Forms: 1– and; also 1 end, ond, 2–5 ant, 3–7 an, 8–9 dial. an’, 3–4 occas. a; but usually expressed by the compendium for L. et, in OE. ⁊, later &, & (‘And per se’), so that it is impossible to tell the full form intended. [OE. shows two forms: (1) and, ǫnd (:—OTeut. *anda) OFris. anda, and, OS. ant, OHG. ant, Goth. anda-, and, ON. and-, prep. ‘against, fronting’; (2) ęnd (:—OTeut. *andi) OFris. ande, and, an, end, en, OHG. anti, enti, inti, unti, endi, indi, unde, MHG. unde, und, unt, mod.G. und, Du. en, conj.; cf. L. ante before, Gr. ἀντί against, Skr. (Vedic) antí over against, locative of antá ‘end, boundary, vicinity,’ hence on the frontier of, abutting on, fronting, facing.’ From the idea of opposition, juxtaposition, or antithesis, the word was used in the Teut. langs. to express the mutual relation of notions and propositions. The general Teut. form of the conj. is *andi, of the prep. *and(a; in OE., with the early loss of ęnd, and (ǫnd) remained for both, but soon became obs. as prep., exc. in a few derivatives: see C. The levelling of OE. ǫnd, ęnd, under the single form and was no doubt helped by the fact that the conj. is nearly always unemphatic, so that the vowel is obscured and tends to sink to a mere voice glide (’nd). From the same cause the final d has from early times been often dropped, as now universally in the dialects, and commonly in familiar speech: bread and butter = bread ’n butter. See also AN conj.]
† A. prep. (in OE. governing dat.) Obs.
† 1. Of local relation: Before, in presence of.
a. 1000. Cædmon, 13. Hæfdon gleám and dreám and heora ordfruman [i.e., joy and mirth in presence of their creator].
† 2. Of logical relation: By the side of, besides, along with, in addition to.
a. 1000. Menol. (Grein), 211. Emb eahta niht and feówerum. Ibid., 188. Ymb twentiʓ and fif nihtum [cf. 161. Ymbe twá niht].
B. conj. co-ordinate. (Introducing a word, clause, or sentence, which is to be taken side by side with, along with, or in addition to, that which precedes it.)
I. Connecting words.
1. Simply connective.
c. 700. Epinal Gl. (Sweet, O. E. T., 42), Adqueve, ænd suilcæ; Erfurt Gl. (ibid.), Atqueve, end suilce.
735. Bæda, Death-Song. Metudæs mæcti end his modgidanc.
871. O. E. Chron. Æðeréd cyning ond [MS. ⁊] Ælfred his broður. Ibid. (a. 1154), (Laud. MS.), an. 1135. Þa men … carl-men and wimmen.
c. 1205. Lay., 5461. Sorwen an kare.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 485. Twin-wifing ant twin-manslaȝt. Ibid., 647. Noe … an is ðre sunen.
c. 1300. Dial. Sol. & Sat. (Kemble), II. 270. Wyt ant wysdom.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. i. 1. Heuene and erthe.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 169. My master and his man are both broke loose.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 2, ¶ 1. Both in Town and Country.
1711. Addison, ibid., No. 126, ¶ 2. We do in our Consciences believe two and two make four.
1846. Grote, Greece (1869), I. i. 45. The immortal food, nectar and ambrosia.
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 1185. The bond of man and wife.
b. It is used to connect the unit numbers with the tens when they precede, but not when they follow, as one and twenty, twenty-one; to connect (units or) tens to hundreds (or thousands), as two hundred and one, three thousand and twenty-one, six thousand two hundred and fifty-six; to connect fractions to wholes, as four and a half, a pound and three quarters, an hour and twenty minutes, also with shillings and pence, as three and sixpence (fam. three and six); but not usually with different denominations of weights and measures, as two pound(s ten shillings (or two pound ten); four pound(s, six ounces; five foot, six inches; nor in ‘railway time,’ nine forty-eight (48 minutes past nine).
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John xxi. 11. Full mið miclum fiscum, hunteantiʓ ⁊ fiftiʓ ⁊ ðreo.
973. O. E. Chron. Seofon and twentiʓ … ðusend a-úrnen. Ibid. Niʓon and xx … wintra on worulde. Ibid. (1150), an. 1137. xx winter & half ʓær & viij dæis.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 657. Nine hundred ȝer and fifti told, Or or he starf, noe was old.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4554. When þai haf liggen dede … Thre days and an half.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. v. 20. Al the daies of Jared ben maad nyne hundrid ȝeer and two and sixti. Enok lyued fyue and sixti ȝeer [1611 Nine hundred sixtie and two yeeres;—sixtie and fiue yeeres].
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxxix. (1495), 937. The Stadiall felde conteyneth syxe score pace and fyue, that is syxe hundryd fote and fyue, and twenty and eyȝte suche makyth a myle.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xc. 10. The dayes of oure age are iij. score yeares & ten.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low Countr., 3. We … at a League and halfs end came to a Lock.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 431, ¶ 2. I am now entering into my One and Twentieth year.
Mod. Six-and-eightpence, and costs.
Nursery Rhyme. Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
c. Formerly, in expressing two dimensions of space, where we now use by.
1667. Primatt, City & Country Build., 64. The principal Rafters being nine and seven inches.
d. And all: see ALL A 8 c.
2. Expressing continuous repetition: a. repetition of numerical groups; as in ‘they walked two and two’ = By twos, two and then other two and so on, two preceded and followed by two continuously.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Mark vi. 7. [He] agan hi sendan twam ⁊ twam.
c. 1205. Lay., 24749. Æuer tweie and tweie · tuhte tosomne.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2323. He gan hem ransaken on and on.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 296. I lefe it you bi oone and oone.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. iii. 104. Must we all marche? Yea, two and two, Newgate fashion.
1630. Wadsworth, Sp. Pilgr., v. 38. Putting foure and foure to an oare.
1830. Tennyson, L. Shalott, ii. 25. The knights come riding two and two.
b. repetition to an indefinite extent; as for ever and ever; miles and miles = miles and yet more miles, miles upon miles, miles without number.
1086. O. E. Chron. A hit wyrsode swiðor and swiðor.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 49. Heo delueð deihwamliche … deoppre and deoppre.
c. 1200. Ormin, 205. Ice amm Gabriæl þatt æfre and æfre stannde Biforenn Godd.
c. 1230. Ancr. R., 288. Deopeð into þe soule … furðre & furðre.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. i. 35. I haue borne, and borne, and borne. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., IV. v. 256. Ile kill thee euery where, yea, ore and ore.
1820. Shelley, Skylark, ii. Higher still and higher.
1821. Byron, Lett., Wks. 1823, VIII. 168 (M.). I … have lived for months and months on shipboard.
1843. Dickens, Chr. Car., i. Many and many a day.
Mod. To roll over and over down hill. Wet through and through.
3. Emphatically. a. Opposed to or.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev. (1872), I. VII. ix. 239. He can only answer Yes or No; would so gladly answer Yes and No.
b. Expressing a difference of quality between things of the same name or class; = And also, and other. (Commonly called a French idiom, and referred to Molière’s ‘il y a fagots et fagots’: perhaps so in recent use, but found in Eng. a century before the production of Le Médecin malgré lui in 1666.)
a. 1569. Kingesmyll, Confl. w. Satan (1578), 39. There is a sinne and a sinne: much oddes betweene the committing of sinnes in the reprobate and the elect.
1633. Earl Manch., Al Mondo (1636), 86. A heart and a heart God cannot abide.
1855. Browning, Heretic’s Trag., Wks. 1863, I. 289. Alack, there be roses and roses, John!
1883. W. Pollock, in Harper’s Mag., 909/1. There are, in the first place, photographs and photographs.
4. Connecting two adjectives of which the former logically stands in (or approaches to) an adverbial relation to the latter; esp. in familiar language, and dialectally, after nice, fine.
[1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. ii. 8. Her Vestal liuery is but sicke and green. Ibid. (1604), Oth., IV. ii. 56. His slow and mouing finger.]
Mod. fam. That will make you nice and warm. Cut it nice and thin. The grass is fine and tall.
† 5. Before both words connected: = Both — and —. (L., Fr. et — et —.) Obs. (or only a Latinism.)
c. 1275. Cott. Hom., 239. Forté isi and frend and fend.
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Treat., 30. Þou sall be made and bryghte and clene.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 242/4. To thende that he wold not leue them and disheryted and orphanes he made his testament.
a. 1520. Myrr. our Ladye, 146. He ys now gloryfyed in heuen and in soulle and body.
6. When many notions (or clauses) are connected, and is in ordinary prose expressed only with the last. But formerly, and still in illiterate composition, it is used with every member; rhetorically, also, it may be so used, to emphasize the number of points, or length of the series.
1297. R. Glouc., 4. Of Lyncolne, and of Chestre, and of Wircester.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. III. 273. Loue and louhnesse and leute to-gedere.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., cxcii. 168. Al tho that myghte trauaylle, as wel monkes and preestes and frerys and chanons and seculeres.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., II. ii. 80. Warnings and portents and evils imminent.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, V. xiii. Sorrow, and sin, and shame.
1846. Grote, Greece (1869), I. i. 46. Dance and song and athletic contests adorned the Solemnity.
II. Connecting co-ordinate clauses or sentences.
7. Simply connective. a. additive.
855. O. E. Chron. (Parker MS.), an. 534. Her Cerdic forþ ferde, ⁊ [? ond] Cynric his sunu ricsode.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. ii. 20. Aris ænd nim þæt cild, and his moder.
c. 1200. Moral Ode, 159. Þer men luȝen her ent stelen.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 31. The niȝtingale hí i-sez … An thuȝte wel ful of thare hule.
a. 1300. Havelok, 359. Him for to hoslon, an for to shriue.
1502. Arnold, Chron. (1811), 223. He was howsled and anelid and soo died.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 165, ¶ 3. The brightest hours of prosperity have their clouds, and the stream of life … will grow putrid by stagnation.
1756. Burke, Vind. Nat. Soc., Wks. I. 9. I then thought, and am still of the same opinion.
1832. Carlyle, in Remin. (1881), I. 9. I often wondered and admired at this.
1879. Tennyson, Lover’s T., 54. Love mourn’d long, and sorrow’d after Hope.
b. adversative.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xii. 7. Ic wille mild-heortnysse, and na onsæʓdnysse.
1366. Maundev., 51. Thei wenen that thei han bawme, and thei have non.
1481. Caxton, Reynard (Arb.), 69. He complayneth and I playne not.
1611. Bible, Matt. xxii. 30. Hee said, I goe sir, and went not.
8. Introducing a consequence: a. the historical sequel or consequence of a fact.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. i. 3. God cwæþ þa · ʓeweorþe leoht: and leoht wearð ʓeworht.
1382. Wyclif, ibid. God seide, Be maad liȝt: and maad is light. 1611 ibid. God said Let there be light: and there was light. Ibid., Luke vii. 8. I say vnto one Goe, and he goeth; and to another Come, and hee commeth.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 30 June. A pretty young woman, and I did kiss her.
1821. Keats, Lamia, 441. You have dismiss’d me, and I go From your breast houseless.
1879. A. Clark, trans. Rydberg’s Rom. Days, 294. A few paces from the trattoria, and I stood on the Forum Romanum.
Mod. He spoke, and all was still.
b. the predicted consequence or fulfilment of a command, or of a hypothesis put imperatively, or elliptically.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. viii. 8. Cweð þin án word, and mine chapa bið ʓehæled.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 344. Werke by counseil, and thou schalt nat rewe.
1388. Wyclif, John xvi. 16. A litil, and thanne ȝe schuln not se me.
1557. (Genev.), ibid. A litle whyle, and ye shal not see me.
1611. Bible, Luke x. 28. This do, and thou shalt liue.
17[?]. Sc. Paraphr., xxxv. My broken body thus I give For you, for all—take, eat, and live.
1799. Allingham, Fort. Frol., I. iii. Gee’ us a buss, and I’ll tell thee.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, VI. ii. 296. Five minutes more, and our son must have reigned in Little Lilliput.
Mod. Give him an inch, and he will take an ell. Speak one word, and you are a dead man!
9. Introducing an explanatory, amplificative or parenthetic clause.
996. Cod. Dipl., III. 295. Ȝesyllan ælce ʓeare xv leaxas, and ða ʓode.
c. 1205. Lay., 2360. Makian an eorð-hus … & þæt inne swiðe feire stude.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 43. A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 259. Into this dongeon depe I soght, And alle for luf of the.
1610. Shaks., Temp., II. i. 317. I heard a humming (And that a strange one too).
1710. Rowe, J. Shore, I. i. Yet there is one, and he amongst the foremost.
1843. Dickens, Christm. Car., i. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 323. He and he alone has done all this.
1869. A. Morris, Open Secret, xi. 194. To think that we are, and we only are, to blame.
Mod. You doubt his capacity, and with reason.
10. Connecting two verbs the latter of which would logically be in the infinitive, esp. after go, come, send, try; familiarly and dialectally after various others.
[1526. Tindale, Acts xi. 4. Peter began and expounde the thinge.]
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 224. At least to try and teach the erring soul.
1780. Johnson, Letters, II. 50. Do go to his house, and thank him.
1819. Moore, in N. & Q., Ser. I. (1854), IX. 76/1. Went to the theatre to try and get a dress.
1878. Jevons, Prim. Pol. Econ., 42. If every trade were thus to try and keep all other people away.
Mod. You will come and see us sometimes, won’t you?
III. Introductory.
11. Continuing the narration: a. from a previous sentence, expressed or understood.
855. O. E. Chron. (Parker MS.), an. 855. Ond þa fengon Æþelwulfes suna tweʓen to rice. Ibid. (a. 1154), (Laud. MS.), an. 1140. And te eorl of Angæu wærd ded, & his sune Henri toc to þe rice.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 140. An whi not thanne Crist schulde allowe and approve men for to have and use a Graven Ymage of the Emperour in hevene?
1595. Shaks., John, IV. i. 40. A. Must you with hot Irons burne out both mine eyes? H. Yong Boy, I must. A. And will you? H. And I will.
1611. Bible, John xxi. 21. Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
1846. Grote, Greece (1869), I. i. 29. And thus she remained a whole year.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, v. (1869), 69. And why could not you run away, boy?
1861. Lytton, Pilgr. Rhine (beginning). And the stars sat each upon his ruby throne and looked with sleepless eyes upon the world.
b. from the implied assent to a previous question or opinion, = Yes! and; as ‘Will you go?’ ‘And take you with me.’ ‘This applies to all men, I suppose?’ ‘And to women too.’
1847. Helps, Friends in C., Ser. I. I. 284. E. ‘It gives new life to politics.’ M. ‘And not to politics only.’
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, v. 61. ‘You are now to obey me.’ ‘And I will.’
12. In expressing surprise at, or asking the truth of, what one has already heard.
a. 1788. W. J. Mickle, Nae Luck aboot the House. And are ye sure the news is true? And are ye sure he’s weel?
c. 1800. Jolly young Waterman. And have you not heard of that jolly, young waterman, That at Blackfriars’ Bridge used for to ply?
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, III. iii. 96. ‘And you walked here!’ said Lady Everingham.
Mod. O John! and you have seen him! And are you really going?
IV. Quasi-adverbially.
† 13. Also; even. (A Latinism.) Obs. (or arch.)
1382. Wyclif, John xv. 23. He that hatith me, hatith and [1388 also] my fadir. [Vulg. Qui me odit, et patrem meum odit]. Ibid., Wisd. xviii. 20. Thanne forsothe touchede and [1388 also] riȝtwismen the temptacioun of deth.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 519. If thin answere now mad to my questiouns is good, and such thanne a lijk answere schal be good … to thi Questioun.
1558. Bp. Watson, Sev. Sacram., xvi. 102. He … doth not promise vnto vs longe lyfe, and to lyue whyle to morowe.
a. 1879. Lowell, Poet. Wks., 1879, 381. She brought to him her beauty and truth, But and broad earldoms three.
C. conj. conditional, = If. [This was a common use of MHG. unde; the ON. enda (which Vigfusson thinks ‘probably identical’ with and, while Sievers would see in it a reduced form of enn þó, even though) approached this use, in the latter clause of a conditional premiss, as ‘ef þú þorir, enda sér þú nokkut at manni …’ ‘if thou darest, and (supposing that) thou art something of a man …’ (Vigf.). It has been suggested that the Eng. use was derived from that of Norse enda, but this is very doubtful. More probably the idiom arose in Eng. independently, as in MHG. It may have originated from ellipsis, as in the analogous use of so, e.g., ‘I’ll cross the sea, so it please my lord’ (Shaks.); cf. ‘and it please’; or it may be connected with the introductory and in ‘And you are going?’ A direct development from the original prepositional sense, though à priori plausible, is on historical grounds improbable. Modern writers, chiefly since Horne Tooke, have treated this as a distinct word, writing it an, a spelling occas. found c. 1600, esp. in an’ ’t = and it. See AN conj.]
1. If; suppose that provided that, on condition that.
c. 1205. Lay., 8313. And þu hit nult ileuen … ich hit wulle trousien. Ibid. (1250), 3524. Help him nou an þou miht.
a. 1300. Havelok, 2861. And þou wile my conseil tro, Ful wel shal ich with þe do.
c. 1300. Harrow. Hell, 11. Ant he were at this worldes fyne.
c. 1314. Guy Warw., 12. Leuest thing me were to dye And Ich wist bi wiche weye.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 69. I salle … Help þe … & euer I se þat day.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, D vj b. For and she be wyse she ought to thynke [etc.].
1526. Tindale, Matt. xix. 17. But and thou wilt entre into lyfe.
1529. More, Comf. agst. Trib., II. Wks. 1557, 1170/2. Gesse her and you can.
1540. Hyrde, Vives’ Instruct. Chr. Wom., I vj. Let her chaunge her place … and need be.
1547. Homilies, I. (1859), 108. And it please your grace, you did once promise me.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., I. ii. 94. And you will not, sir, Ile take my heeles.
1612. Shelton, Quix., I. III. viii. 183. They may tell it and they please.
1625. Bacon, Ess. (1862), 97. They will set an House on Fire, and it were but to roast their Egges.
1711. J. Greenwood, Eng. Gram., 163. Sometimes And is used for If: As, and you please, for, if you please. See also AN conj.
b. Strengthened with following if: ‘and if,’ ‘an’ if,’ in same sense.
The common s. w. dial. form of if is now nif = ’n if, an if. (See Elworthy, West-Somerset Gram., p. 93.)
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 17. Þerfor lerne þe byleue leuest me were And if any werldly wiȝt wisse me couþe.
a. 1400. Chester Pl., 27. We shoulde dye … and yf we touch that tree.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froissart, I. xxviii. 41. He wolde haue had his right, and yf he wyst how.
1526. Tindale, Matt. vi. 14. For and yff ye shall forgeve other men there treaspases. Ibid., xxiv. 48. But and yf that evill servaunt shall saye [so Cranm., Genev., 1611; Wycl. and Rhem. But if].
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., I. i. 75. A Sheepe doth very often stray, And if the Shepheard be awhile away.
1673. Lady’s Call., I. § 1. ¶ 27. But and if on the other side they meet with one of too much sagacity.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 1402. An if he live, we will have him of our band.
2. Concessive: ‘Even if,’ passing into ‘although.’
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 864. And ȝe ar iolyf gentylmen your iapes ar ille.
c. 1400. Apol. for Loll., 40. And He was riche, He was mad nedy for vs.
1526. Tindale, Mark vi. 56. Thatt they myght touche and hit wer but the edge off hys vesture. [So Cranm., Genev.; Rhem. & 1611, If it were.]
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. ii. He shall go without hir and he were my brother.
a. 1593. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, II. ii. I must have one that’s sickly, An’t be but for sparing victuals.
1658. T. Wall, Enemies of Ch., 33. Religious they will be and ’t be but for the benefit they receive thereby.
† 3. = ‘As if,’ ‘as though.’ Obs.
a. 1423. James I., King’s Q., V. x. A maner smylyng make And sche were glad.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. ii. 86. I will roar you an ’twere any Nightingale. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., I. ii. 139. O he smiles valiantly … Oh yes, and ’t were a clow’d in Autumne.
† 4. indirect interrog.: If, whether (L. an). Obs. illiterate, or dial.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., V. i. 195. To spy an I can heare my Thisbys face.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., IV. i. To feel an there be any brain in it. Ibid. (1602), Poetaster, I. i. Ask him an he will clem me.
¶ Used subst. An expression of condition or doubt.
1638. Chillingworth, Relig. Prot., I. vii. § 10. 395. Whence without all Ifs and Ands, that appeares sufficiently which I said in the beginning.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 723. Absolutely, and without any ifs and ands.
1683. Hooker, Pordage’s Myst. Div., 137. An absolute approbation … without any cautions, qualifications, ifs or ands.
Proverb. If ifs and an’s were pots and pans, there ’d be no trade for tinkers.
