pron. Forms: see YOUR and SELF. [ME. ȝour self(e, ȝour selven, superseding earlier nom. ȝe selfe, and acc.-dat. eow selve(n, ȝou self: see SELF A. 2–4. The development of the sing. use through the honorific pl. use followed the precedent of YE, YOU, YOUR.] The emphatic and reflexive pronoun corresponding to you.
I. In plural sense: now replaced by yourselves.
† 1. emphatic, = YOURSELVES 1, 2. Obs.
c. 1325. in E. E. P. (1862), 134. Þe soþe ȝe may ȝor self ise.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 1095. Al þe nede & þe noy þat ȝe now suffren By a-sent of ȝour-silf, ȝe sain þat ȝe dryen.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 179. Þat … her-by schulde be … worschipe to god & endeles good to ȝouwre self.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 5036. All the wise how it was ye wetyn your selfe.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 195. Preistis, thole to preiche, Sen ȝe ȝour self can preiche na thing.
β. 13[?]. Cursor M., 780 (Gött.). Als goddes suld ȝur seluen be.
c. 1420. Sir Amadace (Camden), xxx. Ȝe most noue take ȝour leue, For ȝoure seluun knauyn the cace.
† 2. refl. = YOURSELVES 4. Obs.
13[?]. Cursor M., 16653 (Gött.). Ne wepe ȝe noght for me, Bot on ȝur childer and ȝurself [Cott. ȝowself].
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 4. Wil ȝe not sei wiþin ȝor self we haue þe fadir Abraham.
1426. Audelay, Poems, 9. Do fore ȝoure self ore ȝe gone, Or mede of God get ȝe none.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 9. Ye proude galants that thus your selfe disguise.
1572. Abp. Parker, Corr. (Parker Soc.), 391. Think you, that this way you among yourself shall escape?
B. c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 12843. But the noble Duke Nestor onon to hom said:… ‘Sendis fro youre-seluyn to your syde londis.’
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 2730. Ye sholde alway your syluen shewe Wyth cherysshyng ffyr of plesaunce.
II. In singular sense (originally as a honorific plural: cf. YOU II, YOUR 2 b): replacing THYSELF.
* Emphatic. 3. In apposition with ye or you (usually as subj., less commonly as pred. or obj.), or after a verb in the imperative.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 350. Þaȝ ȝe ȝour-self be talenttyf to take hit to your-seluen.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3309. And ye sothely, your selfe,… Shal be worshipped worthely.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., III. v. (Arb.), 58. R. Royster. If it were an other but thou, it were a knaue. M. Mery. Ye are an other your selfe, sir.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., I. i. 154. Henceforth, carry your letters your selfe. Ibid. (c. 1600), Sonn., xiii. You are No longer yours, then you your selfe here liue.
1707. Freind, Peterborow’s Cond. Sp., 211. You will hardly believe your self, what this Letter informs you of.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VI. ii. Suppose she should have fixed on the very Person whom you yourself would wish.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xxvii. I hope I may see you happily married yourself some of these days.
1861. Miss Yonge, Stokesley Secret, vi. ‘Johnnie!—get sticks, I say.’… Johnnie uttered a gruff ‘Get ’em yourself.’
1890. Burnand, Very Much Abroad, 103. You certainly gave me to understand you had been there yourself.
4. a. Used as simple subject, with the verb either in the pl. (as with you), or in the 3rd pers. sing. (self being taken as a sb.).
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2489. Your seluyn sothely asayet haue before.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XVIII. (Percy Soc.), 81. Your selfe hath caught it in so sure a net.
1586. A. Day, Engl. Secretorie, II. (1625), 22. Your owne selfe doe know, that both he and the rest were to me knowne before time.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., II. i. 18. Madam, your selfe is not exempt from this.
1621. Bp. Mountagu, Diatribæ, 47. Your selfe deny this elsewhere.
1641. ‘Smectymnuus,’ Vind. Answ., § 13. 122. But your selle grants … that Timothy was not yet Bishop.
a. 1745. Swift, Verses, To a Lady, 126. Conversation is but carving: Carve for all, yourself is starving.
1799. Washington, Lett., Writ. 1893, XIV. 150. Does the Presidt. and yourself wear them?
Mod. (vulgar) How’s yourself?
b. as predicate, or after as or than.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1849. Sho might haue bene mariede to more þen your selfe.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, III. v. 46. Is it your selfe?
1709. Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem., 31. I know nothing so valuable as your self.
1847. R. S. Surtees, Hawbuck Gr., xii. ‘Why, what a mess you’re in, Beaney!’… ‘Am I?… I can’t be much worse than yourself; look at your breeches!’
1896. Mary Beaumont, Joan Seaton, x. It’s yourself, Sweetheart, it’s yourself I think most of now.
c. as direct or indirect object, or after a preposition (or like adj. and adv.).
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1548. I … euer-more wylle Be seruaunt to your seluen.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2327. Yff it like your Aliegiaunce, þat I, your lefe son, Be sent from your seluon.
1634. Prynne, in Documents agst. P. (Camden), 34. This odious scandall … which I wish may not truly reflect upon your self.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., II. i. Spoke like ye’rsell, auld birky.
1766. Gentl. Mag., May, 234/1. Good fortune befall Yourself, and the B-n-r-d family all.
1807. Anna Seward, Lett. (1811), VI. 331. On a balance of their beauty and deformity, not one of them equals yourself or Southey.
1852. Miss Mulock, Agatha’s Husb., iv. What a strong friendship used to exist between Uncle Brian, yourself, and Anne Valery.
5. In pregnant sense: Your being or personality; also, your true self, you as you are in your natural or normal condition: cf. SELF D. 1, 2.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 42. What euill starre On you hath fround,… That of your selfe ye thus berobbed arre.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xiii. O that you were your selfe.
1740. Richardson, Pamela (1741), I. ii. 5. For fear you should be brought to any thing … wicked, by being set so above yourself.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VI. v. ‘Dear aunt, you frighten me out of my senses.’ ‘O, my dear,… you will soon come to yourself again.’
1889. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Mrs. Bob, viii. ‘Now you look like yourself,’ she said fondly.
** 6. Reflexive, as direct or indirect object, or after a preposition: taking the place of YOU 4 d.
13[?]. to your-seluen [see 3].
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 3759. To occupye your sylff alway.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 102. Least that by the doyng the contrary, you bring your selfe into such a pecke of troubles.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., I. i. Nor would I, you should melt away your selfe In flashing brav’rie.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. v. 75. Good Madam keepe your selfe within your selfe.
1680. R. L’Estrange, Erasm. Colloq., 127. ’Twas well you bethought your self before you were in for good and all.
1717. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Mrs. S. C—, 1 April. I am going to tell you a thing that will make you wish yourself here.
1865. ‘L. Carroll,’ Alice’s Adv. in Wonderland, ix. Pray don’t trouble yourself.
1882. ‘Edna Lyall,’ Donovan, xix. You’ll do for yourself one of these days.
*** 7. As indefinite pronoun (emphatic or reflexive): = ONESELF: cf. YOU 6, YOUR 6.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., II. iii. 56. Here is a Table of Latitudes … and the way to calculate it your self.
1881. Baily’s Mag., April, 97. Our friend learned that one of the secrets of their success was picking the line of country quickly yourself.
1918. Times Lit. Suppl., 2 May, 207/2. The monkey … has a rule that everything which cannot be eaten must be used to scratch yourself with.
