Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AL-TERN'A-TIVE, n.

That which may chosen or omitted; a choice of two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left. Thus, when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things are called alternatives. In strictness, then, the word cannot be applied to more than two things, and when one thing only is offered for choice, it is said there is no alternative. Between these alternatives there is no middle ground. – Cranch.