Above adv. and prep.

Forms: 1–2 (bufan, bufon); 2 (bufen, buven, buuen, buuenne), abufan; 3 (buven, buve), abuuen, abuue; 3–4 (boven), aboven; 4–5 abouen, abowen(e; 4–7 aboue; 5 abouyn, aboun; 6 abowe (abuffe, aboufe, abofe, aboif); 4– above. North.: 4 abouen, obowen; 4–6 abown(e, aboun, abone; 6– abune, abuin, aboon. [f. A prep.¹, on, + bufan above, atop (cf. ODu. and MLGerm. boven), itself an earlier comb. of be ‘by, near, about’ + ufan adv. ‘up, above’ (cf. Germ. oben), properly locative case of uf- (Goth. uf) up, upward. The simple ufan originally expressed the whole idea of its successive expansions b(e)ufan, a-b(e)ufan. A-bufan did not appear till the 12th c., and was evidently a northern formation, being rarely found out of northern or north-eastern writers before the end of the 13th, when it generally replaced bufan, which as bove became obs. in the 14th. ’Bove is also an occasional aphetism of above in modern poets. For the illustration of the senses, bove and above are here taken together, though formally distinct words. A parallel compound of bufan was bibufen BE-BOVE; cf. a-fore, be-fore; of ufan, an-ufan, ANOVE(N. Bufan was used in OE. without (adv.) or with (prep.) an object; the latter in the dative. A-bufan was at first adverbial, but soon acquired the prepositional use of bufan. The adverbial and prepositional constructions are here separated, though in the development of meaning they form historically only a single series; and, as in ABOUT, in certain modern uses, the grammatical distinction melts away; see B 8.

  A.  (without object expressed) adv.

  1.  Overhead; in a place vertically up; on high; upstairs.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Manual of Astron., 2. Seo sunne gæð … eall swa feorr adune on nihtlicre tide under þære eorþan swa heo on dæʓ bufan up astihð.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 612. Bathe fra aboven and fra benethe.

1413.  Lydgate, Pylg. Sowle (1859), V. i. 68. Angels also I sawe fleen to and fro,… by see and land, and in the eyer abouen.

1598.  Shaks., Merry Wives, IV. ii. 78. My Maids Aunt the fat woman of Brainford, has a gown aboue.

1611.  Bible, Prov. viii. 28. When hee prepared the heauens, I was there … when he established the cloudes aboue.

1799.  Wordsworth, Prel., I. 14 (1850). Far above Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.

1865.  Dickens, Our Mut. Fr., iii. 13. In another corner a wooden stair leading above.

  b.  In heaven. Also elliptically to heaven; and from above, from heaven.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Exod., 10. Ðan sal him almightin luuen, Her bi-neðen and ðund abuuen.

1460.  Pol. Rel. & Love Poems (1866), 430. From here sone þat ys a-bouen.

1611.  Bible, James i. 17. Euery good gift and euery perfect gift is from aboue.

1647.  H. More, Song of Soul, I. ii. 40. And ever naming God, he lookd aboven.

1814.  Southey, Roderick, vii. (1853), IX. 71. That vow hath been pronounced, and register’d Above.

1861.  Tennyson, In Mem., lxxxiv. 10. And whether trust in things above Be dimm’d of sorrow, or sustain’d.

  2.  On the surface; on the outside; covering, binding down, or over all. ? Obs. or dial.

c. 1305.  Life of Beket, 266. Thabyt of monek he nom, And siththe clerkes robe above.

1340.  Ayenb., 236. Þe linene kertel betokneþ chastete of herte. Þe gerdel above betocneþ chastete of bodie.

c. 1440.  Ancient Cookery, in Housh. Ord. (1790), 468. Make a drage … of pouder of ginger mynced, and strewe aboven theron.

1611.  Bible, Numb. iv. 25. The couering of the badgers skinnes that is aboue upon it.

  3.  In a higher place; farther up a mountain or river; farther from the sea; hence (obs.) on shore, whence men ‘go down to the sea in ships.’

c. 1270.  Assumpcioun de N. Dame, 22. Þenkeþ on my sorwe nowe, How I hange here abowe, How I hange apon a tre.

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. Poems, A. 1022. Þe cyte stod abof ful sware.

1366.  Maundev., xxv. 262. It hath aboven toward Inde, the Kyngdom of Caldee.

c. 1435.  Tor. of Portugal, 1462. Ffast from land row they began, Above they left that gentilman, With wyld bestis to have byde.

1611.  Bible, Josh. ii. 13. The waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above.

Mod.  Below were the silvery lakes, above were the snowy peaks.

  4.  Higher on a written sheet or page; and hence, in an earlier part of a writing or book; before in order. (Often used as a. and sb.; see C 1: and in comb.; see D, and ABOVE-SAID.)

c. 1120.  O. E. Chron. (Laud. MS.), an. 1090. Eall swa wæ ǽr abufan sædan be þam cynge.

1340.  Ayenb., 247. Þe bysye lyue huerof we habbeþ aboue y-speke.

1574.  Wills & Inv. North. Count., II. 405. The Rest of all my Land I gyf and leiff to my sone … except that aboun is exceptet.

Mod.  Several examples of this construction are given in the exercise above.

  † 5.  fig. (From the idea of two wrestlers or combatants.) In superiority; having the upper hand in a struggle; victorious. Obs.

1205.  Layamon, 3764. Ofte heo fuhten. ofte heo weren buuenne [later text bofe] and ofte bi-neoðen.

1330.  R. Brunne, Chron., 32. If he wild praie him … He wild do þe bataile, and þei suld be aboue.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, IX. 94. Vencust is he, And gerris his fayis abovin be.

1611.  Bible, Deut. xxviii. 13. And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail; and thou shalt be aboue only and shalt not be beneath.

  6.  fig. In a higher rank, position, or station. Also, ellipt. a higher court, etc.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1467. Now er we aboven, and now doun broght.

c. 1400.  Apol. for Lollards, 9. He may not do þis, but in as mykil as it soundiþ to þe hed of þe kirk abouyn.

1465.  Marg. Paston, Past. Lett., 502. II. 185. Ye shuld fynde a mene to have a wrytte from above.

1530[?].  Sir R. Constable, in Plumpton Corr., 228. Make me a letter of atturney unto some of your frinds aboufe to clame your arreareges.

  7.  In addition, esp. in the phrase over and above.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 413. And stand indebted ouer and aboue In loue and seruice to you euermore. Ibid. (1602), Haml., II. ii. 126. This … hath my daughter shew’d me: And more aboue hath his soliciting As they fell out … All given to mine eare.

1850.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., vi. 35. ‘Old lady don’t like your humble servant, over and above,’ said Haley.

  8.  More than, fully: see B 8, in which above hovers between an adv. and prep.

  B.  (with obj.) prep.

  1.  Directly over, vertically up from; on or over the upper surface; on the top of, upon, over.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. i. 7. And to-twæmde þa wateru þe wæron under þære fæstnisse fram þam þe wæron bufan þære fæstnisse. Ibid., Homl. (Sweet, A. S. Reader, 86). Æteowode heofonlic leoht bufon ðam apostole.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 95. Þe halia gast wes iseȝen on fures heowe bufan þam apostlas.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode (Lamb. Hom.), 87. He is buuen us and binoþen, biforen and bihinden.

c. 1230.  Ancren Riwle, 362. And we … wulleð mid eise stien to heouene þet is so heih buuen us.

c. 1315.  Shoreham, 117. Al that hys bove and under molde.

1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 2794. Þat place es neghest aboven hel pitte, Bytwen purgatory and itte.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 134. So eche bar other to the erthe, and theire horse a-bouen hem.

1595.  Shaks., John, II. i. 397. Now by the sky that hangs aboue our heads, I like it well.

1611.  Bible, Gen. i. 7. And God … diuided the waters, which were vnder the firmament, from the waters, which were aboue the firmament.

1833.  Wordsworth, Sonnets, xxxii. Hell opens, and the heavens in vengeance crack Above his head.

  2.  Relatively over, covering; farther from the center of a solid body; on the outer surface of; on the top of; outside of, over. ? Obs. or dial.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XVI. 580.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froissart, I. ccxvii. 275. The sayd lordes toke on them to weare aboue all theyr garmentes, the redde crosse.

  3.  Higher up a slope, nearer the source of a river, or summit of a mountain, than; farther from the sea than. Also, of time: earlier than. (Occasionally higher on a map, farther north than.)

c. 896.  O. E. Chron. Be Lyʓan xx mila bufan Lunden-byriʓ.

1330.  R. Brunne, Chron., 42. Bot in þe ȝere after, obowen Grimsby Eft þei gan aryue.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, X. 31. Thar Iohne of lorne gert his menȝhe Enbuschit be abooyn the vay.

1564.  Knox, Lett., quoted in P. F. Tytler’s Hist. Scot. (1864), III. 402. Two barges, in form and fashion like hoys, came in our Firth, abone [above] the Inch.

1789–96.  Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 1. The greatest part of Europe being situated above the 45th degree of Northern latitude.

1855.  Ht. Martineau, Guide to Eng. Lakes, 36. Behind and above it the vale head rises into grandeur.

1862.  Stanley, Jewish Ch. (1877), I. ii. 33. We are still above the point of separation between the various tribes.

  4.  Higher in absolute elevation than; rising or appearing beyond the level or reach of. Above ground: out of the grave, alive. fig. Of sounds.

1205.  Layamon, 26051. Ah Arður bræid heȝe his sceld buuen [later text boue] his hælme.

c. 1230.  Ancren Riwle, 46. Mid te þume up buue þe uorheaued.

1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 4760. Þe se sal ryse … Abowen þe heght of ilka mountayne.

1552.  Lyndesay, Monarche, 5463. Ierome sayis, it sall ryse on heycht Abone montanis, to mennis sycht.

1653.  Walton, Angler, ii. 43. The Otter which you may now see above water at vent.

1711.  F. Fuller, Med. Gym., 79. Legions of the dead might have been above ground.

1855.  Kingsley, Heroes, Theseus, II. 212. The citadel of Corinth towering high above all the land.

Mod.  His voice was heard clear above the din.

  5.  fig. Superior to (the influence of); out of reach of; not exposed or liable to be affected by; not condescending to.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Prose Treat., 13. Cristes lufe … lyftes abowne layery lustes and vile couaytes.

1653.  Walton, Angler, 6. We enjoy a contentednesse above the reach of such dispositions.

1782.  Priestley, Corr. of Christianity, I. I. 6. It was not pretended that the subject was above human comprehension.

1819.  Wordsworth, Poems of Sent., xxviii. 4. My spirit seems to mount above The anxieties of human love.

1832.  Ht. Martineau, Life in Wilds, iii. 42. [He] was quite above owing his meal to the request of a little girl.

  6.  fig. Higher in rank or position than; over in authority.

c. 1200.  Ormulum, 17970. Forr he þatt fra bibufenn comm Iss ane abufenn alle.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4120. And heghen hym … Aboven al þat er paens goddes calde.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, III. ii. 94. Men must learne now with pitty to dispence, For Policy sits aboue Conscience.

1611.  Bible, 1 Chron. xxvii. 6. This is that Benaiah, who was mightie among the thirtie, and aboue the thirtie.

1697.  Dryden, Virgil, Georgics, IV. 602 (1721). He breath’d of Heav’n, and look’d above a Man.

1718.  Free-thinker, No. 57. 13. You dress, not only above your circumstances, but above your condition.

1829.  Scott, Antiq., xxxii. 223. ‘She brought me up abune my station.

1850.  McCosh, Div. Govt. (1874), III. i. 299. The conscience looks to a law above it.

  7.  Higher in degree; surpassing in quality; in excess of, beyond; more than. Above all: beyond everything; first of all; chiefly. Above measure: beyond or more than what is meet; in excess of moderation; excessively.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 357. Þat is—loue þi lorde god · leuest aboue alle.

c. 1400.  Apol. for Lollards, 64. & þan he schal vnderstond a boun his enemies, & ouer his techars.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xliv. 7. God hath anoynted the with the oyle of gladnes aboue thy felowes.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 168. He furnish’d me … with volumes, that I prize aboue my Dukedome.

1611.  Bible, James v. 12. But aboue all things, my brethren, sweare not. Ibid., 2 Cor. xii. 7. Least I should bee exalted aboue measure.

1829.  Wordsworth, Poems of Sent., xxxvii. Taught to prize Above all grandeur, a pure life uncrossed By cares.

  8.  Surpassing in quantity, amount, or number; more than. (Here the prep. passes again into the adv., at least the numeral following may be the nominative of a sentence, or the object of a vb. or of another prep. Cf. nearly a hundred, above a hundred were present.)

1509.  Hawes, Past. of Pl., xvi. 59. She is not yet in al above xviii. yere.

1610.  Shaks., Haml., II. ii. 455. It was neuer Acted: or if it was not aboue once.

1713.  Steele, Englishm., No. 11. 71. These Motions are performed by Wheels, which are above fifty in Number.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 335. Above a sixth part of the nation is crowded into provincial towns of more than thirty thousand inhabitants.

  9.  In addition to, besides (in over and above).

1581.  Marbeck, Bk. of Comm. Places, 1138. To looke for a good turne againe, or anything else, over and above the principall.

1618.  Bolton, trans. Florus. Putting in a sword over and above their bargaine, into the false balances.

1866.  Geo. Eliot, Felix Holt, xlvii. 406. Over and above the stings of conscience … he had the powerful motive of desiring to do what would satisfy Esther.

Mod.  He earns a large sum over and above his salary by commissions.

  C.  Elliptically (quasi- a. and sb.).

  1.  By ellipsis of a pple. as said, written, mentioned, above stands attributively, as ‘the above explanation’; or the noun also may be suppressed and above used absolutely, as ‘the above will show,’ etc.

1779.  W. Russell, View of Soc., II. xcvi. 437. Just as I was concluding the above, I received yours.

1851.  F. W. Robertson, Serm., Ser. IV. (1863), I. vi. 33. In God’s world there is not one monotony of plains without hills…. There is an above and there is a below.

1873.  Banister, Music, iii. 11. The above signs for the Breve measure being omitted.

  † 2.  With a possessive case, at, to mine (thine, his, etc.) above: something above what I am (thou art, he is). To bring one to his above: to bring him to a superior position or condition; to come to, or be at the above of: to attain the superiority or mastery of, to surmount, overcome, or master. Obs. 3–5.

1330.  R. Brunne, Chron., I. i. 253 (Rolls Ser.). Mykel I ȝow love, I have ȝow holpen to ȝoure above.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls Ser.), II. 29. [They] schal have þe better ende and be at here aboue [Lat. praevalere].

c. 1420.  Palladius on Husb., I. 199. And vynes … By processe may be brought to thair above.

1475.  Caxton, Jason, xx b. I hope to come to thaboue of myn enterpryse.

1484.  Caxton, Ord. Chyualry, 72. [He] cometh to the aboue of his enemyes.

  D.  Comb. Above was occasionally, when used as a verb-complement by early writers, prefixed to the verb, as is still the case with similar adverbs in German; thus we have above build, above rise, etc., which however are scarcely compounds. But when above in sense A 4, ‘higher on a page or document,’ was prefixed to pa. pples., many regular compound adjs. were formed, such as above-cited, above-mentioned, above-named, above-written, which see under ABOVE-SAID. Also above-ground, a techn. term in dancing; above-hand, overhand; above-head, obs., overhead; above-seated, obs.; above-stairs, obs., upstairs; above-wonderful, obs., more than wonderful. Also ABOVE-BOARD, ABOVE-SAID, q.v.

1382.  Wyclif, Jude ii. 20. Aboue byldinge ȝou silf to ȝoure moost hooly feith. Ibid., James ii. 13. Forsothe mersy aboue reisith doom.

1622.  Massinger, etc., Old Law, III. ii. [Dancing-master loq.] Now here’s your in-turn, and your trick above ground.

1674.  Playford, Skill of Musick, II. 114. The violin is usually plaid abovehand.

1791.  Smeaton, Edystone Lightho., § 237. The weather, both on shore above-head, had remained to all appearance much the same.

1683.  trans. Erasmus, Moriae Enc., 78. The above-seated Gods in Heaven.

1758.  Johnson, Idler, No. 28. ¶ 5. I cannot be above stairs and below at the same time.

1625.  A. Gill, Sacred Philos., II. 171. Nothing of this was in that above-wonderfull generation.