often, adv. and a.
(ˈɒf(ə)n, ˈɔː-; ˈɒftən, ˈɔː-)
Also 4 oftin, 5 oftyn(e, -on, 6 hoften, 8 Sc. aften.
[An extended form of oft, or of its ME. variant ofte. In Chaucer we find ofte before a consonant, often before a vowel or h, as if in imitation of inflexional endings in -en reduced before a consonant to -e; but the earliest examples appear to be northern, and in them oftin occurs before a cons. The word is not common in Standard English till the 16th c.]
A. adv.
1. a. Many times; at many times, on numerous occasions; frequently. Opposed to seldom.
| 13.. Cursor M. 3520 (Gött.) Esau went for to hunt A day, as he was oftin wont [Cott. oft, Trin. ofte]. Ibid. 7699 (Gött.) Þat oftin [Cott. oft, Tr. often] chancis sua it bi-fell. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 310 That often [v.r. oftyn] hadde ben at the Parys. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) ix. 100 And the erthe and the lond chaungeth often his colour. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 363/1 Oftyne, sepe, multocies, frequenter. 1509 Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 292 Full often she complayned that [etc.]. 1526 Tindale Matt. xxiii. 37 Howe often [Wyclif oft, 1388 ofte] wolde I have gaddered thy children to gedder. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 251, I have often wonder'd at his Expressions and Actions. 1701 De Foe True-born Englishm. ii. 128 Seldom contented, often in the wrong. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 149 ¶7 Let me beg of you to write to me often. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 34 The crown of England, always at strife, and often at open war, with its own barons. 1883 Miss Jewsbury in Mrs. Carlyle's Lett. II. 274 The mortifications and vexations she felt..were often and often self-made. |
Comparative and Superlative.
| 1467 Ordin. Worc. in Eng. Gilds 380 [They] shullen com and assemble togeder in euery quarter of the yere, ones or oftener and it nede. 1558 Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. xi. 61 He..that the oftneste and with moste reuerence commeth. 1660 Boyle Seraph. Love xvi. (1700) 99 He is rather welcom'st to God that comes to him oftenest, and stays with him longest. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 246 As has happened oftner than once before. 1784 Cowper Task i. 411 An idol at whose shrine Who oft'nest sacrifice are favour'd least. 1866 Darwin Orig. Spec. (ed. 4) iv. 104 Those individual flowers..would be oftenest visited by insects, and would be oftenest crossed. |
b. In colloq. phrases: (as) often as not, more often than not, at least half the time; frequently; every so often: see every a. 1 f; once too often: see once adv. 8 d.
| 1911 G. B. Shaw Getting Married Pref. 149 Such a transaction..is as often as not the inauguration of a lifelong squabble. 1919 E. O'Neill In Zone in Moon of Caribbees (1923) 16 All them German spies they been catchin' in England has been livin' there for ten, often as not twenty years. 1960 Observer 25 Dec. 7/6 The driver often as not wore chauffeur's livery. 1962 M. Drabble Summer Bird-Cage xi. 185, I..use a small red plastic colander, and everything eels into the sink as often as not. 1977 F. Ross Dead Runner i. 64 More often than not the only successful outcome of a dead-run operation was the runner's grave. |
2. In many instances; in cases frequently occurring.
Here often lies properly outside the statement, referring to the frequency of cases in which it can be said; thus quot. 1807–26 really means ‘it often happens that the disease will remain stationary during life’; quot. 1878 ‘it often happens that a good character is worth’, etc.
| c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 44 Youthe and elde is often at debaat. 1509 Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 290 Full often suche as come of ryght pore and vnnoble fader and moder, haue grete abletees of nature. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII 8 Worldly chaunces..in adversitye often chaunge from evell to good and so to bettre. 1652 Culpepper Eng. Physic. 83 It groweth in moist grounds..ofner than in the dry and open fields. 1693 Dryden Juvenal x. 8 Whole Houses, of their whole Desires possest, Are often Ruin'd, at their own Request. 1707 Freind Peterborow's Cond. Sp. 58 Such effects..are too often paid for by an after-reckoning. 1807–26 S. Cooper First Lines Surg. xv. (ed. 5) 354 The disease will often remain stationary during life. 1878 Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. vii. 59 A good character is often worth a great deal of money. 1886 Pater Appreciations (1890) 137–8 A museum is seldom a cheerful place—oftenest induces the feeling that nothing could ever have been young. |
3. Like other advbs., commonly hyphened to a ppl. adj. when this is used attrib. (cf. highly).
| 1601 Mary Magd. Lament. ii. xx, This often-heard report. 1627 Donne Serm. xxii. 216 Second or oftener-iterated Marriages. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. v. 70 In the often-cited charter of Henry the first. 1859 I. Taylor Logic in Theol. 316 That often-recurrent affirmation concerning the purpose of the death of Christ. 1877 A. S. Hewitt in Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 374 At often-recurring intervals. |
B. adj. (The adv. used with gerundial and verbal ns., and at length with other ns.) Done, made, happening, or occurring many times; frequent. (Very common in 16th and 17th c.; but rare after 1688, and now arch.)
| 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 244 Had not be hys often comfortes: she myghte not haue abyden the tyme of hys passyon wyth her lyfe. 1526 Tindale 1 Tim. v. 23 Vse a lytell wyne for thy stommakes sake, and thyne often diseases. 1530 Palsgr. 315/2 Hoften, frequentatif. 1558 in Strype Ann. Ref. (1824) I. ii. iv. 397 There should be no often changes in religion. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 24 Esspecial thanks for your ernest and often letters in mi behalf. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster iv. ii, Any favours, that may worthily make you an often courtier. 1640 Bp. Reynolds Passions xiii, Liable to an oftner anger. a 1679 Hobbes Rhet. iii. iii. (1681) 105 Long, impertinent, and often Epithets. 1685 Evelyn Mrs. Godolphin 8 To my often admiration. 1729 Fenton in Waller's Wks. Observ. 19 Her blood is kept pure, by often alliance with great and Princely families. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. v, The greatest and oftenest laugher. 1896 Howells Impressions & Exp. 210, I knew those lemons..from often study of them on their shelf. |
C. Comb. With nouns denoting time, as † often-sithe, † -tide, -while, -s = oftentime, -s.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 289 Boste & deignouse pride & ille avisement Mishapnes oftentide. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1019 And thonken hym..often sithe [Hengwrt & Cambr. ofte sythe; Corp. & Harl. ofte siþe; Lansd. oft siþe; Petw. mony sith]. a 1577 Gascoigne Wks. (1587) (N.), For whom I sighed have so often sithe. 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. iv. Captains 457 Even a holy Guile Findes with thee grace and favour often-while. a 1850 Rossetti Dante & Circ. i. (1874) 42, I had oftenwhiles many troublesome hours. |