almost, adv.
(ˈɔːlməʊst, -məst; when emphatic or used in reply to a question, ˈɔːlməst)
Forms: 1 almæst, ealmæst, ælmæst, 2 ælmest, 2–4 almest, 3 all-masst, almaste, 4–5 almeste, -moost, 4–6 -moste, 5 allemost, 7 allmost, 4– almost. Also 8– a'most, still used dial., and aphet. 'most; mod.Sc. amaist, 'maist.
[f. all + most adv. = mostly.]
† 1. adj. or adv. Mostly all, nearly all; for the most part. Obs.
| a 1000 Bæda in Thorpe Hom. II. 466 (Bosw.) Hit is eal mǽst mid háligra manna naman geset. 1036 O.E. Chron. Mæst ealle þa þeᵹenas be norðan Temese. 1091 Ibid., Seo scipfyrde..ælmæst earmlice forfór. 1130 Ibid., Se burch for-bernde æl-mæst. c 1200 Ormin 9617 Þatt Issraæle þeod allmasst Þa shollde beon forrworrpen. 1417 in E.E. Wills (1882) 24 Thys twey Lynis I wrete almeste with myn owne Hond. 1570 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 133 Thies giuers were almost Northmen. 1658 tr. Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 1093 The women..do that work almost. |
2. adv. Very nearly, wellnigh, all but: a. qualifying a verb or attribute.
| c 1200 in Cod. Dipl. V. 18 Fram ðe heðe forðriȝte to herdeies ouerende almest. 1250 Lay. 19328 H' is almest dead. a 1300 E.E. Psalter cxviii. 87 Almaste in erthe þai me forname. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 443 They were come almoost [v.r. almost(e] to that Citee. 1432–50 tr. Higden I., The heete of hit is ioynede allemoste with heuyn. 1531 Elyot Governour (1834) 31, I had almost forgotten where I was. 1580 Baret Alv. A 323 It is almost twelue a clocke, Duodecima instat. 1611 Bible Acts xxvi. 28 Almost thou perswadest mee to bee a Christian. 1639 J. Clarke Paræmiol. 3 Almost was never hang'd. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. II. vi. 134 The flame of this Common Combustion hath allmost devour'd Ireland. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 232 They had a'most as live be call'd anything, as to be thought too old for an agreeable conversation. 1756 Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 11 Diet..confined almost wholly to the vegetable kind. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf iv. 26 As sair vexed amaist for you as for me. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 597 He was almost within sight of their city. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 190 Mistakes..on almost every page. 1879 M{supc}Carthy Hist. Own Times I. 199 Passionate and almost hysterical declamation. |
b. qualifying a n. with implied attribute.
| 1552 Huloet, Almost nyght, serum lumen. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 113 You are almost come to part almost a fray. 1709 J. Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (ed. 6) 193 The almost Omnipresence of an Advantage is a Circumstance of Value. 1808 Southey Lett. (1856) II. 108, I am a heretic requiring toleration, an almost Quaker. c 1875 Whitney Essen. Eng. Gram. 382 His almost impudence of manner. |
3. With a negative: almost no = scarcely any; almost never = scarcely ever, etc.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froissart I. ccxv. 270 Bycause they were so great a company, almoost nothynge helde agaynst theym. 1548 Udall etc., Erasm. Paraphr. John iii. 32 But no man almoste reciueth his witnes. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 335 So that the French King had neither any shore almost, nor any considerable use of Sea-affairs. 1777 R. Watson Philip II (1793) III. xxiv. 314 His affairs almost never prospered where he was not present. 1857 H. Reed Brit. Poets vi. 200 Of Shakspeare we know almost nothing. 1875 Higginson Hist. U.S. xxv. 252 There were almost no roads. |
† 4. Used to intensify a rhetorical interrogative. (L. quis fere.) Obs.
| 1595 Shakes. John iv. iii. 42 Or do you almost thinke, although you see, That you do see? 1615 Bedwell Moham. Imp. K iiij, In what page almost shal you not meet with some exoticke and strange terme? 1670 South Serm. (1737) III. 123 Whom almost can we see who opens his arms to his enemies? 1748 G. White MS. Serm., Who almost are there who do not know these things? |