Definition of "either" []

• The one or the other: Which movie do you want to see? Either will be fine. (pronoun)
• Used before the first of two or more coordinates or clauses linked by or: Either we go now or we remain here forever. (conjunction)
• Any one of two; one or the other: Wear either coat. (adjective)
• One and the other; each: rings on either hand. (adjective)
• Likewise; also. Used as an intensive following negative statements: If you don't order a dessert, I won't either. (adverb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In either case the owner will really pay annually only upon the land value, not upon the growth; the only difference being that under the proposed system he would not be asked to, while under the present system _either there will be no growth to tax, or, if there is, he cannot afford to pay and the land will revert_."
• "Only cards in the highest or lowest rows are available, until a card from any other row is released, by the removal of cards either above or below it, the principle being that no card can be used that is not free _either_ from the top or the bottom."
• "-- "He is either the most distressed man, or the best actor, I ever saw in my life," replied the comedian: "and, as _either one or the other, he has a brotherly claim upon me_.""