Whatever

pron. and a. Also poet. whate’er; 6–7 whatere. [Orig. two words, WHAT A., B. and EVER adv. 8 e.]

  1.  interrog. An emphatic extension of what, used in a question (direct or indirect), implying perplexity or surprise. Now colloq.

  (More properly written as two words: see EVER adv. 8 d.)

  a.  pron.

13[?].  Seuyn Sag. (W.), 3514. Son, what may al this noys be,… Whateuer sal it sygnyfy?

14[?].  in Anglia, XXVII. 285. Scho … thoght: what euer menes þis message to me.

c. 1440.  York Myst., xxiii. 85. Petrus. Brethir, what euere ȝone brightnes be?

1823.  Spirit Publ. Jrnls., 409. Whatever possessed her, I know no more than the child unborn.

1856.  F. E. Paget, Owlet of Owlst., xiv. 143. ‘Gracious heart alive, whatever in all the world was that?’ asks one.

1880.  Mrs. Oliphant, He that will not, etc. xxiii. Whatever can you want to emigrate for?

  b.  adj.

  Mod. Whatever [or What ever] contrivance is that? I wonder whatever [or what ever] queer thing he’ll do next.

  2.  As compound relative, in a generalized or indefinite sense: see EVER adv. 8 e. (Occas. with correl. demonstrative following.) a. pron. Anything at all which, anything that; sometimes contextually (esp. poet.), all that, everything that.

c. 1375.  Cursor M., 321 (Fairf.). Quat euer þe haly gaste wille, Þe fader and sone wil tyte fulfil.

c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 31. Holdynge ferme & stable what euyr he wolde do ther-with.

1456.  Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 228. Quhatever sik men dois, it is comperit to the dede of a beste.

1567.  Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 39. Quhat euer I haif, all that is thyne.

1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 623. Being mou’d he [sc. the boar] strikes, whatere is in his way.

1671.  Milton, P. R., I. 149. Whose constant perseverance overcame Whate’re his cruel malice could invent.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver, IV. v. It is a Maxim among these Men, That whatever has been done before may legally be done again.

1832.  Ht. Martineau, Life in Wilds, vii. 88. In a few months we shall have stores of whatever we want.

1883.  D. C. Murray, Hearts, i. We’ll lay in whatever you want to-morrow.

  b.  adj. (sing. or pl., of things or persons): Any … at all which (or who), any … that; sometimes (poet.), all or every … that.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 343. Whatever reasoun men maken of Crist, of Petir, or oþer good ground, it goiþ opinli aȝen sich a pope. Ibid. (1382), Ezek. xxxiii. 12. The riȝt wijsnesse of a iust man shal not delyuere hym, in whateuer day he shal synne.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., IV. viii. 463. What euer gouernaunce God in his Holi Scripture of the Newe Testament blameth.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 29. Quhateuir thing the handis of men had twechet,… frome al sik thay absteined mony dayes thaireftir.

1692.  Bentley, Boyle Lect., vi. 22. What-ever successive Duration, shall be bounded at one end, and be all past and present, must come infinitely short of Infinity.

1764.  Goldsm., Trav., 113–117. Whatever fruits in different climes were found,… Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear…. Whatever sweets salute the northern sky…; These, here [sc. in Italy] disporting, own the kindred soil.

1821–2.  Shelley, Chas. I., II. 374. They will hear homilies of whatever length Or form they please.

1887.  Goldw. Smith, in Contemp. Rev., July, 3. The Governor-General has been stripped of whatever little authority he retained.

  3.  Introducing a qualifying dependent clause equivalent to a conditional or disjunctive clause, often with verb in subjunctive (whatever happen = ‘if any (sort of) thing happen,’ ‘whether one thing or another happen’). a. pron. = ‘No matter what’; frequently implying opposition (equivalent to a conditional clause with though): = ‘Notwithstanding anything that.’

  As predicate sometimes (esp. of persons) expressing quality or character, and thus approaching a pred. adj. (cf. WHAT A. 17). Often with ellipsis (whatever its merits = ‘whatever its merits may be’).

13[?].  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xlix. 344. Whon þe þef passeþ-quyt a-way, Þe trewe mon haþ schome, what-euer men sai.

a. 1425.  Cursor M., 11143 (Trin.). But what euer he had in þouȝt Mis-likyng chere had he nouȝt.

1559.  Mirr. Mag., Jack Cade, i. Whateuer it were this one poynt sure I know.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 100. Take no repulse, what euer she doth say. Ibid. (c. 1600), Sonn., xciii. 11. Whatere thy thoughts, or thy hearts workings be, Thy lookes should nothing thence, but sweetnesse tell. Ibid. (1600), A. Y. L., II. vii. 109. What ere you are That in this desert … Loose, and neglect the creeping houres of time. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., IV. v. 77. Æne. If not Achilles sir, what is your name? Achil. If not Achilles, nothing. Æne. Therefore Achilles: but what ere, know this.

1623.  Heminge & Condell, 1st Folio Shaks., A 3. But, what euer you do, Buy.

1667.  Milton, P. L., II. 162. Whatever doing, what can we suffer more…?

1668.  Dryden, Secret Love, I. iii. Phil. And yet, there is a thing, which time may give me The confidence to name. Lys. ’Tis yours whatever. Ibid. (1697), Æneis, VI. 526. Mortal, what e’re, who this forbidden Path In Arms presum’st to tread, I charge thee stand.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 497, ¶ 3. Whether it were from Vanity,… or whatever it was, he carried it so far, that [etc.].

1780.  Warner in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 342. I am glad to hear you speak of a little horse, whatever his colour be.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, lxxiii. So Richard asked her; whatever she said, it wasn’t No. Ibid. (1842), Amer. Notes, iii. Whatever the defects of American universities may be, they disseminate no prejudices.

1856.  Newman, Univ. Sk. (1902), 191. Men of one idea and nothing more, whatever their merit, must be to a certain extent narrow-minded.

1857.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 326. I have had nothing to suffer from heat, whatever else.

  b.  adj. = ‘No matter what…’; often implying opposition: = ‘Notwithstanding any … that.’

  Also (after a prep.) with ellipsis, passing into sense 4 a (a).

1561.  Winȝet, Bk. Questions, Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 77. We addict our selfis to the doctrine of na man, of quhateuir leirning and auctoritie he be.

1595.  Shaks., John, IV. i. 84.

1692.  Bentley, Boyle Lect., v. 17. What-ever Considerations of this nature you propose to this Atheist,… he hath this one subterfuge from them all.

1751.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 142, ¶ 10. Money, in whatever hands, will confer power.

1794.  Paley, Evid. (1825), II. 74. Whatever fables they have mixed with the narrative, they preserve the material parts.

1889.  W. Anderson, in Nature, 19 Sept., 510/1. Rocks of whatever origin, crushed and ground to pieces by irresistible geological disturbances, reconstruct themselves into new forms by virtue of the still more irresistible and constant action of molecular forces and movements.

1906.  H. Belloc, Hills & Sea, 176. In whatever place a man may be the spring will come to him.

  4.  As indefinite adj. or pron., with loss of the relative force: cf. WHAT D.

  a.  adj. (sing. or pl., of things or persons); Any … at all. † (a) preceding the sb.: cf. WHAT C. 9 c. Obs. or merged in the elliptical use under 3 b.

c. 1383.  in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1911), Oct., 742. Prelatis curatis & preestis or what euere clerkis: shulen not do symonie.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., I. xvii. 99. Lete hem not come into what euer examynacioun of argumentis whiche mowe be mad ther upon.

1620–55.  I. Jones, Stone-Heng (1725), 11. Accounting it their chiefest Glory to be wholly ignorant in whatever Arts.

1667.  Milton, P. L., II. 442. If thence he scape into what ever world, Or unknown Region.

1709.  Shaftesb., Charac., II. II. I. iii. 93. The Bull alone makes head against the Lion, or whatever other invading Beast of Prey.

  (b)  following the sb.: usually, now only, after any, no, all (anything, nothing), etc., which it qualifies like an adv. = ‘at all’: cf. EVER 8.

1623.  N. Rogers, Str. Vineyard, 78. We see that the Barke of the Vine seemeth more withered and dry than the … Barke of any other Tree whateuer.

1681.  Chetham, Angler’s Vade-m., iv. § 13 (1689), 42. The most holding Bait of all other whatever.

1718.  Prior, Poems, Ded. (1905), p. xx. He was so strict an Observer of his Word, that no Consideration whatever, could make him break it.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, II. i. I shall not look on myself as accountable to any Court of Critical Jurisdiction whatever.

1823.  Scott, Quentin D., xvii. Fortifying her strong castle against all assailants whatever.

1853.  Dickens, Bleak Ho., iv. I know nothing whatever of Mr. Jellyby.

1855.  Bain, Senses & Int., I. ii. 195. All bodies whatever are liable to the state of sonorous vibration.

1884.  Marshall’s Tennis Cuts, 94. That a player using a racket had no chance whatever against an opponent catching and throwing the ball.

  b.  pron. Anything at all: cf. WHAT D. 1. rare.

1637.  Earl Monm., trans. Malvezzi’s Romulus & Tarquin, 211. I surely should not put this behinde what ever else.

1892.  M. Dods, Gosp. John, II. xiv. 218. The torrent bursts in on me and pours over my wasted bulwarks, resolves, high aims, and whatever else.