Also 3 þæ. [OE. þé, originally locative or instrumental case of the demonstrative and relative pron. se, séo, þæt. In OE. interchanging with pý: see THY adv.]
1. Preceding an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree, the two words forming an adverbial phrase modifying the predicate.
The radical meaning is ‘in or by that,’ ‘in or by so much,’ e.g., ‘if you sow them now, they will come up the sooner’; ‘he has had a holiday, and looks the better,’ to which the pleonastic ‘for it’ has been added, and the sentence at length turned into ‘he looks the better for his holiday.’
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xvii. 122. Oft sio wund bið ðæs þe wierse & ðy mare.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 87. Þa cleopede god þe ner Moyses him to.
c. 1205. Lay., 30597. Of þere brede he æt sone þer after him wes þæ bet.
c. 1290. Beket, 1252, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 142. He chaungede is name, þe sikerloker forto go.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3651 (Cott.). Þat he þe mai þe less mistru, Þou sal sai þou ert esau.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxxviii. (Bodl. MS.). He [the stomach] is rowȝe … to holde þe better þe mete þat he fongiþ.
c. 1430. How Gd. Wife taught Dau., 191, in Babees Bk., 41. Þe work is þe sonner do þat haþ many handis.
1526. Tindale, John xix. 8. When Pilate herde that sayinge, he was the moare afrayde [1388 Wyclif, he dredde the more].
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. ii. 33. That … I may beare armes,… The rather, since that fortune hath this day Given to me the spoile of this dead knight.
1621. Fletcher, Wild Goose Chase, IV. i. ’Tis not to be help’d now. Lil. The more’s my Miserie.
1782. Cowper, Mut. Forbearance, 24. Your fav’rite horse Will never look one hair the worse.
1838. Ruskin, Ess. Painting & Music, § 24, Wks. 1903, I. 285. And if others do not follow their example,—the more fools they.
1883. Law Times, 27 Oct., 425/1. What student is the better for mastering these futile distinctions?
† b. In phrase the less (the), (= L. quominus), OE. þe-lǽs þe, Early ME. (þe) læste, now LEST conj. q.v.
[c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, ii. 12. Ðyles hwonne eorsie dryhten.]
971. Blickl. Hom., 65. Þe læs hi us besencean on helle grund.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John v. 14. Ne synga þa, þe-læs þe þe on sumon þingon wyrs ʓetide.
a. 1100. in Napier, O. E. Glosses, i. 3675. Þe læste ʓehremde.
[1175: see LEST conj.]
2. The … the … by how much … by so much; in what degree … in that degree … [= L. quo … co..., Gr. ὅσῳ … τοσούτῳ…): denoting proportional dependence between the notions expressed by two clauses, each having the + a comparative; one the being demonstrative, and the other relative. The relative clause usually comes first, e.g., ‘The more one has, the more one wants’; but the order may be reversed, as ‘One wants the more, the more one has’; and in either order the comparative in the relative clause is sometimes followed by that, e.g., ‘the more that one has.’ In OE. commonly þý; ME. þi, þe: see THY adv.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., Pref. 5. Dæt her ðy mara wisdom on londe wære, ðy we ma ʓeðeoda cuðon.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7547. Þe more þat a mon can, þe more wurþe he is.
13[?]. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., LV. xii. 95. Þe more we trace þe Trinite, Þe more we falle in fantasye.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), v. 14. Ay þe elder it es, þe whittere it waxes.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 1. Yitt þai er ay þe langer þe wers.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 445. Though the Camomile, the more it is troden, the faster it growes; yet Youth, the more it is wasted, the sooner it weares.
1690. T. Saunders, in 11th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. VII. 111. As to our sea affairs … the lesse I say the better.
1771. in J. Watson, Jedburgh Abbey (1894), 98. The bells must be removed, and the sooner the better.
c. 1790. Imison, Sch. Art, I. 208. The smaller a lens is, and the more its convexity, the nearer is its focus, and the more its magnifying power.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho!, iv. The less said the sooner mended.
1874. Micklethwaite, Mod. Par. Churches, 26. The higher the windows are from the ground the better.
Proverbial expression. The more, the merrier.
