itself, pron.
(ɪtˈsɛlf)
Also 7–8 its (it's) self, 8–9 dial. itsel'.
[orig. two words, it pron. and self: see herself, himself. In 17–18th c. often treated as its + self; its is still used when an adj. intervenes, as in its very self, its own self; cf. himself IV.]
I. 1. Emphatic or limiting use. Usually in apposition with a n. in nom. or obj.: Very, the very, that very; alone (L. ipsum). Rarely alone as subject.
| c 1000 Laws of ælfred Introd. c. 28 Gif hit þonne cucu feoh wære and he secgge þæt..hit self acwæle. 1382 Wyclif Isa. lxiii. 5 Myn indignacioun itself halp to me. 1508 Fisher Seven Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876) 197 It selfe erth sholde alway be bareyne & without fruyte yf it receyued no moysture & hete from heuen. 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 777 The dealing it selfe made men to muse. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 118 b, Unto their luste serveth heaven and hell, the earth and tyme it selfe. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 29 Beauty itself doth of itself persuade. 1610 ― Temp. iv. i. 153 The solemne Temples, the great Globe it selfe, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolue. 1611 ― Cymb. iii. iv. 160 Feare and Nicenesse, The Handmaides of all Women, or more truely, Woman it pretty selfe. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. 19 As of Aristotle [we read] that he was wisdom itself in the abstract. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. Disc. Occas. Med. iii. v, Particulars, which are not necessary to the Meditation it self. 1728 T. Sheridan Persius (1739) 19 Tho' the Poem it self be not well digested. 1793 Burns Ld. Gregory iv, And my fond heart, itsel sae true, It ne'er mistrusted thine. a 1822 Shelley Chas. I, i. 177 Or joy itself Without the touch of sorrow. 1837–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. (1855) IV. iv. vii. §1. 316 Slang; a word which, I use with some unwillingness, as itself belongs to the vocabulary it denotes. 1882 S. Cox in Expositor IV. 197 The story of the creation told by Moses is simplicity and sobriety itself when compared with them. |
b. Used alone in predicate, emphatically, as opposed to something else: cf. himself 3, 3 b.
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lxviii. 10 Without all ornament, itself and true. 1821 Keats Isabella xxxiii, An eye all pale Striving to be itself. Mod. The dear old place looked just itself. |
II. Reflexive use. = L. sibi, se; Ger. sich.
2. Accusative or direct object.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 187 Nu mæᵹ soþ hit sylf ᵹecyðan. a 1300 Cursor M. 19231 (Edin.) Ilke suike it selue bisuikis. 1388 Wyclif 2 Cor. x. 5 And we distrien counsels, and alle hiȝnesse that hiȝeth it silf aȝens the science of God. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 298 As the heart doeth enlarge it selfe..so doeth it restraine and close vp it selfe. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 540 Th' offence pardons it selfe. 1610 ― Temp. iii. i. 80 All the more it seekes to hide it selfe The bigger bulke it shewes. 1638–1843 [see insinuate v. 3]. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 16 [It] does immediately..disperse it self all over them. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 379 S. Marino hath maintained it self in the condition of a free State..for above 1000 years. 1793–1879 [see develop 8]. Mod. It is a fault that will cure itself in time. |
3. Dative, and object of a preposition. (The latter was orig. acc. or dat. according to the prep.)
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xi. 17 ælc rice on hyt sylf to-dæled byð toworpen. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 384 Þe þinge in it sylfe beriþ witnesse. [1382 ― Gen. i. 11 Appletre makynge fruyt after his kynd, whos seed ben in hym silf [1611 it selfe] vpon the erthe.] c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. ii. 148 Lond argillose, & not cley bi hit selue Is commodose. [1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 777 The sea..somtime swelleth of himselfe before a tempest.] Ibid. 782 Of it selfe so long a processe. 1532 G. Hervet Xenophon's Househ. (1768) 20 Somme it bryngethe by hit selfe, and some it nourisheth. 1611 Bible Ps. xli. 6 His heart gathereth iniquitie to it selfe. 1628 Bp. Hall Old Relig. (1686) 46 That which is perfect in its self. 1655 E. Terry Voy. E. India 13 Fragrant herbs (which the soyl produceth of its self). 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 17 No creature that dies of it self is good to eat. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xii, The Sun has..elevated this Water in the form of Vapours, and drawn it near it self. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 164 ¶6 This Letter..I intend to print..by it self very suddenly. 1870 Freeman Norm. Conq. (ed. 2) I. App. 739 This story may be true in itself. Mod. The horse gave itself a knock on the head. That child will do itself a mischief. |
† 4. In genitive or possessive case: = its own.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9466 (Gött.) So hy na thing was neuer wroght, Þat thoru it seluen miss ne moght Fall dun into lauer state. |