(ôt) v.
A defective verb now used only as an auxiliary followed by the infinitive with to, or elliptically with the infinitive understood, to express:
1. Obligation or moral duty: He ought to keep his promises.
2. Advisability or expedience: You ought to be careful.
3. Probability or expectation: He ought to be here tomorrow. ♦ A past is formed by placing the following verb in the perfect infinitive, as in He ought to have been there. ♦ Homophone: aught. [OE āhte, past tense of āgan owe, possess] Synonym: should. Ought is the stronger word, holding most closely to the sense of moral obligation, or sometimes of imperative logical necessity; should may have the sense of moral obligation or may apply merely to propriety or expediency, as in the proverb, “The liar should have a good memory”; that is, he will need it. Ought is sometimes used as indicating what the mind deems to be logical in view of all the conditions; as, These goods ought to go into that space; should in such connections would be correct, but less emphatic. Compare DUTY.

(ôt) noun
Aught; anything. [Var. of AUGHT]