amongst, prep.
(əˈmʌŋst)
Forms: 3–4 amanges, (amongus), 4–6 amonges, 5 -is, -ys, 5–7 amongs, 6 amongest(e, 6– amongst, 'mongst. Northern 3–6 amanges, 5–7 amangs, 7 amangst. Also 5 emanges, -ez, emongis, 6 emonges, emongs, emongest(e.
[f. among (amang, emong) with adverbial genitive -es, as in besides, betimes, in 16th c. corrupted to -st, by form-assoc. with superlatives, cf. agains(t, amids(t.]
Less usual in the primary local sense than among, and, when so used, generally implying dispersion, intermixture, or shifting position.
1. = among 1.
| a 1400 Sir Perc. 604 So commes the rede knyghte inne Emangez thame. 1559 in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. vi. 9 Did he place himself amongest the prestes? c 1590 Marlowe Faustus 51 Faustus is feasted mongst his noblemen. 1652 Ashmole Theatr. Chem. Brit. 217 Amongs the Wormys smale. 1851 Helps Friends in C. I. 4 Red brick houses, with poplars coming up amongst them. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. x. (1878) 172, I walked about amongst them. |
2. = among 2.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1633 They amonges al the pres Shul thus be shamed. 1556 Lauder Tractate 78 Amangs the heuinlie companye. |
3. = among 3.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1619 Godes hus, Her heuenegate amongus us. 1258 Procl. Hen. III, We senden ȝew þis writ..to halden a manges ȝew {iacu}nehord. 1366 Mandeville xix. 211 Thei hadde no pore men amonges hem. 1556 Robinson More's Utopia 22, I spende almost al the day abrode emonges other. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 22 A God amongest men. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. xi. iv, As those holy Fishers once amongs Thou flamedst bright with sparkling parted tongues. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague i. iv. 23 'Tis the first death Hath been amongst us. 1851 Helps Friends in C. I. 116 To live amongst those with whom one has not anything like one's fair value. |
4. = among 4.
| c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 784 Amonges other of his honest thinges, He had a gardin walled all with ston. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 44 The kepyng of the See I rekyn not amongs the Ordynarye chargs. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. Ep. Ded., Amongest them all, I wyll take the exaumples of kyng Phylippe of Macedonie, and of Alexander his sonne. 1586 T. B. La Primaudaye's Fr. Acad. II. 41 Amongest terrestrial creatures..God hath created none with two legges onely..but man. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. §14 (1873) 83 The opinion of plenty is amongst the causes of want. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 2. ¶3 Frugal Maxims, amongst which the greatest Favourite is ‘A Peny Saved is a Peny got.’ 1785 C. Wilkins Bhagvat vii. 52 A few amongst ten thousand mortals strive for perfection. 1840 Hood Up Rhine 4 Amongst other memorials, there is an old family watch. |
5. = among 6.
| 1366 Mandeville xviii. 195 The more worschipe he hath amonges hem. 1536 Beerley in Four Cent. Eng. Lett. 34 Fowll vycys don amonckst relygyus men. 1588 A. King Canisius' Catech. H ij b, Y⊇ sonday being yairefter amanges y⊇ Christians callit y⊇ day of our lord. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1875) 1 One annciente and gretlye Estemed Custome emongeste the Romans. 1676 Hobbes Iliad i. 100 Nor will the sickness 'mongst the People cease. 1802 Scott Minstr. Scot. Bord. i. 39 This original miscellany holds a considerable value amongst collectors. |
6. = among 7–8.
| c 1460 Townley Myst. 217 Emanges us alle I red we kest To bring this thefe to dede. 1527 in Bury Wills (1850) 118 Delte emongeste the poore people. a 1569 A. Kingsmill Man's Estate xiii. (1580) 110 Thei parted my garmentes emongest them. 1607 Dekker in Shaks. Cent. Praise 74 Dispersing his giftes, amongst none but his honest breathren. 1640 Bk. War-Comm. Covenanters 2 The divisione of the said troupe horss amangst the parochess. |
7. = among 9.
| 1509 Fisher Wks. (1876) 296 Yf ony faccyons or bendes were made secretely amongest her hede Officers. 1543 Henry VIII Parl. Speech 24 Dec., What Charity and Love is amongst you, when one calleth the other Heretick and Anabaptist? 1558 Queen Elizabeth in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. iii. 3 Whereupon riseth amonges the common sort..unfruteful dispute. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. Wks. I. 213 How are the partisans of proportional beauty agreed amongst themselves? |