ourselves, pron. pl.
(aʊəˈsɛlvz)
Forms: see our and self.
[The original construction was nom. we selfe, acc. {uacu}s selfe, dat. {uacu}s selfum; whence ME. us selven. In 14th c. this was superseded in north. dial. by ur selven, midl. our(e selven (whence perh., through oure selve, our(e selfe, the form ourself). Before 1500, our(e selfs, our selves, appeared and became the standard form: cf. yourselves, themselves, and see self.]
The emphatic and reflexive pronoun corresponding to we, us.
I. Emphatic.
1. Standing alone, as subject, as object direct or indirect, or in predicate after be, become, or the like.
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. i. 76 The Treasure..with our selues, all rest at thy dispose. 1593 ― Rich. II, i. i. 16 Our selues will heare Th' accuser, and the accused, freely speake. 1650 Baxter Saints' R. iii. (ed. 8) 108 Ourselves are the greatest snare to ourselves. 1773 Life N. Frowde 47 We were not ourselves till some Weeks after their Departure. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. II. xvii. 388 We had as lief not be, as not be ourselves. 1846 Greener Sc. Gunnery 320 Very satisfactory..to the owners of the ships if not to ourselves. |
| dial. [1890 W. A. Wallace Only a Sister? 87 Nobbut one of oursens dressed up like.] |
2. In apposition with
we or (rarely)
us.
| [13.. Cursor M. 21878 (Cott.) If we cuth oght vr-seluen (Fairf. our-seluen; Edin., Gött. us seluin) knau.] 1526 Tindale John iv. 42 We have herde hym oure selves. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 1 The light..that we haue attained vnto our selues. 1725 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. iii. ii, We anes were young oursells. 1736 Butler Anal. i. i. 28 Appropriated to us ourselves. 1884 Mrs. Oliphant Sir Tom II. x. 153 When we are ourselves poor. |
II. 3. Reflexive. As direct or indirect object.
| [c 1400 Chaucer's Wife's Prol. 812 We fille acorded by vs seluen two (Camb., Lansd., Harl. oure seluyn, seluen, our seluen). c 1440 Gesta Rom. i. xxxvi. 146 (Harl. MS.) Yf we come afor, and accuse oure selvene.] 1495–6 Plumpton Corr. 115 We shall endevor ourselfs. 1526 Tindale 2 Cor. iii. 5 Nor that we are sufficient off oure selves to thynke eny thynge as it were of oure selves. 1534 Elyot Doctrinal of Princes 6 We..litle do avaunce our selfes to..vertue. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 1 We subject our selues to euery ones censure. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xvii. (1848) 271 If we..did not as much flatter our selves, and disguise our selves, to our selves, as we flatteringly disguise our selves to others. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) I. 68 We are capable of governing ourselves. 1786 Burns To a Louse viii, To see oursels as others see us! 1860 Thackeray Round. Papers, De Juvent. Wks. 1872 X. 61 At the pastrycook's we may have over-eaten ourselves. Mod. We have given ourselves the pleasure of calling on you. |