† optn.
Obsolete.
= optime n.
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society > education > educational administration > examination > [noun] > candidates > who passes > passing at university > placed in tripos
optime1658
wrangler1750
opt1755
optimate1792
wooden spoon1803
spoon1824
op1828
senior wrangler1831
wedge1852
senior classic1859
1755 in Cambr. Univ. Cal. (1797) 157 Apthorpe, Jes. Col. V. C., and Proctor's S. Opt.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
optv.
/ɒpt/, U.S. /ɑpt/ Originally U.S.
1. intransitive. To decide for one of two or more alternatives; to choose to do something; †to make a choice between alternatives (obsolete).
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the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > make types of choice [verb (intransitive)] > choose between alternatives
to take a party1760
opt1853
1853 Frederick Douglass Paper (Rochester, N.Y.) (Electronic text) 16 Sept. This course will not suit a discriminating public. They must opt for something more than long winded and rapid declamations.
1879 G. A. Sala Paris herself Again I. x. 151 He was supposed to be a native of Alsace-Lorraine, who had ‘opted’ to become a French subject.
1890 W. E. Gladstone in Leeds Mercury 25 July 7 The present Heligolanders opting to be British subjects.
1899 Speaker 15 Apr. 433/1 The two boys ‘opted’ for the Navy.
1906 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 Jan. 1 Sir Edward Grey, who has swallowed the Home Rule bolus sans broncher, will not opt for submission rather than resignation.
1955 Times 8 June 10/1 In opting for a flat-rate profits tax as well as income tax the commission reject the idea of a single-tier taxing of company profits.
1984 A. N. Wilson Hilaire Belloc i. iii. 53 He opted..to read Modern History.
2001 B. Geddes World Food: Caribbean 17 (caption) Rachel Harms opts for calm and a strawberry daiquiri despite an impending cyclone.
2.
a. intransitive. to opt out of: to choose not to participate in.
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the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from (action) [verb (transitive)] > choose not to do
forsake?c1225
decline1631
to opt out of1970
1922 [implied in: Glasgow Herald 13 Apr. 6 The opting of Australia out of the chain..does..impair the symmetry of the Imperial chain plan. (at opting n. 1)].
1924 Times 7 Aug. 7/4 The opportunity of the Government of Northern Ireland to opt out or to contract out of the Irish Free State.
1934 Internat. Affairs 13 285 They cannot..opt out of their own history.
1970 New Scientist 30 Apr. 226/1 It is clearly impossible for the UK to opt out of the microelectronics race.
1987 Next Moves Forward: Election Manifesto (Conservative Party) May ii. 20 We will allow state schools to opt out of LEA control.
2002 Daily Rec. (Scotland) (Nexis) 12 Nov. 11/1 Westlife have opted out of a pop battle with Popstars: the rivals for the Christmas No.1.
b. intransitive. to opt out: to choose not to participate in or carry on with something; spec. (a) to reject conventional society and pursue an alternative lifestyle, to drop out; (b) British (of a school or hospital) to choose to withdraw from the control of a local authority.
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the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from action [verb (intransitive)] > choose not to do something
to drop out1883
to opt out1951
1922 [implied in: Glasgow Herald 13 Apr. 6 The opting of Australia out of the chain..does..impair the symmetry of the Imperial chain plan. (at opting n. 1)].
1951 Ann. Reg. 1950 82 It became clear that many of the older and larger schools in the North were likely to ‘opt out’.
1966 ‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive i. 12 A man wants to opt out; they have to give him an incentive that will make him opt in again.
1966 Maclean's 20 Aug. 43 Morgan has no cures for society so he opts out, even if his Mum does call him a class traitor.
1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon xii. 174 I did not intend to go to the top, having already opted out on grounds of risk.
1987 S. Bellow More die of Heartbreak 190 It meant that you had excused yourself from the present age, you had opted out.
1990 Guardian 29 June 2/1 The party would take back under health authority control any hospital which had opted out and won self-governing trust status.
1994 Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 4 Dec. (USA Weekend Mag.) 5/3 At no time has the desire to opt out been more palpable than in the current era of corporate downsizing.
c. transitive. to opt out: to withdraw (a person or institution) from participation in something.
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the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > persons
withdrawa1450
remove1609
unstation1840
to opt out1986
1986 Washington Post (Nexis) 2 Feb. (Metro section) b1 I can't go home and face the Chesapeake City Council and say we opted ourselves out of the law but left you in.
1987 Daily Tel. 11 Nov. 14/4 BBC's Panorama reported that parents can ‘opt schools out of local authority control’.
1989 Observer 10 Sept. 60/8 All parents..have the absolute right under the 1988 Education Reform Act to opt out their children from religious worship.
2001 Sun-Herald (Biloxi, Missouri) (Nexis) 20 Feb. b1 Cadrin..almost opted himself out of it much earlier this season. He told the owners he wanted out shortly after he found out how much money the Tiger Sharks lost last season.
3.
a. intransitive. to opt in: to choose to participate in something.
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society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > associate together or with [verb (intransitive)] > participate
common1357
to take partc1384
communea1393
participe1511
participate1531
join1560
share1570
to bear a part1596
intercommon1626
to join in1785
to be in it1819
to stand in1858
to get into (also in on) the act1947
(to be) in on the act1951
to muck in1952
to opt in1966
1966 ‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive i. 12 A man wants to opt out; they have to give him an incentive that will make him opt in again.
1977 Church Times 29 Apr. 2/4 In these at least the victim [of euthanasia] has to ‘opt in’ to be killed. Should these recommendations become law it will not easily be possible to ‘opt out’ of being killed.
1993 Times Educ. Suppl. 5 Mar. (Review Suppl.) 2/1 Every 11-year-old in the selective area of Buckinghamshire is put forward for the 12-plus unless his or her parents opt out. (In Milton Keynes, where there are comprehensives, they have to opt in.)
1999 Wall St. Jrnl. 8 Oct. a6/1 They believed the settlement would survive judicial review and that it is sufficiently flexible and generous enough that most people will opt in.
b. intransitive. to opt into: to choose to participate in.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > associate with [verb (transitive)] > participate with > participate in
enterparta1413
to be art and part in (also of)1442
to have art or (and) part ina1500
enjoin1546
share1570
to have (also take, etc.) a share in1572
to have a hand in1583
fellow1596
share1600
to contribute to (also for) or to do1605
to fall in1651
join1716
to opt into1968
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 1/1 Pierre Trudeau opted into the Liberal leadership race yesterday.
1996 W. Hutton State we're In (rev. ed.) xii. 310 The voucher-holders are enabled to opt into the world of work and training.
1998 Church Times 20 Nov. 6/2 The measure before the Synod..permitted free choice to the Peculiars: either opt into the faculty system or submit to secular planning control.
2002 San Antonio Business Jrnl. (Nexis) 13 Sept. 7 Electric cooperatives..are exempt from this competition unless they chose to opt in to the fray.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1755
v.1853