- How
- How How, adv. [OE. how, hou, hu, hwu, AS. h?, from the same
root as hw[=a], hw[ae]t, who, what, pron. interrog.; akin to
OS. hw[=o]w, D. hoe, cf. G. wie how, Goth. hw[=e] wherewith,
hwaiwa how. [root]182. See {Who}, and cf. {Why}.]
1. In what manner or way; by what means or process.
[1913 Webster]
How can a man be born when he is old? --John iii. 4. [1913 Webster]
2. To what degree or extent, number or amount; in what proportion; by what measure or quality. [1913 Webster]
O, how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. --Ps. cxix. 97. [1913 Webster]
By how much they would diminish the present extent of the sea, so much they would impair the fertility, and fountains, and rivers of the earth. --Bentley. [1913 Webster]
3. For what reason; from what cause. [1913 Webster]
How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
4. In what state, condition, or plight. [1913 Webster]
How, and with what reproach, shall I return? --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
5. By what name, designation, or title. [1913 Webster]
How art thou called? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
6. At what price; how dear. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
How a score of ewes now? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Note: How is used in each sense, interrogatively, interjectionally, and relatively; it is also often employed to emphasize an interrogation or exclamation. ``How are the mighty fallen!'' --2 Sam. i. 27. Sometimes, also, it is used as a noun; -- as, the how, the when, the wherefore. --Shelley. [1913 Webster]
Let me beg you -- don't say ``How?'' for ``What?'' --Holmes. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
