prep. Obs. 2–3. The adv. á aye, ever, and prep. buten, OE. bútan, without; orig. and prop. written separate, but afterwards, from the frequency with which they came together in certain phrases, as á buten ende, written as one word, in which at length the meaning of á was often sunk, and the whole used as = without. Not found after 13th c.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 181. Þer is blisse abuten treȝe, and lif abuten deaþe.
c. 1230. Ancren Riwle, 396. World a buten ende.
c. 1250. Moral Ode (1862), 33. He is soð sunne & briht . & dai a-buten nihte.
¶ Occ. the two words are written as one in other connections, as in the following, which should be printed á, bute ‘always, unless.’
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 23. He wunet þer-on abute þu hit bete.
