ours

[ouuh rz, ou-erz or, often, ahrz] /aʊərz, ˈaʊ ərz or, often, ɑrz/
pronoun
1.
(a form of the possessive case of we used as a predicate adjective):
Which house is ours?
2.
that or those belonging to us:
Ours was given second prize. Ours are in the car.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English (orig. north) ures, oures. See our, 's1

we

[wee] /wi/
plural pronoun, possessive our or ours, objective us.
1.
nominative plural of I.
2.
(used to denote oneself and another or others):
We have two children. In this block we all own our own houses.
3.
(used to denote people in general):
the marvels of science that we take for granted.
4.
(used to indicate a particular profession, nationality, political party, etc., that includes the speaker or writer):
We in the medical profession have moral responsibilities.
5.
Also called the royal we. (used by a sovereign, or by other high officials and dignitaries, in place of I in formal speech):
We do not wear this crown without humility.
6.
Also called the editorial we. (used by editors, writers, etc., to avoid the too personal or specific I or to represent a collective viewpoint):
As for this column, we will have nothing to do with shady politicians.
7.
you (used familiarly, often with mild condescension or sarcasm, as in addressing a child, a patient, etc.):
We know that's naughty, don't we? It's time we took our medicine.
8.
(used in the predicate following a copulative verb):
It is we who should thank you.
9.
(used in apposition with a noun, especially for emphasis):
We Americans are a sturdy lot.
Origin
before 900; Middle English, Old English wē; cognate with Dutch wij, German wir, Old Norse vēr, Gothic weis

I

[ahy] /aɪ/
pronoun, nominative I, possessive my or mine, objective me; plural nominative we, possessive our or ours, objective us.
1.
the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.
noun, plural I's.
2.
(used to denote the narrator of a literary work written in the first person singular).
3.
Metaphysics. the ego.
Origin
before 900; Middle English ik, ich, i; Old English ic, ih; cognate with German ich, Old Norse ek, Latin ego, Greek egṓ, OCS azŭ, Lithuanian aš, Sanskrit ahám
Can be confused
aye, eye, I.
Usage note
See me.
Examples from the web for ours
  • And the miso butter on ours adds a remarkable savory bridge to the wine.
  • Left in place ours stops slugs and snails from getting at the plants plus providing a great growing environment.
  • Their canine teeth are much more prominent than ours.
  • The tongue helps us to taste and talk and swallow, but when compared with tongues in other species, ours are pretty boring.
  • Besides, another vendor has edged his green and blue vessel up against ours.
  • Unfortunately, ours is not an intellectual culture and who knows what more there is to find about ourselves.
  • But ours is a tradition of eccentricity and earthly pleasures and a healthy disrespect for the powers that be.
  • It's easy for even unlicensed amateurs to notice that any language, including ours, has gaps aching to be filled.
  • ours are usually one day marathons at a horrible back windowless room in a restaurant.
  • ours was to be the first deliberately cosmopolitan, live-and-let-live system of nation building and of schooling.
British Dictionary definitions for ours

ours

/aʊəz/
pronoun
1.
something or someone belonging to or associated with us: ours have blue tags
2.
of ours, belonging to or associated with us

we

/wiː/
pronoun (subjective)
1.
refers to the speaker or writer and another person or other people: we should go now
2.
refers to all people or people in general: the planet on which we live
3.
  1. when used by editors or other writers, and formerly by monarchs, a formal word for I1
  2. (as noun): he uses the royal we in his pompous moods
4.
(informal) used instead of you with a tone of persuasiveness, condescension, or sarcasm: how are we today?
Word Origin
Old English wē, related to Old Saxon wī, Old High German wir, Old Norse vēr, Danish, Swedish vi, Sanskrit vayam

i

/aɪ/
noun (pl) i's, I's, Is
1.
the ninth letter and third vowel of the modern English alphabet
2.
any of several speech sounds represented by this letter, in English as in bite or hit
3.
  1. something shaped like an I
  2. (in combination): an I-beam
4.
dot the i's and cross the t's, to pay meticulous attention to detail

i

symbol
1.
the imaginary number √–1 Also called j

I1

/aɪ/
pronoun
1.
(subjective) refers to the speaker or writer
Word Origin
C12: reduced form of Old English ic; compare Old Saxon ik, Old High German ih, Sanskrit ahám

I2

symbol
1.
(chem) iodine
2.
(physics) current
3.
(physics) isospin
4.
(logic) a particular affirmative categorial statement, such as some men are married, often symbolized as SiP Compare A, E, O1
5.
(Roman numeral) one See Roman numerals
abbreviation
6.
Italy (international car registration)
Word Origin
(for sense 4) from Latin (aff)i(rmo) I affirm
Word Origin and History for ours

c.1300, a double possessive (with genitive suffix -s (1)), originating in northern England, and has taken over the absolute function of our (q.v.). In Middle English ourn, ouren also were used.

I

pron.

12c. shortening of Old English ic, first person singular nominative pronoun, from Proto-Germanic *ekan (cf. Old Frisian ik, Old Norse ek, Norwegian eg, Danish jeg, Old High German ih, German ich, Gothic ik), from PIE *eg-, nominative form of the first person singular pronoun (cf. Sanskrit aham, Hittite uk, Latin ego (source of French Je), Greek ego, Russian ja, Lithuanian aš). Reduced to i by mid-12c. in northern England, it began to be capitalized mid-13c. to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts.

The reason for writing I is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral 'one' was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun. [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language," p.233]
The form ich or ik, especially before vowels, lingered in northern England until c.1400 and survived in southern dialects until 18c. The dot on the "small" letter -i- began to appear in 11c. Latin manuscripts, to distinguish the letter from the stroke of another letter (such as -m- or -n-). Originally a diacritic, it was reduced to a dot with the introduction of Roman type fonts.

we

pron.

Old English we, from Proto-Germanic *wiz (cf. Old Saxon wi, Old Norse ver, Danish vi, Old Frisian wi, Dutch wij, Old High German and German wir, Gothic weis "we"), from PIE *wei- (cf. Sanskrit vayam, Old Persian vayam, Hittite wesh "we," Old Church Slavonic ve "we two," Lithuanian vedu "we two").

The "royal we" (use of plural pronoun to denote oneself) is at least as old as "Beowulf" (c.725); use by writers to establish an impersonal style is also from Old English; it was especially common 19c. in unsigned editorials, to suggest staff consensus, and was lampooned as such since at least 1853 (cf. also wegotism).

ours in Medicine

I

  1. The symbol for the element iodine.

  2. iThe symbol for current.

ours in Science
i
  (ī)   
The number whose square is equal to -1. Numbers expressed in terms of i are called imaginary or complex numbers.
I  

  1. The symbol for electric current.

  2. The symbol for iodine.


Related Abbreviations for ours

i

imaginary unit

I

  1. current
  2. ice
  3. incomplete
  4. institute
  5. intelligence
  6. interstate
  7. iodine
  8. isospin
  9. Italy (international vehicle ID)
  10. 1

We

Wednesday
Idioms and Phrases with ours

i

see: dot the i's and cross the t's