withal

withal

English

WOTD – 25 February 2023

Etymology

PIE word
*wi

The adverb is derived from Middle English withal, with-al, withalle (“against, in opposition to; in association with, together with; by means of”),[1] from with (“against; close to, near; directly opposite to; in the company of, together with; on, upon; within; etc.”, preposition)[2] + al (“total number in a group, all, everyone, everything”).[3] The word displaced Old English mid ealle.[4]

The postposition is derived from the adverb.[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɪˈðɔːl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /wɪˈðɑl/, /-ðɔl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Hyphenation: with‧al

Adverb

withal (not comparable)

1. (chiefly archaic)
   1. Together with the rest; besides; in addition.

      Synonyms: as well, likewise, moreover

      • 1528, Thomas More, “A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. Chapter XI.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published April 1557, OCLC 1184573710, book III, page 224, column 1:

        [T]hey not onely damne [William] Tyndals tranſlacion [of the Bible], (wherein ther is good cauſe) but ouer that doe damne al other, and as though a ley manne wer no chritſen manne, wyll ſuffer no leye manne haue any at all. But whan they fynde any in his keping, they laye hereſye to hym therefore. And thereupon they burne vp the booke, and ſometime the good manne withall, […]

      • 1564 February, Erasmus, “The Saiynges of Diogenes the Cynike”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., Apophthegmes, that is to Saie, Prompte, Quicke, Wittie and Sentẽcious Saiynges, […], London: […] Ihon Kingston, OCLC 228713049, book I, folio 36, recto, paragraph 112:

        Loue he ſaied to be the occupacion or buſineſſe of idle folkes, that had nothinge els to ſet them ſelues on werke withall.

      • 1595, Richard Barnfield, “Cynthia, with Certaine Sonnets and the Legend of Cassandra. Sonnet I.”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Complete Poems of Richard Barnfield. […], London: J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols and Sons, […], published 1876, OCLC 456882740, page 77:

        For why his beauty (my hearts thiefe) affirmeth, / Piercing no skin (the bodies fensiue wall) / And hauing leaue, and free consent withall, / Himselfe not guilty, whom loue guilty tearmeth, […]

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Acts 15:27, column 2:

        For it ſeemeth to me vnreaſonable, to ſend a priſoner, and not withall to ſignifie the crimes laid againſt him.

      • 1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “The Second Part”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, OCLC 927499620, section 2, page 132:

        It is the common vvonder of all men hovv among ſo many millions of faces there ſhould be none alike: Novv contrary, I vvonder as much hovv there ſhould be any; he that ſhall conſider hovv many thouſand ſeverall vvords have beene careleſly and vvithout ſtudy compoſed out of 24 Letters; vvithall hovv many hundred lines there are to be dravvne in the fabricke of one man; ſhall eaſily finde that this variety is neceſſary: […]

      • 1648, Robert Herrick, “How the Wall-flower Came First, and Why So Called.”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], OCLC 1044244285; republished as Henry G. Clarke, editor, Hesperides, or Works both Human and Divine, volume I, London: H. G. Clarke and Co., […], 1844, OCLC 1110372590, page 19:

        Understand, this firstling [the wallflower] was / Once a brisk and bonny lass, / Who a sprightly Springall lov'd: / And to have it fully prov'd, / Up she got upon a wall, / Tempting down to slide withal; / But the silken twist untied, / So she fell; and bruis'd, she dy'd.

      • 1671, John Milton, “The Fourth Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, lines 127–129, page 85:

        I ſhall, thou ſay'ſt, expel / A brutiſh monſter: vvhat if I vvithal / Expel a Devil vvho firſt made him ſuch?

      • 1681 July 7 (Gregorian calendar), Narcissus Luttrell, A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs, from September 1678 to April 1714. […], volume I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: University Press, published 1857, OCLC 963729964, page 103:

        [T]hat [address] to the lord mayor was to give his lordship and the common council thanks for their addresse lately presented to his majestie, […] and withall to give the thanks of the common hall to their late representatives in parliament: […]

      • 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto First. The Castle.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, OCLC 270129616, stanza XXIX, page 50:

        Whenas the Palmer came in hall, / No lord, nor knight, was there more tall, / Or had a statelier step withal.

      • 1946 May–June, Charles E. Lee, “New Works for Wartime Traffic—2”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, ISSN 0033-8923, OCLC 1256058197, page 180:

        The necessary "opening" through the branch line was arranged by the construction of a movable bridge of an unusual kind, but withall simple and free from expensive mechanism.

   2. All things considered; nevertheless.

      Synonyms: even so; see also Thesaurus:nevertheless

      • 1807, William Wordsworth, “To the Small Celandine”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume I, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], OCLC 262842809, page 23:

        Modest, yet withal an Elf / Bold, and lavish of thyself, […]

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698, page 15:

        But I found myself continually returning to the countenance, and I still think I could have modelled a better face out of putty. […] But withal there was a perceptible acumen about the man which was puzzling in the extreme.

      • 1905 April, Jack London, “How I Became a Socialist”, in War of the Classes, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 1003113, page 277:

        But, just as I had been an individualist without knowing it, I was now a Socialist without knowing it, withal, an unscientific one.

      • 1907 September, Gilbert Parker, “Each after His Own Order”, in The Weavers: A Tale of England and Egypt of Fifty Years Ago, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp, Clark Company, published October 1907, OCLC 3574361, book III, page 237:

        Yet, withal, David was the true altruist. Even now as he walked this road which led to his old home, dear to him beyond all else, his thoughts kept flying to the Nile and to the desert.

      • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., OCLC 18478577; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, volume 1, number 12, New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, March 1927, OCLC 988016180, page 1164, column 1:

        So-al was a mighty fine-looking girl, built like a tigress as to strength and sinuosity, but withal sweet and womanly.

2. (archaic or obsolete) Synonym of therewith (“with this, that, or those”)
   • a. 1530 (date written)​, John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth the Boke Entytuled Ware the Hauke”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, OCLC 1000393158, lines 23 and 27–28, page 156:

     Thys boke we haue deuysed, / […] / In hope that no man shall / Be myscontent withall.

   • 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg: Eucharius Cervicornus and J. Soter?], OCLC 79441532, 1 Macchabees iiij:[44–45], folios lxij, verso – lxiij, recto:

     And forſo much as the aulter of burnofferynges was vnhalowed, he [Judas Maccabeus] toke aduyſement, what he might do withall: ſo he thought it was beſt to deſtroye it (leſt it ſhulde happen to do them eny ſhame) for the heithen had defyled it, & therfore they beate it downe.

   • c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene vii], page 28, column 2:

     No matter vvho's diſpleas'd, vvhen you are gone: / I fear me he vvill ſcarce be pleas'd vvith all.

   • 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], page 11, column 2:

     So glad of this as they I cannot be, / VVho are ſurpriz'd vvith all; but my reioycing / At nothing can be more: […]

   • a. 1664 (date written)​, Robert Sanderson, “The Preface to the Reader”, in XXXIV Sermons. […], 5th edition, London: […] [A. Clark] for A. Seil, and are to be sold by G. Sawbridge, […], published 1671, OCLC 1227554849:

     [T]he Papiſts, profeſſed Enemies of our Church and Religion, eſcaping in the mean vvhile Scot-free, ſeldome or never medled vvithal in any of their Sermons.

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Midas”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, OCLC 191225086, book I (Proem), page 1:

     The condition of England, on which many pamphlets are now in the course of publication, and many thoughts unpublished are going on in every reflective head, is justly regarded as one of the most ominous, and withal one of the strangest, ever seen in this world.

Alternative forms

• withall (archaic)

Derived terms

• herewithal
• therewithal
• wherewithal

Translations

together with the rest — see besides,‎ in addition

all things considered; nevertheless — see all things considered,‎ nevertheless

synonym of therewith — see therewith

Postposition

withal

1. (archaic) Used at the end of a clause or sentence, after the object: with.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], OCLC 762018299, Matthew xvj:[26], folio xxiij, verso:

     What ſhall hit proffet a man, yf he ſhulde wyn all the whoole worlde: ſo he looſe hys owne ſoule? Or els what ſhall a man geve to redeme hys ſoule agayne with all?

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The Second Part […], part 2, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act V, scene i:

     Tam[burlaine]. Tis braue indeede, my boy, wel done, / Shoote firſt my Lord, and then the reſt ſhall follow. / Ther[idamas]. Then haue at him to begin withal.

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii], page 197, column 1:

     Time trauels in diuers paces, vvith diuers perſons: Ile tel you vvho Time ambles vvithall, vvho Time trots vvithal, vvho Time gallops vvithal, and vvho he ſtands ſtil vvithall.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, OCLC 84758312, [Act II, scene ii]:

     You can take nothing from me ſir, / I vvill more vvillingly part vvith all, […]

   • a. 1775 (date written), Oliver Goldsmith, “Hydrostaticks”, in A Survey of Experimental Philosophy, Considered in Its Present State of Improvement. […], volume I, London: […] T. Carnan and F[rancis] Newbery jun., […], published 1776, OCLC 969035276, book I, page 365:

     [I]n every nine miles diſtance, there is about ſix feet of the earth's ſvvell betvveen us and any object; ſo that a man that ſtood in a boat at that diſtance at ſea, vvould be totally unſeen, though vve took the beſt teleſcope to obſerve him vvithal.

   • 1844 December​, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s Daughter”, in Mosses from an Old Manse. […], volume I, new (2nd) edition, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1854, OCLC 1061878660, page 116:

     [He has] produced new varieties of poison, more horribly deleterious than Nature, without the assistance of this learned person, would ever have plagued the world withal.

Alternative forms

• withall (archaic)

Translations

with — see with

References

1. “with-al, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. “with, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
3. “al, limiting adj. & n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
4. “withal, adv. and prep.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2022; “withal, adv. and prep.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.