hence
See also: Hence
English
Etymology
A later Middle English spelling, retaining the voiceless -s, of hennes (henne + adverbial genitive ending -s), from Old English heonan (“away", "hence”), from a Proto-West Germanic *hin-, from Proto-Germanic *hiz, and Proto-Germanic *-anē.
Cognate with Old Saxon hinan, Old High German hinnan (German hinnen), Dutch heen, Swedish hän. Related to Old English her (“here”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhɛns/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛns
Adverb
hence (not comparable)
- (archaic) from here, from this place, away
- I'm going hence, because you have insulted me.
- Get thee hence, Satan!
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:
- O Gertrude, come away! / The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch, / But we will ship him hence:
- 1849, Arthur Hugh Clough, Easter Day (Naples, 1849):
- Ye men of Galilee! / Why stand ye looking up to heaven, where Him ye ne’er may see, / Neither ascending hence, nor returning hither again?
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:
- `Now leave me,' she said, `and sleep if ye may. I must watch and think, for to-morrow night we go hence, and the time is long since I trod the path that we must follow.'
- (archaic, figuratively) from the living or from this world
- After a long battle, my poor daughter was taken hence.
- (of a length of time) in the future from now
- A year hence it will be forgotten.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i]:
- […] And now farewell / Till half an hour hence.
- (conjunctive) as a result; therefore, for this reason
- I shall go to Japan and hence will not be here in time for the party.
- The purse is handmade and hence very expensive.
- 1910, Sun Tzu, Lionel Giles (translator), The Art of War, Section VI: Weak Points and Strong, 8:
- Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
- 1910, [1513], Niccolò Machiavelli, Ninian Hill Thomson (translator), The Prince, Chapter VI:
- Hence it comes that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.
- 1731 May 27, Benjamin Franklin, Apology for Printers, published in The Pennsylvania Gazette:
- That hence arises the peculiar Unhappiness of that Business, which other Callings are no way liable to;
Synonyms
- (from this place): herefrom
- (as a result; therefore, for this reason): consequently
Antonyms
- hither
Derived terms
Terms derived from hence
- henceforth
- henceforward
Related terms
- whence
- thence
Translations
from here
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as a result, therefore
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from this time, from now
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Interjection
hence
- (obsolete) Go away! Begone!
- "...Hence! and bestow your dead
- Where no wrong against him cries!"
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:
- MIRANDA: Beseech you, father——
PROSPERO: Hence! Hang not on my garments.
Verb
hence (third-person singular simple present hences, present participle hencing, simple past and past participle henced)
- (obsolete, transitive) To utter "hence!" to; to send away.
- (dated, intransitive) To depart; to go away.
Anagrams
- Neche