adv. formal or arch. Forms: see THERE and ON; also 3 þron, 4 þran. [OE. þǽron, f. þǽr, THERE 17 + ON prep.]
1. Of position, lit. or fig.: On or upon that or it.
971. Blickl. Hom., 71. His þeʓnas … læddon him to þone eosol, & ʓedydon þæt he þær on ʓesittan mihte.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 63. Ðanne goð he to a ston, and he billeð ðer on.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2472 (Cott.). Quar-for þar on [T. þeron] godd tok his wrac.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 181. If þe place be whijt & neische and miche moisture þeron.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lxxxiii. 259. He toke his cuppe and made theron .iii. crosses.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., V. ii. 133. If thereon you relye. I’ll take my leaue.
1785. Jefferson, Wks. (1859), I. 570. To confer with him thereon.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend, I. iv. (1865), 125. All our notion of right and wrong is built thereon.
1896. Law Times, C. 358/2. After payment of all charges thereon.
† b. as relative adv. On which: = WHEREON.
c. 1330. Assump. Virg. (B.M. MS.), 600. Foure of þe apostles schal bere þe beere Ther on schal ligge me modre deere.
2. Of motion or direction: On or upon that or it; onto that.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10776. A duu … þare lighted dun, and þar on lend.
c. 1315. Shoreham, iii. 158. Þenche þou most wel bysyly, And þy wyȝt þran by-stowe.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), ii. 7. Þe Iews … sett a coroun on his heued and thrast it þeron so fast þat þe blude ran doune.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 374. Thairun my lyfe dar I layd [= lay it].
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1139. Who, if it winke, shall thereon fall and die.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Glass, By reason of the Sand strew’d thereon.
1887. Morris, Odyss., XI. 591. When up reached the elder his hands thereon to lay.
3. As soon as that happened, was done, or was said; immediately after that; THEREUPON 2 b.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5871 (Cott.). And taron [v.rr. þar on, þer on] sett he men at ask Of ilk dai to yeild þair task.
1618. Wither, Motto, Nec Curo, Wks. (1633), 545. I care not greatly what succeed thereon.
1783. in Cruise, Digest (1818), V. 319. Any non-claim which had ensued thereon.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 243. Slowly thereon he gat unto his feet.
† 4. From some obsolete uses of ON: a. In that, therein. b. Into that, thereinto. c. About that, thereof. d. At that, thereat. Obs.
a. c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., li. 399. Hio is an lytel [burʓ], & ðeah ic mæʓ ðæron libban.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 410. Aplanta þæron þa soðan lufe.
c. 1205. Lay., 7275. Þer Bruttus bi-com and to his liue he wunede þer an.
c. 1290. St. Michael, 453, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 312. Men seoth þar on liȝt.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. iii. 82. Bid Eolus … clois the presoun of wyndis, and thairon ring.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xxvi. 71. I had brought with me a boke…. And euery night after supper I reed theron to hym.
b. c. 1000. Ælfric, Deut. xxxii. 52. Þu scealt ʓeseon þæt land and þu ne cymst þær on.
c. 1275. Lay., 7274. Þar on Brutus bicom.
c. c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xxxix. 23. He ne cuðe nan þing þar on.
d. c. 1400. Brut, lxviii. 64. He wondrede þeron gretly, what it myȝt bitoken.
Hence † Thereonne (þerone, also 3 þronne) Obs. (after þærinne, etc.; in later use sometimes only a variant spelling of thereon] = THEREON.
c. 1200. Ormin, 957. Þa twellfe namess ec þatt wærenn don þæronne.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 89. Ure helende rod þerone. Ibid., 217. Ich wille ew segge þat ich þronne understonde.
c. 1400. Rowland & O., 416. Ther-one was sett a Sercle of golde.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., 171. Þere one hertly take hede.
c. 1435. Cursor M., 1938 (Trin.). Noe … let reise an autere swiþe, Þeronne [C. þar-on] made he sacrifise.
Also Thereonto adv., onto or upon that. rare.
1898. Blackw. Mag., March, 406. Thereonto throw nine hairs from the head.
