yonder, adv. and a. (pron., n.) Now only literary and somewhat arch., or dial.
(ˈjɒndə(r))
Forms: α. 4–5 (6 Sc.) ȝonder, -ir, (4 ȝionder, ȝundir, yunder, 5 ȝondur, -yr, yondur), 5–6 yondre, (6 ȝondar, Sc. ȝounder, 7 younder), 4– yonder; 4 yonþer, 6–7 yonther; 6, 9 dial. yander. β. 4 ȝender, 5 -ir, -yr, yendre, yeinder, 5–6 yender, 7 dial. yeander, 9 dial. yinder.
[ME. ȝonder, ȝender, corresp. to OS. gendra adj. on this side, MLG. ginder, gender, LG. gunter, Du., WFris. ginder, Goth. jaindrê (cf. hidrê hither): see yon a.]
A. adv.
1. a. At or in that place; there; usually implying that the object spoken of is at some distance but within sight: Over there, away there.
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 2717 Þan asked þai quare was sarra. Abraham said, ‘yonder wit-in’. Ibid. 3148 ‘Yonder vp,’ he said, ‘on yon fell Sal þou bren þi sun for me’. 13.. Ibid. 19899 (Edinb.) Lo! ȝionder þre Men..er sende to seke þe. 13.. Ibid. 14976 (Gött.) Þe stede es yonþer, lo! c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 402 Sum men seien þat he is ȝundir at Rome. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 920 Whos is that faire child that stondeth yonder? 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lxxxii. 43/1, I wyll nat departe hens tyll I se what company is yander within the castell. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 163 Looke who comes yonder. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew i. (1652) C 2 b, I left the merry Griggs..in such a Hoigh younder! 1667 Davenant & Dryden Tempest iv. iii. (1670) 63 Mark her behaviour too, she's tippling yonder with the serving-men. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xii, But, as I live, yonder comes Moses. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvi, ‘The limes’, he assured us, ‘were from his own little farm yonder-awa’ (indicating the West Indies with a knowing shrug of his shoulders). 1863 Reade Hard Cash x, You sits yander fit to bust: but..ye never offers me none on't. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. x, To the white cottage yonder on the lower ground across the meadows. |
| β 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1617 Þaȝ þe mater be merk þat merked is ȝender. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 138 Þis man is Jesus þat stondiþ ȝendre on þe banke. c 1450 Lydg. Life Our Lady lii. (MS. Ashm. 39), Loke vp yender & se the sercle of golde. c 1485 Digby Myst. iii. 1438 Yender is þe lond of satyllye. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 55 Yeander, Yonder, Var. Dial. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Yinder, adv. yonder. |
b. To that place; thither.
| c 1300 Havelok 922 Go þu yunder, and sit þore. 13.. Cursor M. 3065 (Gött.) Lede him ȝender [Cott. yonder]. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iv. 127 Lady, I goo yonder wythout. 1535 Coverdale Gen. xxii. 5 As for me and the childe, we wyl go yonder. |
c. in
phr. here and yonder,
hither and yonder:
cf. yon adv. b,
yond adv. 1 c.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 4291 As he rod among hem here & ȝonder. c 1485 Digby Myst. iii. 1346 Now have þe dysypylles take þer passage to dyvers contreys her and ȝondyr. 1883 Century Mag. XXVI. 221/2 Gangs of street paviors were seen and heard here, there, and yonder. |
† 2. Farther.
Obs. rare.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 33 Som men wolde mene þat Loegria endeþ at Homber, and streccheþ no ȝonder [Caxton ferther] northward. |
B. adj. 1. With
the.
a. Farther, more distant, ‘other’:
= yon a. 2,
yond a.
1 1.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2440 Syn ȝe be lorde of þe ȝonder londe. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 173 Þere is anoþer Pannonia be ȝonde þe wateres Meotides in þe ȝonder Scythia. Ibid. 299 Þe hyder bygynneþ from þe pleynes and valeys of Pireneies... Þe ȝonder Spayne conteyneþ þe west partye anoon to þe see Gaditanus. c 1450 in Aungier Syon (1840) 345 The seyd brother schal se that ther be a lectron set in the ȝendyr corner of the ambytus for redyng of the gosbel towarde the este. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. v. 166 Vncallit, on the ȝondir bray wald thow be. 1609 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 51/2 Terras de Bruntskeath,..Over et Nethir Lagane,..Hither and Yonther Barscheuallis. 1899 Mrs. H. Fraser Dipl. Wife in Japan xxxv. II. 313 His dead name, the one by which his shadowy companions call him in the yonder world. 1909 Meredith ‘The Years had worn their seasons' belt’ ix, O she was fair as a beech in May With the sun on the yonder side. 1910 Dublin Rev. Jan. 64 Something on the yonder side of imagery. |
b. = 2.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 1188 Nece who hath arayed þus The yonder hous þat stant a-forn yeyn vs? c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 930 Olyuer my felaw ys take! y-seeþ þat ȝonder company how þay him ledeþ away. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4018 The yonder man to shenden vs alle. a 1425 Cursor M. 1251 (Trin.) Towarde þe eest ende of þe ȝondur [Cott., Fairf. þis, Gött. þe] vale. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 4727 Toward the ost of the yendre kinges Ne made I neuer louely lookinges. c 1480 Henryson Paddock & Mouse 77 That thow wald gyde me to ȝone ȝonder land [Bann. How thow wald gyd me to þe yondir land]. |
2. That is yonder; usually, and in later literary use always, implying that the thing spoken of is at some distance but within sight:
cf. yon a. 1.
| α c 1400 Destr. Troy 8837 We hade hertely no hope..Yonder toun for to take. a 1413 Anturs of Arthur (Ireland MS.) xlix, Ȝondur byrnes [Thornton MS. ȝone beryns] in batelle, that bidus on the bent. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 39 Hit wer almes forto ȝeue ȝondyr pore man warmer cloþes þen he haþe. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lxxxvii. h iij, It shuld be great honour for vs if we might delyuer out of daunger yonther two knyghtes. a 1533 ― Huon xxiv. 70 Yonder company are fooles. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 61 Yet you, the murtherer, looke as bright, as cleare, As yonder Venus, in her glimmering spheare. 1615 Jackson Creed iv. vi. §7 This is profitable, That is pleasant, we shall not then say, but yonder other truly good and honest. 1671 Milton Samson 3 Yonder bank hath choice of sun or shade. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 219 Near yonder thorn, that lifts its head on high. 1842 Tennyson E. Gray i, Sweet Emma Moreland of yonder town Met me walking on yonder way. 1850 ― In Mem. xv, To-night the winds begin to rise And roar from yonder dropping day. |
| β c 1440 Generydes 2777 On yender towre on highe. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) iii. 52 Mother, my father after thee sende, And byddes thee into yeinder shippe wende. 1563 Googe Eglogs i. (Arb.) 32 The Hylles..that ioyne to yender towne. 1755 Gammer Gurton i. v, Chaue tost and tumbled yender heap ouer and ouer againe. |
† 3. (with
this or
that) Qualifying
day,
night: Lately past, ‘other’. (
Cf. ender a.,
hinder a. 2, and
yonders.)
Obs.| a 1425 Cursor M. 4561 (Trin.) Me þouȝte þat þis ȝonder [v.r. ender] nyȝt I coom in a medewe briȝt. Ibid. 13559 Art þou not he Þat ȝondir day miȝtes not se? a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 1105, I gabbyd on hym thys ȝendyr day. |
C. pron. (
sing. or pl.:
† also with
the:
absol. use of B. 1 b, 2):
= yon pron. Now
dial.| c 1375 Cursor M. 4891 (Fairf.) Ȝonder ar theues we lelmen wende. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 232 And þe ȝondur is my qwene betryce she hette. 1855 Browning Grammarian's Funeral 7 Look out if yonder be not day again Rimming the rock-row! 1880 Sat. Rev. 2 Oct. 423/2 A closely-shaven curate, who was walking down a street clad in his cassock, was once horrified by hearing shouted across the road an inquiry whether ‘yonder was a lad or a lass’. |
D. as
n. 1. (
nonce-use.) Something beyond.
| 1888 Meredith Hymn to Colour vii, His touch is infinite and lends A yonder to all ends. |
2. [After
quot. 1939.] The far and trackless distance;
usu. with preceding
adj.| 1939 R. Crawford Army Air Corps (song), Off we go in to the wild blue yonder, Climbing high into the sun. 1948 N.Y. World Telegram 30 Dec. 11/6 A pilot..took wing into that wonderful yonder on a training flight. 1967 C. Cockburn I, Claud xxxiii. 410 The ex-editor of The Week had suddenly appeared out of the deep green yonder of Ireland. 1974 Times 26 Feb. 12/3 Mr. Wilson's..policy for controlling inflation, which consists of holding down prices by law while letting wages go up, up, up into the wide blue yonder. 1979 ‘D. Kyle’ Green River High viii. 103 My father had vanished into the great green yonder of a million square miles of jungle. 1985 W. Golding Egyptian Journal iv. 57 Minya is a centre for scarpering, for fading away, for disappearing into the blue yonder. |
Hence
ˈyonderly a. dial., ‘distant’, reserved, sullen; depressed, gloomy, melancholy;
† yondermair adv. Sc., farther;
† yondermest a. Sc., farthest, most distant (
cf. yondmost);
† yonderward adv. [
cf. Du. ginderwaerts], in yonder or the other direction, thither; farther off;
† yonderway, by that way, in that manner.
| 1828 Craven Gloss., *Yonderly, grave, sullen, distant. I have not often heard this word. 1863 Waugh Lanc. Songs 28 Thae's looked very yonderly mony a day. |
| 1513 Douglas æneis viii. xi. 48 Syne *ȝonder mayr was schapin in the feild The dansand prestis, clepit Salii. 1808 Jamieson s.v. Yound, Sit yontermert,..sit farther off. |
| 1513 Douglas æneis viii. xii. 31 The *ȝondermaist [v.r. The zoundermest] pepill, clepit Baktranis. |
| Ibid. x. vi. 148 Nou presis this syde, and now *ȝonderwart. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xx. 37 The arowe lyeth yonderwarde before the. |
| 1570 Levins Manip. 197/7 *Yonderway, illac, illo modo. |