Definition: option

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

option
     n 1: the right to buy or sell property at an agreed price; the
          right is purchased and if it is not exercised by a
          stated date the money is forfeited
     2: an alternative action; "what option did I have?"; "there no
        other alternative"; "my only choice is to refuse" [syn: alternative,
         choice]
     3: the act of choosing or selecting; "your choice of colors was
        unfortunate"; "you can take your pick" [syn: choice, selection,
         pick]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Option \Op"tion\, n. [L. optio; akin to optare to choose, wish,
   optimus best, and perh. to E. apt: cf. F. option.]
   1. The power of choosing; the right of choice or election; an
      alternative.

            There is an option left to the United States of
            America, whether they will be respectable and
            prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a
            nation.                               --Washington.

   2. The exercise of the power of choice; choice.

            Transplantation must proceed from the option of the
            people, else it sounds like an exile. --Bacon.

   3. A wishing; a wish. [Obs.] --Bp. Hall.

   4. (Ch. of Eng.) A right formerly belonging to an archbishop
      to select any one dignity or benefice in the gift of a
      suffragan bishop consecrated or confirmed by him, for
      bestowal by himself when next vacant; -- annulled by
      Parliament in 1845.

   5. (Stock Exchange) A stipulated privilege, given to a party
      in a time contract, of demanding its fulfillment on any
      day within a specified limit.

   Buyer's option, an option allowed to one who contracts to
      buy stocks at a certain future date and at a certain
      price, to demand the delivery of the stock (giving one
      day's notice) at any previous time at the market price.

   Seller's option, an option allowed to one who contracts to
      deliver stock art a certain price on a certain future
      date, to deliver it (giving one day's notice) at any
      previous time at the market price. Such options are
      privileges for which a consideration is paid.

   Local option. See under Local.

   Syn: Choice; preference; selection.

   Usage: Option, Choice. Choice is an act of choosing;
          option often means liberty to choose, and implies
          freedom from constraint in the act of choosing.

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10)

option

   command line option