Thereof

adv. Now formal or arch. Forms: see THERE and OF; also 3 þrof (trof), 5 throf. [OE. þǽr of: see THERE 17 and OF.]

  1.  Of that or it: in various current senses of OF.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 196. ʓenim þas ylcan wyrte, wyrc clyþan þærof.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 9867. Þa staness þatt he spacc þæroff, Þeȝȝ wærenn rihhte staness.

a. 1240.  Sawles Warde, in Cott. Hom., 253. To a rudden him ut þrof. Ibid., 265. Þat tu hauest ibeo þear ant soð hauest iseid trof.

13[?].  Cursor M., 22722 (Cott.). Þar of wit trout he broght þam vte.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), v. 16. Men makes þeroff gude glasse.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, C v. Make throf .iij. pellettis.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 116. A sage persone … wyll be well ware therof.

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., III. i. 139. I … in lieu thereof, impose on thee nothing but this.

1599.  Hakluyt, Voy., II. 186. I … tooke oute thereof a iarre of oyle.

1611.  Bible, John vi. 50. That a man may eate thereof, and not die.

1678.  Wanley, Wond. Lit. World, V. ii. § 79. Having lived about fifty two years, and thereof Reigned thirty one.

a. 1761.  Law, Comf. Weary Pilgr. (1809), 61. But instead thereof, he was left solely to the light and spirit of this world.

  b.  = of it, as objective genitive.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 3. Þe lauerd haueð þar of neode.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1132. Maniman ðor of holdet litel tale.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1287 (Cott.). Quen [he] þar of son had a sight.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 69. Þei ben consenteris & fautouris þer of.

c. 1400.  Ywaine & Gaw., 762. For tharof had he grete myster.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 105. To the spedy execution thereof.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., IV. i. 38. Disburse the summe, on the receit thereof.

1600.  J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, II. 62. At last [he] vsurped the gouernment thereof.

1665.  in De Foe, Plague (1840), 41. Give notice thereof to the examiner of health.

1698.  Tyson, Anat. Opossum, 3. Find out some Name, that might be most expressive thereof.

1818.  Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 304. Nor should the heir be occupant thereof.

  c.  = of it, its, as possessive genitive.

  Many examples in Biblical use; a few occur in the later Wycliffite version; they increase in the 16th-c. versions, and become very numerous in the Rhemish and in 1611.

1388.  Wyclif, 2 Kings ii. 12. The chare of Israel, ar the charietere therof [1382 of it; Cov. and his horsmen; Genev., 1611, and R. V. and the horsemen thereof]. Ibid., Prov. iii. 16. Lengthe of daies is in the riȝthalf therof, and richessis and glorie ben in the lifthalf therof [1382 ¹his, ²of it]. Ibid., Matt. ii. 16. And slowe alle the children, that weren in Bethleem, and in alle the coostis therof [1382 in alle the eendis of it; Tindale in all the costes there of; Genev., Rhem. therof; 1611 thereof; 1881 R. V. in all the borders thereof].

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., I. iii. 154. As little ioy you may suppose in me, That I enioy, being the Queene thereof.

1611.  Bible, Joshua xv. 47. Vnto the riuer of Egypt and the great sea and the border thereof. [So R. V.]

1623.  Cockeram, III. Ignavus … He runneth up trees, and his desire is to sit there on the tops thereof.

1632.  Sanderson, Serm., 129. Esay, speaking of Christ and his kingdome, and the righteousnesse thereof.

1825.  J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 401. He tottered away to a rock as to … an altar; clung to it, as to the horns thereof.

1910.  Act 10 Edw. VII., c. 38 § 3. The schedules … shall be deemed to be part of this Act in the same manner as if they had been contained in the body thereof.

  2.  From or out of that, as source or origin.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 5. Al þat muchele lure þat ter of ariseð.

1399.  Rolls of Parlt., III. 451/2. So mykel harme and meschief felle therof.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), Pref. 2. Þeroff þai hafe grete solace and comforthe.

c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 5. What cam therof?

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 324. It is thought that one Caluus a poete brought it first vp on Pompeius, & thereof the same to have been taken vp in a prouerbe.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 68. And thereof came it, that the man was mad.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 476. Much more good thereof shall spring.

1888.  J. Rickaby, Moral Philos., I. x. 181. Better is the activity, whatever it be, than the pleasure which comes thereof.

  † 3.  Answering to various obsolete uses of OF: in quots. = thereat, therefor, therefrom, thereanent, etc.

a. 1200.  Vices & Virt., 29. And ðanke ðerof gode swiðe ȝierne.

13[?].  Guy Warw. (A.), 4656. Now, sir, take þerof pite.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 240. For soothly he … sholde … yeuen his body and al his herte to the seruice of Ihesu crist and ther-of doon hym hommage.

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 112. Gret offence He tok therof.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xxix. 131. Þai meruailed þam gretely þeroff.

c. 1400.  Brut, ccxxv. 293. Þe lordez of eny toun … shulde ansuere to þe King þerof.

c. 1440.  Alphabet of Tales, 113. He þankid almighti God þeroff.

c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 424. Doyng therof seruyce as hit is I-conteyned in the Charter.

c. 1500.  Melusine, xxiv. 183. By my feyth, lady,… doo your wyll therof.

1594.  Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits (1616), 99. If Lazarus had carried to him a pitcher of fresh water, hee should haue taken great refreshment thereof.

1669.  Marvell, Corr., Wks. (Grosart), II. 276. If there be any particular that may more nearly relate to your affaires, you will be pleas’d to consider thereof.

  Hence † There-offe, theroffe adv. [with final -e, after THEREINNE, etc.], in same senses.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), ii. 13. He þat bereth A braunche … þereoffe. Ibid., xiv. 156. So cold þat noman may drynke þere-offe.

a. 1461.  How Gd. Wif taught hir Doughter, 53, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 183. Mesurely take ther offe [v.r. (Babees Bk., 36) þer-of], that the falle no blame.