whatsoever, pron. and a.
(hwɒtsəʊˈɛvə(r))
Also poet. whatsoe'er (hwɒtsəʊˈɛə(r)). Also 5 quat-sever, 6 whats'ever. (In early use often as two words or three.)
[f. whatso + ever adv. 8 e; cf. soever.]
1. a. pron. = whatever 2 a.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 270 Wisdom ðe made ilc ðing of noȝt, Quuat-so-euere on heuone or her is wroȝt. c 1320 Cast. Love 420 Riht ne spareþ for to jugge What-so-euere Soþ wol sugge. c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) xlvii, Quat-seuer ȝe wille with the kingus men do. 1509 Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 301 What so euer thou wylt aske of god thy fader I knowe wel he wyll graunte it vnto the. 1526 Tindale John xiv. 13 Whatsoever ye axe in my name, that will I do. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. i. 252 Whats'ever now the Heav'ns wide arms embrace. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xlvii. §2 Whosoeuer hath the name of a mortal man, there is in him whatsoeuer the name of vanitie doth comprehend. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 297 He knew whats'ever's to be known. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam iv. xii, Whatsoe'er my wakened thoughts create. 1874 Pusey Lenten Serm. 103 More grievous will be that fire, than whatsoever man can suffer in this life. |
b. adj. = whatever 2 b.
| 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop vi. ii, None, for what so euer myght that he haue ought not to despreyse the other. 1526 Tindale Phil. iv. 8 Whatsoever thyngs are true, whatsoever thyngs are honest,..those same have ye in youre mynde. 1564 W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest. (1888) 139 Whatsoeuer thinges are seen with bodily iyen. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 587 In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom Thou telst. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. (1870) I. i. 71 Whatsoever things We asked for,..those were ours. |
2. a. pron. = whatever 3 a.
| 13.. Cursor M. 10508 (Gött.) Þu ma gode chere Quat so euer þu se or here. c 1450 Merlin ii. 37, I will knowe the soth, what-so-euer it coste. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xliii. 143, I woll not be dyspleased what so euer thou sayest. 1582 Allen Martyrdom Campion (1908) 16 Meaning by the state (whatsoever they otherwise pretende)..the welfare of some few..upholden by this new religion. 1676 Dryden Aurengz. iv. 61 And, whatsoe'r my Letter did pretend, I made this meeting for no other end. 1681 ― Abs. & Achit. 797 Whatsoe'r their Sufferings were before, That Change they Covet makes them suffer more. 1794 R. J. Sulivan View Nat. I. 113 Any force by which bodies tend towards each other, whatsoever be the cause. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan III. 187 They froze me, or affronted me..whatsoever I did. |
† b. Whoever: = prec. 2 b. Obs.
| c 1430 Lydg. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 46, I Counsell, what-so-euer thow be. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 122 Pay iustly thy tithes whatsoeuer thou bee. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 69 Quhatsaeuer ȝe be yat ar baptized in Christ ȝe haue put on Christ. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. iii. 124. 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. [i.] xi. 29 Could'st thou that readest this, whatsoeuer thou art..? |
c. adj. = whatever 3 b.
| a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cxlix. 568 Ye ought to praise our lord god, what so euer losse ye haue had. 1546 in Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 68 Quhat⁓soevir estait or ordour he be of. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 1 Afore the eyne baith of our Nobilitie, and of the lai people, in quhatsaeuir state or degrie. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 125 ¶8 Those whom they ought to look upon as their Common Enemies, whatsoever Side they may belong to. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps i. (1885) 7 The art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by man, for whatsoever uses, that [etc.]. 1874 L. Morris Songs of Two Worlds Ser. ii. Reply ii, Whatsoever chance befall, Of myself I'd die possest. |
3. a. adj. † (a) = whatever 4 a (a). Obs.
| 1589 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. V. 177, I wil put it in practice, nothwithstanding whatsoeuer inclination to the contrary. 1605 A. Wotton Answ. Popish Pamph. 76 [We] who submitt whatsoeuer our expositions to be compared with the Scriptures. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. ¶3 He would not suffer it to be broken off for whatsoeuer speaches or practises. 1611 W. Sclater Key (1629) 125 Fornication..is any what⁓soeuer breach of Chastitie. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 232 One True God, from whom is all Whatsoever Nature. a 1679 Hobbes Rhet. Pref., The Art of speaking, which..is able to bring about whatsoever Interest. |
(b) = whatever 4 a (b).
| 1472–3 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 34/1 In this Parlement, or any other Parlement afore this tyme holden whatsoever not⁓withstondyng. 1549 Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) II. 9 This realme of Englande and other the Kinges dominions whatsoeauer. 1582 in Allen Martyrdom Campion (1908) 80, I build not my faith upon any one man whatsoever. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 216, I promist we would be Contributors, And beare his charge of wooing whatsoere. 1692 Hickeringill Good Old Cause Wks. 1716 II. 535 You may easily know to get an Antidote against Death, and Losses, and Crosses, whatsoever. 1792 J. Almon Anecd. W. Pitt II. xxix. 127 In every circumstance of government and legislation whatsoever. 1865 Kingsley Herew. ix, He felt in himself no title whatsoever to that epithet. |
† b. pron. = whatever 4 b. Obs.
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 1023/1 Other wil become horne madde and be at defiance with whatsoeuer. 1583 T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iii. 134 It was also well furnished..with whatsoeuer els necessary for a Trenche. 1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Wars iii. 152 The pompe and solemnity exceeded whatsoever of former times. |