adv. Forms: 2–3 of feor, 4 a ver, a feer, afer, afur, ofer; 4–5 a fer; 5 offerre; 6–7 a farre, a-farre; 7– afar. Also 4 on ferr, a ferr, afer, i-verre; 6–7 a farre, a-farre, a far, a-far; 7– afar. [f. FAR adv.:—OE. feor, with prep. OF, or ON. The phrase of feor appears in 12th c., as an analytical form = feorren, ferren:—OE. feorran, ‘from far.’ (Cf. Fr. de loin, L. a longe, de longinquo.) On ferr appears c. 1300, as = OE. feor, or a strengthening of it; (perhaps orig. an erroneous expansion of a ferr for of feor). In 14th c. both were a fer, and the force of the of being thus lost except in special connection, the combination from a far took the place of the earlier feorran, of feor, a fer; and a fer = on-feor began to be strengthened with a following off. The result is that afar is now a synonym of the simple far in the local sense, chiefly used in poetry. See also FAR, FERREN.]
1. From far, from a distance. Now only with see and the like, afar being transferred from the seer to the thing seen.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 247. Þe warliche loki … and of feor bihalde alle þe cuminde.
c. 1230. Ancren Riwle, 250. Derne uondunges þet he scheoteð of feor.
c. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 8484. On-ferr þe golden letters scan.
c. 1320. R. Brunne, Medit., 583. Mary, hys modyr folewed a ver.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xxii. 4. He sawe a place a feer [1388 seiȝ a place afer].
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. vi. (1495), 111. A depe syghte seeth aferre.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, V. 1642. Of heght so hoge … to all þe prouyns þai apperit & pertis ofer.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of Armes, I. xxv. 81. Other parte of the ost shal folowe offerre.
b. In this sense now usually preceded by from.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 122. The kynges thre that come ryde Fram be easte wel i-verre.
c. 1385. Chaucer, Leg. G. Wom., Prol. 212. And from a fer came walking in The God of Love.
1548. Udall, &c., Erasm. Paraphr. Matt. iv. 24. Manye brought from a farre theyr diseased.
1611. Heywood, Gold. Age, I. i. 12. To strike and wound thy foeman from a farre.
1667. Dryden, Ann. Mirab., cv. For now brave Rupert from afar appears.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, I. 74. Some stately ship, that from afar Shone sudden.
1878. G. Macdonald, Ann. Quiet Neighb., x. 172. That foolish emulation which makes one class ape another from afar.
2. Far, far away, at or to a distance; fig. remotely. (Earlier on feor.)
c. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 12352, Cotton MS. Þai stod on ferr als best vnbald. Fairf. MS. On ferre. Gött. MS. On fer. Trin. MS. Stoden a fer as bestis wolde.
c. 1384. Chaucer, Hous of Fame, 1215. A fer fro hem alle be hem selue.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., A-ferre, not nye (1499 afer) Procul.
1475. Caxton, Jason, 115. An hye roche to whom the see touched beneth a ferre lowe doun.
1597. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. i. 4. New broils To be commenc’d in Stronds a-farre remote.
c. 1655. H. Vaughan, Peace, 2. My soul, there is a country, Afar beyond the stars.
1760. Beattie, Minstrel, I. 1 (R.). The steep where Fame’s proud temple shines afar.
1817. Chalmers, Astron. Disc., i. (1852), 36. There are other worlds which roll afar.
1821. Shelley, Adonais, xiv. Afar the melancholy thunder moaned.
b. In this sense, now usually followed in prose by off.
1574. trans. Marlorats Apocalips, 25. Lyke as starres are seene a farre off vpon the earth.
1578. Tymme, trans. Calvin on Gen., 148. Hide himself in some Desert a farre off.
1586. T. B., trans. La Primaudaye’s Fr. Acad., 95. It will be best for a man to keepe himselfe a far off.
1611. Bible, Gen. xxii. 4. Abraham lift vp his eyes, and saw the place afarre off.
1660. T. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 2/1. Thales a Milesian, afar off by descent a Phœnician.
1833. I. Taylor, Fanat., ix. 420. Whoever among the nations, afar off or near, would renounce his delusions.
