer had started a service to provide option prices and the share-equivalent positions (hedge ratios) on each of the options traded.
option-time n.
ΚΠ
1865 Shareholders' Guardian 8 Nov. 847/2 If at the expiration of the ‘option’ time the price be the same as the ‘option’ price, the person who paid the money has the right to buy, sell, or neither, as he thinks proper.
1972 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 66 783 The option-time for the Code would seem to require of investors..the privilege of free movement of goods and services.
C2.
option card n. (a) a credit card issued for use in a particular store or chain of stores; a store card; (b) Computing an expansion card.
ΚΠ
1979 Amer. Banker 10 July 2/4 [They] will be able to use the Option logo as they see fit, either by issuing an option card or by adding a small version of the symbol to existing plastic cards.
1984 InfoWorld 15 Oct. 21/2 The Tandy 1200 HD uses the same software and option cards as the IBM PC XT.
1989 Which? Oct. 505/1 But interest-free credit, and the shop option card (used carefully) are worth considering.
1990 Pract. Computing Sept. 36 We design and manufacture our own motherboards, option cards and VLSI support chips.
option exchange n. Finance = options exchange n.
ΚΠ
1976 Economist (Nexis) 24 July 67 The price of an option will be fixed by a London carbon copy of Chicago's open auction system. Each member of the option exchange will be a market-maker.
2002 Wall St. Jrnl. 29 Mar. b8/1 U.S. option exchanges currently aren't linked, and many investors..have little say where their orders go.
option mortgage n. British a mortgage for which (until 1983) a subsidy on interest payments could be claimed in place of tax relief on repayments.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > moneylending > [noun] > loan > on security > mortgage > type of
repayment mortgage1933
endowment mortgage1965
option mortgage1966
shared equity mortgage1974
shared appreciation mortgage1976
1966 New Statesman 4 Mar. 312/1 People will be free in future to choose between taking an ordinary mortgage and an ‘option’ mortgage.
1982 H. Wiesner Which? Bk. Saving & Investing vi. 66 There are some loans you can't get tax relief on... These include option mortgages..where you pay a lower-than-normal rate of interest.
option paralysis n. colloquial the inability to make a decision when presented with a wide range of choices.
ΚΠ
1985 Nucleonics Week (Nexis) 21 Nov. 11 This approach calls for significant commitment from the industry.., but by making that commitment, we can perhaps break the current nuclear option paralysis.
2000 Daily Tel. (Electronic ed.) 23 Sept. [The website] has a vast selection of wine from all over the world... But it takes ages to negotiate the various pages and you end up with option paralysis.
options exchange n. Finance an exchange for the purchase and sale of financial options.
ΚΠ
1973 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 4 Sept. 7/5 (advt.) The Chicago Board Options Exchange opened in late April.
1993 Amer. Way 15 Jan. 54/1 He quit his job..and became a ‘runner’, a messenger on the floor of the options exchange.
option year n. North American Sport a one-year optional extension agreed when a player makes a fixed-term contract with a club, which may be taken up by the club when the original term is at an end.
ΚΠ
1958 Washington Post 19 Nov. d1/2 Bukich said he's playing the ‘option year’ of his contract.
2002 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) (Electronic ed.) 26 Mar. He is in the second year of a six-year contract that includes an option year.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
optionv.
/ˈɒpʃn/, U.S. /ˈɑpʃ(ə)n/ Chiefly U.S.
1. transitive. To buy, sell, or have an option on (land, commodities, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > other trading methods > [verb (transitive)] > deal under option or have option on
option1888
1888 N.Y. Times 30 July 5/1 Richard Blake and others of Marquette have optioned 80 acres of land on the southwest quarter of section 34, township 48, range 28, from the East Saginaw Iron Company.
1934 Times 15 May 22/1 The total area controlled or optioned by Atlas Gold Mines, Ltd., is 397 acres.
1966 E. V. Rickenbacker Rickenbacker (1968) viii. 127 I also optioned the land around the company for future expansion.
1993 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 9 May c4/4 He had optioned land to developers for a golf course.
2002 New Hampsh. Sunday News (Nexis) 8 Sept. d1 To build the full 88 units, the developers have optioned land now occupied by Ron's Landing, a well-known upscale eatery.
2. transitive. Baseball. Of a major league club: to transfer (a player) to a minor league club while retaining the option to recall the player. Also with out. Cf. option n. 6c.
ΚΠ
1920 N.Y. Times 2 Feb. 12/6 Obadiah D. Tucker, who was South with the Yanks last Spring and was optioned out to New Orleans.
1947 Sun (Baltimore) 3 Apr. 20/1 It was necessary for the Flock to purchase him inasmuch as Cleveland could not option him out again.
1972 N.Y. Times 16 May 55/1 One-time 31-game winner Denny McLain was optioned to the minor leagues today by Oakland Athletics.
1980 R. Mayer 1937 Newark Bears x. 138 Kelleher was optioned to Syracuse, but was recalled two months later.
1995 Denver Post 23 Apr. b15/1 Owens, Burke and Counsell were optioned to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.
3. transitive. To buy the film rights to (a book, screenplay, etc.); (also) to buy (the film rights) to a book, etc.
ΚΠ
1932 N.Y. Times 12 June x. 3/7 Paramount this week shelved ‘Anything for Sale’... It went unnoticed for some time and then was optioned by one of the major concerns. It was sold to Paramount from under the option.
1968 R. Lockridge Murder in False Face (1969) v. 68 A friend of his had had a musical optioned a dozen times. ‘Lived on options for years,’ he said.
1975 Bookseller 11 Oct. 2038/3 With [the book] Saladin already optioned by the film makers for 150,000 dollars.
1989 Atlanta Oct. 107/1 When Dunaway first optioned the movie rights, she talked about shooting the movie in her home state of Florida.
1995 For Him Mag. Sept. 71/1 His second script will have been optioned by the time you read this, and he's just received a payment of £5,000 from British Screen.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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v.1888