Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A choice between what is available and nothing; a lack of an alternative.
from The Century Dictionary.
- See
choice .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- A choice without an alternative; the thing offered or nothing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The choice of taking either the
primary option ornothing .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the choice of taking what is offered or nothing at all
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[After Thomas Hobson, (1544?–1630), English keeper of a livery stable, from his requirement that customers take either the horse nearest the stable door or none.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
After Thomas Hobson (1544-1631) of Cambridge, England, who rented horses and gave his customers the choice of the horse nearest the stable door or no horse at all.
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Examples
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