poss. pron. Forms: see below. [In existing form their, in Ormin þeȝȝre, a. ON. þeir(r)a, genitive pl. of simple demonst. sá, sú, þat (= OE. se, séo, þæt), used in ON. also as pl. of 3 pers. pron. The β-forms þer, þar, þere, etc., were prob. due mainly to the unstressed pronunciation of their, thair, confused sometimes with that of the adv. þær, thare, THERE; but they may sometimes represent OE. þǽra, late form of þára, gen. pl. of þá those, substituted for the same case of the personal pronoun. Cf. THEM.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
α. 3 (Orm.) þeȝȝre, (teȝȝre), 4 þeir(e, þeyr, þayre, þayire, þaier, 4–5 þair, þaire, 5 þeire; 4–5 thaire, 5 thayre, 5–7 theire, theyr, 6 thayr, (thier, 6–7 yair), 4– Sc. thair, 5– their.
c. 1200. Ormin, Ded. 84. All þurrh þeȝȝre sinne. Ibid., 3933. Þatt teȝȝre genge shollde ben Þurrh hallȝhe sawless ekedd.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 874. Þarefore þat day al holy cherche Þeyr seruyse of here þey werche.
13[?]. Cursor M., 794 (Cott.). Al þaier kin. Ibid., 21800 (Edin.). Mani man … Þate thair [v.r. þair] hele hauis getin þare.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, lxxvii. 51. He gaf … þaire trauails til þe locust.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 6738. Menelaus, and Thelamon,… with theire tite batels.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 116. Oute of thaire [v.r. their] kynde eke seedes wol renewe.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VII. xviii. 240. All they felle vpon their knees.
1522. Rutland Papers (Camden), 84. To putt all thier stuf of householde in euery office.
1538. Starkey, England, I. iv. 120. To tempur and refrayne thayr malyce.
1549. Baxter-bks. St. Andrews (1903), 5. Thomas mortowne To be yair Decane.
a. 1568. Wyfe of Auchtermuchty, xii. That straik dang baith thair harnis owt.
1620. Sir R. Naunton, in Fortescue Papers (Camden), 139. Theyr general aunswer to his Majesties commandement.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 126. Holes, of that bignesse that one may thrust in theire neafe.
β. (1 þæra, þeora) 4 þer, þar, (þur), 4–5 þere, 4–6 þare, thar, 5 thare, 5–6 ther, 6–8 there, 7 thir (used by Milton as unstressed form of their).
[a 1100[?]. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 449. On þeora daʓum ʓelaðode Wyrtʓeorn Angelcin hider. Ibid., an. 1086. Þæt þa godan men niman æfter þeora godnesse.]
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 127. Þe popille him bisouht þer kyng forto be.
13[?]. Cursor M., 476 (Cott.). Þat sithen þar [v.rr. þair(e, her] sted was neuer sene. Ibid., 666. Bath he sette in þare [v.rr. þair(e, her] fre will. Ibid., 13900. Moyse þur lagh þaim broght.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 12467. Trees, thurgh tempestes, tynde hade þere leues.
c. 1450. Godstow Regr., 491. Ther heires lawfully I-be-gote of ther bodies.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. ix. 119. I shalle fownd to crak thare crowne.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IV. ix. 33–4. The ryning fludis thar wattir stop can scho mak, And eik the sternis turne ther cours alak.
1526. There [see B. 1].
1533. Bellenden, Livy, II. xix. (S.T.S.), I. 205. Þai obeyit weill eftir to þare capitanis.
1663. Chas. II., in Julia Cartwright, Henrietta of Orleans (1894), 139. They will shew there affections to me.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 235. He ceas’d, and heard thir grant in loud acclaim.
1757. Mrs. Griffith, Lett. Henry & Frances (1767), I. 56. Rogueries … which, they thought, brought a disgrace on there bruteships.
B. Signification.
1. Poss. adj. (orig. gen. pl. of pers. pron.) Of, belonging, or pertaining to them; also refl. of or belonging to themselves.
c. 1200. Ormin, 127. Naffdenn þeȝȝ þurrh þeȝȝre streon Ne sune, child, ne dohhterr.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 1115. Brutus wiþ his folk … wente þer weye.
1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 3884. Prelats … Sal account yhelde … Of þair suggets undir þair powere.
1526. Tindale, Matt. vi. 5. Vereley I saye vnto you they have there rewarde.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, I. vi. (Arb.), 27. Vnder the conduict of Totila and Atila and other their generalles.
1617. Moryson, Itin., II. 219. Consider the inward motiues of their crauing mercy.
1640. trans. Verdere’s Rom. of Rom., I. xviii. 78. With that they tooke their leaves of her.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 222. The great agility of these animals prevents their often being taken.
1797. Godwin, Enquirer, I. vi. 41. We must dwell upon their every word.
1847. De Quincey, Orthogr. Mutineers, Wks. 1860, XIV. 105. When … he [Milton] wishes to direct a bright jet of emphasis upon the possessive pronoun their, he writes it as we now write it. But when he wishes to take off the accent, he writes it thir. [Cf. A. β. 1671.]
1853. M. Arnold, Empedocles, II. 19. With men thou canst not live; Their thoughts, their ways, their wishes, are not thine.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., iv. Long after the frost and snow have done their worst with the orchards.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 383. These old pheasant-lords … Who had mildew’d in their thousands, doing nothing Since Egbert.
b. Obj. gen. Of (for, to) them. (Cf. HIS B. 2.)
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 77. For a tyme your grace muche bewailed their lacke.
1579. [see 5].
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. iii. 43. Shall … quite from off the earth their memory be raste?
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 66. Yet can there not be in any nation a neglect of oxen; and their reverence was so great that, in ancient time [etc.].
1780. Beckford, Biog. Mem., 108. Humanity pleads strongly for the abridgment of their relation.
Mod. We mourn their loss.
c. Const. with gen. pl. of all, both: their aller, their bother, beyre (obs.); also all their, their both, both their, each of their (arch.): meaning ‘of all, both, or each of them.’ See ALL D. 4, BOTH 4 b, BO a. c.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1584. Þe louerd … Vareþ vt on þare beyre neode.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18766. He stei up in þair aller sight.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 239. Þe fend … is þer alþer kyng.
c. 1465. Eng. Chron. (Camden), 48. Be thair bothe assent.
1559. Mirr. Mag. (1563), D v. Lo thus fond hope dyd theyr both lyues abrydge.
a. 1568. [see A. α].
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, I. viii. (Arb.), 35. Saying thus in all their hearings.
1654–66. Earl Orrery, Parthen. (1676), 550. With both their helps I was carried to a Chamber.
1672. Temple, Misc., I. 64. According to each of their hunger or need.
1874. Swinburne, Bothwell, II. i. Mine and all their free and sovereign king.
2. Used of a thing with which a number of persons have to do, or which is assumed to be the common possession of a class; e.g., ‘These boys know their Greek syntax.’ Cf. HIS poss. pron. 1 b.
1785. Burns, Halloween, ii. To burn their nits, an’ pou their stocks, An’ haud their Halloween.
1905. Daily Chron., 2 Sept., 3/1. All those who love their Devon and especially their Dartmoor.
3. Often used in relation to a singular sb. or pronoun denoting a person, after each, every, either, neither, no one, every one, etc. Also so used instead of ‘his or her,’ when the gender is inclusive or uncertain. Cf. THEY pron. 2, THEM pron. 2; NOBODY 1 b, SOMEBODY. (Not favored by grammarians.)
13[?]. Cursor M., 389 (Cott.). Bath ware made sun and mon, Aiþer wit þer ouen light.
c. 1420. Sir Amadace (Camden), I. Iche mon in thayre degre.
14[?]. Arth. & Merl., 2440 (Kölbing). Many a Sarazen lost their liffe.
1533. [see THEMSELVES 5].
1545. Abp. Parker, Lett. to Bp. Gardiner, 8 May. Thus was it agreed among us that every president should assemble their companies.
1563. Winȝet, Four Scoir Thre Quest., liv. A man or woman being lang absent fra thair party.
1641. [see A. α].
1643. Trapp, Comm. Gen. xxiv. 22. Each Countrey hath their fashions, and garnishes.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. xiv. Every one in the House were in their Beds.
1771. Goldsm., Hist. Eng., III. 241. Every person … now recovered their liberty.
a. 1845. Syd. Smith, Wks. (1850), 175. Every human being must do something with their existence.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xli. A person can’t help their birth.
1858. Bagehot, Lit. Studies (1879), II. 206. Nobody in their senses would describe Gray’s ‘Elegy’ as [etc.].
1898. G. B. Shaw, Plays, II. Candida, 86. It’s enough to drive anyone out of their senses.
† 4. After a sb. (usually a proper name), instead of the genitive inflexion. Cf. HIS poss. pron. 4, HER poss. pron. 3rd pl. 3. Obs. or rare arch.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., II. (1895), 172. Vntyll the vtopians their creditours demaunde it.
1600. Shakspere’s Titus A. (title-p.). As it hath sundry times beene playde by the Right Honourable the Earle of Pembrooke,… and the Lorde Chamberlaine theyr Seruants.
1642. Featley, Dippers Dipt (1646), 11. These travellers their report, and the testimony of those witnesses.
1642. Drumm. of Hawth., Skiamachia, Wks. (1711), 193. An answer to the parliament of England their declaration.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 3 Jan. The House of Lords their proceedings in petitioning the King.
1681. R. Burthogge, Argt. for Inf. Bapt. (1684), 6. From the Children of Believers their being Abraham’s Spiritual Seed.
5. Serving as antecedent to a following relative; equivalent to ‘of those.’ (Now usually avoided.)
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 134/2. Under their obedience whome God hath set ouer us.
1593. in J. Morris, Troubles Cath. Forefathers, Ser. III. (1877), 124. The chiefest favour must be procured by their means that have spoiled us before.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., IX. vii. § 14. This prediction … yet miss’d their meaning, who both first reported, and most believed it.
† 6. absol. THEIRS. Cf. HER poss. pron. 3rd pers. pl. 4. Obs.
13[?]. Cursor M., 7465 (Cott.). A man o þair gains an of vr.
1592. G. Harvey, Four Lett., Wks. (Grosart), I. 216. I offer them my hande: and request their.
1618. Wither, Motto, C iij b. My clothing keeps me full as warm as their [rhyme are]. Ibid., C iv. And my esteeme I will not change for their.
