whomsoeverpron.
/ˌhuːmsəʊˈɛvə/, U.S. /ˌhumsoʊˈɛvər/ literary.
The objective case of whosoever pron. (More frequently than whomever pron.)
1. = whomever pron. a (with or without correlative): cf. whosoever pron. 1.
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c1450 Godstow Reg. 606 Þe seyde Roger & hys wyfe & hys heyrys sholde haue power to..gyfe þe seyde londe to whom-so-euyr þey wolden.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. cccxxv. 206/1 Whome so euer he hytte full, wente to the erthe.
1539 Bible (Great) Gen. xxxi. 32 With whome soeuer thou fyndest thy goddes, let hym dye.
1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II i. l. 33 Whomsoe'er along the path you meet, Bears in his cap the badge of crimson hue.
1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) I. vi. iii. 170 Whomsoever the electors choose they will have acknowledged rightful emperor.
1867 E. F. Bowden tr. Countess Hahn-Hahn Lives Fathers of Desert 62 Whomsoever men serve, by him will they be guided.
2. Used ungrammatically for whosoever pron., chiefly by attraction to the case of the unexpressed antecedent (him, etc.).
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1562 P. Whitehorne tr. N. Machiavelli Arte of Warre vi. f. lxxxiiii Thei..punished with death, whom so euer obserued not thesame order.
1621 R. Montagu Diatribæ Hist. Tithes 98 In him, whomsoeuer he be, that shall abet, maintaine, or broach them.
1631 P. Heylyn Hist. St. George 170 A man that saw as cleerely, as any whomsoever.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iii. 346 The literal sense ought not to be countenanced,..in whomsoever is susceptible of the other.
1877 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera VII. lxxiv. 37 They shall not be impeded by whomsoever it may be.
3. = whomever pron. c; cf. whosoever pron. 2.
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a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1959) V. 179 Whomsoever he washed first of his Apostles, he washed them all.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 1068 O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give eare To that false Worm, of whomsoever taught To counterfet Mans voice. View more context for this quotation
1790 W. Cowper Let. 30 Nov. (1982) III. 437 The zeal and firmness of your friendship to whomsoever professed.
1832 G. C. Lewis Remarks Use & Abuse Polit. Terms x. 117 A national government is when the sovereign power, by whomsoever exercised, extends over the whole country.
4. With loss of relative force: Any one at all (now rare or obsolete); also qualifying the preceding word (now usually replaced by whatever): cf. whosoever pron. 4b.
ΚΠ
1584 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1908) 5 87 To take parte with the Catholike Church against whomesoever.
1609 E. Hoby Let. to Mr. T. H. 6 To answere you, or any Fugitiue Romified Renegado whomsoeuer.
1641 J. Milton Of Reformation 33 He counts it lawfull in the bookes of whomsoever to reject that which hee finds otherwise then true.
1856 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 9 July in Eng. Notebks. (1997) II. v. 73 Overjoyed at seeing anybody whomsoever.
1881 J. Spedding Evening with Reviewer I. 130 A true soldier, prepared to defend his position against whomsoever, friend or enemy.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1924; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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pron.c1450