pron.; also poet. whome’er. literary. [Orig. two words, WHOM and EVER adv. 8 e.] The objective case of WHOEVER; as direct obj., or obj. of prep. (Less frequent than WHOMSOEVER.) a. As compound relative, or with correlative in principal clause (with constructions as in WHOEVER 1): Any (one) whom.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 4811. Wom euer þat he hitt, Þe heued to þe chinne he slitt.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, i. (Petrus), 17. To bind and louss quhowm-euer þou will.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VII. 825. Quhom euir he hyt to ground brymly thaim bar.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 181. He maist cruellie murtherit quhomeuir he knew weil fauoured.
1750. Carte, Hist. Eng., II. 775. Fear of death made him accuse whomever they pleased of treason.
1830. Pusey, Hist. Enq., II. 270. Whomever these men once brand with this mark of shame, is regarded by the people as a denier of God.
1883. R. W. Dixon, Mano, II. v. 80. Will ye not to that man some pity give Whomever dark temptations do assail?
1920. Max Beerbohm, And Even Now, 189. To impose his will on whomever he sees comfortably settled.
¶ Misused for whoever as subject of relative clause preceded by a preposition.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 347. Cursing for sacrilegie in whomever þat reveþ þis rente.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. xi. 215. Y dare putte this into iugement of whom euer hath seen the pilgrimage doon.
b. Introducing a qualifying clause (cf. WHOEVER 2): No matter whom.
1762. in Tytler, Mem. H. Home (1807), II. 7. They freely pursue the truth,… whomever she may oppose, whomever she may countenance.
1845. Neuman’s Lives Eng. Saints, Stephen Langton, v. 69. John would have been glad to have been aided by the strong arm, to whomever it might belong.
