/els/ , adj.
1. other than the persons or things mentioned or implied: What else could I have done?
2. in addition to the persons or things mentioned or implied: Who else was there?
3. other or in addition (used in the possessive following an indefinite pronoun): someone else's money.
adv.
4. if not (usually prec. by or ): It's a macaw, or else I don't know birds.
5. in some other way; otherwise: How else could I have acted?
6. at some other place or time: Where else might I find this book?
7. or else , or suffer the consequences: Do what I say, or else.
[ bef. 1000; ME, OE elles (c. OHG elles ), equiv. to ell- other (c. Goth aljis, L alius, OIr aile Gk állos, Armenian ayl other; cf. ELDRITCH) + -es -s 1 ]
Usage . The possessive forms of SOMEBODY ELSE, EVERYBODY ELSE, etc., are somebody else's, everybody else's, the forms somebody's else, everybody's else being considered nonstandard in present-day English. One exception is the possessive for WHO ELSE, which is occasionally formed as whose else when a noun does not immediately follow: Is this book yours? Whose else could it be? No, it's somebody else's.