mepron.¹n.adj.

Brit.

/miː/,

/mi/,

/mi/, U.S.

/mi/,

/mɪ/

Forms: Old English– me, Middle English meo, Middle English mi, Middle English 1700s– m' (before a vowel), Middle English–1500s my, Middle English– mee (now archaic), 1500s (1700s–1800s regional) ma, 1700s– meh (regional), 1800s– mah (regional), 1800s– muh (regional); Scottish pre-1700 mi, pre-1700 mie, pre-1700 my, pre-1700 1700s– me, pre-1700 1700s– mee, 1800s mey, 1800s– mei, 1900s– ma.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Cognate both with Old Frisian mi, Old Dutch mi (Middle Dutch mi, Dutch mij), Old Saxon mi, me < a Germanic 1st person singular accusative pronoun, and with Old Frisian mī, Old Saxon mī (Middle Low German mī, German regional (Low German) mi), Old Dutch mi (Middle Dutch mī, Dutch mij), Old High German mir (Middle High German mir, German mir), Old Icelandic mér, Norn (Shetland) mir, mier, Old Swedish mär, Gothic mis < a Germanic 1st person singular dative pronoun; both < the Indo-European base of Sanskrit mā, Pali, Prakrit maṁ, Old Persian mām, ancient Greek ἐμέ, με, classical Latin mē, Early Irish mé (Irish mé), Old Welsh, Welsh mi, Old Church Slavonic mene, mę, Russian menja, Old Prussian mien, Albanian mua.A weak form of the pronoun, developed in conditions of lower stress, probably existed from early times, and is evidenced by the forms m- and m' occurring before vowels and by the regional forms ma , mah , etc. In Middle English this weak form tended to fall together with the weak form of my adj. (see the etymological note at that entry, and compare the Older Scots form my listed above); in the compound myself pron. the first element was originally me and was later reassigned to my, partly as a result of this coalescence. Variation between a weak form Brit. /mɪ/, U.S. /mɪ/ and a strong form Brit. /miː/, U.S. /mi/ continues to be a feature of this word as of several other pronouns. Old English had also an accusative form mec, (Mercian) mec, mic, (Northumbrian) mech, meh (which did not survive into Middle English), cognate with Old Saxon mik (Middle Low German mik, mek), Old High German mih (Middle High German mich, German mich), Old Icelandic mek, mik (Icelandic mig), Norn (Shetland) moch, Norwegian meg, Old Swedish megh, migh (Swedish mig), Danish mig, Gothic mik, perhaps representing a suffixed form of the accusative root, and perhaps therefore cognate with Greek ἐμέγε, or, more probably, developed in Proto-Germanic under the influence of the nominative form of the first person pronoun (Old English ic, Old Saxon ik, Old High German ih, Old Icelandic ek, Gothic ik). Compare:eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) lxxii. 19 (24) Tenuisti manum dexteram meam et in uoluntate tua deduxisti me et cum gloria adsumpsisti me : ðu nome hond ða swiðran mine & in willan ðinum gelaedes mec & mid wuldre genome mic.eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iii. ix. 186 Sona mid þy þe seo fæmne mid þære cyste, þe heo bær, geneolecte þæm cafertune þæs huses, þa gewiton ealle þa wergan gastas onweg, þa ðe mec swencton & þrycton, & mec forleton & nower seoðþan æteawdon.OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. x. 32 Omnis ergo qui confitetur me coram hominibus confitebor : eghuelc forðon seðe ge-ondetas meh [OE Rushw. mec, OE West Saxon Gospels: Corpus Cambr. me] before monnum ic ondetu.OE Seafarer 6 Þær mec oft bigeat nearo nihtwaco æt nacan stefnan.OE Beowulf (2008) 447 Gif mec deað nimeð.

A. pron.¹ The objective case of the first person pronoun I (see I pron.), reproducing the Old English accusative and dative.

1. As direct object of a verb (originally accusative).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > [noun] > individuality or selfhood > self > I > me

meeOE

my worshipa1500

moi1760

your humble1765

us1828

yours truly1833

eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) iii. 5 (7) Saluum me fac deus meus : halne me doa god min.

OE Blickling Homilies 7 Of þon me eadige cwædon ealle cneorisna.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) x. 32 Ælcne eornustlice þe me cyþ beforan mannun, ic cyþe hyne beforan minun fæder þe on heofenum ys.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 160 Ich wiste wel þat þu me mis raddest.

c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) 637 (MED) Hi gonne me assaille.

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 545 (MED) He miȝt..for a fol me hold.

c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vii. 88 He is holden, Ich hope to haue me in Muynde.

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 353 Spare me nat to-morne whan I have rested me.

?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 46 (MED) I wyl obey..to all thyng þat ȝe bydde me.

1535 Bp. J. Fisher in Wks. (1876) i. 382 He wil not forsake me nor suffer mee to perish.

1569 E. Fenton tr. P. Boaistuau Certaine Secrete Wonders Nature f. 108 Many learned men of the vniuersitie..assured me, that it was a kinde of flying fishe.

1611 Bible (King James) Ruth i. 20 Call me not Naomi; call mee Mara.

1680 T. Otway Orphan ii. 17 But use me gently like a loving Brother.

1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. i. 14 Did God make me to serve him?

1762 I. Bickerstaff Love in Village (1765) i. x. 20 Well, my lad, are you willing to serve the king? Countryman. Why, can you list ma?

1832 Ld. Tennyson Œnone in Poems (new ed.) 53 Hear me, for I will speak.

1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-major I. iv. 67 We were trying to bomb down the tower, and a piece of the shell struck me.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 510 You found me in evil company.

1966 I. Murdoch Time of Angels ix. 100 The only sound argument in the whole of theology, in my humble view, only don't quote me!

1998 S. O'Connell Angel Bird 128 He stretched out his ham-sized fist and hauled me to my feet.

2. As indirect object, and in other originally dative uses.

a. As indirect object of a verb.

ΚΠ

eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iii. x. 186 Cwom sum broðor þonon..þe me sægde þæt hit þus gedon wære.

OE Beowulf 2155 Me ðis hildesceorp Hroðgar sealde.

OE Ælfric Homily (Cambr. Ii.4.6) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 363 Se munuc..forwyrnde me þæs weges.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 159 (MED) Ich nolde don þa þu me raddest.

c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 1336 (MED) Bring þou me þat may.

c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. vi. 85 (MED) I perfourmde þe penaunce þe prest me enioynide.

c1480 (a1400) SS. Simon & Jude 56 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 209 Anence þat þu writtis me now.

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke. iv. f. lii^v Wherefore doooeste [sic] thou promyse me that is myne owne alreadye.

1616 B. Jonson Epicœne i. i, in Wks. I. 532 Giue me a looke, giue me a face, That makes simplicity a grace.

1655 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa III. ii. iii. 225 Those strange accidents which had arriu'd me.

1666 R. Boyle Origine Formes & Qualities 395 The quantity presented me was less inconsiderable.

1701 T. Baker Humour of Age iii. 35 Give it me quickly.

1784 S. Johnson Let. 20 Mar. in J. W. Croker Life S. Johnson (1837) II. 371/1 God has in his mercy granted me a reprieve.

1824 L. L. Cameron Hist. Marten & Two Little Scholars (new ed.) vii. 43 This nice fat cheese which brother gave me.

1898 H. R. Haggard Dr. Therne 21 Will you lend it me?

1934 G. B. Shaw Too True to be Good i. 42 It must be that new sleeping draught the doctor gave me.

1993 R. Shell iCED 181 Dalek..sold me two ounces of Colombian gold reefer.

†b. In impersonal constructions.

(a) As object of an impersonal verb, or a verb used impersonally. Now only in set uses and phrases such as meseems v., and methinks v.; see also list v.¹ Obsolete.

ΚΠ

OE Soul & Body I 152 Forþan me a langaþ, leofost manna, on minum hige hearde, þæs þe ic þe on þyssum hynðum wat wyrmum to wiste.

c1175 ( Ælfric Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 61 Me idafenæð to wyrcenne his weorc þe me sende, þa hwile ðe dæȝ bið.

c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (1973) 550 Ȝet me teoneð mare þet ha tukeð ure godes to balewe.

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1284 (MED) A selkuth drem dremede me nou.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 3611 (MED) Þar-efter now mi langes sare.

a1450 York Plays (1885) 40 Me repentys and rewys for-þi.

1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xx. f. cxlvii Me nedeth neuer to loke more for the mater.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. vii. sig. S2^v Me ill befits, that in derdoing armes, And honours suit my vowed daies do spend.

(b) In dependence on an adjective, past participle, adverb, or noun. Formerly common in phrases such as me were better, liefer (see better adj. 4a(a), lief adj. 1c, also well adj. 1a); now only in woe is me at woe int., adv., n., and adj. Phrases 2. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

OE Ælfric Homily: De Duodecim Abusivis (Corpus Cambr. 178) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 301 Her is min cild þe me is swiðe leof.

OE Paris Psalter (1932) cxviii. 103 Me is on gomum god and swete þin agen word.

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 530 (MED) For i so worngely haue wrouȝt to wite him, me greues.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. 117 So hard me was that ilke throwe, That [etc.].

c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 6 (MED) Ouer long it were me to declare..how hard it is to knowe.

1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. June 79 Enough is me to paint out my vnrest.

c. As dative of interest (= ‘for me’).

ΚΠ

OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John xiii. 8 Non lauabis mihi pedas : ne ðuoas ðu me foet.

c1225 (?OE) Soul's Addr. to Body (Worcester) (Fragm. A) l. 14 Wo me..þet æffre mine lifdawes þus [lon]ge me ilesteþ.

c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) 2275 (MED) In þi chamber..kepes me Þis gentil kniȝtez.

c1395 G. Chaucer Merchant's Tale 1654 Assoileth me this question, I preye.

c1450 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women Prol. 46 In my bed ther daweth me no day That I nam up and walkyng.

1451 (c1400) Vision of Tundale (Royal) (1893) 87 (MED) Dame..Loke me my sparthe.

?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 354 (MED) Acounte me thise yeris wysely.

c1520 tr. Terence Andria iv. i, in Terens in Eng. sig. C.iii^v Yf thow indeuer the and put to thy payn for onne wedding thow wilt make me twayn.

?1591 R. Bruce Serm. Sacrament (1 Cor. xi. 23) sig. B4 Confound me ane of thir twa, with the vther.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) ii. i. 114 Come me to what was done to her.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 488. ¶2 A large Family of Daughters have drawn me up a very handsome Remonstrance.

1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VII. xliv. 157 Tie me up this tress instantly.

1849 M. Arnold Strayed Reveller, & Other Poems 38 Prick me the fellow from the path!

1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-major II. xix. 76 Can I ask you to do me one kindness?

1942 C. Barrett On Wallaby iii. 41 Even an offer of..mobs of tucker..failed to gain me a guide.

1992 Santa Fe (New Mexico) Jrnl. Reporter 2 Dec. 34/3 My mother would take me there and buy me a whole new outfit.

d. Used expletively in passages of a narrative character. (The so-called ethic dative.) Now archaic and rare. N.E.D. (1906) notes ‘Formerly often in vulgar or colloq. phrases (now obs.) such as “then says me I”, “what did me I but”, etc.’ Examples in earlier literature of this co-occurrence with the subjective pronoun appear in fact not to be common.

ΚΠ

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3821 Ilc prince me take hise wond.

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 1905 (MED) Þay fel on hym alle & woried me þis wyly wyth a wroth noyse.

a1450 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe ii. §38. 26 Tak me than a rule and draw a strike evene a-lyne.

1534 Prymer in Eng. sig. G.iiij But Peter..cometh me backe agayne vnto y^e fyer.

1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) vii. f. 81 She went me to an Altar that was dedicate of olde To..Hecate.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. iii. 83 The skilful sheepheard pyld me certaine wands.

1662 G. Torriano New Fabrick Ital. Dialogues 54 in Piazza Universale (1666) He spreads me that seed upon a white clout.

1697 J. Vanbrugh Æsop ii. 1 I'se get our wife Joan to be the queen's chambermaid; and then—crack says me I! and forget all my acquaintance.

1703 G. Farquhar Twin-rivals iv. 44 What hears me I—but pat, pat, pat very softly at the Door.

1724 J. Swift Prometheus (single sheet) Prometheus once this Chain [of gold] purloin'd..Then whips me on a Chain of Brass.

1737 T. Gray Let. in Corr. (1971) I. 48 At the foot of one of these squats me I.

1823 C. Lamb Oxf. in Vacation in Elia 23 With great exactitude of purpose he enters me his name in the book.

1874 A. C. Swinburne Bothwell (1882) iii. i. 244 Down my knave drops me flatlong, with his hair Aghast as hedgehogs' prickles.

3. As the object of a preposition.

ΚΠ

OE (Mercian) Rushw. Gospels: Matt. xxvi. 40 Non potuisti unam horam uigilare mecum : ne mæhtest ane hwile uel tid awæccan mid me.

OE Beowulf 541 No he wiht fram me flodyþum feor fleotan meahte, hraþor on holme, no ic fram him wolde.

OE West Saxon Gospels: John (Corpus Cambr.) vi. 35 Ic eom lifes hlaf ne hingrað þone þe to me cymð & ne þyrst þone næfre ðe on me gelyfð.

lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 656 Ealle þa ða æfter me cumen.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 237 Þuss hafeþþ drihhtin don wiþþ me.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 367 (MED) Þu licst; on me hit is isene.

a1350 (c1250) Prov. Hendyng (Harl.) 219 in K. Böddeker Altengl. Dichtungen (1878) 296 (MED) Ne shulde non be me ylyche.

c1400 ( Canticum Creatione 11 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 124 Þe rode treo Þat god on deyde for ȝow & meo.

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 410 I pray to God that he never be..shamed for me.

a1500 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Pierpont Morgan) (1966) 19 (MED) He schal be oon wiþ me.

1562 J. Hopkins in T. Sternhold et al. tr. Whole Bk. Psalmes cxliii. 361 Within me in perplexitie: Was mine accombred spryte.

1616 B. Jonson Forrest ix, in Wks. I Drinke to me, onely, with thine eyes.

1642 King Charles I Answer XIX. Propos. Parl. in Wks. (1662) I. 401 You see that My Magazine is going to be taken from Me.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 79. ⁋2 The Writer will do what she pleases for all me.

1755 W. Hay tr. Martial Select Epigrams i. 15 In the whole town no soul can be So near, and yet so far from me.

1816 J. Wilson City of Plague i. i. 101 A voice comes to me from its silent towers.

1886 F. L. Shaw Col. Cheswick's Camp II. i. 14 You put heart into me again.

1940 J. Buchan Memory Hold-the-Door 6 It is a record of the impressions made upon me by the outer world.

1999 J. Lloyd & E. Rees Come Together vii. 207 By my telling her she's too good for him, I'm actually implying she'd be better off with me.

4. reflexive (a) as direct object, ‘myself’; now archaic and rare; (b) as indirect object, ‘to or for myself’; now archaic except in colloquial (chiefly U.S. regional) usage. A. 4(b) is sometimes a redundant use, emphasizing that ‘the speaker's advantage (or disadvantage), well-being, pleasure, or the like is ultimately concerned’ ( Dict. Amer. Regional Eng.).

ΚΠ

OE Cynewulf Juliana 452 Þær ic swiþe me þyslicre ær þrage ne wende.

OE West Saxon Gospels: John (Corpus Cambr.) ix. 11 Ic eode, & þwoh me & geseah.

c1175 ( Ælfric Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 62 Ic eode and weosc me.

a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) 6 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 161 (MED) Þenne ich me bi-þenche wel, ful sare ich me adrede.

?a1300 Dame Sirith 170 in G. H. McKnight Middle Eng. Humorous Tales (1913) 8 (MED) I shal strengþen me þer-to.

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 518 (MED) Þat..Ich may me þere were & hede Fro min fon.

c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 309 I purposed fermely to shryue me.

a1450 (?1409) St. Patrick's Purgatory (Royal) 60 (MED) I..roos me vp and went in.

c1450 (c1393) G. Chaucer Scogan 36 I mexcuse.

c1500 ( G. Ashby Prisoner's Refl. 96 in Poems (1899) 4 (MED) I cast me nat to be neyther styll ne coy.

?1577 F. T. Debate Pride & Lowlines sig. Eviii^v Thinking to me they meant to gone vs by.

c1600 Club Law (1907) i. v. 118 O Lord that I could but save mee as much money, as would buy mee a Scottish dagger to pricke the villaines.

1605 Faire Maide Bristow sig. Bi^v This night ile ride, And presently get me a Docters tire.

1665 R. Hooke Micrographia Pref. sig. F I provided me a Tube of Brass.

1706 N. Rowe Ulysses ii. i Methought I found me by a murm'ring Brook.

1819 J. Keats La Belle Dame 44 And I awoke, and found me here.

1821 W. Sewall Diary (1930) 75 Purchased me some linens.

1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 15 Where can I get me harbourage for the night?

1867 G. A. Macfarren Six Lect. Harmony vi. 206 I must content me..with the bare statement.

1874 2nd Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1873–4 512 In 1861 I built me a horse barn, twenty-eight by forty.

1880 G. M. Hopkins Let. 26 Oct. (1935) lxx. 112 I have got me Stainer's Primer of Harmony.

1916 ‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd iii. 42 I'm going to make me one.

1963 W. A. Owens Look to River i. 10 I'll need me a few clothes.

1974 M. Hastings Dragon Island xv. 129 I'll grab me the first-aid box and..see how my patients are doing.

1993 Harper's Apr. 46/2 When I get to college, I'm gonna get me a white Nissan Sentra.

5. For the subjective pronoun I.Several of these uses (especially senses A. 5a), while common in colloquial English, have been regarded as nonstandard by many grammarians since the 18th cent.

a. Forming with another pronoun or a noun the subject of a plural verb. Cf. I pron. 2a.

ΚΠ

1380 in W. Fraser Douglas Bk. (1885) III. 28 Me and myn ayres..haue releissit..al my rycht clayme persuit chalenge or askyng..to fourty markis worth of land.

a1500 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1935) 308 (MED) Qwan he and me browt un us the schete, Of all hys wyll I hym lete.

1645 S. Verney in Verney Memoirs Sis peg and me got an opportunity [etc.].

1797 T. Wright Autobiogr. (1864) 72 My sweetheart and me began now to think of marriage.

1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility II. ii. 31 Anne and me are to go the latter end of January to some relations.

1825 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xix, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 366 Me and Wordsworth are aboon the age we live in.

1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. viii. 68 Me and Mrs. Boffin stood the poor girl's friend.

1886 W. Besant Children of Gibeon III. ii. xxvii. 150 We're an easy-going lot, me and my friends.

1893 Northumberland words at Him Him an' me's gannin'.

1905 Westm. Gaz. 11 Nov. 3/1 I can foresee..that unless me and Ellen advise you, you'll become simply——.

1936 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) ix. 457 Him and me are friends.

1990 News of World 11 Feb. 11/2 Me and a colleague rushed down to evacuate the area.

b. As sole head of a noun phrase forming the subject. Now regional, esp. Caribbean.

ΚΠ

c1380 Charter Edinb. Reg. House in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Ken Be it kennyt till al men throch this presens me..haf hecht [etc.].

1423 Crown Office Writ Reg. House No. 37 Be it maid kend till all..me Alexander of Lochtrysk..giffis and grantis [etc.].

c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. xxxviij^v/2 Be it knowen to al men by theis presentis me, T. H. of oxenford glouar, ordeyne [etc.].

1519 in W. Chambers Charters Burgh Peebles (1872) 49 Be it kennit tyll all men be thir present letteres, me James Baroune..grantis me to haif rasawit [etc.].

c1600 Club Law (1907) i. viii. 19 Me cannot tell de reason.

1663 R. Head Hic et Ubique 115 My shelf no howle, me make speak for you.

a1713 T. Ellwood Hist. Life (1714) 121 Attributing the Deliverance me hitherto had to the Lord.

1776 D. Herd Anc. & Mod. Sc. Songs (ed. 2) II. 187 Me never saw the like, man.

1837 United Service Jrnl. June 211 Tank Garamity,..me hab de felicity to find my massa.

1856 D. M. Mulock John Halifax III. xi. 276 Me want to see Grannie and Uncle Guy.

1918 E. C. Parsons Folk-Tales Andros Island, Bahamas 36 Me no tiger.

1942 L. Bennett Jamaica Dial. Verses 2 Me 'ave lot a labrish fe tell yuh.

1977 Westindian World 3 June 4/1 All me can say is that all dis revelation come too late, from days gone when me use fe tek me home work back to school.

1993 H. N. Thomas Spirits in Dark ix. 106 When two 'oman live in a house like that, them fight like dog and cat; and me have no interest in fighting with Laurel.

†c. In an absolute clause. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 69 (MED) These folke, me beyng displesed [L. me eis adversante], ofte tymes fallen into gret temptacions.

a1605 (c1422) T. Hoccleve Complaint (Durh.) l. 375 in Minor Poems (1970) i. 108 He that it owght agayne it to hym toke, me of his haste vnware.

1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 463 Dagon hath presum'd, Me overthrown, to enter lists with God.

d. Predicative.

ΚΠ

a1592 R. Greene Frier Bacon (1594) sig. F4 Marg...Who or of whome loue shall constraine me like. Serlsbie. Let it be me and trust me Margret.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) ii. iii. 22 Oh, the dogge is me, and I am my selfe.

1672 W. Wycherley Love in Wood v. 88 It was not me you follow'd.

1730 J. Swift Apol. Lady Carteret 4 To dine with Her! and come at Three! Impossible! it can't be me.

1758 O. Goldsmith tr. J. Marteilhe Mem. Protestant I. 165 There was left surviving only me.

1826 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xxiv, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 226 O ye Gawpus! Ye great Gawpus! It's me, man—it's me!

1852 Southern Literary Messenger Feb. 93/2 That's me—that's Davy Crockett.

1890 M. Oliphant Kirsteen I. xiv. 245 But it's me that dare not say a word.

1940 G. Marx Let. 10 Oct. in G. Marx et al. Groucho Lett. (1967) 26 A kind of human interest story with a slightly wacky father, who, of course, would be me.

1985 J. Adams Good Intentions xvii. 131 Yeah, that's me, a regular gorgeous hunk.

e. After as, than. (See than conj. 1b.)

ΚΠ

a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iii. iii. 11 Is she as tall as me ?

1669 J. Worthington Let. 22 Apr. in Diary & Corr. (1886) II. ii. 312 Which doth oblige them to it as much as me.

a1718 M. Prior Poems Several Occasions (1723) II. 12 As He was a Poet sublimer than Me.

1747 S. Richardson Clarissa I. x. 58 I am fitter for this world than you: You for the next than me.

1787 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 284 Gin ye be a Brig as auld as me,..There'll be..Some fewer whigmeleeries in your noddle.

1804 Ld. Byron Let. 2 Nov. (1973) I. 54 Ld. Delawarr..is considerably younger than me.

1892 N. Dickson Auld Sc. Minister 128 I'm sure ye ken as weel as me that love's just an unco fykiness o' the mind.

1934 A. Russell Tramp-royal in Wild Austral. i. 19 You'll have to rough it..rough it hard, too..same as me.

1962 W. Faulkner Reivers iv. 82 He's younger than me and stouter too for his size.

1990 Fast Forward 17 Jan. 15/3 I am looking for a girl pen-pal around the same age as me.

f. With ellipsis of verb (usually in dialogue); frequently in me neither (see neither adv. 3b) and me too, signifying the sharing of or acquiescing in another person's view, experience, or desire (see me-too n. and adj.). Cf. me-too v., me-tooer n.

ΚΠ

1745 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 13 Apr. (1932) (modernized text) II. 596 You must mark out Lord Granville by exterminating without quarter all who belong to him... If you take this resolution,..I empower you to make what use you please of my name as quitting with you; and I say as Will Seymour did, And me, too, sweet Jesus.

1761 J. Woodforde Diary 16 Nov. in W. N. Hargreaves-Mawdsley Woodforde at Oxf. (1969) 59 Bathurst never betts; only me.

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xl. 190 Me too; where's your girls?

1873 L. M. Alcott Work xi. 336 ‘Me too!’ cried little Ruth, and spread her chubby hand above the rest.

1921 H. Williamson Beautiful Years 128 ‘Where are you going?’ ‘Out.’ ‘Where to man?’ ‘Mr. Norman's.’.. ‘Norman's, you said? Right-o. Me, too!’

1960 J. R. Ackerley We think World of You 82 The almost mad stare with which her starting eyes pierced and searched my own for the answer to the only question in the world: ‘Me too?’

1971 Black World June 81/2 ‘I just asked.’ ‘Had no business asking.’ ‘Says who?’ ‘Me, stupid!’

1994 This Mag. (Toronto) Sept. 28/2 If you're going to think of being queer with a ‘me too! me too!’ attitude, somewhere down the line, it's going to break down because it's also an issue of sexuality.

g. colloquial. [Compare French moi.] Used intensively.

ΚΠ

1844 W. H. Maxwell Wanderings in Highlands & Islands II. xviii. 255 Me, that never..listened to a light-bob.

1923 Dial. Notes 5 244 I am not going to-day, me.

1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xxii. 184 Me, I'd just as leave drink croup medicine.

1963 Listener 20 June 1041/3 Me, I like fighting, too.

1979 D. Law in Observer 19 Aug. 10 It still amazes me to think that I work for the Beeb, me that has always been so shy.

1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! x. 93 Me, I found the whole thing hilarious.

h. Introducing a sentence or clause with a participle. Cf. senses A. 5c and A. 6a.

ΚΠ

1875 W. S. Gilbert Tom Cobb 1 Me so pinched for money till I can hardly raise an egg for breakfast.

1950 J. Hersey Peggety's Parcel Shortcomings in Fling (1990) 22 Me, sitting there, taking up half the back seat of the car.

1989 R. Bass Oil Notes 172 Me padding around in down booties in the quiet house.

1998 A. O'Hanlon Talk of Town i. iv. 72 Me riding a woman for the first time in my life.

6. In various exclamatory uses, without definite syntactical relation to the context.

a. colloquial. and me…: ‘especially considering that I am…’.Quot. c1400 is considered by N. Davies (1967) to be an example of this idiom, representing a more colloquial variant of and I… found elsewhere in this text and contemporary writings.

ΚΠ

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 1067 Naf I now to busy bot bare þre dayez, And me als fayn to falle feye as fayly of myyn ernde.

a1796 R. Burns in J. Johnson Scots Musical Museum (1803) VI. 562 Robin..Play'd me sic a trick, And me the Eller's dochter.

1812 M. Edgeworth Absentee xi, in Tales Fashionable Life VI. 181 Which would be hard on us, and me a widow.

1864 G. Meredith Emilia in Eng. I. xv. 208 And twenty shindies per dime we've been havin', and me such a placable body, if ye'll onnly let m' explode.

1906 H. Green At Actors' Boarding House 209 I thought I'd die laughing at his making love..and me with a husband doing his bit back in Auburn.

1932 P. G. Wodehouse Hot Water i. 21 And me who had split Even Stephen with her on every deal, never chiselling, never holding out on her, no, not so much as a dime.

1960 V. Williams Walk Egypt i. vi. 50 I swear,..every time I think of the way that little scutter done—and me only trying to be neighborly.

1989 P. McCabe Carn x. 149 Lord above isn't the world a strange place and me here thinking all the time you were in Carnaby Street or some place.

b. In interjectional phrases, as ah me! (see ah int. 2a, 4), ay me! (see ay int. 2), dear me! (see dear int.), †fore me! (see fore adv. 1b), o me! (see O int. 2), oh me! (see oh int.), etc.See also body of me! at body n. Phrases 3, Gods me at god n. and int. Phrases 1c(b)(ii).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > exclamation of surprise [interjection]

whatOE

well, wellOE

avoyc1300

ouc1300

ay1340

lorda1393

ahaa1400

hillaa1400

whannowc1450

wow1513

why?1520

heydaya1529

ah1538

ah me!a1547

fore me!a1547

o me!a1547

what the (also a) goodyear1570

precious coals1576

Lord have mercy (on us)1581

good heavens1588

whau1589

coads1590

ay me!1591

my stars!a1593

Gods me1595

law1598

Godso1600

to go out1600

coads-nigs1608

for mercy!a1616

good stars!1615

mercy on us (also me, etc.)!a1616

gramercy1617

goodness1623

what next?1662

mon Dieu1665

heugh1668

criminy1681

Lawd1696

the dickens1697

(God, etc.) bless my heart1704

alackaday1705

(for) mercy's sake!1707

my1707

deuce1710

gracious1712

goodly and gracious1713

my word1722

my stars and garters!1758

lawka1774

losha1779

Lord bless me (also you, us, etc.)1784

great guns!1795

mein Gott1795

Dear me!1805

fancy1813

well, I'm sure!1815

massy1817

Dear, dear!1818

to get off1818

laws1824

Mamma mia1824

by crikey1826

wisha1826

alleleu1829

crackey1830

Madonna mia1830

indeed1834

to go on1835

snakes1839

Jerusalem1840

sapristi1840

oh my days1841

tear and ages1841

what (why, etc.) in time?1844

sakes alive!1846

gee willikers1847

to get away1847

well, to be sure!1847

gee1851

Great Scott1852

holy mackerel!1855

doggone1857

lawsy1868

my wig(s)!1871

gee whiz1872

crimes1874

yoicks1881

Christmas1882

hully gee1895

'ullo1895

my hat!1899

good (also great) grief!1900

strike me pink!1902

oo-er1909

what do you know?1909

cripes1910

coo1911

zowiec1913

can you tie that?1918

hot diggety1924

yeow1924

ziggety1924

stone (or stiffen) the crows1930

hullo1931

tiens1932

whammo1932

po po po1936

how about that?1939

hallo1942

brother1945

tie that!1948

surprise1953

wowee1963

yikes1971

never1974

to sod off1976

whee1978

mercy1986

yipes1989

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > feeling of wonder, astonishment > exclamation of wonder [interjection]

ahaa1400

ocha1522

heydaya1529

ah1538

ah me!a1547

fore me!a1547

o me!a1547

gossea1556

ay me!1591

o (also oh) rare!1596

law1598

strangec1670

lack-a-day1695

stap my vitals1697

alackaday1705

prodigious1707

my word1722

(by) golly1743

gosh1757

Dear me!1805

Madre de Dios1815

Great Jove!1819

I snum1825

crikey1826

my eye1826

crackey1830

snakes1839

Great Scott1852

holy mackerel!1855

whoops1870

this beats my grandmother1883

wow1892

great balls of fire1893

oo-er1909

zowiec1913

crimes1929

yowa1943

wowee1963

Madre mia!1964

yikes1971

whee1978

chingas1984

the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > cry of grief > [noun] > (an utterance of) specific cry

wellaway?c1225

harmesaya1487

ay me!a1547

welladay1582

heigh-hoc1604

ochone1654

wirrasthru1852

the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > cry of grief > [interjection] > specific cry of grief

woeeOE

wellawayeOE

weilac1000

wellawayOE

wellaOE

woe is meOE

wummec1175

wia1200

outa1225

alas?c1225

walec1275

ac1300

whilec1402

ochonea1425

wellesay?1440

wannowec1450

helas1484

ah1509

ocha1522

ah me!a1547

wougha1556

eh1569

welladay1570

how1575

wellanear1581

ay me!1591

lasa1593

wella, welladay1601

good lack!1638

oime1660

pillaloo1663

wellanearing1683

lack-a-day1695

wasteheart1695

walya1724

lackadaisy1748

ochree1748

waesucks1773

well-a-winsa1774

ullagone1819

wirra1825

mavrone1827

wirrasthru1827

ototoi1877

wurra1898

a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Fourth Bk. Aeneas (1554) iv. sig. Ciii Aime [1557 Ay me], wyth rage and furyes am I dryue.

1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. H Ay me vnhappie.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. i. 118 What then? Foreme, this Fellow speakes.

a1626 W. Rowley New Wonder (1632) iv. 59 O me my shame! I know that voyce full well.

a1626 W. Rowley New Wonder (1632) iv. 60 O me, mine Vncle sees me!

1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads i. 397 Ay me, (said Thetis) would you could here rest Unhurt, ungriev'd.

1707 G. Farquhar Beaux Stratagem v. 64 O me! an ugly Gash upon my Word.

1751 R. Lloyd Progr. Envy in Poems (1762) 206 Ah me! unhappy state of mortal wight.

1798 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1799) 2 216 Dear me! O la! Good me!

1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 89 Alas me! flit! Flit like a ghost away.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam xxxv. 55 O me! what profits it to put An idle case?

1912 T. Hardy Life's Little Ironies in Wks. VIII. 7 ‘Dear me!’ she continued.

1937 D. Teilhet & H. Teilhet Feather Cloak Murders vi. 104 Not that I'm complaining. Dear me, no. I know my place.

1965 Listener 17 June 898/2 Through the window I can see them—ah me! the inevitable reception committee.

1991 Z. Edgell In Times like These xli. 236 Goodness me, it's only a slight cut, pull up your socks, my girl.

c. In surprised interrogation: = ‘Do you mean me?’.

ΚΠ

a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) i. iii. 40 Duk. And get you from our Court. Ros. Me Vncle. Duk. You Cosen.

1637 T. Heywood Royall King ii. iv Me my Lord? King. Ey you my Lord.

1760 S. Foote Minor iii. 88 What says your father? Sir Will. Me! Oh, I'll shew you in an instant.

1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. v. i. 26 Then, turning to Miss Larolles, ‘Don't you dance?’ he said. ‘Me?’ cried she, embarrassed, ‘yes, I believe so.’

1871 J. Ruskin Let. 24 July in Wks. (1909) XXXVII. 33 Me docile to Doctors!

1899 A. C. Swinburne Rosamund i. i Allovine. Speak now. Say first what ails thee? Rosamund. Me?

1963 N. Marsh Dead Water (1964) vii. 170 ‘Do you mean that you confronted her?’ ‘Me! No, thank you!’

1997 J. Owen Camden Girls 113 Me? I'm the last person to ask.

d. [After classical Latin me miserum!, etc.] In imitation of Latin uses. Cf. misery me! at misery n. Phrases 2.

ΚΠ

1639 T. D. Bloodie Banquet ii. ii. sig. C3^v Oh me accursed and most miserable.

1640 R. Brathwait Ar't Asleepe Husband? 104 Alas me wretched!

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 73 Me miserable! which way shall I flie Infinite wrauth, and infinite despaire?

1889 R. Browning Pope & Net iii ‘Unworthy me!’ he sighs: ‘From fisher's drudge to Church's prince—it is indeed a rise.’

e. Followed by an infinitive in an exclamation of surprise or indignation at some proposal or statement.

ΚΠ

1885 J. K. Jerome On Stage 16 ‘Me! me pay!’ I exclaimed, rendered ungrammatical by surprise. ‘What for?’

1907 I. Zangwill Ghetto Comedies 409 ‘Me join the Misnagdim!’ cried the cobbler in horror.

1930 Amer. Mercury Dec. 456/2 Me work? Don't be foolish. I'm a noble, I am.

1941 Coast to Coast 167 ‘Me take the harness off him!’ my mother said, surprised. ‘Why, I wouldn't touch that mad thing with a forty-foot pole.’

1962 A. La Guma Walk in Night iii. 17 ‘Me go to jail for a toit?’ the taxi-driver scowled. ‘Never.’

1996 S. Deane Reading in Dark (1997) vi. 221 ‘Where would that place be?’.. ‘I don't know. You tell me.’ ‘Don't know? Me tell you? I could tell you anywhere.’

f. me and my ——: expressing the speaker's exasperation or amusement at a characteristic indicated by the second part of the phrase.

ΚΠ

1947 F. Gruber Whispering Master xiv. 103 ‘Me and my big mouth,’ said Johnny bitterly. ‘Oh, don't worry chum..we'd 'a searched you anyway.’

1984 A. Maupin Babycakes xliii. 196 Me and my quaint ideas about husbands and wives and sluts.

1989 T. Kidder Among Schoolchildren vii. ii. 256 Me and my precious schedules... I've got to lighten up. Chill out.

1996 R. Doyle Woman who walked into Doors xxv. 169 Make your own fuckin' tea. That was what I said... Me and my big mouth.

7. Premodified by an adjective. Cf. I pron. 1b.

ΚΠ

1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos vi. 894 Where now away withdraw you wery me?

1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David iii. i How many ones there be That all against poor me Their numerous strength redouble.

1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles iv. 68 To..make a conquest of vnhappie mee .

1648 R. Crashaw Steps to Temple (ed. 2) 34 And full of Nothing else but emptie Mee.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 261 Did you for this, unhappy me convey Through Foes and Fires to see my House a Prey?

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xv. vii. 245 And for poor me, I am turned out of Doors.

1790 D. Morison Poems 96 How then he'd stare wi' sour grimace..Syne flyre like some outlandish race, At wretched me.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. x. x. 132 As for poor little me,..I was sent to the foundling hospital.

1814 J. Austen Let. 2 Mar. (1995) 256 I am to call upon Miss Spencer: Funny me!

1895 A. W. Pinero Second Mrs. Tanqueray iii. 111 I really thought you'd forgotten poor little me.

1918 W. Cather My Ántonia ii. xiv. 274 ‘What do you think of poor me?’ she added.

1961 ‘P. Dennis’ (title) Little me: the intimate memoirs of that great star..Belle Poitrine.

1994 Amer. Spectator Apr. 57/1 The stewardesses..were sitting in the back of the cabin hanging out and gossiping. I thought they were supposed to be offering us drinks and so forth. Silly me.

8. me and my girl (also darling): (in West Africa) a kind of small sofa, of a size suitable for only two people.

ΚΠ

1960 C. Achebe No Longer at Ease ii. 14 The sitting area was taken up with two armchairs, a settee (otherwise called ‘me and my girl’) and a round table on which he displayed his photo album.

1971 A. Kirk-Greene in J. Spencer Eng. Lang. W. Afr. 144 ‘Me-and-my-darling’ describes a small sofa.

1986 T. O. Echewa Crippled Dancer ii. x. 211 Stella..plonked herself down on the me-and-my-girl from which Ajuzia had just risen.

B. n.

1. (A way of referring to) the person speaking or writing.

ΚΠ

1781 W. Cowper Let. 12 July (1979) I. 498 Here you receive a bow profound, down to the ground, from your humble me—W C.

1886 R. Kipling Departm. Ditties 38 An inscrutable Decree Makes thee a gleesome fleasome Thou, and me a wretched Me.

2. Personality, individuality; ego. Cf. I n.² 3, not-me n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > [noun] > individuality or selfhood

personage1531

selfhood1568

identity1596

selfness1611

personship1645

egoity1651

I-hood1653

ipseity1659

inbeing1661

minehood1662

my-ness1662

selfship1664

personal identity1694

seity1709

personality1710

proprium1781

me1828

I-shipa1834

I-ety1835

selfdom1848

ownhood1856

I-ness1870

ego-hood1873

1828 T. Carlyle in Foreign Rev. 1 115 Haunted and blinded by some shadow of his own little Me.

1864 A. Bain Senses & Intellect (ed. 2) i. i. 98 A not me as opposed to the me of passive sensibility and thought.

1877 E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant Introd. ii. 12 A dualism between knowing and being, between the ‘me’ and the ‘not me’.

1905 E. Glyn Vicissitudes Evangeline 266 Whatever accident makes me have this objectionable outside, the me that lives within is an honest person who never breaks her word.

1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey xiv That was the fighting me: but labour I never could abide, nor the husbandry which breeds healthy children.

1988 S. Bellow Theft 38 I am in touch with the me in myself.

C. adj. (predicative).

Suited to or expressive of the tastes, ability, personality, etc., of the writer or speaker; appropriate for the writer or speaker.

ΚΠ

1803 S. T. Coleridge Let. 14 Aug. (1956) II. 974 Sloth, carelessness, Resignation is not merely in me; it is me. (Spite of Grammar—i.e. Lowth's—for I affirm, that in such instances ‘it is me’, is genuine English & philosophical Grammar.)

1899 J. London Let. 29 July (1966) 47 This is me all the time and all over.

1905 A. Bennett Sacred & Profane Love i. v. 83 But that poor little book isn't me... I shall never write another like it.

1925 R. Hall Sat. Life vii. 79 Nothings, just nothings, they didn't count; this is the thing that's me.

1938 J. Cary Castle Corner 557 The house has got to be contemporary, it's got to be art..and it's got to be me.

1957 P. Wildeblood Main Chance 56 Cardigans are not..particularly me.

1993 Clothes Show Mag. Feb. 19/3 It's not really me. I'm not a jeans type of girl, I like a sharper image.

Compounds

me decade n. originally U.S. the 1970s, regarded as a period characterized by an obsessive preoccupation with personal fulfilment and self-gratification; (later also) the 1980s, regarded as a period characterized by selfishness and materialism.

ΚΠ

1976 T. Wolfe in New York 23 Aug. 26 (title) Me Decade and the third great awakening.

1976 T. Wolfe in New York 23 Aug. 29/2 In her experience lies the explanation of certain grand puzzles of the 1970s, a period that will come to be known as the Me Decade.

1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 29 Aug. Your Turn, My Turn is not a movie poking fun at the Me Decade, it's a manifestation of the Me Decade.

1983 Listener 21 Apr. 23/1 Taking their money and running fast is what people have been doing in the Me Decades, otherwise the Purple Decades.

1990 Marxism Today Jan. 23/1 As the me-decade recedes into the collective memory, a new emphasis is being placed in the media on the values of caring, communing and connecting.

me generation n. that section of the young adult population of the U.S. and other Western countries which enjoyed relative affluence in the 1970s and 80s, regarded as characterized by a preoccupation with the self and with material gain.

ΚΠ

1978 Jrnl. Techn. Writing & Communication 8 287 The ‘me generation’ is obsessed with self.

1985 Sunday Tel. 26 May 5/7 At more than 60 American campuses, apartheid has suddenly inflamed the ‘me generation’ that was thought to be too materialist to care.

1991 New York 9 Sept. 32/1 ‘Today we're getting that Me Generation in’, she says disdainfully. ‘A lot of them come in saying they're alcoholics... They just want to belong to something!’

me time n. time devoted to doing what one wants, typically on one's own, as opposed to working or doing things for others, considered as important in reducing stress or restoring energy.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > [noun] > time off

remedyc1450

intermission?1566

vacancy1599

by-time1609

off-duty1844

watch below, off1850

stand easy1859

off time1866

time off1881

lay-off1889

make and mend1899

laze-off1924

R and R1952

downtime1971

me time1980

1980 R. A. Dunlap Helping yourself with Cosmic Healing xii. 199 Arrange during each day to have some ‘me time’.

1998 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Aug. 218 (caption) It's not the quantity of me-time that counts, it's the quality.

2012 J. Pate & B. Machen Mothers of Reinvention iv. 161 If you take twenty minutes of ‘me time’ to take that hike, you'll be more energized to face the laundry.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	me
释义	mepron.¹n.adj. Brit. /miː/, /mi/, /mi/, U.S. /mi/, /mɪ/ Forms: Old English– me, Middle English meo, Middle English mi, Middle English 1700s– m' (before a vowel), Middle English–1500s my, Middle English– mee (now archaic), 1500s (1700s–1800s regional) ma, 1700s– meh (regional), 1800s– mah (regional), 1800s– muh (regional); Scottish pre-1700 mi, pre-1700 mie, pre-1700 my, pre-1700 1700s– me, pre-1700 1700s– mee, 1800s mey, 1800s– mei, 1900s– ma. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate both with Old Frisian mi, Old Dutch mi (Middle Dutch mi, Dutch mij), Old Saxon mi, me < a Germanic 1st person singular accusative pronoun, and with Old Frisian mī, Old Saxon mī (Middle Low German mī, German regional (Low German) mi), Old Dutch mi (Middle Dutch mī, Dutch mij), Old High German mir (Middle High German mir, German mir), Old Icelandic mér, Norn (Shetland) mir, mier, Old Swedish mär, Gothic mis < a Germanic 1st person singular dative pronoun; both < the Indo-European base of Sanskrit mā, Pali, Prakrit maṁ, Old Persian mām, ancient Greek ἐμέ, με, classical Latin mē, Early Irish mé (Irish mé), Old Welsh, Welsh mi, Old Church Slavonic mene, mę, Russian menja, Old Prussian mien, Albanian mua.A weak form of the pronoun, developed in conditions of lower stress, probably existed from early times, and is evidenced by the forms m- and m' occurring before vowels and by the regional forms ma , mah , etc. In Middle English this weak form tended to fall together with the weak form of my adj. (see the etymological note at that entry, and compare the Older Scots form my listed above); in the compound myself pron. the first element was originally me and was later reassigned to my, partly as a result of this coalescence. Variation between a weak form Brit. /mɪ/, U.S. /mɪ/ and a strong form Brit. /miː/, U.S. /mi/ continues to be a feature of this word as of several other pronouns. Old English had also an accusative form mec, (Mercian) mec, mic, (Northumbrian) mech, meh (which did not survive into Middle English), cognate with Old Saxon mik (Middle Low German mik, mek), Old High German mih (Middle High German mich, German mich), Old Icelandic mek, mik (Icelandic mig), Norn (Shetland) moch, Norwegian meg, Old Swedish megh, migh (Swedish mig), Danish mig, Gothic mik, perhaps representing a suffixed form of the accusative root, and perhaps therefore cognate with Greek ἐμέγε, or, more probably, developed in Proto-Germanic under the influence of the nominative form of the first person pronoun (Old English ic, Old Saxon ik, Old High German ih, Old Icelandic ek, Gothic ik). Compare:eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) lxxii. 19 (24) Tenuisti manum dexteram meam et in uoluntate tua deduxisti me et cum gloria adsumpsisti me : ðu nome hond ða swiðran mine & in willan ðinum gelaedes mec & mid wuldre genome mic.eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iii. ix. 186 Sona mid þy þe seo fæmne mid þære cyste, þe heo bær, geneolecte þæm cafertune þæs huses, þa gewiton ealle þa wergan gastas onweg, þa ðe mec swencton & þrycton, & mec forleton & nower seoðþan æteawdon.OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. x. 32 Omnis ergo qui confitetur me coram hominibus confitebor : eghuelc forðon seðe ge-ondetas meh [OE Rushw. mec, OE West Saxon Gospels: Corpus Cambr. me] before monnum ic ondetu.OE Seafarer 6 Þær mec oft bigeat nearo nihtwaco æt nacan stefnan.OE Beowulf (2008) 447 Gif mec deað nimeð. A. pron.¹ The objective case of the first person pronoun I (see I pron.), reproducing the Old English accusative and dative. 1. As direct object of a verb (originally accusative). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > [noun] > individuality or selfhood > self > I > me meeOE my worshipa1500 moi1760 your humble1765 us1828 yours truly1833 eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) iii. 5 (7) Saluum me fac deus meus : halne me doa god min. OE Blickling Homilies 7 Of þon me eadige cwædon ealle cneorisna. OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) x. 32 Ælcne eornustlice þe me cyþ beforan mannun, ic cyþe hyne beforan minun fæder þe on heofenum ys. c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 160 Ich wiste wel þat þu me mis raddest. c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) 637 (MED) Hi gonne me assaille. a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 545 (MED) He miȝt..for a fol me hold. c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vii. 88 He is holden, Ich hope to haue me in Muynde. a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 353 Spare me nat to-morne whan I have rested me. ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 46 (MED) I wyl obey..to all thyng þat ȝe bydde me. 1535 Bp. J. Fisher in Wks. (1876) i. 382 He wil not forsake me nor suffer mee to perish. 1569 E. Fenton tr. P. Boaistuau Certaine Secrete Wonders Nature f. 108 Many learned men of the vniuersitie..assured me, that it was a kinde of flying fishe. 1611 Bible (King James) Ruth i. 20 Call me not Naomi; call mee Mara. View more context for this quotation 1680 T. Otway Orphan ii. 17 But use me gently like a loving Brother. 1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. i. 14 Did God make me to serve him? 1762 I. Bickerstaff Love in Village (1765) i. x. 20 Well, my lad, are you willing to serve the king? Countryman. Why, can you list ma? 1832 Ld. Tennyson Œnone in Poems (new ed.) 53 Hear me, for I will speak. 1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-major I. iv. 67 We were trying to bomb down the tower, and a piece of the shell struck me. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 510 You found me in evil company. 1966 I. Murdoch Time of Angels ix. 100 The only sound argument in the whole of theology, in my humble view, only don't quote me! 1998 S. O'Connell Angel Bird 128 He stretched out his ham-sized fist and hauled me to my feet. 2. As indirect object, and in other originally dative uses. a. As indirect object of a verb. ΚΠ eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iii. x. 186 Cwom sum broðor þonon..þe me sægde þæt hit þus gedon wære. OE Beowulf 2155 Me ðis hildesceorp Hroðgar sealde. OE Ælfric Homily (Cambr. Ii.4.6) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 363 Se munuc..forwyrnde me þæs weges. c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 159 (MED) Ich nolde don þa þu me raddest. c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 1336 (MED) Bring þou me þat may. c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. vi. 85 (MED) I perfourmde þe penaunce þe prest me enioynide. c1480 (a1400) SS. Simon & Jude 56 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 209 Anence þat þu writtis me now. 1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke. iv. f. lii^v Wherefore doooeste [sic] thou promyse me that is myne owne alreadye. 1616 B. Jonson Epicœne i. i, in Wks. I. 532 Giue me a looke, giue me a face, That makes simplicity a grace. View more context for this quotation 1655 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa III. ii. iii. 225 Those strange accidents which had arriu'd me. 1666 R. Boyle Origine Formes & Qualities 395 The quantity presented me was less inconsiderable. 1701 T. Baker Humour of Age iii. 35 Give it me quickly. 1784 S. Johnson Let. 20 Mar. in J. W. Croker Life S. Johnson (1837) II. 371/1 God has in his mercy granted me a reprieve. 1824 L. L. Cameron Hist. Marten & Two Little Scholars (new ed.) vii. 43 This nice fat cheese which brother gave me. 1898 H. R. Haggard Dr. Therne 21 Will you lend it me? 1934 G. B. Shaw Too True to be Good i. 42 It must be that new sleeping draught the doctor gave me. 1993 R. Shell iCED 181 Dalek..sold me two ounces of Colombian gold reefer. †b. In impersonal constructions. (a) As object of an impersonal verb, or a verb used impersonally. Now only in set uses and phrases such as meseems v., and methinks v.; see also list v.¹ Obsolete. ΚΠ OE Soul & Body I 152 Forþan me a langaþ, leofost manna, on minum hige hearde, þæs þe ic þe on þyssum hynðum wat wyrmum to wiste. c1175 ( Ælfric Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 61 Me idafenæð to wyrcenne his weorc þe me sende, þa hwile ðe dæȝ bið. c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (1973) 550 Ȝet me teoneð mare þet ha tukeð ure godes to balewe. c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1284 (MED) A selkuth drem dremede me nou. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 3611 (MED) Þar-efter now mi langes sare. a1450 York Plays (1885) 40 Me repentys and rewys for-þi. 1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xx. f. cxlvii Me nedeth neuer to loke more for the mater. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. vii. sig. S2^v Me ill befits, that in derdoing armes, And honours suit my vowed daies do spend. (b) In dependence on an adjective, past participle, adverb, or noun. Formerly common in phrases such as me were better, liefer (see better adj. 4a(a), lief adj. 1c, also well adj. 1a); now only in woe is me at woe int., adv., n., and adj. Phrases 2. Obsolete. ΚΠ OE Ælfric Homily: De Duodecim Abusivis (Corpus Cambr. 178) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 301 Her is min cild þe me is swiðe leof. OE Paris Psalter (1932) cxviii. 103 Me is on gomum god and swete þin agen word. a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 530 (MED) For i so worngely haue wrouȝt to wite him, me greues. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. 117 So hard me was that ilke throwe, That [etc.]. c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 6 (MED) Ouer long it were me to declare..how hard it is to knowe. 1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. June 79 Enough is me to paint out my vnrest. c. As dative of interest (= ‘for me’). ΚΠ OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John xiii. 8 Non lauabis mihi pedas : ne ðuoas ðu me foet. c1225 (?OE) Soul's Addr. to Body (Worcester) (Fragm. A) l. 14 Wo me..þet æffre mine lifdawes þus [lon]ge me ilesteþ. c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) 2275 (MED) In þi chamber..kepes me Þis gentil kniȝtez. c1395 G. Chaucer Merchant's Tale 1654 Assoileth me this question, I preye. c1450 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women Prol. 46 In my bed ther daweth me no day That I nam up and walkyng. 1451 (c1400) Vision of Tundale (Royal) (1893) 87 (MED) Dame..Loke me my sparthe. ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 354 (MED) Acounte me thise yeris wysely. c1520 tr. Terence Andria iv. i, in Terens in Eng. sig. C.iii^v Yf thow indeuer the and put to thy payn for onne wedding thow wilt make me twayn. ?1591 R. Bruce Serm. Sacrament (1 Cor. xi. 23) sig. B4 Confound me ane of thir twa, with the vther. a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) ii. i. 114 Come me to what was done to her. View more context for this quotation 1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 488. ¶2 A large Family of Daughters have drawn me up a very handsome Remonstrance. 1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VII. xliv. 157 Tie me up this tress instantly. 1849 M. Arnold Strayed Reveller, & Other Poems 38 Prick me the fellow from the path! 1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-major II. xix. 76 Can I ask you to do me one kindness? 1942 C. Barrett On Wallaby iii. 41 Even an offer of..mobs of tucker..failed to gain me a guide. 1992 Santa Fe (New Mexico) Jrnl. Reporter 2 Dec. 34/3 My mother would take me there and buy me a whole new outfit. d. Used expletively in passages of a narrative character. (The so-called ethic dative.) Now archaic and rare. N.E.D. (1906) notes ‘Formerly often in vulgar or colloq. phrases (now obs.) such as “then says me I”, “what did me I but”, etc.’ Examples in earlier literature of this co-occurrence with the subjective pronoun appear in fact not to be common. ΚΠ a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3821 Ilc prince me take hise wond. c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 1905 (MED) Þay fel on hym alle & woried me þis wyly wyth a wroth noyse. a1450 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe ii. §38. 26 Tak me than a rule and draw a strike evene a-lyne. 1534 Prymer in Eng. sig. G.iiij But Peter..cometh me backe agayne vnto y^e fyer. 1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) vii. f. 81 She went me to an Altar that was dedicate of olde To..Hecate. 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. iii. 83 The skilful sheepheard pyld me certaine wands. View more context for this quotation 1662 G. Torriano New Fabrick Ital. Dialogues 54 in Piazza Universale (1666) He spreads me that seed upon a white clout. 1697 J. Vanbrugh Æsop ii. 1 I'se get our wife Joan to be the queen's chambermaid; and then—crack says me I! and forget all my acquaintance. 1703 G. Farquhar Twin-rivals iv. 44 What hears me I—but pat, pat, pat very softly at the Door. 1724 J. Swift Prometheus (single sheet) Prometheus once this Chain [of gold] purloin'd..Then whips me on a Chain of Brass. 1737 T. Gray Let. in Corr. (1971) I. 48 At the foot of one of these squats me I. 1823 C. Lamb Oxf. in Vacation in Elia 23 With great exactitude of purpose he enters me his name in the book. 1874 A. C. Swinburne Bothwell (1882) iii. i. 244 Down my knave drops me flatlong, with his hair Aghast as hedgehogs' prickles. 3. As the object of a preposition. ΚΠ OE (Mercian) Rushw. Gospels: Matt. xxvi. 40 Non potuisti unam horam uigilare mecum : ne mæhtest ane hwile uel tid awæccan mid me. OE Beowulf 541 No he wiht fram me flodyþum feor fleotan meahte, hraþor on holme, no ic fram him wolde. OE West Saxon Gospels: John (Corpus Cambr.) vi. 35 Ic eom lifes hlaf ne hingrað þone þe to me cymð & ne þyrst þone næfre ðe on me gelyfð. lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 656 Ealle þa ða æfter me cumen. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 237 Þuss hafeþþ drihhtin don wiþþ me. c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 367 (MED) Þu licst; on me hit is isene. a1350 (c1250) Prov. Hendyng (Harl.) 219 in K. Böddeker Altengl. Dichtungen (1878) 296 (MED) Ne shulde non be me ylyche. c1400 ( Canticum Creatione 11 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 124 Þe rode treo Þat god on deyde for ȝow & meo. a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 410 I pray to God that he never be..shamed for me. a1500 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Pierpont Morgan) (1966) 19 (MED) He schal be oon wiþ me. 1562 J. Hopkins in T. Sternhold et al. tr. Whole Bk. Psalmes cxliii. 361 Within me in perplexitie: Was mine accombred spryte. 1616 B. Jonson Forrest ix, in Wks. I Drinke to me, onely, with thine eyes. 1642 King Charles I Answer XIX. Propos. Parl. in Wks. (1662) I. 401 You see that My Magazine is going to be taken from Me. 1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 79. ⁋2 The Writer will do what she pleases for all me. 1755 W. Hay tr. Martial Select Epigrams i. 15 In the whole town no soul can be So near, and yet so far from me. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague i. i. 101 A voice comes to me from its silent towers. 1886 F. L. Shaw Col. Cheswick's Camp II. i. 14 You put heart into me again. 1940 J. Buchan Memory Hold-the-Door 6 It is a record of the impressions made upon me by the outer world. 1999 J. Lloyd & E. Rees Come Together vii. 207 By my telling her she's too good for him, I'm actually implying she'd be better off with me. 4. reflexive (a) as direct object, ‘myself’; now archaic and rare; (b) as indirect object, ‘to or for myself’; now archaic except in colloquial (chiefly U.S. regional) usage. A. 4(b) is sometimes a redundant use, emphasizing that ‘the speaker's advantage (or disadvantage), well-being, pleasure, or the like is ultimately concerned’ ( Dict. Amer. Regional Eng.). ΚΠ OE Cynewulf Juliana 452 Þær ic swiþe me þyslicre ær þrage ne wende. OE West Saxon Gospels: John (Corpus Cambr.) ix. 11 Ic eode, & þwoh me & geseah. c1175 ( Ælfric Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 62 Ic eode and weosc me. a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) 6 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 161 (MED) Þenne ich me bi-þenche wel, ful sare ich me adrede. ?a1300 Dame Sirith 170 in G. H. McKnight Middle Eng. Humorous Tales (1913) 8 (MED) I shal strengþen me þer-to. c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 518 (MED) Þat..Ich may me þere were & hede Fro min fon. c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 309 I purposed fermely to shryue me. a1450 (?1409) St. Patrick's Purgatory (Royal) 60 (MED) I..roos me vp and went in. c1450 (c1393) G. Chaucer Scogan 36 I mexcuse. c1500 ( G. Ashby Prisoner's Refl. 96 in Poems (1899) 4 (MED) I cast me nat to be neyther styll ne coy. ?1577 F. T. Debate Pride & Lowlines sig. Eviii^v Thinking to me they meant to gone vs by. c1600 Club Law (1907) i. v. 118 O Lord that I could but save mee as much money, as would buy mee a Scottish dagger to pricke the villaines. 1605 Faire Maide Bristow sig. Bi^v This night ile ride, And presently get me a Docters tire. 1665 R. Hooke Micrographia Pref. sig. F I provided me a Tube of Brass. 1706 N. Rowe Ulysses ii. i Methought I found me by a murm'ring Brook. 1819 J. Keats La Belle Dame 44 And I awoke, and found me here. 1821 W. Sewall Diary (1930) 75 Purchased me some linens. 1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 15 Where can I get me harbourage for the night? 1867 G. A. Macfarren Six Lect. Harmony vi. 206 I must content me..with the bare statement. 1874 2nd Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1873–4 512 In 1861 I built me a horse barn, twenty-eight by forty. 1880 G. M. Hopkins Let. 26 Oct. (1935) lxx. 112 I have got me Stainer's Primer of Harmony. 1916 ‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd iii. 42 I'm going to make me one. 1963 W. A. Owens Look to River i. 10 I'll need me a few clothes. 1974 M. Hastings Dragon Island xv. 129 I'll grab me the first-aid box and..see how my patients are doing. 1993 Harper's Apr. 46/2 When I get to college, I'm gonna get me a white Nissan Sentra. 5. For the subjective pronoun I.Several of these uses (especially senses A. 5a), while common in colloquial English, have been regarded as nonstandard by many grammarians since the 18th cent. a. Forming with another pronoun or a noun the subject of a plural verb. Cf. I pron. 2a. ΚΠ 1380 in W. Fraser Douglas Bk. (1885) III. 28 Me and myn ayres..haue releissit..al my rycht clayme persuit chalenge or askyng..to fourty markis worth of land. a1500 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1935) 308 (MED) Qwan he and me browt un us the schete, Of all hys wyll I hym lete. 1645 S. Verney in Verney Memoirs Sis peg and me got an opportunity [etc.]. 1797 T. Wright Autobiogr. (1864) 72 My sweetheart and me began now to think of marriage. 1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility II. ii. 31 Anne and me are to go the latter end of January to some relations. View more context for this quotation 1825 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xix, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 366 Me and Wordsworth are aboon the age we live in. 1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. viii. 68 Me and Mrs. Boffin stood the poor girl's friend. 1886 W. Besant Children of Gibeon III. ii. xxvii. 150 We're an easy-going lot, me and my friends. 1893 Northumberland words at Him Him an' me's gannin'. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 11 Nov. 3/1 I can foresee..that unless me and Ellen advise you, you'll become simply——. 1936 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) ix. 457 Him and me are friends. 1990 News of World 11 Feb. 11/2 Me and a colleague rushed down to evacuate the area. b. As sole head of a noun phrase forming the subject. Now regional, esp. Caribbean. ΚΠ c1380 Charter Edinb. Reg. House in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Ken Be it kennyt till al men throch this presens me..haf hecht [etc.]. 1423 Crown Office Writ Reg. House No. 37 Be it maid kend till all..me Alexander of Lochtrysk..giffis and grantis [etc.]. c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. xxxviij^v/2 Be it knowen to al men by theis presentis me, T. H. of oxenford glouar, ordeyne [etc.]. 1519 in W. Chambers Charters Burgh Peebles (1872) 49 Be it kennit tyll all men be thir present letteres, me James Baroune..grantis me to haif rasawit [etc.]. c1600 Club Law (1907) i. viii. 19 Me cannot tell de reason. 1663 R. Head Hic et Ubique 115 My shelf no howle, me make speak for you. a1713 T. Ellwood Hist. Life (1714) 121 Attributing the Deliverance me hitherto had to the Lord. 1776 D. Herd Anc. & Mod. Sc. Songs (ed. 2) II. 187 Me never saw the like, man. 1837 United Service Jrnl. June 211 Tank Garamity,..me hab de felicity to find my massa. 1856 D. M. Mulock John Halifax III. xi. 276 Me want to see Grannie and Uncle Guy. 1918 E. C. Parsons Folk-Tales Andros Island, Bahamas 36 Me no tiger. 1942 L. Bennett Jamaica Dial. Verses 2 Me 'ave lot a labrish fe tell yuh. 1977 Westindian World 3 June 4/1 All me can say is that all dis revelation come too late, from days gone when me use fe tek me home work back to school. 1993 H. N. Thomas Spirits in Dark ix. 106 When two 'oman live in a house like that, them fight like dog and cat; and me have no interest in fighting with Laurel. †c. In an absolute clause. Obsolete. ΚΠ a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 69 (MED) These folke, me beyng displesed [L. me eis adversante], ofte tymes fallen into gret temptacions. a1605 (c1422) T. Hoccleve Complaint (Durh.) l. 375 in Minor Poems (1970) i. 108 He that it owght agayne it to hym toke, me of his haste vnware. 1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 463 Dagon hath presum'd, Me overthrown, to enter lists with God. View more context for this quotation d. Predicative. ΚΠ a1592 R. Greene Frier Bacon (1594) sig. F4 Marg...Who or of whome loue shall constraine me like. Serlsbie. Let it be me and trust me Margret. a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) ii. iii. 22 Oh, the dogge is me, and I am my selfe. 1672 W. Wycherley Love in Wood v. 88 It was not me you follow'd. 1730 J. Swift Apol. Lady Carteret 4 To dine with Her! and come at Three! Impossible! it can't be me. 1758 O. Goldsmith tr. J. Marteilhe Mem. Protestant I. 165 There was left surviving only me. 1826 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xxiv, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 226 O ye Gawpus! Ye great Gawpus! It's me, man—it's me! 1852 Southern Literary Messenger Feb. 93/2 That's me—that's Davy Crockett. 1890 M. Oliphant Kirsteen I. xiv. 245 But it's me that dare not say a word. 1940 G. Marx Let. 10 Oct. in G. Marx et al. Groucho Lett. (1967) 26 A kind of human interest story with a slightly wacky father, who, of course, would be me. 1985 J. Adams Good Intentions xvii. 131 Yeah, that's me, a regular gorgeous hunk. e. After as, than. (See than conj. 1b.) ΚΠ a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iii. iii. 11 Is she as tall as me ? View more context for this quotation 1669 J. Worthington Let. 22 Apr. in Diary & Corr. (1886) II. ii. 312 Which doth oblige them to it as much as me. a1718 M. Prior Poems Several Occasions (1723) II. 12 As He was a Poet sublimer than Me. 1747 S. Richardson Clarissa I. x. 58 I am fitter for this world than you: You for the next than me. 1787 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 284 Gin ye be a Brig as auld as me,..There'll be..Some fewer whigmeleeries in your noddle. 1804 Ld. Byron Let. 2 Nov. (1973) I. 54 Ld. Delawarr..is considerably younger than me. 1892 N. Dickson Auld Sc. Minister 128 I'm sure ye ken as weel as me that love's just an unco fykiness o' the mind. 1934 A. Russell Tramp-royal in Wild Austral. i. 19 You'll have to rough it..rough it hard, too..same as me. 1962 W. Faulkner Reivers iv. 82 He's younger than me and stouter too for his size. 1990 Fast Forward 17 Jan. 15/3 I am looking for a girl pen-pal around the same age as me. f. With ellipsis of verb (usually in dialogue); frequently in me neither (see neither adv. 3b) and me too, signifying the sharing of or acquiescing in another person's view, experience, or desire (see me-too n. and adj.). Cf. me-too v., me-tooer n. ΚΠ 1745 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 13 Apr. (1932) (modernized text) II. 596 You must mark out Lord Granville by exterminating without quarter all who belong to him... If you take this resolution,..I empower you to make what use you please of my name as quitting with you; and I say as Will Seymour did, And me, too, sweet Jesus. 1761 J. Woodforde Diary 16 Nov. in W. N. Hargreaves-Mawdsley Woodforde at Oxf. (1969) 59 Bathurst never betts; only me. 1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xl. 190 Me too; where's your girls? 1873 L. M. Alcott Work xi. 336 ‘Me too!’ cried little Ruth, and spread her chubby hand above the rest. 1921 H. Williamson Beautiful Years 128 ‘Where are you going?’ ‘Out.’ ‘Where to man?’ ‘Mr. Norman's.’.. ‘Norman's, you said? Right-o. Me, too!’ 1960 J. R. Ackerley We think World of You 82 The almost mad stare with which her starting eyes pierced and searched my own for the answer to the only question in the world: ‘Me too?’ 1971 Black World June 81/2 ‘I just asked.’ ‘Had no business asking.’ ‘Says who?’ ‘Me, stupid!’ 1994 This Mag. (Toronto) Sept. 28/2 If you're going to think of being queer with a ‘me too! me too!’ attitude, somewhere down the line, it's going to break down because it's also an issue of sexuality. g. colloquial. [Compare French moi.] Used intensively. ΚΠ 1844 W. H. Maxwell Wanderings in Highlands & Islands II. xviii. 255 Me, that never..listened to a light-bob. 1923 Dial. Notes 5 244 I am not going to-day, me. 1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xxii. 184 Me, I'd just as leave drink croup medicine. 1963 Listener 20 June 1041/3 Me, I like fighting, too. 1979 D. Law in Observer 19 Aug. 10 It still amazes me to think that I work for the Beeb, me that has always been so shy. 1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! x. 93 Me, I found the whole thing hilarious. h. Introducing a sentence or clause with a participle. Cf. senses A. 5c and A. 6a. ΚΠ 1875 W. S. Gilbert Tom Cobb 1 Me so pinched for money till I can hardly raise an egg for breakfast. 1950 J. Hersey Peggety's Parcel Shortcomings in Fling (1990) 22 Me, sitting there, taking up half the back seat of the car. 1989 R. Bass Oil Notes 172 Me padding around in down booties in the quiet house. 1998 A. O'Hanlon Talk of Town i. iv. 72 Me riding a woman for the first time in my life. 6. In various exclamatory uses, without definite syntactical relation to the context. a. colloquial. and me…: ‘especially considering that I am…’.Quot. c1400 is considered by N. Davies (1967) to be an example of this idiom, representing a more colloquial variant of and I… found elsewhere in this text and contemporary writings. ΚΠ c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 1067 Naf I now to busy bot bare þre dayez, And me als fayn to falle feye as fayly of myyn ernde. a1796 R. Burns in J. Johnson Scots Musical Museum (1803) VI. 562 Robin..Play'd me sic a trick, And me the Eller's dochter. 1812 M. Edgeworth Absentee xi, in Tales Fashionable Life VI. 181 Which would be hard on us, and me a widow. 1864 G. Meredith Emilia in Eng. I. xv. 208 And twenty shindies per dime we've been havin', and me such a placable body, if ye'll onnly let m' explode. 1906 H. Green At Actors' Boarding House 209 I thought I'd die laughing at his making love..and me with a husband doing his bit back in Auburn. 1932 P. G. Wodehouse Hot Water i. 21 And me who had split Even Stephen with her on every deal, never chiselling, never holding out on her, no, not so much as a dime. 1960 V. Williams Walk Egypt i. vi. 50 I swear,..every time I think of the way that little scutter done—and me only trying to be neighborly. 1989 P. McCabe Carn x. 149 Lord above isn't the world a strange place and me here thinking all the time you were in Carnaby Street or some place. b. In interjectional phrases, as ah me! (see ah int. 2a, 4), ay me! (see ay int. 2), dear me! (see dear int.), †fore me! (see fore adv. 1b), o me! (see O int. 2), oh me! (see oh int.), etc.See also body of me! at body n. Phrases 3, Gods me at god n. and int. Phrases 1c(b)(ii). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > exclamation of surprise [interjection] whatOE well, wellOE avoyc1300 ouc1300 ay1340 lorda1393 ahaa1400 hillaa1400 whannowc1450 wow1513 why?1520 heydaya1529 ah1538 ah me!a1547 fore me!a1547 o me!a1547 what the (also a) goodyear1570 precious coals1576 Lord have mercy (on us)1581 good heavens1588 whau1589 coads1590 ay me!1591 my stars!a1593 Gods me1595 law1598 Godso1600 to go out1600 coads-nigs1608 for mercy!a1616 good stars!1615 mercy on us (also me, etc.)!a1616 gramercy1617 goodness1623 what next?1662 mon Dieu1665 heugh1668 criminy1681 Lawd1696 the dickens1697 (God, etc.) bless my heart1704 alackaday1705 (for) mercy's sake!1707 my1707 deuce1710 gracious1712 goodly and gracious1713 my word1722 my stars and garters!1758 lawka1774 losha1779 Lord bless me (also you, us, etc.)1784 great guns!1795 mein Gott1795 Dear me!1805 fancy1813 well, I'm sure!1815 massy1817 Dear, dear!1818 to get off1818 laws1824 Mamma mia1824 by crikey1826 wisha1826 alleleu1829 crackey1830 Madonna mia1830 indeed1834 to go on1835 snakes1839 Jerusalem1840 sapristi1840 oh my days1841 tear and ages1841 what (why, etc.) in time?1844 sakes alive!1846 gee willikers1847 to get away1847 well, to be sure!1847 gee1851 Great Scott1852 holy mackerel!1855 doggone1857 lawsy1868 my wig(s)!1871 gee whiz1872 crimes1874 yoicks1881 Christmas1882 hully gee1895 'ullo1895 my hat!1899 good (also great) grief!1900 strike me pink!1902 oo-er1909 what do you know?1909 cripes1910 coo1911 zowiec1913 can you tie that?1918 hot diggety1924 yeow1924 ziggety1924 stone (or stiffen) the crows1930 hullo1931 tiens1932 whammo1932 po po po1936 how about that?1939 hallo1942 brother1945 tie that!1948 surprise1953 wowee1963 yikes1971 never1974 to sod off1976 whee1978 mercy1986 yipes1989 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > feeling of wonder, astonishment > exclamation of wonder [interjection] ahaa1400 ocha1522 heydaya1529 ah1538 ah me!a1547 fore me!a1547 o me!a1547 gossea1556 ay me!1591 o (also oh) rare!1596 law1598 strangec1670 lack-a-day1695 stap my vitals1697 alackaday1705 prodigious1707 my word1722 (by) golly1743 gosh1757 Dear me!1805 Madre de Dios1815 Great Jove!1819 I snum1825 crikey1826 my eye1826 crackey1830 snakes1839 Great Scott1852 holy mackerel!1855 whoops1870 this beats my grandmother1883 wow1892 great balls of fire1893 oo-er1909 zowiec1913 crimes1929 yowa1943 wowee1963 Madre mia!1964 yikes1971 whee1978 chingas1984 the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > cry of grief > [noun] > (an utterance of) specific cry wellaway?c1225 harmesaya1487 ay me!a1547 welladay1582 heigh-hoc1604 ochone1654 wirrasthru1852 the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > cry of grief > [interjection] > specific cry of grief woeeOE wellawayeOE weilac1000 wellawayOE wellaOE woe is meOE wummec1175 wia1200 outa1225 alas?c1225 walec1275 ac1300 whilec1402 ochonea1425 wellesay?1440 wannowec1450 helas1484 ah1509 ocha1522 ah me!a1547 wougha1556 eh1569 welladay1570 how1575 wellanear1581 ay me!1591 lasa1593 wella, welladay1601 good lack!1638 oime1660 pillaloo1663 wellanearing1683 lack-a-day1695 wasteheart1695 walya1724 lackadaisy1748 ochree1748 waesucks1773 well-a-winsa1774 ullagone1819 wirra1825 mavrone1827 wirrasthru1827 ototoi1877 wurra1898 a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Fourth Bk. Aeneas (1554) iv. sig. Ciii Aime [1557 Ay me], wyth rage and furyes am I dryue. 1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. H Ay me vnhappie. a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. i. 118 What then? Foreme, this Fellow speakes. View more context for this quotation a1626 W. Rowley New Wonder (1632) iv. 59 O me my shame! I know that voyce full well. a1626 W. Rowley New Wonder (1632) iv. 60 O me, mine Vncle sees me! 1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads i. 397 Ay me, (said Thetis) would you could here rest Unhurt, ungriev'd. 1707 G. Farquhar Beaux Stratagem v. 64 O me! an ugly Gash upon my Word. 1751 R. Lloyd Progr. Envy in Poems (1762) 206 Ah me! unhappy state of mortal wight. 1798 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1799) 2 216 Dear me! O la! Good me! 1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 89 Alas me! flit! Flit like a ghost away. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam xxxv. 55 O me! what profits it to put An idle case? View more context for this quotation 1912 T. Hardy Life's Little Ironies in Wks. VIII. 7 ‘Dear me!’ she continued. 1937 D. Teilhet & H. Teilhet Feather Cloak Murders vi. 104 Not that I'm complaining. Dear me, no. I know my place. 1965 Listener 17 June 898/2 Through the window I can see them—ah me! the inevitable reception committee. 1991 Z. Edgell In Times like These xli. 236 Goodness me, it's only a slight cut, pull up your socks, my girl. c. In surprised interrogation: = ‘Do you mean me?’. ΚΠ a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) i. iii. 40 Duk. And get you from our Court. Ros. Me Vncle. Duk. You Cosen. View more context for this quotation 1637 T. Heywood Royall King ii. iv Me my Lord? King. Ey you my Lord. 1760 S. Foote Minor iii. 88 What says your father? Sir Will. Me! Oh, I'll shew you in an instant. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. v. i. 26 Then, turning to Miss Larolles, ‘Don't you dance?’ he said. ‘Me?’ cried she, embarrassed, ‘yes, I believe so.’ 1871 J. Ruskin Let. 24 July in Wks. (1909) XXXVII. 33 Me docile to Doctors! 1899 A. C. Swinburne Rosamund i. i Allovine. Speak now. Say first what ails thee? Rosamund. Me? 1963 N. Marsh Dead Water (1964) vii. 170 ‘Do you mean that you confronted her?’ ‘Me! No, thank you!’ 1997 J. Owen Camden Girls 113 Me? I'm the last person to ask. d. [After classical Latin me miserum!, etc.] In imitation of Latin uses. Cf. misery me! at misery n. Phrases 2. ΚΠ 1639 T. D. Bloodie Banquet ii. ii. sig. C3^v Oh me accursed and most miserable. 1640 R. Brathwait Ar't Asleepe Husband? 104 Alas me wretched! 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 73 Me miserable! which way shall I flie Infinite wrauth, and infinite despaire? View more context for this quotation 1889 R. Browning Pope & Net iii ‘Unworthy me!’ he sighs: ‘From fisher's drudge to Church's prince—it is indeed a rise.’ e. Followed by an infinitive in an exclamation of surprise or indignation at some proposal or statement. ΚΠ 1885 J. K. Jerome On Stage 16 ‘Me! me pay!’ I exclaimed, rendered ungrammatical by surprise. ‘What for?’ 1907 I. Zangwill Ghetto Comedies 409 ‘Me join the Misnagdim!’ cried the cobbler in horror. 1930 Amer. Mercury Dec. 456/2 Me work? Don't be foolish. I'm a noble, I am. 1941 Coast to Coast 167 ‘Me take the harness off him!’ my mother said, surprised. ‘Why, I wouldn't touch that mad thing with a forty-foot pole.’ 1962 A. La Guma Walk in Night iii. 17 ‘Me go to jail for a toit?’ the taxi-driver scowled. ‘Never.’ 1996 S. Deane Reading in Dark (1997) vi. 221 ‘Where would that place be?’.. ‘I don't know. You tell me.’ ‘Don't know? Me tell you? I could tell you anywhere.’ f. me and my ——: expressing the speaker's exasperation or amusement at a characteristic indicated by the second part of the phrase. ΚΠ 1947 F. Gruber Whispering Master xiv. 103 ‘Me and my big mouth,’ said Johnny bitterly. ‘Oh, don't worry chum..we'd 'a searched you anyway.’ 1984 A. Maupin Babycakes xliii. 196 Me and my quaint ideas about husbands and wives and sluts. 1989 T. Kidder Among Schoolchildren vii. ii. 256 Me and my precious schedules... I've got to lighten up. Chill out. 1996 R. Doyle Woman who walked into Doors xxv. 169 Make your own fuckin' tea. That was what I said... Me and my big mouth. 7. Premodified by an adjective. Cf. I pron. 1b. ΚΠ 1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos vi. 894 Where now away withdraw you wery me? 1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David iii. i How many ones there be That all against poor me Their numerous strength redouble. 1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles iv. 68 To..make a conquest of vnhappie mee . View more context for this quotation 1648 R. Crashaw Steps to Temple (ed. 2) 34 And full of Nothing else but emptie Mee. 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 261 Did you for this, unhappy me convey Through Foes and Fires to see my House a Prey? 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xv. vii. 245 And for poor me, I am turned out of Doors. View more context for this quotation 1790 D. Morison Poems 96 How then he'd stare wi' sour grimace..Syne flyre like some outlandish race, At wretched me. 1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. x. x. 132 As for poor little me,..I was sent to the foundling hospital. 1814 J. Austen Let. 2 Mar. (1995) 256 I am to call upon Miss Spencer: Funny me! 1895 A. W. Pinero Second Mrs. Tanqueray iii. 111 I really thought you'd forgotten poor little me. 1918 W. Cather My Ántonia ii. xiv. 274 ‘What do you think of poor me?’ she added. 1961 ‘P. Dennis’ (title) Little me: the intimate memoirs of that great star..Belle Poitrine. 1994 Amer. Spectator Apr. 57/1 The stewardesses..were sitting in the back of the cabin hanging out and gossiping. I thought they were supposed to be offering us drinks and so forth. Silly me. 8. me and my girl (also darling): (in West Africa) a kind of small sofa, of a size suitable for only two people. ΚΠ 1960 C. Achebe No Longer at Ease ii. 14 The sitting area was taken up with two armchairs, a settee (otherwise called ‘me and my girl’) and a round table on which he displayed his photo album. 1971 A. Kirk-Greene in J. Spencer Eng. Lang. W. Afr. 144 ‘Me-and-my-darling’ describes a small sofa. 1986 T. O. Echewa Crippled Dancer ii. x. 211 Stella..plonked herself down on the me-and-my-girl from which Ajuzia had just risen. B. n. 1. (A way of referring to) the person speaking or writing. ΚΠ 1781 W. Cowper Let. 12 July (1979) I. 498 Here you receive a bow profound, down to the ground, from your humble me—W C. 1886 R. Kipling Departm. Ditties 38 An inscrutable Decree Makes thee a gleesome fleasome Thou, and me a wretched Me. 2. Personality, individuality; ego. Cf. I n.² 3, not-me n. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > [noun] > individuality or selfhood personage1531 selfhood1568 identity1596 selfness1611 personship1645 egoity1651 I-hood1653 ipseity1659 inbeing1661 minehood1662 my-ness1662 selfship1664 personal identity1694 seity1709 personality1710 proprium1781 me1828 I-shipa1834 I-ety1835 selfdom1848 ownhood1856 I-ness1870 ego-hood1873 1828 T. Carlyle in Foreign Rev. 1 115 Haunted and blinded by some shadow of his own little Me. 1864 A. Bain Senses & Intellect (ed. 2) i. i. 98 A not me as opposed to the me of passive sensibility and thought. 1877 E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant Introd. ii. 12 A dualism between knowing and being, between the ‘me’ and the ‘not me’. 1905 E. Glyn Vicissitudes Evangeline 266 Whatever accident makes me have this objectionable outside, the me that lives within is an honest person who never breaks her word. 1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey xiv That was the fighting me: but labour I never could abide, nor the husbandry which breeds healthy children. 1988 S. Bellow Theft 38 I am in touch with the me in myself. C. adj. (predicative). Suited to or expressive of the tastes, ability, personality, etc., of the writer or speaker; appropriate for the writer or speaker. ΚΠ 1803 S. T. Coleridge Let. 14 Aug. (1956) II. 974 Sloth, carelessness, Resignation is not merely in me; it is me. (Spite of Grammar—i.e. Lowth's—for I affirm, that in such instances ‘it is me’, is genuine English & philosophical Grammar.) 1899 J. London Let. 29 July (1966) 47 This is me all the time and all over. 1905 A. Bennett Sacred & Profane Love i. v. 83 But that poor little book isn't me... I shall never write another like it. 1925 R. Hall Sat. Life vii. 79 Nothings, just nothings, they didn't count; this is the thing that's me. 1938 J. Cary Castle Corner 557 The house has got to be contemporary, it's got to be art..and it's got to be me. 1957 P. Wildeblood Main Chance 56 Cardigans are not..particularly me. 1993 Clothes Show Mag. Feb. 19/3 It's not really me. I'm not a jeans type of girl, I like a sharper image. Compounds me decade n. originally U.S. the 1970s, regarded as a period characterized by an obsessive preoccupation with personal fulfilment and self-gratification; (later also) the 1980s, regarded as a period characterized by selfishness and materialism. ΚΠ 1976 T. Wolfe in New York 23 Aug. 26 (title) Me Decade and the third great awakening. 1976 T. Wolfe in New York 23 Aug. 29/2 In her experience lies the explanation of certain grand puzzles of the 1970s, a period that will come to be known as the Me Decade. 1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 29 Aug. Your Turn, My Turn is not a movie poking fun at the Me Decade, it's a manifestation of the Me Decade. 1983 Listener 21 Apr. 23/1 Taking their money and running fast is what people have been doing in the Me Decades, otherwise the Purple Decades. 1990 Marxism Today Jan. 23/1 As the me-decade recedes into the collective memory, a new emphasis is being placed in the media on the values of caring, communing and connecting. me generation n. that section of the young adult population of the U.S. and other Western countries which enjoyed relative affluence in the 1970s and 80s, regarded as characterized by a preoccupation with the self and with material gain. ΚΠ 1978 Jrnl. Techn. Writing & Communication 8 287 The ‘me generation’ is obsessed with self. 1985 Sunday Tel. 26 May 5/7 At more than 60 American campuses, apartheid has suddenly inflamed the ‘me generation’ that was thought to be too materialist to care. 1991 New York 9 Sept. 32/1 ‘Today we're getting that Me Generation in’, she says disdainfully. ‘A lot of them come in saying they're alcoholics... They just want to belong to something!’ me time n. time devoted to doing what one wants, typically on one's own, as opposed to working or doing things for others, considered as important in reducing stress or restoring energy. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > [noun] > time off remedyc1450 intermission?1566 vacancy1599 by-time1609 off-duty1844 watch below, off1850 stand easy1859 off time1866 time off1881 lay-off1889 make and mend1899 laze-off1924 R and R1952 downtime1971 me time1980 1980 R. A. Dunlap Helping yourself with Cosmic Healing xii. 199 Arrange during each day to have some ‘me time’. 1998 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Aug. 218 (caption) It's not the quantity of me-time that counts, it's the quality. 2012 J. Pate & B. Machen Mothers of Reinvention iv. 161 If you take twenty minutes of ‘me time’ to take that hike, you'll be more energized to face the laundry. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022). † mepron.² Forms: late Old English–Middle English ma, late Old English–1500s me. Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: man pron. Etymology: Variant of man pron. with loss of final -n due to low stress; compare Middle Dutch me , mi (Dutch me ), Middle Low German me , Middle High German me . Compare men pron. Obsolete. (With singular agreement.) = one pron. 17a. ΚΠ OE tr. Chrodegang of Metz Regula Canonicorum (Corpus Cambr. 191) lvi. 289 Selre is þæt ma næbbe hwæt ma sylle, þonne ma tallice abedecige þæt ma sylle. lOE Laws: Gerefa (Corpus Cambr.) ix. 454 Me mæig in Maio & Iunio & Iulio on sumera fealgian. ?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1137 Þa namen hi..carlmen & wimmen, & diden heom in prisun... Me henged up bi the fet & smoked heom mid ful smoke. Me henged bi the þumbes... Me dide cnotted strenges abuton here hæued. c1180 Notes to Hexateuch (Claud. B.iv) in A. N. Doane & W. P. Stoneman Purloined Lett. (2011) 86 On þan time forðferde Debbora Rebecca fostermoder, & heo bebyrigde on nyþewærðe Bethel hunder ane ache, & me cwæð þane steðe Ache wop. a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 17 Hit is riht þet me hem spille. c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 32 Þus, ofte, as me seið, of lutel muchel waxeð. a1300 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 89 (MED) Nu me kasteþ..to vellen heo [sc. the Church] to grunde. a1350 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 8 (MED) Þat me vs honteþ ase hound doþ þe hare. c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 2828 (MED) Ma calþ me Gyoun of Borgoygne. c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 9 To do as þou woldest me dud by þe. 1480 Table Prouffytable Lernynge (Caxton) (1964) 5 Thinges That ben vsed after the hous Of whiche me may not be withoute. a1525 Eng. Conquest Ireland (Trin. Dublin) (1896) 84 (MED) The men of Weysford hadden I-purueyed ham to vndo al þe englysshe, wher-so me [v.r. thay] myght ham fynde. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online December 2021). † meadv. Origin: Probably a borrowing from French. Etymons: French mes, mais. Etymology: Probably < Anglo-Norman mes (also me , attested in a 13th-cent. text) and Old French mais, mes (adverb) more, (conjunction) but (from 10th cent. as mais , from mid 12th cent. as mes ; French mais ) < classical Latin magis more < mag- , stem of magnus great (see magni- comb. form) + -is , reduced grade of the comparative suffix (see -er suffix³); compare Oscan mais. Middle Eng. Dict., while recognizing the likely influence of the Anglo-Norman and Old French word, suggests that the word might be the reflex of Old English (Anglian) mǣ mo adv.¹, translating classical Latin magis and potius; however, the etymology presented above is more generally advanced in studies of the texts of the ‘Katherine group’. Connection with Middle Dutch men, Middle Low German men (also man) but ( > Danish men, Swedish men) is unlikely on historical grounds. Obsolete. But; moreover; now; on the contrary.A particle (exclamatory or adversative) employed (mainly in texts of the ‘Katherine group’) to introduce a question, or (less commonly) a statement. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [interjection] > introducing a question or statement mec1225 c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) 458 (MED) Me þeo þe best luuieð, ham to beoreð ofte þrin. c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (1973) 325 Me hwet is mare medschipe Þen for to leuen on him? a1250 Ureisun ure Louerde (Lamb.) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 185 (MED) Me nis he fol chapmon [etc.]? This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online December 2018). > as lemmas M.E. M.E. n. U.S. medical examiner. ΚΠ 1935 G. H. Coxe Murder Picture iii, in Black Mask Jan. 81/2 It's a murder picture... With..this other guy's testimony about the washroom, and the M.E.'s verdict to the time of death. 1968 H. Waugh 30 Manhattan East (1969) 120 I'll give your boss the M.E.'s verdict as soon as I get it. 1987 E. E. Smith Miss Melville Returns (1988) xiii. 119 The fellow from the M.E.'s office says, at a rough estimate, [death occurred] sometime between midnight and three. extracted from Mn. ME ME n. Middle East, Middle Eastern. Π 1942 E. Partridge Dict. Abbrev. 226 M.E.,..Middle east; Middle Eastern. a1944 K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) xvi. 93 ‘V’ became the trade mark of an astonishing number of commodities in the M.E. and was always a sign of the lowest quality and cheapest goods. 1987 Telegraph (Brisbane) 2 Feb. 10/4 (headline) PM's ‘M-E solution’. extracted from Mn. ME ME n. = Middle English n. and adj. ΘΠ the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Germanic > English > Middle English Semi-Saxon1735 Middle English1830 ME1874 1874 H. Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 1873–4 15 526 The word gréét [in the eighteenth cent.] = M.E. grèèt (O.E. greāt) is an example of exceptional retention of the older éé. 1927 Englische Studien 10 Nov. 74 The investigations which have been published hitherto with a view of classifying the ME. dialects by the aid of place-name material. 1972 M. L. Samuels Linguistic Evol. v. 85 The plural -eþ had been replaced by -en in the Midlands, and early ME texts from East Anglia show this feature as their only distinction of number. extracted from Mn. ME ME n. myalgic encephalomyelitis or encephalopathy. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of nervous system > [noun] > disorders of brain > inflammation of brain > encephalitis > types of meningoencephalomyelitis1900 chronic fatigue1908 leucoencephalitis1909 sleeping sickness1918 X disease1918 sleepy sickness1922 western equine encephalitis1933 St. Louis encephalitis1934 Russian encephalitis1940 panencephalitis1950 Murray Valley encephalitis1951 Iceland disease1954 Murray Valley fever1955 myalgic encephalomyelitis1956 ME1982 1982 Daily Tel. 11 Dec. 14/3 The other day I mentioned the Richmond newspaper advertisement: Jumble sale in aid of ME... There is, our medical correspondent confirms, one of those slow, destructive diseases called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. 1992 Disabled & Supportive Carer Autumn 23/2 We have people with a wide range of disabilities from inherited defects to the ‘newer’ disabilities such as M.E. 1997 Independent 28 May 17/2 Tests have shown ME sufferers have abnormalities in neuro-hormonal function, especially in the mid-brain and hypothalamus. extracted from Mn. m.e. m.e. n. Bibliography marbled edges. ΚΠ a1912 W. T. Rogers Dict. Abbrev. (1913) 123/1 m.e. (book), marbled edges. 1952 J. Carter ABC for Book-collectors 12 M.e., marbled edges. extracted from Mn. < pron.¹n.adj.eOEpron.²OEadv.c1225 as lemmas
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mepron.1n.adj.

Compounds

† mepron.2

† meadv.

> as lemmas

mepron.¹n.adj.

† mepron.²