Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word for. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word for, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say for in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word for you have here. The definition of the word for will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition offor, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
nor is there found, in sea or on land, a sweeter or pleasanter of gifts than she; for she is prime in comeliness and seemlihead of face and symmetrical shape of perfect grace; her check is ruddy dight, her brow flower white, her teeth gem-bright, her eyes blackest black and whitest white, her hips of heavy weight, her waist slight and her favour exquisite.
"By means of the Golden Cap I shall command the Winged Monkeys to carry you to the gates of the Emerald City," said Glinda, "for it would be a shame to deprive the people of so wonderful a ruler."
"I'll go round presently, and pay our friend off." Rather alarmed by this summary action, I was for a little delay, and even hinted that our friend himself might be difficult to deal with.
1867, Frederick Metcalfe, The Oxonian in Iceland, page 202:
"A summerly day for you," said my host; "You ought to be here in winter. It is impossible then to get out of the doors for the snow and wind. Ugh! dreadful weather!"
1864, George Etell Sargent, The Story of a City Arab, page 313:
I could not see his hands, for the thick gloves he wore, and his face was partially concealed by a red woollen comforter; but his entire appearance and manners tallied with what I had seen of Yorkshire farmerhood.
I am aiming for completion by the end of business Thursday.
He's going for his doctorate.
Do you want to go for coffee?
People all over Greece looked to Delphi for answers.
Can you go to the store for some eggs?
I'm saving up for a car.
Don't wait for an answer.
What did he ask you for?
1641 (first performance), , “The Prologue”, in The Sophy., 2nd edition, London: J M for H Herringman,, published 1667, →OCLC:
For we would have you know it, / The loſs will fall on us, not on the Poet: / For he writes not for money, nor for praiſe, / Nor to be call'd a Wit, nor to wear Bayes:
By the standards of, usually with the implication that those standards are lower than one might otherwise expect; considering.
a.1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: Malebranche’s Opinion of Seeing All Things in God. III. A Discourse of Miracles. IV. Part of a Fourth Letter for Toleration. V. Memoirs Relating to the Life of Anthony First Earl of Shaftesbury. To which is Added, VI. His New Method of a Common-place-book, Written Originally in French, and Now Translated into English.">…], London: A and J Churchill,, published 1706, →OCLC:
if a man can be persuaded and fully assured of anything for a truth without having examined, what is there that he may not embrace for truth ?
1976, Louis L’Amour, chapter 2, in The Rider of Lost Creek, Bantam Dell, →ISBN:
They knew him for a stranger.
1982 February 13, Wayne Dynes, “Unnatural”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 4:
I would advise anyone who does not share its politics — surely the great majority of gay men and lesbians — to shun NOLAG for the anachronistic zombie it is.
Mr. Joseph Blenkinshaw was perhaps not worth quite so much as was reported; but for all that he was a very wealthy man
1968, J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, page 240:
For all his faults, there had been something lofty and great about him - as a judge, as a patron of education, as a builder, as an international figure.
O For a Muſe of Fire, that would aſcend / The brighteſt Heauen of Inuention :
1858 March 27, “The Lay of the Brief”, in Punch, Or, The London Charivari, page 129:
Oh! but to breathe the air / By their side under summer skies! To watch the blush on their cheeks, / The light in their liquid eyes. / Oh! but for one short hour, / To whisper a word of love;
(in expressions such as 'for a start')Introducing the first item(s) in a potential sequence .
Go scuba diving? For one thing, I can't even swim.
He took the swing shift for he could get more overtime.
Used in various other more-or-less idiomatic ways to construe individual verbs, indicating various semantic relationships such as target, purpose, result, etc.; see also the entries for individual phrasal verbs, e.g. ask for, look for, stand for, etc.
to account for one's whereabouts to care for a relative to settle for second best to allow for mistakes
Usage notes
Some modern grammars classify the sense that introduces a subject of a to-infinitive clause as a subordinator rather than a preposition; most grammar books and dictionaries to date, being based on traditional grammar, classify it as a preposition rather than a subordinating conjunction.
(nonstandard, in representations of dialectal speech, especially that of black speakers)To, the particle for marking the following verb as an infinitive.
1896, McClure's magazine, page 270:
“'Ugh—I'll not be able for get up. Send for M'sieu le Curé—I'll be goin' for die for sure.'
1898 December 17, “Mr. Owens' Experience”, in Forest and Stream, volume 51, page 485:
firs rate place for shoot a woodcocks, I tell you. I say wass no use for spen money. An I say in "So wass I. I see lot of sy-pokes fly up an twist off like screw-cork an spit whistle, but I wass'nt able for get aim on him."
2007, H. Nigel Thomas, Return to Arcadia: A Novel (Tsar Publications):
"She say that when nigger people step out o' they place and start for rub shoulders with Bacra, trouble just 'round the corner."
Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8
1998, Henrik Ibsen, translated by Odd Tangerud, Puphejmo : Dramo en tri aktoj:
NORA (komencas elpreni el la skatolo, sed baldaŭ forĵetas ĉion). Ho, se mi kuraĝus eliri. Se nur neniu venus. Se nur ne dume okazus io hejme. Stulta babilaĵo; neniu venos. Nur ne pensi. Brosi la mufon. Delikataj gantoj, delikataj gantoj. For el la pensoj! For, for! Unu, du, tri, kvar, kvin, ses — (krias) Jen, tie ili venas —
NORA (begins to unpack the box, but soon pushes it all away). Oh, if I dared go out. If only no one would come. If only I could be sure nothing would happen here in the meantime. Stupid nonsense; no one will come. Only I mustn't think about it. I will brush my muff. What lovely, lovely gloves. Out of my thoughts, Away, away! One, two, three, four, five, six— (Screams) There, someone's coming—
for in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
for in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"for", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
Karl Gottlob Zumpt, 1846, A school-grammar of the Latin language, p146
2022 February 3, “US comot Islamic State leader from battlefield for Syria raid”, in BBC News Pidgin:
"Thanks to di skill and bravery of our armed forces, we don comot Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, from di battlefield" Biden tok for one statement.
"Thanks to the skill and bravery of our armed forces, we have left Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, from the battlefield" Biden said in a statement.
Þa wurdon hi ealle þurh þæt wundor ablicgede and þæs þægnes gebedda ðe þa gebroþra heold wæs for six gearum for swiðlicre untrumnysse...
Then they were all astonished at that miracle; and the wife of the officer, who had charge of the brothers, for six years, through a severe sickness...
Is nū for þȳ Godes þēowum and mynstermannum ġeorne tō wearnienne þæt sēo hālġe lār on ūrum dagum ne ācōliġe oþþe ātēoriġe swā swā hit wæs ġedōn on Angelcynne nū for ānum fēawum gēarum, swā þæt nān Englisċ prēost ne cūðe dihtan oþþe āsmēaġan ānne pistol on Lǣden, oþ þæt Dūnstān ærċebisċop and Æðelwold bisċop eft þā lāre on munuclīfum ārǣrdon.
That's why God's servants and monks should be very careful not to let this sacred learning cool or fade in our time, the way it did in England a few years ago, when none of our priests could compose or interpret a letter in Latin, until archbishop Dunstan and bishop Æthelwold revived learning in monastic life.