▪ I. † beˈlong, a. Obs. rare.
In 3 bilong.
[Early ME., answering in form and meaning to OS. bilang, MDu. belangh, belanc adj.; f. bi-, be- prefix + long a.2, app. shortened form of OE. ᵹe-lang, ME. y-long, i-long, along a.1 As in other words (cf. belief), the ᵹe- may have been dropped already in OE.; Ormin has ‘lang o Crisstes helpe.’ The primary notion was apparently ‘equally long, corresponding in length,’ whence ‘running alongside of, parallel to, going along with, accompanying as a property or attribute’; cf. belong v., also bilenge a.]
Pertaining, belonging, or appropriate; ‘along of.’ Const. on.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2058 Tel me ðin drem, mi broðer her..ðe reching wurð on god bi-long. |
▪ II. belong, v.
(bɪˈlɒŋ)
Forms: 4 bi-, 4–5 bylong, 4– belong; north. and Sc. belang.
[ME. bi-, belongen appears to be an intensive (with be- prefix) of the simple longen, common in the same sense from 13th c.: see long v.2 OHG. has, in same sense, bilangên, MDu. belanghen, mod.G. and Du. belangen, also a n. belang ‘concern, interest, importance’; but no trace of such forms is found in OE. For the sense, cf. the prec. adj.]
1. a. intr. To go along with, or accompany, as an adjunct, function, or duty; to be the proper accompaniment, to be appropriate, to pertain to.
| 1340 Ayenb. 176 Þe ulessliche [þoȝtes] belongeþ to lost an to wylninges. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 110 For in loue and letterure þe eleccioun bilongeth. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 215 Suffisaunt To doon al that a man bilongeth unto. 1486 Bk. St. Alban's D iij b, Theys haukes belong to an Emproure. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1613) 209 To learne the good what trauailes do belong. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. iii. 40 Wee know what belongs to a Watch. 1611 Bible Dan. ix. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiuenesses. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 807 Of this cursed crew The punishment to other hand belongs. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 397 ¶3 Grief has a natural Eloquence belonging to it. 1861 Geo. Eliot in Cross Life (1885) II. xi. 322 He..works with all the zest that belongs to fresh ideas. |
b. impers., or with subject it repr. a clause.
| 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle i. xii, Neuer ne left he..his burdon, as it bylongeth to a good pylgrym. c 1450 Merlin xv. 239 He was wele horsed as to soche a man be-longeth. 1588 A. King Canisius' Catech. 188 To rakin thame al in this place it belanges nat to our purpose. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 111 They therefore, as to right belongd, So were created. 1821 Keats Isabel xlix, Here..it doth not well belong To speak. |
2. To pertain, concern, refer. or relate to. arch.
| 1340 Ayenb. 12 Þe oþer article [of the Creed] belongeþ to þe zone. 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. i. 24 Nor belongen these my woordes onelye to you, but generally to all nacions. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. ii. viii. §4 Whatsoever belongeth unto the highest perfection of man. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 147 All that belongs to this. 1611 Bible 1 Cor. vii. 22 He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord. |
3. a. To be the property or rightful possession of. Const. to; occas. with ind. obj.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ii. 43 Telle ȝe me now to wham þat tresour by-longeþ. 1508 Fisher Wks. I. (1876) 290 The Blessyd Martha was a woman of noble blode, to whom by enheritaunce belonged the castel of bethany. a 1692 Ashmole Antiq. Berks (1723) II. 424 The Hundred of Wargrave did for many Ages belong to the Bishops of Winchester. 1764 Brydges Homer Travest. (1797) I. 128 Thy buxom wench..Belongs a better man than thee. 1835 Penny Cycl. XIV. 365/2 Rushen Abbey belonged to the Cistercian order. 1852 M{supc}Culloch Comm. Dict. 1105 Property belonging to another state. |
b. To be a property or attribute of.
| 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. ii. §18 It must have equall motion in all its particles, if motion doth belong to it. a 1704 Locke Wks. (1706) 191 This way of containing all things can by no means belong to God. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ii. ii. §14 (1864) 204 The accompaniment of activity belongs to every one of the senses. 1885 J. Martineau Ethical The. I. 275 The innumerable ‘attributes’ which must belong to an infinite nature. |
4. a. To be connected with in various relations; to form a part or appendage of; e.g. to be a member of a family, society, or nation, to be an adherent or dependent of, to be a native or inhabitant of a place; to be a dependency, adjunct, or appendage of something; to be one of a generation or time. Also const. to, † unto.
| 1393 Gower Conf. I. 121 Þe nimphes of the welles, And other..Unto the wodes belongende. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. Prol., I belong to the parish of Saint Pierre. 1535 Coverdale Esther viii. 1 Hester tolde how that he belonged vnto her. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 9 Belong you to the Lady Oliuia, friends? 1613 ― Hen. VIII, v. iv. 3 Good M. Porter, I belong to th' Larder. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 121 ¶1 The great Yard that belongs to my Friend's Country-House. 1856 Sat. Rev. II. 189 Mr. Pierce belongs to New Hampshire. 1875 Macdonell in Macm. Mag. XXXII. 545 His finest figures belong to [an early] period in American history. 1883 M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs iv. 71 To what confession do you yourself belong? 1884 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. 112 Those who belong to the rank and file of life need this warning most. 1922 D. H. Lawrence England (1924) 232 He was still in the choir of Morley Chapel—not very regular. He belonged just because he had a tenor voice, and enjoyed singing. |
b. With an adv. or advb. phr. (esp. here, where = to this or these, to which), also with various preps. or without const.: to be related or connected; to have a certain connection indicated or implied in the context; to fit a certain environment, group, etc. orig. U.S.
| 1822 Cooper Spy xxvi, I have never known whether he belonged above or below. 1861 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner xxvii, You belong with the last [set], and got accidentally shuffled in with the others. 1867 A. Wilson St. Elmo x, To replace it in the glass box where it belongs. 1889 W. Whitman in Century Mag. (1911) 11 Jan. 256/2 He was not a closet man, belonged out-of-doors. 1897 N.E.D. s.v. Fit v.1 2 The first examples given under..3 may belong here. 1924 A. D. Sedgwick Little French Girl i. x, I saw you took to each other. I saw you belonged with each other. Ibid. ii. xiv, From the first moment I saw her I felt that she belonged. 1936 Wodehouse Laughing Gas iii. 31, I looked as if I belonged in Whipsnade. 1942 M. McCarthy Company she Keeps (1943) v. 164 It was the Moscow trials that made him know, for the first time, that he did not really ‘belong’. 1949 Scrutiny XVI. 9 This remark of Eliot's..suggests that Byron doesn't quite ‘belong’. 1960 Guardian 4 Mar. 8/7 People also feel they want to belong and matter. |
c. With inf.: to be accustomed, ought; to seem, intend. U.S. dial.
| 1901–7 in H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. (1944) 53/1 John Henry belongs to folla afteh Sayrah. 1935 A. C. Baugh Hist. Eng. Lang. xi. 453 The expression reported from South Dakota, ‘I got up at six o'clock this morning although I don't belong to get up until seven.’ 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling iv. 29 You belong to figger..a man..cain't out-run a bear, but he's a sorry hunter if he cain't out-study him. Ibid. 35 When it back-fired, that belongs to mean the mainspring's got weak. |