with

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See also: wiþ, wið, with-, wiþ-, and wįð

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English with, from Old English wiþ (“against, opposite, toward, with”), from Proto-West Germanic *wiþi, a shortened form of Proto-Germanic *wiþrą (“against”). In Middle English, the word shifted to denote association rather than opposition, displacing Middle English mid (“with”), from Old English mid (“with”), from Proto-Germanic *midi; an earlier model of this meaning shift exists in cognate Old Norse við; elsewhere, the converse meaning shift is exemplified by Old South Arabian 𐩨𐩺𐩬 (byn, “between, amid”) spawning Old South Arabian 𐩨𐩬 (bn, “against”) and even likewise frequent reverse meaning 𐩨𐩬 (bn, “from”). The adverb sense is probably a semantic loan from various other Germanic languages, such as Norwegian med, Swedish med, and German mit.[1]

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

preconsonantal, final
prevocalic

Preposition

with

  1. Against.
    He picked a fight with the class bully.
    • 1621, John Smith, The Proceedings of the English Colony in Virginia‎:
      Many hatchets, knives, & pieces of iron, & brass, we see, which they reported to have from the Sasquesahanocks a mighty people, and mortal enemies with the Massawomecks.
  2. In the company of; alongside, close to; near to.
    He went with his friends.
  3. In addition to; as an accessory to.
    She owns a motorcycle with a sidecar.
  4. Used to add supplemental information, especially to indicate simultaneous happening, or immediate succession or consequence.
    Jim was listening to Bach with his eyes closed.
    The match result was 10-5, with John scoring three goals.
    With a heavy sigh, she looked around the empty room.
    Four people were injured, with one of them in critical condition.
    With their reputation on the line, they decided to fire their PR team.
    • 1590, Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia:
      With that she told me that though she spake of her father, whom she named Chremes, she would hide no truth from me: […]
    • 1697, Virgil, “Aeneid”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil:
      With this he pointed to his face, and show'd
      His hand and all his habit smear'd with blood.
    • 1861, Alexander Pope, “The Fourth Pastoral, or Daphne”, in The Rev. George Gilfillan, editor, The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope‎:
      See where, on earth, the flowery glories lie,
      With her they flourish'd, and with her they die.
    • 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:
      With a bolt of fright he remembered that there was no bathroom in the Hobhouse Room. He leapt along the corridor in a panic, stopping by the long-case clock at the end where he flattened himself against the wall.
    • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:
      The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
  5. In support of.
    We are with you all the way.
  6. In regard to.
    There are a number of problems with your plan.
    What on Earth is wrong with my keyboard?
    He was pleased with the outcome.
    I’m upset with my father.
    • 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:
      Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
  7. (obsolete) To denote the accomplishment of cause, means, instrument, etc; – sometimes equivalent to by.
    slain with robbers
    • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
      He was torn to / pieces with a bear:
    • 1669, Nathaniel Morton, New England’s Memorial:
      He was sick and lame of the scurvy, so as he could but lie in the cabin-door, and give direction, and, it should seem, was badly assisted either with mate or mariners
    • 1721, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry, page 61:
      But several sowing of Wheat at that time, because 'twas the usual time of doing of it, it lay in the Ground till Rain came, which was the latter end of October first, and then but part of it came up neither, because it was mustied and spoiled with lying so long in the Ground […]
  8. Using as an instrument; by means of.
    cut with a knife
    I water my plants with this watering can. This is the watering can I water my plants with.
    Find what you want instantly with our search engine.
    They dismissed the meeting with a wave of their hand.
    Speak with a confident voice.
  9. (obsolete) Using as nourishment; more recently replaced by on.
  10. Having, owning.
    It was small and bumpy, with a tinge of orange.
  11. Affected by (a certain emotion or condition).
    Speak with confidence.
    He spoke with sadness in his voice.
    The sailors were infected with malaria.
  12. Prompted by (a certain emotion).
    overcome with happiness
    green with envy; flushed with success
  13. In the employment of.
    She was with Acme for twenty years before retiring last fall.
  14. Considering; taking into account.
    With your kind of body size, you shouldn’t be eating pizza at all.
  15. Keeping up with; understanding; following along.
    That was a lot to explain; are you still with me?
    • 1983 May, David E. Petzal, “The Lightweight Division”, in Field & Stream‎:
      Are you still with me? Good. I was worried, because you may not think you need a lightweight rifle.
Quotations
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
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Adverb

with (not comparable)

  1. (regional US, chiefly Midwest and West, informal) Along, together with others, in a group, etc.
    Do you want to come with?

Etymology 2

From Middle English withe, wiþþe, from Old English wiþþe. More at withe.

Noun

with (plural withs)

  1. Alternative form of withe

References

  1. ^ Kaplan, Aidan (2015) “Come with” in the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project: English in North America, accessed on 2024-05-08. Updated by Tom McCoy (2015) and Katie Martin (2018).
  2. ^ Carol Genetti, How Languages Work: An Introduction to Language and Linguistics (2014)

Anagrams

Middle English

Preposition

with

  1. Alternative form of wiþ

Old Saxon

Etymology

A shortened form of withar (against), cognate with Old English wiþ (“against, opposite, toward”) and wiþer.

Preposition

with

  1. against, with, toward
    Uuesat iu so uuara uuiðar thiu, uuið iro fēcneon dādiun, sō man uuiðar fīundun scal
    Be careful against them, against their dreadful actions, just like one must be (careful) against his enemies
    (Heliand, verse 1883)

Southwestern Dinka

Etymology

Cognate with Shilluk nya weth.

Noun

with (plural wiɛth)

  1. arrow
  2. needle, pin, quill

References

  • Dinka-English Dictionary‎, 2005
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