Forms: 4 bi-, 4–5 bylong, 4– belong; north. and Sc. belang. [ME. bi-, belongen appears to be an intensive (with BE- pref.) of the simple longen, common in the same sense from 13th c.: see LONG v.2 OHG. has, in same sense, bilangên, MDu. belanghen, mod.G. and Du. belangen, also a sb. belang ‘concern, interest, importance’; but no trace of such forms is found in OE. For the sense, cf. the prec. adj.]
1. intr. To go along with, or accompany, as an adjunct, function or duty; to be the proper accompaniment, to be appropriate, to pertain to.
1340. Ayenb., 176. Þe ulessliche [þoȝtes] belongeþ to lost an to wylninges.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. Prol. 110. For in loue and letterure þe eleccioun bilongeth.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 215. Suffisaunt To doon al that a man bilongeth unto.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, D iij b. Theys haukes belong to an Emproure.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia (1613), 209. To learne the good what trauailes do belong.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. iii. 40. Wee know what belongs to a Watch.
1611. Bible, Dan. ix. 9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiuenesses.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 807. Of this cursed crew The punishment to other hand belongs.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 397, ¶ 3. Grief has a natural Eloquence belonging to it.
1861. Geo. Eliot, in Cross, Life (1885), II. xi. 322. He … works with all the zest that belongs to fresh ideas.
b. impers., or with subject it repr. a clause.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, I. xii. Neuer ne left he … his burdon, as it bylongeth to a good pylgrym.
c. 1450. Merlin, xv. 239. He was wele horsed as to soche a man be-longeth.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., 188. To rakin thame al in this place it belanges nat to our purpose.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 111. They therefore, as to right belongd, So were created.
1821. Keats, Isabel, xlix. Here … it doth not well belong To speak.
2. To pertain, concern, refer or relate to. arch.
1340. Ayenb., 12. Þe oþer article [of the Creed] belongeþ to þe zone.
1549. Coverdale, Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. i. 24. Nor belongen these my woordes onelye to you, but generally to all nacions.
1593. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., II. viii. § 4. Whatsoever belongeth unto the highest perfection of man.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 147. All that belongs to this.
1611. Bible, 1 Cor. vii. 22. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord.
3. To be the property or rightful possession of. Const. to; occas. with indirect obj.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 43. Telle ȝe me now to wham þat tresour by-longeþ.
1508. Fisher, Wks., I. (1876), 290. The Blessyd Martha was a woman of noble blode, to whom by enheritaunce belonged the castel of bethany.
a. 1692. Ashmole, Antiq. Berks (1723), II. 424. The Hundred of Wargrave did for many Ages belong to the Bishops of Winchester.
1764. Brydges, Homer Travest. (1797), I. 128. Thy buxom wench … Belongs a better man than thee.
1835. Penny Cycl., XIV. 365/2. Rushen Abbey belonged to the Cistercian order.
1852. McCulloch, Comm. Dict., 1105. Property belonging to another state.
b. To be a property or attribute of.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, III. ii. § 18. It must have equall motion in all its particles, if motion doth belong to it.
a. 1704. Locke, Wks. (1706), 19. This way of containing all things can by no means belong to God.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., II. ii. § 14 (1864), 204. The accompaniment of activity belongs to every one of the senses.
1885. J. Martineau, Ethical The., I. 275. The innumerable ‘attributes’ which must belong to an infinite nature.
4. To be connected with in various relations; to form a part or appendage of; e.g., to be a member of a family, society or nation, to be an adherent or dependent of, to be a native or inhabitant of a place; to be a dependency, adjunct or appendage of something; to be one of a generation or time.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 121. Þe nimphes of the welles, And other … Unto the wodes belongende.
1485. Caxton, Paris & V., Prol. I belong to the parish of Saint Pierre.
1535. Coverdale, Esther viii. 1. Hester tolde how that he belonged vnto her.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., V. i. 9. Belong you to the Lady Oliuia, friends? Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., V. iv. 3. Good M. Porter, I belong to th’ Larder.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 121, ¶ 1. The great Yard that belongs to my Friend’s Country-House.
1856. Sat. Rev., II. 189. Mr. Pierce belongs to New Hampshire.
1875. Agnes Macdonell, in Macm. Mag., XXXII. 545/1. Some of his [Hawthorne’s] finest figures … belong to a period so early in American history.
1883. F. M. Crawford, Mr. Isaacs, iv. 71. To what confession do you yourself belong?
1884. H. Drummond, Nat. Law in Spir. W., 112. Those who belong to the rank and file of life need this warning most.
b. occas. const. To belong here; also in U.S., with, in.
1861. O. W. Holmes, Elsie Venner, xxvii. You belong with the last [set], and got accidentally shuffled in with the others.
