ˈgo-beˌtween
[f. go v. + between adv.]
1. One who passes to and fro between parties, with messages, proposals, etc.; an intermediary.
In the second quot. between serves as a prep.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 273 Euen as you came in to me, her assistant or goe-betweene, parted from me. 1631 Massinger Emperor East i. ii, You are The Squire of Dames, deuoted to the seruice Of gamesome Ladies..the Goe-between This female, and that wanton Sir. 1641 Milton Animadv. 63 They onely are the internuntio's, or the go-betweens of this trim devis'd mummery. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 225 ¶1 The Broker..as a Go-between..shall find his Account in being in the good Graces of a Man of Wealth. 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph. 281 note, Certain convenient old women, who officiated as go-betweens. 1887 Jessopp Arcady viii. 227 The clerk was..a sort of go between when parson and people were a little out of gear. |
2. Anything that goes between or connects two other things. Also attrib.
| 1862 H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 371 Each double window vies with its neighbour in the taste of its go-betweens. 1853 Herschel Pop. Lect. Sci. vii. §87 (1873) 305 If they are exactly equal, the go-between ball will carry off all the motion of the ball which strikes it. 1886 C. Scott Sheep Farming 13 Altogether they form a sort of go-between sheep, dividing the Lowlands from the Highlands. 1895 Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 768 This is the limpkin..a most perfect go-between connecting the rails and the cranes. |