Obs. or dial. Forms: 1 be-útan, bútan, -on, búta, búte, 2–3 bute(n, 3 bouten, 3–6 boute, (5 bowte), 5–6(7) bout. [ME. boute, bouten, early ME. būte(n:—OE. bútan (búta, búte) adv., prep., conj.: orig. be-útan adv. and prep. ‘without,’ L. extra; a WGer. compound (= OS. bi-ûtan, bûtan, OHG. bi-ûȥan, MG. bûȥen) f. bi prep. ‘BY, with’ + ûtan, earlier ûtana (OHG. ûȥana, ûȥan, OS., OE. ûtan), Gothic ûtana, orig. ‘from without,’ έξωθεν, later simply ‘without,’ ἔξω; f. ût OUT + -ana suffix with force of ‘from.’ Originally an adverb, but already in Gothic construed with a genitive = ‘outside of,’ and in WGer. also with dative; in OE. with dat. and acc. The OE. bútan split up into two forms in ME.: first, as prep. and adv., this strong form bútan, būte(n, boute(n, bout (cf. OUT), which became obs. before 1600, its sense being continued by WITHOUT; Secondly, as adv. and conj., a weakened form, bŭta(n, bŭte(n, BUT, which still continues. As bout became obs., but acquired some quasi-prepositional uses; in northern dialect, and esp. in Scotch, but (bot) had even in 14th c. the senses of ME. bout, and still partly retains them. See BUT.]

1

  A.  adv. Outside, without; out.

2

a. 890.  O. E. Chron., an. 867. Wæl ʓesleʓen, sume binnan sume butan.

3

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark xiv. 68. [Petrus] eode buta. Ibid., John xviii. 16. Petrus uutudlice ʓestod … to duru … ute vel bute vel fore.

4

c. 1205.  Lay., 3748. Scholde a quene beon king in þisse londe, & heora sunen beon bute [c. 1275 boute].

5

c. 1315.  Shoreham, 40. The signe hiis that hys boute y-do, That thynge hys grace bynne. [hys = is.]

6

  B.  prep.

7

  1.  Outside of, without. a. of position (with dat.).

8

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 1354 (Gr.). Be-utan earce bordum.

9

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Lev. iv. 21. Butan ðære wic-stowe.

10

a. 1120.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1116. Æʓðer ʓe binnan burʓan and butan.

11

  b.  of motion (with acc.).

12

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark v. 10. Þætte hine ne fordrife buta ðæt lond.

13

c. 1000.  Ags. G., Mark viii. 23. He … lædde hine butan þa wic.

14

c. 1160.  Hatton G., ibid. Buton þa wic.

15

  2.  Without, apart from, not having, void of: esp. in phrase bouten ende. (Obs. in Eng. before 1500, but retained in Sc. in form bot, BUT, q.v.)

16

894.  O. E. Chron. Hie fluʓon ofer Temese buton ælcum forda.

17

971.  Blickl. Hom., 33. Eal his lif he lifde buton synnum.

18

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 43. Deor, summe feðer foted, summe al bute fet.

19

c. 1200.  Ormin, Introd. 21. To ben a butenn ende þær.

20

c. 1205.  Lay., 23676. Arthur fehten wolde … butene cnihte [c. 1275 boute eni cniht].

21

c. 1300.  Land Cokaygne, 21, in E. E. P. (1862), 157. I sigge for soþ, boute were. Þer n’is lond on erthe is pere.

22

c. 1305.  St. Dunstan, 184, ibid., 39. Hi schulle wone And kynges beo bouten ende.

23

c. 1350.  Will Palerne, 567. As schip boute mast.

24

1430.  Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. vi. Bout makyng of delay.

25

a. 1500.  Chester Pl. (1847), II. 55. This cote boute seame To breake it were shame.

26

[1631.  Craige, Pilgrim & H., 6. Tumbling teares bout cease.]

27

  b.  absol. with obj. not expressed: Without.

28

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 418. Stamin habbe hwose wule; and hwose wule mei beon buten.

29

1400.  Trentalle, in Epiph. (Turnb., 1843), 80. The ton have ende that other is bowte.

30

1674.  Ray, N. C. Wds., 7. To be bout as Barrow was, i. e. to be without.

31

  3.  Except, beyond, more than: see BUT.

32

c. 890.  K. Ælfred, Bæda, III. xxiii. § 4. Butan anum cnihte.

33

c. 1320.  Sir Beues, 53. He nas boute seue winter olde.

34