adv. (sb.) [f. WHERE 15 + WITHAL.]
I. 1. Interrogative. = prec. 1. arch.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxviii[i]. 9. Where withall shall a yonge man clense his waye?
1540. Palsgr., Acolastus, I. iii. M ij b. Where withal I beseche the … shall men bye or make prouysion for our cates?
1611. Bible, Matt vi. 31. Wherewithall shall wee be clothed?
1798. Charlotte Smith, Yng. Philos., III. 96. He never was so hard run for money. Knew not wherewithal to pay his duties.
II. Relative.
2. = prec. 2. arch.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xxvii. 353. The iuyce of Aloë … openeth the belly, in purging … humours, especially suche wherewithal the stomacke is burdened.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., V. i. 55. Northumberland, thou Ladder wherewithall The mounting Bullingbrooke ascends my Throne.
1615. Wither, Sheph. Hunt., IV. E 5. The rest Wherewithall thy minde is blest.
a. 1673. Horton, Expos. Ps. lxiii. 7 (1675), 590. He is not like the Egyptian Task-masters, which require brick, and give no straw wherewithal to make it.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., VIII. III. 88. The … marks of his good-will and gratitude wherewithal they had been honoured.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxxi. Mrs. Miff has heard … that the lady hasn’t got a sixpence wherewithal to bless herself.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 344. The love I had therefor was not so much above That wherewithal I loved the silver ring.
b. With ellipsis of antecedent, or as compound relative: = prec. 2 b. (a) followed by inf. with to; (b) with ellipsis of inf. (See also c.) arch.
(a) 1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 93. If he haue not wherewithall to maintaine his estate.
1659. Milton, Hirelings, 32. No people to pay him tithes, but his own children and servants, who had not wherewithall to pay him, but of his own.
1693. Mem. Count Teckely, III. 66. Teckely being in the Neighbourhood, without having wherewithal to attempt any thing by force.
1742. Fielding, J. Andrews, IV. i. When your ladyship’s livery was stript off, he had not wherewithal to buy a coat.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xxxi. They gave him what they had, and hulled him with every shot…. He had not wherewithal to return the compliment.
(b) 1605. Lond. Prodigal, I. ii. The charge is small charge, syr; I thanke God my father left me wherewithal.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., I. iii. 59. That Churchman Beares a bounteous minde indeed…. His dewes fall euery where…. L. San. He may, my Lord, H’as wherewithall.
1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, I. ii. My husband and I cannot live by Love, as they say; we must have wherewithal, as they say.
1730. Ramsay, Fables, VI. 21. Them that wanted wherewitha’, He dang then back.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., xix. ‘Here is wherewithal,’ said Martin.
c. Preceded by the definite (rarely the indefinite) article, which qualifies the omitted or implied antecedent: (a) followed by inf. with to = means by which, resource with which (to do something); (b) with ellipsis of inf. (chiefly colloq.), thus becoming a sb. = means, esp. pecuniary means; resource or supply (esp. money) needed for the purpose in view.
(a) 1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, I. viii. ¶ 2 There is a wherewithal to satisfy your craving.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Manch. Strike, xii. 127. A … hope … that this day’s post would have brought the wherewithal to build up new expectations.
1917. Engl. Hist. Rev., Oct., 490. To supply him with the wherewithal to pay for the defence of the border.
(b) 1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. xii. ¶ 13. How the devil does she mean that I should get the wherewithal?
1861. G. M. Musgrave, By-roads & Battle-Fl., 14. The design comprised a harbour for vessels carrying forty guns; but the wherewithal failed.
1890. Besant, Demoniac, iii. Our English girls, when they have got the wherewithal, do in the second generation easily assume the aristocratic manner and appearance.
† 3. = prec. 3. Obs.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 695. He forgot Diana, wherewithall she was very angry.
1640. trans. Verdere’s Rom. of Rom., II. 23. The accents of the voice … made him conclude that they proceeded from a person very much afflicted: wherewithall he was so moved to pity, [etc.].
4. = prec. 4. Obs. or rare arch.
1618. Wither, Motto, Nec Curo, 193. A knowledge wherewithall He is prepar’d for whatsoe’re may fall.
1846. Hawthorne, Mosses, II. P.’s Corr. With precisely the same complacency of conscience, wherewithal he contemplates the volume of discourses above-mentioned.
† b. = prec. 4 b. Obs.
a. 1542. Wyatt, Poems, ‘The longe love, that in my thought,’ 9. Where with all, vntoo the herte forrest hee fleith.
1640. trans. Verdere’s Rom. of Rom., II. 39. Wherewithall considering the … obligation wherein he was bound to her affection, he resolved to let her see how sensible he was of a benefit.
