myself, pron.
(maɪˈsɛlf, mɪˈsɛlf)
Forms (see also self): α. 1 me siolf, sylf, 2–3 meseolf, 3 me sellf (Ormin), seolfan, suluen, 4–6 meself, (6 mee-). β. 3 mi-, myseolf, (-ve), -sulf, (-ve), 3–4 miself, 4–5 mi-, 4–6 myselve(n, (5 -syllf, -silven, -seluon, -yn, 6 selfin, sellf), 5–7 my-selfe, 4– myself. γ. dial. 6 -sell, 8–9 mysel', mysel, mesel, mysen, etc. (see E.D.D.).
[orig. me acc.-dat. pron. + self (q.v.); in OE. in two distinct constructions (see notes to senses 1 and 5). The transition from the form meself to myself was prob. due, partly to unstressing and obscuring of the vowel of mē (mēˈself, mĕˈself, miˈself), partly to the analogy of herself, in which her was felt as a possessive genitive.]
I. Emphatic uses.
1. a. In apposition with the subject-pronoun I: In my own person; for my part.
In OE. ic me self, where me is a kind of ethical dative and the uninflected self is in apposition with ic.
| α 853 in Earle Land-charters 343 Ealle ða ᵹerihte ða ic meseolf ær ahte. c 1200 Ormin 16242, I me sellf shall reȝȝsenn itt Þe þridde daȝȝ off dæþe. c 1205 Lay. 3214 Ne bidde ich nanne maðmes, me seolf ich habben inoȝe. a 1225 St. Marher. 11 Ich me seolf smelle of þe swote ihū swottre þen euer ani þing {thbar} is on eorðe. a 1300 Cursor M. 5768 ‘Ga forth,’ he said, ‘wit-vten dred, For i me-self sal þe lede.’ c 1330 Amis & Amil. 850 Y seighe it meself this ich day. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 66, I mee selfe stoode in neede of a comforter. |
| β c 1205 Lay. 8816 Ah ich mi seolf neore & mine gode cnihtes i-numen weoren ure king. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8361 Icholle to hom..& wiþinne vif dawes mid hom be mi sulf in bataile. c 1350 Will. Palerne 722 Mi-self knowe ich nouȝt mi ken ne mi kontre noiþer. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 43, I am miselven on of tho, Which to this Scole am underfonge. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xx. 221 He schalle not trowe it lightly: and treuly, no more did I my self, til I saughe it. c 1440 Alph. Tales lvii. 42 Nowder of þies two did itt, I did it my selfe. 1535 Coverdale Jer. xxi. 5, I my selff will fight agaynst you. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 236, I will my selfe into the Pulpit first. 1682 Dryden & Lee Dk. Guise i. i. (1683) 5, I will my self to Court. 1776 Trial of Nundocomar 92/1 Mohun Persaud..knew as little of Persian as I did myself. 1887 Carroll Game of Logic i. §1. 4 If there are any: I haven't seen many, myself. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 320 Judge Shortcharge may be right, or he may be wrong, but he decides. I go for the judge myself. |
| γ 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lx. 71 Gif I be ane of thay my sell. 1790 Mrs. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. 50, I dunnet mitch heed me sel. 1864 Tennyson North. Farmer viii, Theer wur a boggle in it, I often 'eärd 'um mysen. |
† b. myself one, or myself alone: by myself. Also (rare) simply myself. Obs.
| c 1275 Wom. Samaria 31 in O.E. Misc. 85, I nabbe, heo seyde, nenne were, ich am my seolf al one. c 1325 Song of Merci 21 in E.E.P. (1862) 119 Ful stille .i. stod my self al on. c 1485 E.E. Misc. (Warton Club) 43 Bi a forrest as I gane fare, Walkyng al myselvene alone. 1535 Coverdale Deut. i. 9, I am not able to beare you my self alone. [So 1611.] c 1540 Pilgryms Tale 168 in Thynne Animadv. (1875) 82 For that I was my-selue, & company had non. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 269, I had as liefe haue beene my selfe alone. |
c. In apposition with me. rare.
| 13.. R. Glouc. Chron. (1724) 30 (MS. B), Ac for me my self, ich wol soþ segge of þis dede. |
2. By ellipsis of I, myself comes to be used as a nominative. a. as simple subject. Now only poet.
The verb in concord is usually in the 1st person sing., † but occas. in the 3rd.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 543 Nay! sertes my-selue schal him neuer telle. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 34 My-selven can not telle why The sooth. c 1386 ― Wife's Prol. 175 (Harl. MS.) My self haþ [Ellesm. haue, other 5 MSS. hath] ben þe whippe. 1450 Rolls of Parlt. V. 176/1 Myself hath be armed in the Kynges daies. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iv. 74 My selfe hath often heard them say,..That Lucius banishment was wrongfully. 1601 ― Jul. C. iv. iii. 171 My selfe haue Letters of the selfe-same Tenure. 1634 T. Whalley in Ussher's Lett. (1686) 602 My self only think it not improbable, but that he might live there some Years. 1756 W. Toldervy Hist. 2 Orphans II. 59 Myself has received singular favours from the hands of the doctors Mead and Monro! 1859 FitzGerald tr. Omar xxvii, Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint. 1864 Browning Death in Desert Wks. 1896 I. 591/2 Before the point was mooted, ‘What is God?’ No savage man inquired, ‘What am myself?’ |
b. As part of a compound subject or predicate, and after than, as. Also as simple predicate.
Except at the beginning of an enumeration, or as simple predicate, myself in this use now expresses no special emphasis, being preferred in order to avoid the awkwardness of I.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 546 Ther was also a Reve and a Millere,..A Maunciple, and my-self. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. v. 83 These hands do lacke Nobility, that they strike A meaner then my selfe. 1748 Richardson Clarissa III. xxiii. 136 Enough to make a better man than myself..run into madness. 1866 Good Words Aug. 544/2 One of our party and myself started on an expedition. |
3. Substituted for me as the object of a verb or governed by a preposition.
The use of myself as the sole or the first-mentioned object of a verb is now arch. In an enumeration, when not occupying the first place, it does not now express any special emphasis, being in this position commonly preferred to me.
| c 1205 Lay. 493 Mine þralles i mire þeode me suluen [c 1275 mi-seolue] þretiað. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1175 Þe londes þat he has he holdes of mi-selue. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 46 Liberum arbitrium..Þat is lieutenant to loken it wel by leue of my-selue. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13177 Two sons..of the same kynges,..sesit my selfe, & my sure felow. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiv. 19 Thow salbe merchand for my sell, Renunce thy God and cum to me. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 59 And for my selfe, Foe as he was to me, [etc.]. 1789 Burns To Dr. Blacklock ii, He tauld mysel' by word o' mouth, He'd tak' my letter. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ¶18 Membrilla has neither chick nor child but myself. 1812 (title) The History of Myself and my Friend: a Novel. 1842 Borrow Bible in Sp. xxxviii, Several of the ultra-popish bishops..had denounced the Bible, the Bible Society, and myself. 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. xx. §1 To myself, mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery. |
4. a. (passing into n.) My being or personality; my own or very self. † another myself [after L. alter ego]: a second self, said of an intimate friend (cf. I pron. 4 b).
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 1 b, My wytte is gross, my selfe rude, and my tonge very barbarouse. 1574 Hellowes tr. Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1577) 113, I bewaile the death of my friend, which is another my selfe. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. ii. 49 And for thy name which is no part of thee, Take all my selfe. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. i. iv. (1616) 194 Your sweet disposition to trauaile..hath made you another my-selfe in mine eye. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 95 Best Image of my self and dearer half. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxvi. (1695) 188 That consciousness whereby I am my self to my self. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 302 There might have been two myselves some thousands of miles apart. 1859 FitzGerald tr. Omar xx, To-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years. 1864 J. Ingelow Poems 23 O, let me be myself! But where, O where,..Shall the myself be found? 1871 R. W. Dale Commandm. vi. 156 My life is not so sacred as myself. |
b. to be myself, to feel like myself: to be, or feel as if I were, in my normal condition of body or mind.
| 1777 Johnsoniana 51, I am not at all myself this morning. a 1845 Hood Lamia i. 82, I was not quite myself—(not what I am). 1886 Besant Childr. Gibeon ii. xix, It gave me such a shake as I never had before; I haven't felt like myself ever since. |
II. Reflexive uses.
5. As direct or indirect obj., in acc. and inf. const., or in dependence on a prep. (Orig. only emphatic refl., but now in general use, replacing the refl. me, which is now only arch.: cf. me pron. 5.) Also in phr. says I to myself.
In OE. recorded only in the acc., self being in concord with me.
| 837 Will in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. (1865) 476 Ic wille ærist me siolfne Gode allmehtᵹum forᵹeofan to ðere stowe æt Cristes cirican. c 1000 ælfric Gen. xxii. 16 Ic sweriᵹe þurh me sylfne, sæde se ælmihtiᵹa. c 1205 Lay. 828 Iche wlle þesne king læden mid me seolfan [c 1275 mi seolue]. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9285, & wanne ich am encheson of such peril ywis Verst icholle þer inne do mi sulue. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 280, I am so with miselven wroth. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iii. ii, By cause that I..fayned my self to be a medycyn. 1535 Coverdale Gen. iii. 10, I hyd my self. 1551–6 R. Robinson tr. More's Utopia (Arb.) 13 Such spare houres as..I..cold..winne to me self. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. viii. 76 The loue I beare you, doth cause me thus nakedly to forget my selfe. 1671 Milton P.R. i. 204 Myself I thought Born to that end. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 26 ¶1, I very often walk by my self in Westminster Abbey. 1720 [see say v.1 B. 3 b ¶ ]. 1759 Johnson Idler No. 55 ¶4, I acquainted myself with the black inhabitants of metallic caverns. 1811 (title) Thinks I to myself: a Novel. 1825 Lamb Elia ii. The Superannuated Man, I had foolishly given a handle against myself. 1855 Dickens Let. to Leigh Hunt in Cornh. Mag. May (1892) 505, I..reject all engagements, to have my time to myself. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed v, I'm not going to belong to anybody except myself. 1920 J. Lee Penitent in Northern Numbers 81 As I lay in the trenches at Noove Chapelle,..Sez I to mysel', sez I to mysel':—Billy, me boy, here's the end o' you. |