of, with or in reference to, as to, etc. The meaning of such phrases is usually evident from a knowledge of the separate words, and need not be particularly explained. As this work is designed for popular utility and ready refer ence, it has been thought best to take up the prepositions and other words discussed in alphabetical order, rather than in the order of their importance or of any system of philosophical classification. The alphabetical is the simplest of all arrangements, and leaves the reader in no doubt where to turn. He has only to know how a word is spelled, when he may seek and find it as in a dictionary. In the quotations, prominence is given to the Anglican or Authorized Version of the English Bible as an acknowledged authority of pure Elizabethan English. With this are especially associated Shakespeare and Milton, while numerous authors of eminence, both English and American, are appealed to as authority for the statements made. ABAFT This nautical preposition is very ancient, and is derived fron aft or æftan, back, behind, after, first reinforced by the prefix be or bi-, by, near, forming baft, which was in use as a separate word in the fourteenth century. This was further reinforced by the prefix a-, on or at, forming the word abaft. The most commor application of this word is to denote that which is on the after part of a ship or other vessel, or which is farther aft than the object of the preposition; as: The black cook . . . had a bunk just abaft the galley. COFFIN Old Sailor's Yarns ch. 4, p. 31. That is, the black cook's bunk was a little farther aft than the galley. [This term (abaft) is not used with reference to things out of the ship. YOUNG Naut. Dict.] Objects outside of and directly behind a ship are commonly spoken of as astern of the ship. But there is a broadly inclusive use of the word abaft in the phrase abaft the beam, which is prepositional in form, but adverbial in sense. If a line be drawn directly across a vessel at right angles to the keel till it intersects the horizon on each side, and if the line of the keel be prolonged directly astern till it, too, cuts the horizon, then any object between the cross-line and the stern-line on the right-hand side may be described as "to starboard abaft the beam,” and any object in the corresponding place on the left as "to port abaft the beam.” The wind is aft through the northeast, just abaft the beam. MAURY Physical Geography of the Sea xv, 642. MURRAY'S New English Dictionary. ABOARD Aboard, like abaft, is distinctly a nautical preposition. It is compounded of the prefix a-, on, plus the noun board, and is thus equivalent to the fuller prepositional phrase on board of. Of place exclusively : 1. Upon the deck of, or within the boards or sides of (a ship or other vessel). Aboard my galley I invite you all. SHAKESPEARE Antony and Cleopatra act ii, sc. 6, 1. 104. He had ten carpenters with him, most of which were found aboard the prize they had taken. DE FOE Captain Singleton ch. 13, p. 165. The prepositional phrase aboard of is also often used: He came aboard of my ship. DE FOE Captain Singleton ch. 12, p. 151. A boat went aboard of the Ayacucho and brought off a quarter of beef. DANA Two Years before the Mast ch. 9, p. 45. 2. By extension on, upon, or in any conveyance; as, come aboard the car; we can talk when we get aboard the train. 3. Across or alongside of: a secondary nautical meaning; as, to lay the ship aboard the enemy. ABOUT About is derived from the Anglo-Saxon ābūtan, which is composed of an-, on, plus būtan, outside. About thus signifies directly and literally on the outside of. I. Of place or space : 1. Surrounding (an object) on all sides, so as to encircle it, equivalent to around or all around. Set bounds about the mount. He made a trench about the altar. Ex. xix, 23. 1 Kings xviii, 32. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. DICKENS Christmas Carol st. 1, p. 22. A chain of gold about his neck. A leathern girdle about his loins. Dan. v, 7. Matt. iii, 4. Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch It was found necessary to erect a stockade about the town-hall and to plant caltrops and other obstructions in the squares and streets. MOTLEY John of Barneveld vol. ii, ch. 14, p. 135. 2. Here and there around; on various sides; encompassing. When my children were about me. The parts of Libya about Cyrene. Job xxix, 5. Acts ii, 10. About the new-arrived, in multitudes, The ethereal people ran. MILTON Paradise Lost bk. x, 1. 28. Neh. V, 17. The heathen that were about us. Getting into a beaked ship, he [Caius] sailed to and fro, striking and sinking the vessels which lay about the bridge. KEIGHTLEY Roman Empire pt. i, ch. 4, p. 72. Mere facts.. are the stones heaped about the mouth of the well in whose depth truth reflects the sky. E. C. STEDMAN Nature and Elements of Poetry ch. 6, p. 196. The solitary sandpipers . . . appear to have a special fondness for stagnant pools in and about the woods. B. H. WARREN Birds of Pennsylvania, Sandpiper p. 90. 3. In motion around; moving so as to encircle or pass around; as, the movement of the earth about the sun. The slingers went about it, and smote it. We count for poets . . . all Who wind the robes of ideality 2 Kings iii, 25. JEAN INGELOW Gladys st. 44. Men dance the carmagnole all night about the bonfire. CARLYLE French Revolution vol. iii, bk. v, ch. 4, p. 192. Now wail low winds about the forest eaves. ELAINE GOODALE Fringed Gentian st. 4. The choughs that call about the shining cliff. COVENTRY PATMORE St. Valentine's Day 1. 28. 4. In motion on, upon, or over; to and fro upon; here and there around; to or toward all sides of; as, peddling goods about the country; wandering about the world; look about you. In about ten days [the captain] was entirely well and about the ship. DE FOE Captain Singleton ch. 11, p. 139. Every glib and loquacious hireling who shows strangers about their picture-galleries, palaces, and ruins is called a ‘cicerone,' or a Cicero. TRENCH On the Study of Words lect. iii, p. 88. Shopping about the city, ransacking entire depôts of splendid merchandise, and bringing home a ribbon. HAWTHORNE House of Seven Gables ch. 12, p. 188. The tombs of the ancient Electors were broken open: the corpses, stripped of their cerecloths and ornaments, were dragged about the streets. MACAULAY England vol. iv, ch. 20, p. 343. Jesus saw great multitudes about him. Matt. viii, 18. Pure inspirations of morn Breathed about them. OWEN MEREDITH Lucile pt. i, can. 4, st. 6. She saw the tattered banners falling About the broken staffs. R. W. GILDER Decoration Day st. 1. 5. Somewhere within a circle bounding; on some side of; beside; close to; somewhere near; at, in, or by; as, idlers hanging about the door; there is a man about the house. There was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door. Mark ii, 2. Mark iv, 10. They that were about him with the twelve. 6. Hence, specifically, on or near the person of; in possession of; attending; connected with; with; at hand; as, I have not the money about me. If you have this about you, (As I will give you when we go,) you may Boldly assault the necromancer's hall. MILTON Comus 1. 647. For besides the wasteness of the silence, motionless machines have a look of death about them. MACDONALD Robert Falconer ch. 17, p. 132. About his ordinary bearing there was a certain fling, confidence in his own powers. a GEORGE ELIOT Middlemarch vol. i, bk. ii, ch. 13, p. 137. II. Of time: indefinitely near to; approximating to; near; close to; not far from: an extension into a kindred realm of the usage regarding place (I., 6); as, about noon; about a year ago. He went out about the sixth and ninth hour. Matt. xx, 5. Mark vi, 48. About the fourth watch of the night. Be you in the park about midnight. SHAKESPEARE Merry Wives of Windsor, act v, sc. 1, l. 12. About that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church. Acts xii, 1. About midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country. Acts xxvii, 27. And it was about the space of three hours after. Acts v, 7. |