another, a., pron. (and adv.)
(əˈnʌðə(r))
[orig. separately an other (often a nother, rarely a other), and really two words, = a second, a remaining, a different. In OE. án not being yet weakened to the ‘indef. article,’ óðer was used by itself, as still in the plural other, absolutely others. See other.]
I. A second, further, additional. (Another is distinguished from the other, in that, while the latter points to the remaining determinate member of a known series of two or more, another refers indefinitely to any further member of a series of indeterminate extent; it is not therefore applied to the determinate second of two.)
1. One more, one further; originally a second of two things; subsequently extended to anything additional or remaining beyond those already considered; an additional. a. with n. expressed. (Pl. other.)
| c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 144 And sawe a noþere ladye proude and nuwe. c 1385 ― L.G.W. 594 And wolde algates han a nother [v.r. another, a-nothir, an othir] wif. c 1400 Destr. Troy xv. 7038 Anoþer brother of þo bold to þe buerne rode. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. vi. 302 Ðis Alane..Ane oþir Dowchtyr had. c 1440 Gesta Rom. i. i. 3 Nowe he takithe an other arowe, and wolle shete aȝen. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. i. 150 Clarence hath not another day to liue. 1604 Hieron Wks. I. 569 Shew me but one commandement To proue an other sacrament. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 2 ¶2 The Gentleman next in esteem among us is another Batchelor. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 528 Another fugitive was Richard Goodenough. 1870 Jevons Elem. Log. xxiii. 194 Another example of this kind. a 1884 Mod. Try another pear. Discovery of another asteroid. |
b. with n. understood. (Pl. others.) you're (or you are) another!, a colloq. phrase properly used in retorting a charge upon the person who makes it (cf. tu quoque); hence humorously as a meaningless or vaguely contemptuous retort.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1685 Ane [manere of dede] es bodily ded..Ane other gastely, þe thred endeles. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 185 Thouȝ we culled þe catte, ȝut sholde þer come another. a 1422 Henry V in Ellis Orig. Lett. iii. 32 I. 75 We send a Lettre to our Cosin y⊇ Bysshop of Excetre..and a noþer to y⊇ Bysshop of Lincoln. 1553 Udall Roister D. iii. v, R. If it were an other but thou, it were a knaue. M. Ye are an other your selfe, sir. 1569 Preston Cambyses (1898) 786 And thou calst me knave, thou art another! 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 52 Dro. Haue at you with a Prouerbe, Shall I set in my staffe. Luce. Haue at you with another, that's when? can you tell? 1605 ― Macb. iv. i. 118 Another yet? a seauenth? Ile see no more. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones ix. vi. (D.) ‘You mistake me, friend..I only said your conclusion was a non sequitur.’ ‘You are another,’ cries the sergeant. 1836 Dickens Pickw. xv, ‘Sir,’ said Mr. Tupman, ‘you're a fellow.’ ‘Sir,’ said Mr. Pickwick, ‘you're another.’ 1882 Boston Lit. World 3 June 184/3 The argument of it is simply ‘You're another’—a retort in dignified manner to those British critics who, etc. 1887 Lowell Democracy 10, I find little..to edify me in these international bandyings of ‘You're another’. |
c. such another: another of the same sort.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1942 For nakins chaunce Sal i ta suilk a noiþer wengance. 1553 Udall Roister D. iii. v, Pay the like hire, I will make you suche an other. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. iv. 87 Yet Benedicke was such another, and now is he become a man. a 1884 Mod. I never saw such another. |
2. fig. A second in effect, though not in name or intention; a second in likeness of character or attributes; a counterpart to.
| c 1577 Hellowes Gueuara's Epist. I. 113, I bewaile the death of my friend which is another my selfe. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 119 A Ladder, quaintly made of Cords..Would serue to scale another Hero's towre. 1599 ― Much Ado v. iv. 62 Another Hero! Nothing certainer. a 1884 Mod. That boy will be another Nelson some day. |
II. Not this, not the same, a different.
3. By giving prominence to the fact that this is not that already considered: A different. a. with n. expressed. another place: a traditional phrase used by members of parliament to designate the other House, i.e. the House of Lords or the House of Commons.
| c 1225 St. Margarete (1866) 74 He was al out of rede As he wer in anoþer wordle. 1382 Wyclif 2 Cor. xi. 4 If he that cometh prechith anothir Crist..or if ȝe taken anothir spirit. c 1400 Destr. Troy xv. 6628 Anon to anothir side naitly he dryuys. a 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 8 The better wyll he be aduysed, or he blame an other mannes studdy. 1611 Bible Prov. xxvii. 2 Let another man praise thee, and not thine owne mouth. 1687 Lady Russell Lett. I. lii. 127, I am glad you find cause to be of another mind. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 96 ¶6 To go among quite another People. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 549 ¶3 Preparing..for another world. 1789 [see place n. 5 d]. 1808 Scott Marm. vi. xx, Another sight had seen that morn..And Flodden had been Bannockbourn! 1883 Ld. Granville Sp. in Parl. 18 June 2/2, I hear that question is to be asked in another place [circumlocution for the House of Commons] by Mr. Warton. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 27 July 1/3 Lord Lamington, was a busy member of the House of Commons..before he went to ‘another place’ on his father's death in 1890. 1927 Observer 10 July 15/7 Usually M.P.'s speak dispassionately of ‘another place’, but Mr. Baldwin the other day made it ‘the other end of the passage’, and Mr. Snowden ‘the other end of the corridor’. 1960 Guardian 24 Nov. 18/6 Has a sovereign the ultimate right to unseat a member of Parliament and transfer him, against his will, to ‘another place’? |
b. with n. not expressed.
| a 1884 Mod. This towel will not do; give me another. Ask him to give you another for it. |
c. esp. of persons: Another person, some one else, any one else. (In this sense another has poss. another's; pl. others, poss. others'.)
| 1340 Ayenb. 155 Huanne hi eft yzyeþ anoþrene þet ine anoþre stat deþ manie guodes. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 3 Þus seiþ an oþer. 1526 Tindale Col. iii. 13 If eny man have a quarrel to a nother. ― Matt. xi. 3 Arte thou he that shall come: or shall we loke for another? 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. (1873) 2 And blaze from..the least spark of another's knowledge. 1632 Sanderson 12 Serm. 14 Taught him his lesson, not to despise anothers infirmity. 1752 J. Gill Trinity iv. 82 The Father has life in himself; he does not owe his being to another. 1879 Tennyson Lover's T. 41 There, where I hoped myself to reign..There, in my realm..Another! |
4. Different in effect; different in character, though the same in substance.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. x. 6 Thow shalt be chaungid into another man [so in all versions]. ― Gal. i. 6 Another euangelie, which is not another. 1611 ibid., An other [Gr. ἕτερον] gospel which yet is not another [Gr. ἄλλο]. 1588 Bernard Terence (N.) He is nowe become another man. 1877 Brockett Cross & Cresc. 87 From that time I became another man. |
5. Const. than (from catachr.).
| a 1656 Ussher Serm. in Southey Commonpl. Bk. Ser. ii. (1849) 98 Neyther is the church reformed in our dayes, another church than that..deformed in the dayes of our fore-fathers. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. 642 Either the Anlaf here spoken of was another person from Olaf or, etc. |
III. With one.
6. Contrasted explicitly with one. (In both prec. main senses, but especially II.) With or without n. expressed. a. Of two things from an indefinite number.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 379 A lond ygranted were To a man to bere þeruore a certeyn rente..And anoþer com & bode more. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 256 A penyworth for an othre. 1528 Perkins Profit. Bk. iv. §295 The exchange..of one intire thing for an other intire thing. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iv. 191 Euen as one heate, another heate expels, Or as one naile, by strength driues out another. 1713 Lond. & Country Brew. ii. (1743) 114 One Man's Mistake is another's Gain. 1876 J. Parker Paracl. ii. xvii. 280 The infinity of God is one thing, and our knowledge of that infinity is another. Provb. One man's meat is another man's poison. |
b. Of two things only, when their mutual position is undefined. In this case the other is now commonly used.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. i. (1495) 345 Passynge fro one ende to a nother. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle v. xiii. (1483) 104 Sette full of saphyres fro one ende to another. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 425 Now let's go hand in hand, not one before another. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 379 Apertion and opening of two vessels one into another. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 320 Sir Jacob sat aghast, looking at one, and at another, and at me, each in Turn. |
c. Of a series taken two by two.
| 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iii. v. (1483) 54 This bocher lepte fro one to another. 1490 Caxton Eneydos x. 39 Yolus made to come the foure windes to gyder one ayenst another. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. i. 20 We must euery one be a man of his owne fancie, not to know what we speak one to another. 1673 Cave Prim. Chr. iii. ii. 281 Two or three stories one still under onother. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 8 ¶7, I plied her from one Room to another with all the Galantries I could invent. 1850 Maurice Mor. & Met. Phil. I. iii. §239 He taught it to one and another. a 1884 Mod. They marched in Indian file, one after another. |
d. one with another: (a) added each to the others as they come; all together, all alike; (b) taken on the average, so that the excess of one supplies the deficiency of another.
| 1539 Bible (‘Great’) Ps. xlix. 2 High and Low, Rich and Poor, one with another. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 118 He loves..both young and old, one with another. 1633 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 350 This gravity, reservedness and tergiversations of his, have turned rather to his prejudice than advantage, take one with another. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 27 It is not worth sixteen years Purchase all England over, one place with another. Mod. Taken one with another, they may fetch thirty shillings a-head. |
7. Hence, one another, as a compound reciprocal pronoun not separated by verb or prep. (Said of two or more). With poss. one another's, but in this case each other's is oftener used.
| 1526 Tindale Gal. vi. 4 Beare ye one anothers burthen [Wyclif, others charges] and so fulfill the lawe of Christ. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. i. 257 When wee are married, and haue more occasion to know one another. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 506 These two Imparadis't in one anothers arms. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 3 ¶5 Bags of Money were piled upon one another. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 400 ¶5 Such friendly Thoughts and Concerns for one another. 1756 Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 17 Such [actions] as tend to the destruction of one another. Mod. ‘See how these Christians love one another!’ |
† IV. adv. (perhaps orig. neut. sing. of adj.)
† 8. A different thing; differently, otherwise. Obs.
| 1205 Lay. 724 Ȝet ich ou sigge on oþer [1250 an oþer]. 1297 R. Glouc. 444 Þo þe Kyng was ded hys vncle, anoþer he þoȝte do. a 1300 Havelok 1395 Avelok thouthe al another. c 1300 Beket 540 That he scholde another do. |