itpron.adj.n.¹

Brit.

/ɪt/, U.S.

/ɪt/

Forms: 1.

α. Old English (rare)–1500s hitt, Old English–1500s hyt, Old English–1600s hit, early Middle English hic (transmission error), Middle English ȝet (south-eastern), Middle English ȝit (Essex), Middle English het, Middle English hiȝt, Middle English hite, Middle English hitȝ, Middle English hith, Middle English hitte, Middle English hyȝt, Middle English hyte, Middle English hyth, Middle English hytt, Middle English hytte, Middle English þit (see note below), Middle English yit (east midlands), late Middle English hett (in a late copy); English regional 1800s het (Somerset); U.S. regional 1800s– hit; Scottish pre-1700 hyt, pre-1700 hytt, pre-1700 1700s– hit, 1800s– hut, 1900s– het. eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 877 Gefor se here on Miercna lond & hit gedęldon sum & sum Ceolwulfe saldon.OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) xxi. 352 Hitt ys þeahhwæðere awriten on Cristesbocum hu he sylf her on worulde lærde.OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 27 Habbað geleafan, Ic hyt eom.a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 135 Ȝif hitt cumð ofte smitende to ðin hierte, wite þu to soðe ðat hit is of dieule.c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 137 Nou we most y-wyte more Of þyse worldle some lore, Hou hyȝt may be.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2962 Til a contre cades he flitt, Abimalech was lauerd of hitt [a1400 Fairf., a1400 Trin. hit; a1400 Gött. itt].a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 14463 Ȝet walde þai noȝt traw on hitte.?c1425 Recipe in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Arun. 334) (1790) 447 Do hit in a pot, and let hitte sethe.a1450 St. Edith (Faust.) (1883) 2199 Hurre soule fatte to heuene blysse þe thrydtythe day or hite were y-bore.c1450 (a1400) Orologium Sapientiæ in Anglia (1888) 10 366 Hith longith to þe forto byleue þis soþfastly.c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn 2098 Ȝit vaillith nat to hast.1524 R. Pace Let. 5 Aug. in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. App. xi. 27 Pleasith hyt your Highnes to bee advertisid.1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 139 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 265 Scho pullit hir cunt and gaif hit buffettis tway Vpoun þe cheikis.1598 Queen Elizabeth I tr. Plutarch De Curiositate in Queen Elizabeth's Englishings (1899) xiv. 23 As wound that bloudies hit self while hit is Launged.1675 T. Duffett Mock-tempest v. ii. 46 The nothingness of the Mouse,..the somethingness, yea the fullness of hit.1798 D. Crawford Poems 53 The vera sight o' hit They douna dree.1825 J. Jennings Observ. Dial. W. Eng. 44 Het o'nt.1858 Harper's Mag. Jan. 178/2 Why, hit was cold enough to freeze the hair off a bar.a1896 J. Slater Seaside Idylls (1898) 42 Na, that's nae hut.c1937 J. Boatman in C. L. Perdue et al. Weevils in Wheat (1976) 50 Hit was a toll bridge.1952 Edinb. Evening News 9 July 4/4 An ordinary can..was kicked as far as a boyish foot could send it, and it had to be retrieved by the boy victim who was ‘het’.2004 M. R. Smith D Greetin Bairn (SCOTS) Hit is nae less o an imposition fur a hits guise o freendly assistance.

β. Old English (rare) Middle English– it, Middle English ith, Middle English itte, Middle English yth (Norfolk), Middle English 1600s ite, Middle English (1700s archaic) ytte, Middle English–1500s (1800s– regional) et, Middle English–1600s jt, Middle English–1600s ytt, Middle English–1700s yt, Middle English–1700s (1900s– archaic) itt, 1500s ete, 1800s– ut (regional), 1900s– 'ut (English regional); Scottish pre-1700 ite, pre-1700 jt, pre-1700 yt, pre-1700 yte, pre-1700 1700s itt, pre-1700 1700s– it. OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 168 Hyre oðer awrat þas gewyrdelican race on ledenum gereorde, ac we it reccað on Englisc.lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1128 He hit dide forði þet he wolde þurh his micele wiles ðear beon wær it tweolf monð oððe mare & siððon ongeon cumen.c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) Ded. l. 27 Unnc birrþ baþe þannkenn crist Þatt itt iss brohht till ende.a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 107 Be swo it beo.?a1200 (?OE) Peri Didaxeon (1896) 31 Þacc yt þanne gelomelice mid þan wermum wætere betwex þan scaldrun [read sculdrun].c1300 Body & Soul (Laud Misc. 108) (1889) 63 Bi top and tail he slongen hit And kesten it with myȝt and mayn Doun into the develes pit.?c1350 Ballad Sc. Wars 99 in A. Brandl & O. Zippel Mitteleng. Sprach- u. Literaturproben (1917) 138 Rym itt es recth als þou may For ay skill ii tell it þee.1372 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 72 Be et as þu me seyde.c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 4147 Jt shal be wel dere abouȝth.a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 2520 Feyne thee other cause than itte.c1480 (a1400) St. Matthew l. 194 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 195 He mad of ȝerdly paradyce a fyte, & quhat delyt is in Ite.c1500 in F. J. Furnivall Ballads from MSS (1868) I. 456 He that had yt in his hart.a1550 in R. Dyboski Songs, Carols & Other Misc. Poems (1908) 6 The blessid stoke þat yt on grew, Ytt was Mary, that bare Jhesu.1594 J. Colville Orig. Lett. (1858) 262 Qwat yowe sey in hes nem sell be as he haid seillit and sowscriwit itt.1611 E. India Co. Comm. 4 Apr. in A. Farrington Eng. Factory in Japan (1991) II. 984 Yf ytt should please God to send the like crosse upon any of theis our shipps.1690 W. Temple Ess. Poetry 63 in Miscellanea: 2nd Pt. Like a froward Child, that must be Play'd with and Humour'd a little, to keep ite quiet, till it falls asleep.1743 J. Isham Observ. Hudsons Bay (1949) 132 There is a Sort of mawse..which the Indians Eats frequent, they wash itt clean, then Boil itt for a considerable time till itts tender, then mixing it with Ruhiggan Burgoe or other Victuals, and Reckon itt Good Eating.a1770 T. Chatterton Compl. Wks. (1971) I. 92 Phille. Praie have you herdeen of the Storme of Hayle W. I have and that ytte with Reddour did sayle.1867 Lonsdale Mag. Jan. 269 Et went nineteen times round.1890 S. S. Buckman John Darke's Sojourn in Cotteswolds iv. 23 I disproved o' ers doing ut at the time.1919 E. O'Neill Moon of Caribbees 113 Ut is only from your chance meetin' wid Harry..that I happen to know where to reach you.1977 C. B. Clarke Edible & Useful Plants Calif. 184 There are many forms of it, and the red, white, and green forms are named from early times.2002 Belfast News Let. 2 Feb. 20 He gaut tha cake instead o tha deuks aun hens thaut wuda gaut et.

γ. late Old English–early Middle English hid, Middle English hyd; Scottish (Orkney and Caithness) 1800s hedt, 1800s– hid. lOE Charter: Bp. Ealhferð to Cuðred (Sawyer 1275) in A. J. Robertson Anglo-Saxon Charters (1956) 26 Swa hid wæs ðy dege ðe hioe hit hiom sealdan.a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 56 Al þis world, hid sal agon.a1500 (?a1390) J. Mirk Festial (Gough) (1905) 276 Þer come an angyll..and smot al þe wheles y two peces; as þogh hyd had ben a whyrlwynde, þay rennon ouer þe pepull.1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. Hedt,..It, Orkn[ey].1880 W. T. Dennison Orcadian Sketch-bk. 1 I wad try a tullye for hid gin I tought I could get hid bae fechtin' for hid.1934 John o' Groat Jrnl. 2 Feb. Fan they cam' oot hid wis as dark as pitch.1956 C. M. Costie in Lallans 51 (1998) 9 The Horse tried his very best, bit hid wisno a canny load he hid tae cairry.1989 D. Howson Beginning (SCOTS) Hid wiz trawlermen fae Eberdeen.

δ. Middle English id, Middle English yd; English regional (Lancashire) 1800s– id; Scottish (chiefly Orkney, Shetland, and Caithness in later use) pre-1700 1900s– id, 1800s– 'id; Irish English 1800s id. a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 55 Þe frut of þire wombe ibleset mot id be. ▸ c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 2424 Yif ye id [emended to it in ed.] do, ye do you shame.a1450 Rule St. Benet (Vesp.) (1902) l. 78 To fulfyll yd in word and dede.1508 Balade in Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. dv It may wele ryme Bot it accordis nought.1886 H. Cunliffe Gloss. Rochdale-with-Rossendale Words & Phrases Id,..It.1891 J. Baron Blegburn Dickshonary in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 333/1 Some fooak says id as iv they were tawkin' abeawt a hinseckt when they meean their husband, child, wife, or parent.a1899 D. Nicolson MS Coll. Caithness Words in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 185/2 I'm no muckle hobbled aboot 'id.1931 Orcadian 7 May 3/5 Whin I tink apin id hid mak's me tink a hape o' lang.1949 ‘Lex’ But-end Ballans 26 He wharkid dere a bonny while Afore he got 'id oot.1961 ‘Castlegreen’ Tatties an' Herreen' 22 She wis reetan' 'iss wey an' 'at wey bit id wis no use.2005 D. Howson Recorded Interview (SCOTS transcript) in www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk 'Id dented Dan's pride, for Peter Flett's boat hed a car enchiney fitted.

ε. 1500s–1700s (1800s– regional, nonstandard, archaic, and poetic) 't. 1595 S. Daniel First Fowre Bks. Ciuile Warres v. lxviii. sig. Cc4^v The cause in managing Is more then yours; 't imports the publique rest.a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) ii. ii. 183 You staid well by 't in Egypt.a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Prophetesse iii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Eeee^v/1 'T was I that..smote ye all with terrour.a1687 C. Cotton Aeneid Burlesqued (1692) 83 Whether 't was that she..Fainted for want of brandy-cherry.1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 157 This is not the King's Highway, 't is a Way upon Sufferance.1749 B. Franklin Poor Richard's Almanack 11 'T is a well spent penny that saves a groat.1840 R. H. Horne Gregory VII V. iv. 101 'T was but the last gust of a storm outspent.1844 E. B. Browning Lady Geraldine's Courtship xxxvi 'T is a picture for remembrance.1887 G. G. Green Gordonhaven 90 'T wis than mony o's felt the poor i' wir ain herts for the first time.1888 R. Kipling Under Deodars 93 Remember, Bobby, 't isn't the best drill..it's the man who knows how to handle men.1892 M. C. F. Morris Yorks. Folk-talk 24 He brak 't i two.1956 in Sc. National Dict. (1960) V. 302/2 [Aberdeen] ‘Is't gaan tae keep dry, think ye?’ ‘I wadna say 't.’1999 J. D. McClure in M. Burgess & D. O'Rourke Friends & Kangaroos 79 I gied ye immortality—tae me, whit wes 't ye gied?

2. Combined (sometimes in contracted form) with a preceding or following word. a. Enclitic or with a proclitic word.

α. Middle English -ith (perhaps transmission error), Middle English -itt, Middle English -th, Middle English -tt, Middle English -ut, Middle English -ygth (East Anglian), Middle English -yt, Middle English -yth, Middle English -ytt, Middle English -ytte, Middle English 1600s -et, Middle English 1600s (1800s– Scottish) -it, Middle English–1600s (1800s– regional) -t, 1500s–1700s (1800s– regional, nonstandard, archaic, and poetic) -'t, 1600s -t'. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1574 Loc ȝiff þut mihht ohht findenn. & whær sitt iss [= whereso it is] itt harrdneþþ all. Þe gode manness heorrte.c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 2858 Ȝhot unnderrstod, & wisste.a1200 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Trin. Cambr.) 112 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 223 Se þe last wot, he seið ofte mast; se þit al wot is stille.c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1963) 983 Brutus ȝef Corineum..one deal of his londe and settet [c1275 Calig. sette hit] on his honde.a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 590 Oðer fowerti..Dais and nigtes stodet [sc. the water] so.a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3472 Ne ist nogt moyses, amrame sune.a1425 (?a1350) Gospel of Nicodemus (Galba) (1907) 1076 Right on þis maner wast.?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh.) (1950) 192 Tak þis herbe and stamp it and leyt to þe sor.1567 G. Turberville tr. G. B. Spagnoli Eglogs viii. f. 79^v How thinkst thou Candid is't not right and reason?1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 461 I see the tricke ant [1623 on't].1605 G. Chapman Al Fooles iv. sig. H2^v I will not set my hand toot.a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. i. 66 What a full fortune does the thicklips owe, If he can carry'et thus?a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 246 What is't thou canst demand?1622 J. Hagthorpe Divine Medit. xxviii. 55 For each thing is more noble in degree, As'ts freer from Materialitie.?1630 R. Howard Sacred Poeme 29 Mother of mercy, b'it not sayd, that thou Didst' ere reiect, an humbled sinner's vow.1664 D. Turberville Let. Oct. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) II. 379 Which makes mee farther presumptuouse to desyre your advice int.1669 J. P. Antidote against Melancholy 73 I fear the draught will ne're Compound for half the charge an't.1705 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus I. iv. 4 It is but Justice that each Toe Should the same Pennance undergo.1798 W. Wordsworth Goody Blake & Harry Gill in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 85 What is't that ails young Harry Gill?1818 J. Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck I. 143 ‘Is your master a very religious man?’ ‘He's weel eneugh that way—no that very reithe ont.’1842 R. Browning Soliloquy Spanish Cloister viii Ope a sieve and slip in in't [rhyme print].1876 R. Browning Pacchiarotto & Other Poems 40 That chord now—a groan or a grunt is't? Schumann's self was no worse contrapuntist.1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Words Whitby I'se sikker on't.1886 A. D. Willock Rosetty Ends (1887) xii. 93 Dauvit tried nae mair experiments in galvanism. Ae dose o'it saired him.1926 ‘I. Farquhar’ Pickletillie Folk 215 What's this o't, Pete?1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor ii. i. 125 He's more to be praised than braised for't.2006 P. McIntosh Merchant's Mark (2008) iv. 103 We've..a pot of mutton broth on the cran, wi barley and onions in't.

β. Middle English -d (East Anglian), Middle English -ed (East Anglian), Middle English -id (northern), Middle English -yd (East Anglian and south-east midlands); Scottish pre-1700 -de, pre-1700 -id, pre-1700 1700s– -'d, pre-1700 1800s -d. a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1082 Al ðat nigt he sogten ðor Ðe dure, and fundend neueremor.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Coll. Phys.) 22124 Þat al was felde lange siþin gane, He sale do raisid [a1400 Vesp. rais it] efte of stane.c1450 T. Wimbledon Serm. (Hatton) 16 Þus fardyd [= fared it] bi kyng achab.1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) iv. l. 482 To tak him in thai maid thaim redy ford.a1500 Thewis Gud Women (Cambr. Kk.1.5) l. 201 in R. Girvan Ratis Raving & Other Early Scots Poems (1939) 94 Quhilk, war nocht forss, þai wald nocht dod, And ȝhit is [read it] cummys thaim al for gud.1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 2095 Gude, halie peopill, I stand for'd.1568 Interlud Droichis Part Play 135 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 320 Quha trowis best that I do lude.1597 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae (ed. 2) 924 Affection dois affermd.a1634 A. Gardyne Theatre Scotish Worthies (1878) 88 He..to restrain'd Laid all his lines.1706 Mare of Collingtoun in J. Watson Choice Coll. Scots Poems (1977) I. 51 If it did her ony gude The morn she shou'd hae mair o'd.1743 Scots Mag. Nov. 525 The back o' the hand o'd [sc. a child] 's a' brunt.1817 W. Scott Rob Roy (1818) II. vi. 129 Naething will drived out o' my head, that the dog-kennell at Osbaldistone-Hall is better than mony a house o' God in Scotland.1873 J. A. H. Murray Dial. S. Counties Scotl. 191 Gie the man'd.1900 N.E.D. (at cited word) Mod. Sc. If you say'd I'll believe'd, for ye wadna tell'd if ye didna ken'd to be true.1952 R. T. Johnston Stenwick Days (1984) 7 A'll mak' them enter for the croonin' contest, an' tell them a'll mairry the winner o'd.?2002 I. W. D. Forde Hale ir Sindries ii. vi. 164 Tammas kent it weill, bot gied-na onie inklin at he wes fameiliar wi'd.

b. Proclitic or with an enclitic verb.

α. regional, nonstandard, archaic, and poetic in later use Middle English– t-, 1500s– t'-, 1500s– 't-. Sometimes showing reanalysis as it tis, it twas, etc.?a1289 Ancrene Riwle (Cleo.: Scribe D) (1972) 318 Þe blisse þet he greiþed alse as it tis uneuenelike til alle uerdlike blisses, also it is untalelike to alle werdlike þingis.a1400 (c1300) Northern Homily: Pilgrim of St. James (Coll. Phys.) in Middle Eng. Dict. at Hien Twas a man..That til sain Iamis hit the way.a1450 St. Edith (Faust.) (1883) 2380 Ychaue wrytone..þe very trewthe ryȝt as hit tys, After my connynge.c1475 Mankind (1969) 828 Alas, tys pety yt schwld be þus.1528 T. More Dialogue Heresyes iv, in Wks. 278/1 By the masse, cholde twere a faire fish pole.1598 R. Haydocke tr. G. P. Lomazzo Tracte Artes Paintinge ii. 47 T'is onely thou that can'st dis-arme this hande.a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) i. vii. 1 If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twer well, It were done quickly.1683 Satyr by way of Dial. between Lucifer & Ghosts of Shaftsbury & Russell 4 But's Hand is out, 'ts long since he kist the Book.1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 67 'Tis a Good Boy, said his Master.1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xxviii. 96 'Twill be rather too good for me.1780 W. Cowper Table Talk 768 'Twould thin the ranks of the poetic tribe.1808 W. Scott Marmion v. xii. 260 'Twere better by far To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar.1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd (1986) viii. 45 We thought we heard a hand pawing about the door for the bobbin, but weren't sure 'twere not a dead leaf blowed across.1940 in Negro in Virginia (1992) 30 Twarn't no drift snow. Twas' jus' a ordinary fallin' snow.1954 J. Kerouac Let. 26 Aug. in Sel. Lett. 1940–56 (1995) 443 T'is only an arbitrary conception of my dualistic taste-organ, my tongue.1959 P. Marshall Brown Girl, Brownstones iv. iii. 207 What it tis anyway?2005 J. Martyn Ringfort to Runway ii. iv. 154 'Tis damn dacent of ye, entirely.2012 J. McDonald Benediction 377 ‘Tis a good day fer it out there, I'm told.’ ‘Oh, it tis. It tis,” Donal replied.

β. 1500s–1600s yt-, 1500s– it-, 1600s jt-, 1600s–1700s itt-, 2000s– i'- (English regional); U.S. regional 1800s et-, 1800s– hit-; Scottish pre-1700 1700s– it-, 1900s– hid- (Orkney), 1900s– hit-, 1900s– ut-; also Welsh English 2000s– ut-. Frequently with contracted verbs, where an apostrophe is now standard.1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall A v He is my bone companion, its he that cheares up me.1596 E. Spenser Faerie Queene (new ed.) ii. iii. sig. P4^v Where ease abounds, yt's eath to doe amis.1606 N. Baxter Sir Philip Sydneys Ouránia sig. D4^v Though it be, one thing by generation, Yt's another thing in contemplation.1651 N. Culpeper Semeiotica Uranica Epist. sig. A3 Speculation brings onely pleasure to a mans selfe; its Practice which benefits others.1684 G. Meriton York-shire Dial. 26 It'l git neay Cawd, it's bedded up to th' Een.1687 J. Walker Let. 10 Oct. in R. Law Eng. in W. Afr. (2001) II. 57 As to the fllag itt's soe torne that it's a shame to hoyst it.1743 J. Isham Observ. Hudsons Bay (1949) 132 They wash itt clean, then Boil itt for a considerable time till itts tender.?1772 Young Coalman's Courtship to Creelwife's Daughter (ed. 3) ii. 6 By my suth it'll be the last thing I'll part wi'.1859 F. W. Farrar Julian Home iv. 38 It'd save lots of grind.1897 C. F. Lummis King of Broncos 39 Et'll shore be a job to round 'em up.1931 J. Leask Peculiar People 131 Na, 'e waas no great rug, bit hid's no fair tae cast canteelins at onyane 'at's gaen in 'is accoont.1934 Z. N. Hurston Jonah's Gourd Vine i. 13 Strack uh light... Hit's dark in heah.1979 Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. 21 Sept. 917/1 It's lost its zing.1996 W. N. Herbert Cabaret McGonagall 46 An sae ut'll be wi you, ma luve.2005 S. Elmes Talking for Brit. i. 8 To us i's the ‘launder’. Well, you 'ave an autsider come in, say, ‘Well your launder need fitten’, 'n' they'll look blank ut yuh.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Originally the nominative and accusative third person neuter personal pronoun form. Cognate with Old Frisian hit , het (West Frisian it ), Old Dutch hit (also it ; Middle Dutch het , hit , Dutch het ): on the further etymology see discussion at he pron., n.¹, and adj. Parallel in inflection are Old Saxon it (Middle Low German it ), Old High German ez , iz (Middle High German ez , iz , German es ), Gothic ita : see further discussion at he pron., n.¹, and adj.Form history. Old English (chiefly late West Saxon) hyt (see Forms 1α) probably shows laxing in low stress (if not simply an inverted spelling with y for i in areas where Old English  had been unrounded). The early attestation and eventual prevalence of loss of initial h- (compare Forms 1β, 1δ) is due to low stress; similar forms are found for other pronouns of the third person, as 'em pron., a pron., and the forms cited at Forms 1β, 1η at he pron., n.¹, and adj. Compare also the early attestation (and frequency) of forms with loss of vowel due to low stress (compare Forms 1ε, 2). The Middle English form þit at Forms 1α (from the Ramsey Cartulary, MS Otho B.xiv) perhaps reflects occasional graphic equivalence of þ and h in some east midland manuscripts (e.g. Arundel 248); compare also the form yit at Forms 1α from a different version of the same charter. Changes in function. For the extension in function to use in indirect object function as well as with prepositions which earlier took a dative see A. 5c and A. 5b and compare discussion at him pron., n., and adj. On use as possessive adjective ( B. 1) compare discussion at its adj. and pron. Grammatical and natural gender. Generalization of the neuter pronoun for referents that show no natural gender is chiefly a Middle English development (compare discussion at he pron., n.¹, and adj.); for occasional earlier examples see quot. ?a1160 at sense A. 1a(a), and quots. OE¹, lOE at sense A. 5a. The fact that the neuter pronoun was already well established in Old English in senses A. 1a(b) and A. 2a seems to have supported its use especially in contexts in which the pronoun may alternatively be taken as referring to the whole concept expressed in the preceding clause or sentence. It tends to occur in particular in recapitulatory functions. Compare discussion in B. Mitchell Old Eng. Syntax (1985) §§69–71, 1485–90. Semantically empty subjects. As a semantically empty or non-referential subject, the neuter pronoun is already found frequently in Old English in some types of sentence, e.g. in statements of weather (see sense A. 3a), but is much rarer in other types of sentence (e.g. existential sentences: see sense A. 2b). Use of the pronoun as empty subject does not become obligatory until Middle English, when the word order becomes more fixed and the slot of the subject requires filling. In Old English and early Middle English word order can also be more freely employed for the purpose of highlighting elements of the sentence, and therefore constructions of the kind covered at sense A. 4b are not usually required.

A. pron. The subjective and objective case of the third person singular neuter pronoun.

I. Subjective uses.

1. The thing previously mentioned, implied, or easily identified.

a. As subject or subject complement. In early use with reference to any neuter noun.

(a) With reference to an inanimate thing or (where sex is not particularized) an animal or (usually young) child.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) vi. 48 Hit [sc. þæt hus] wæs [L. erat] ofer þæne stan getrymed.

lOE Laws of Æðelstan (Rochester) vi. vi. §1. 176 Emban urne ceapgild: hors to healfan punde, gif hit swa god sy.

?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1135 þa þestrede þe dæi..& uuard þe sunne suilc als it uuare thre niht ald mone.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 774 (MED) An hors is strengur þan amon, Ac for hit non iwit ne kon, Hit berþ on rugge grete semes.

c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 8 Water is kendeliche cheld, Þaȝ hit be warmd of fere.

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 7 Þe folk þat is þerin, it is of diuers kynd.

1509 J. Fisher Mornynge Remembraunce Countesse of Rychemonde (de Worde) sig. Biii^v It [the body when it dieth] is so grosse y^t it occupyeth a rowme.

1575 G. Gascoigne Complaint Greene Knight in Posies 183 A peece which shot..so streight, It neyther bruzed with recule, nor wroong with ouerweight.

1611 Bible (King James) Luke xi. 14 And he was casting out a deuil, and it was dumbe.

1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. iii. G vj b Hiena, a subtill beast..counterfeiting the voyce of a man; in the night it will call shepherds out of their houses, and kill them.

1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. iii. K vj Being burnt, it [Ebone] yeelds a sweet smell.

1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Baucis & Philemon in Fables 157 With Leaves and Barks she feeds her Infant-fire: It smoaks.

1766 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. ii. 116 It [sc. the heron] perches and builds in trees.

1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. II. §647 This species [of beetle] is remarkable for the pertinacity with which it feigns death when alarmed.

1896 Argosy Jan. 395/2 We heard the clatter of the vase as it fell.

1918 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 21 Dec. 2069/2 Identify and segregate the infected schoolchild before it has an opportunity to make a number of contacts.

1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary xix. 202 Horace..went forward into the smoking car. It was full too.

1995 H. Dunmore Spell of Winter (1996) viii. 104 The baby was crumpled and puny and it cried all the time.

2008 New Yorker 11 Feb. 97/1 A toy for toddlers that made..funny noises when it rolled.

(b) With reference to an abstract thing, or a matter expressed or implied in a statement, or occupying the attention of the speaker.

OE Wulfstan Sermo ad Anglos (Nero) (1957) 267 Swa hit sceal nyde for folces synnan ær Antecristes tocyme yfelian swyþe, & huru hit wyrð þænne egeslic & grimlic wide on worolde.

OE King Ælfred tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) l. 6 Nis hit nan wundor þeah þu sy god and ic yfel.

a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 69 (MED) We ne maȝen þe fond from us driue..bute hit beo þurh godes ȝifte.

c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 47 (MED) Ha wes him sone ihondsald þah hit hire unwil were.

a1350 Maximian (Harl.) l. 275 in K. Böddeker Altengl. Dichtungen (1878) 253 Amen, par charite! Ant so mote hit be!

1417 in Rec. Parl. Scotl. to 1707 (2007) 1417/1 To yhur bailyhis..and al otheris that it pertenys to.

c1475 (?c1425) Avowing of King Arthur (1984) l. 519 I conne notte say þe þertille. Hit is atte þe quene wille.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. v. 58 Isaac, it were my deth If Iacob weddeth in kynd of Heth.

c1523 J. Rastell Expos. Terminorum Legum Anglorum sig. F.v^v Quo waranto is a writ and it lyeth wher a man vsurpith to haue any franches vppon the kyng, [etc.].

1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie i. xcvii. 597 The feast of Passeouer, was not a ceremony without instruction: but y^t it conteined doctrine in it. And it is an article of great importance.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. iii. 88 Sir, you and I must part, but that's not it.

1649 J. Graunt Cure Deadly Doctr. 5 This your allegorizing Doctrine doth not onely destroy the Faith of some in particular, but it overthrows the whole Doctrine of faith it selfe.

1660 H. Fletcher Perfect Politician 129 This was the work of one hour; but it ended not here.

1756 J. Wesley Let. 6 Jan. (1931) III. 350 ‘The wrath to be atoned’ is neither sense nor English, though it is a solecism you perpetually run into.

1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued I. ii. xxxiii. 303 This is giving the ladies reason, It is so because it is.

1826 F. Place Diary 22 Nov. in Affairs of Others (2007) 186 Not one was found to support Mr Humes motion, useful as it could not fail to be.

1883 Cent. Mag. Nov. 144/2 While it was going on, I emptied the contents of my haversack into a fire.

1903 S. S. Pratt Work of Wall St. 147 A market is rigged when it is manipulated.

1952 G. H. Dury Map Interpr. p. v The statement that maps are the geographer's tools has been repeated so often that it is in danger of becoming a platitude.

2009 R. Dasgupta Solo 152 You are behaving like an eccentric and making people nervous. If it continues we will have to confiscate your equipment.

ΚΠ

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 337 See where it comes.

1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 91 Slip but from any Profession some little while, and say it hath travelled, and it may passe for an able Physitian.

1848 J. J. Hooper Widow Rugby in Some Adventures Simon Suggs 128 ‘Hit 'll fight!’..‘Hit!..who dars to call me hit?’

1879 S. S. Thorburn David Leslie (ed. 2) I. xxi. 276 Poo old boy, does it want its hair brushed? then it sall.

1924 C. Greer-Petrie Angeline gits Eyeful 25 I hope to die if hit didn't have hits arm locked around that thar Reno widder's waist.

1937 J. R. R. Tolkien Hobbit v. 93 ‘Where iss it gone to?’ said Gollum... ‘Here I am, following behind!’ said Bilbo.

2011 S. Lotz Pigeon Fancier in Afr. Pens 2011 226 ‘How long has it been here?’ ‘He, Levin. Don't call him it.’

b. As anticipatory subject, representing the topic of a sentence, when the logical subject is a noun, esp. with attributes. Now poetic, rhetorical, and colloquial.In colloquial use the verb is sometimes repeated, e.g. it is a country of vast extent, is China: cf. be v. 9f.

ΚΠ

OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) i. Introd. 26 Hit is welig þis ealond on wæstmum.

c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 99 (MED) Hit nis nan eðelich þing, þe refschipe of rome.

c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 4147 (MED) Jt shal be wel dere abouȝth, Þe tol þat was in Grece souȝth.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 109 The cyte..where hit is schewede the palice of Melchisedech.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiv. 172 Lord, it is sothe all that we say.

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. clxix. 207 It canne nat be recorded the gret feest and chere that they of the Cytie..made to the prince.

a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) cx. sig. F*vi^v It greued her hert right sore thassurance of her & of Arthur.

1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel i. xii. 17 What may it be, the heavy sound?

1841 H. W. Longfellow Goblet of Life v Above the lowly plants it towers, The fennel with its yellow flowers.

1912 A. Brown My Love & I xviii. 167 At last it came, the news unheralded by any personal note, but staring out boldly from the evening paper.

1985 L. Lochhead True Confessions 6 It's nice a wee taste of haggis now and again.

c. Used redundantly or anaphorically with a noun that is the subject or subject complement. Now chiefly in interrogative or emphatic clauses with the noun phrase subject extraposed or poetic in ballad style. Cf. he pron. 1b.

ΚΠ

OE tr. Orosius Hist. (Tiber.) (1980) i. i. 19 Brittannia þæt igland, hit is norðeastlang.

lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 963 Ic wille þet ealle þa freodom & ealle þa forgiuenesse þe mine forgengles geafen þet hit stande.

a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 56 (MED) Al þis world, hid sal agon.

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 930 For sertes, þis same sekenes mi-self it holdes.

?a1425 Constit. Masonry (Royal 17 A.i) l. 36 in J. O. Halliwell Early Hist. Freemasonry in Eng. (1844) 13 Hys name hyt spradde ful wondur wyde.

1534 Bible (Tyndale rev. Joye) Mark xi. 30 The baptyme of John, was it from heuen, or of men? Answer me.

1578 T. Tymme tr. J. Calvin Comm. Genesis 236 What grievous torments of mind, this horrible Confusion brought..it cannot by words be sufficiently expressed.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 388 The raine it raineth euery day.

1743 E. Young Complaint: Night the Fifth 16 This sacred Shade, and Solitude, what is it?

1798 W. Wordsworth Idiot Boy in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 177 And as her mind grew worse and worse, Her body it grew better.

1801 T. Campbell Ye Mariners of Eng. 13 The deck it was their field of fame, And Ocean was their grave.

1803 H. K. White Gondoline in Clifton Grove 39 The night it was dark, and the moon it shone.

a1849 E. A. Poe Annabel Lee in Coll. Wks. (1969) I. 478 Our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we.

1923 in M. Taft Blues Lyric Poetry (1983) 111 This northern country : it make you choose But it never will cure : the Mason-Dixon blues.

1958 S. Beckett Unnamable 110 This livid eye, what use is it to him?

1986 E. MacColl & P. Seeger Till Doomsday in Afternoon 221 Her name it was pretty Peggy, O.

2002 M. Montes Circle of Time xii. 86 My leg—I think it's broken.

2. As subject of the verb to be with a noun phrase complement.Formerly the verb agreed with the complementary noun or pronoun, and in Old English and early Middle English the pronoun might come first in the phrase: e.g. it am I, Old English ic hit eom (= it is I), it are ye (= it is you), it were two dragons.

a. The subject of thought, attention, enquiry, etc.; the person or thing in question. Frequently with a relative clause forming part of the complement (often used for emphasis: cf. sense A. 4b) or with such a clause implied, in statements or questions regarding identity.Until the 19th cent., the verb of the relative clause contained in the complement normally agreed with the antecedent pronoun (e.g. it is I who am to blame, it is you (or they) who are the cause), but in informal style increasingly since then it has tended, if a single party is referred to, to have third person singular agreement (e.g. it's me who's to blame, it's you who's the cause).

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 109 Ealswa tua uerba sunt ðine word hit synd: on ðam tu byð anfeald getel and on ðam a menigfeald.

OE Ælfric Homily (Corpus Cambr. 162) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 291 Hyre andwyrde se Hælend, Ic hit eom þe þe to sprece.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 26 Hi..cwædon þus, Soþlice hyt ys scinlac [L. fantasma est]. Ða spræc se Hælend.., Ic hyt eom [L. ego sum].

c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 348 Ich hit am, þe deouel belial.

c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 1209 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 141 ‘Sire,’ quad þe oste, ‘þov it art.’

c1300 St. Christopher (Harl.) l. 41 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 60 Beau frere quaþ þis oþer ic hit am.

c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 3183 Hit ne buþ..none Vauasers þat buþ þer on þe tour.

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. l. 321 If any peple perfourme þat texte it ar þis pore freres.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Shipman's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 214 Peter it am I Quod she.

a1450 (?1419–20) Friar Daw's Reply (Digby) l. 217 in P. L. Heyworth Jack Upland (1968) 79 It ar ȝe þat stonden bifore in Anticristis vanwarde.

c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 1323 Thoo atte last aspyed y That pursevantes and herauldes..Hyt weren alle.

?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 274 It is I þat am here in ȝour syth.

1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) ii. xlv. f. xxv What is hit thenne that thou beryst soo trussed in thy fardel?

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xx. 238 Wene ye that I it am?

1611 Bible (King James) Mark vi. 50 It is I, be not afraid.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. i. 119 It is thee I feare.

1727 W. Warburton Crit. & Philos. Enq. Causes Prodigies & Miracles i. 7 Was it but Falshood's Mask of Veri-Similitude that we doated after.

1794 T. Hardy Progress Christian Relig. 44 It is you who spread treachery, cruelty, depair and heartbreak.

1805 R. Southey Madoc i. vi. 61 A beautiful and populous plain it was;..And many a single dwelling specking it.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxiv. 83 Is it the secret instinct of decaying nature?

1900 Gentleman's Mag. June 525 He's murdered Waite, that's what it is.

1952 T. Armstrong Adam Brunskill xi. 388 Are you sure, Cherry love, as it's you who's given Reuben Nattrass the go-by, or is it t'other road about?

2011 Independent 1 Mar. (Viewspaper section) 4/4 ‘Hi Mum’, she said, ‘it's only me’.

b. As the subject of an existential clause: = there adv. 4d. Now chiefly U.S. regional (southern and south Midland).In Old English esp. with following that-clause; compare A. 4a(b).

ΚΠ

eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) Epil. 467 Is hit lytel tweo ðæt ðæs wæterscipes welsprynge is on hefonrice; ðæt is Halig Gæst.

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) ii. 196 Hit næs nan neod þam ælmihtigum scyppende, þæt he of wife acenned wære.

OE Blickling Homilies 81 Hit wæs an geleafa & an hiht on þa halgan þrynesse ær Cristes tocyme.

a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 139 Fiat lux & facta est lux, beo liht and hit wes liht.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Deut. xxxiii. 5 Hit [a1425 Corpus Oxf. there] shal bee anuntys þe most riȝt akyng.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 22169 (MED) It es na land þat man kan neuen..þat he ne sal do þam to be soght.

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 280 Hit arn aboute on þis bench bot berdleȝ chylder.

a1425 (?c1384) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 345 (MED) It is no nede to argue here for to disprove þis foli.

a1500 (?a1400) Sir Torrent of Portyngale (1887) l. 1491 It were two dragons stiff and strong, Vppon theyre lay they sat and song, Be-side a depe well.

1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. sig. ¶.v^v It was sometime when he was not.

1577 R. Holinshed Hist. Scotl. 479/2 in Chron. I It was no neede to bidde them packe away.

a1593 C. Marlowe Edward II (1594) sig. D4^v Cosin it is no dealing with him now.

a1617 P. Baynes Comm. First & Second Chapters Colossians (1634) 211 [They] are so proud, so censorious, that it is no living with them.

1881 Every Boy's Ann. 533/2 Paul Drouet and Jules Haye and their employers, whom it is no need to name.

1910 Amer. Bee Jrnl. Jan. 11/3 It's no need to tell a Texan he doesn't know the flavor of horsemint honey.

1920 J. Firth Reminisc. Orkney Parish 68 Aet an' fou you, for hid's plenty more i' the press.

1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. vi. 126 It's so many weeds in dis yard, Ah'm liable to git snake bit at my own door.

1984 J. Nazel Delta Crossing xii. 172 It ain't nothing to it.

2004 V. Buford Shadows of Legion vi. 121 It ain't nobody here... It ain't nobody in the shop.

†c. As the subject of a clause stating of what sort a person is: he, she, they. Obsolete.

c1300 Life & Martyrdom Thomas Becket (Harl. 2277) (1845) l. 1003 Wel we witeth hit is a wrecche.

a1325 St. Blaise (Corpus Cambr.) l. 62 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 49 Ne clupe noȝt þine godes so vair name, for pur deuelen it beoþ.

c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1506 Sche..knew by hyre manyere..That it were gentil men of gret degre.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. iii. 18 It is the most impenitrable curre that euer kept with men.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) i. iv. 58 It is a peerelesse Kinsman.

1630 T. Dekker Second Pt. Honest Whore sig. F4^v It's a generous fellow.

1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 67 'Tis a Good Boy, said his Master.

1710 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 23 Nov. (1948) I. 102 'Tis the ramblingest lying rogue on earth.

1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 7 It is a sly artful Fellow of a broken Attorney, that he has hir'd to personate a Minister.

1864 J. S. Le Fanu Uncle Silas I. xii. 124 Upon my word, it is a wise little woman.

d. Introducing a ballad, etc.: the subject of the song or tale. Now archaic.

ΚΠ

?1545 Christmas Carolles newely Inprynted sig. Aii^v It was a mayde of brentenars She rode to myll vpon a horse.

?a1603 Beggar's Daughter Bednall-Green i. 1 in T. Percy Reliques (1883) I. 361 Itt was a blind beggar, had long lost his sight, He had a faire daughter of bewty most bright.

1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere i, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 5 It is an ancyent Marinere, And he stoppeth one of three.

1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel vi. xi. 172 It was an English ladye bright..And she would marry a Scottish knight.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter (rev. ed.) in Poems (new ed.) I. 110 It is the miller's daughter, And she is grown so dear.

1918 W. de la Mare Motley 62 It was the great Alexander, Capped with a golden helm.

a1971 S. Smith Singing Cat in Coll. Poems (1975) 367 It was a little captive cat Upon a crowded train His mistress takes him from his box To ease his fretful pain.

3. As the non-referential subject of a verb or impersonal statement, expressing action or a condition of things simply, without reference to any agent.

a. In statements of weather.

OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Oxf.) ii. x. 134 Swylc swa..sie fyr onælæd & þin heall gewyrmed, & hit rine & sniwe & styrme ute.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) vii. 27 Þa rinde hit [L. descendit pluvia] & þær comun flod & bleowun windas.

lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Bodl.) (2009) I. xxi. 285 On sumera hit bið wearm and on wintra ceald.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 1943 Þre dæȝes hit rinde blod.

c1300 St. Michael (Harl.) in T. Wright Pop. Treat. Sci. (1841) 137 Hor-frost cometh whan hit is cold.

c1330 Seven Sages (Auch.) (1933) l. 2137 Sche saiþ hit haþ ben þonder.

a1450 Seven Sages (Cambr. Dd.1.17) (1845) l. 2213 (MED) Hyt raynyd and lygnyd and thonryd fast.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) John xii. f. cxl Then sayde the people that stode by and herde, it thoundreth [1611 King James said that it thundered].

1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 45 Where it is counted for a wonder, that..it was cold or snowed.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World ii. 13 It rained very hard.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 10 By this Time it blew a terrible Storm indeed.

1766 P. Thicknesse Observ. Customs Fr. Nation 106 It blows cats and dogs, as the sailors say.

1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 83 St. Agnes' Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was!

1846 C. Dickens Pictures from Italy 249 It is now intensely cold.

1848 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 292 It blew great guns and poured cats and dogs.

1903 W. C. Edgar Story Grain Wheat ii. 24 In a few days it thawed again.

1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel i. 77 Outside it was raining pitchforks.

2004 Trail May 30/2 (caption) Chuff me, it's freezing.

b. In statements about the time of day, season of the year, etc.

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) x. 9 We willað..offrian wurðlice urum Drihtne, for ðam þe hit is halig tid [L. est enim sollemnitas].

OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) xxiv. 29 Hit æfenlæcð & se dæg wæs ahyld [L. advesperascit et inclinata est iam dies].

OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 979 Þy ilcan geare wæs gesewen blodig wolcen..; þæt..on mistlice beamas wæs gehiwod þonne hit dagian wolde.

OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.iv) anno 1006 Ða hit winterlæhte, þa færde se fyrd ham.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 8918 Till þatt itt comm till efenn.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 332 Ac þu singest allelonge niȝt, From eve fort hit is dai liȝt.

c1330 Seven Sages (Auch.) (1933) l. 1495 (MED) Sire, vp, vp, hit is dai!

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 284 (MED) Hit is ȝol & nwe ȝer.

a1425 (?c1350) Ywain & Gawain (1964) l. 596 It neghed nere the nyght.

a1500 (?c1400) Earl of Toulous l. 460 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) I. 397 (MED) When hyt dawed, he rose vp soone.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) John x. f. cxxxvj Hit was at Ierusalem the feaste of the dedicacion, and itt was wynter.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. vii. 2 Would it were day.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. vii. 6 Will it neuer be Morning?

1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 44 It was almost night.

1727 J. Thomson Summer 31 'Tis raging Noon.

a1771 T. Gray Agrippina in Poems (1775) 134 'Tis time we go, the sun is high advanc'd.

1800 S. T. Coleridge tr. F. Schiller Death Wallenstein ii. iv. ii. 137 It strikes eleven.

1832 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter x, in Poems (new ed.) 37 'Twas April then.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 175 It was ten o'clock.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 191 It was Monday night.

1944 N.Y. Times 25 Apr. 5/5 It was about noon..when he climbed out of his own ‘sanger’.

1998 P. Gourevitch We wish to inform You v. 63 It was Sunday at the Cercle Sportif in Kigali.

c. In statements about space, distance, or length of time.

eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxxi. 532 Ac hit is swiðe feor of uncrum wege, of þæm wege þe w[i]t getiohhod habbað on to farenne.

OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1066 Harold..þær his liðes abad, for þam þe hit wæs lang ær hit man gegaderian mihte.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 20345 Say me how longe hit is to þon.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) Mark ix. f. lvij^v Howe longe is it a goo, sens this hath happened hym? And he sayde, of a chylde.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. iii. 1 How far is it my Lord to Barckly now?

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III v. v. 188 How farre into the morning is it.

1611 Bible (King James) Mark ix. 21 Howe long is it agoe since this came vnto him?

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) London 222 It was not long before he was caught by the Setters of the Secretary Walsingham, and brought to the Tower.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. v. ii. 123 Nor was it, indeed, long before Jones was able to attend her to the Harpsichord.

1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer i. 13 We were told it was but forty miles..and we have come above threescore.

1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose iv, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. IV. 72 ‘It is a far cry to Lochow’..‘It is not for me to say how far it may be to Lochow’.

1889 Harper's Mag. Aug. 328/1 It is only a few years since the Western critics scoffed at the very idea of such a thing as an original Russian art.

1912 J. Judge & H. Williams (title of song) It's a long, long way to Tipperary.

1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway iv. 92 It was years before she got an inkling what it was that differentiated her from all the stand-ins and walkers-on.

2002 Times 11 Feb. ii. 28/3 Just how far is it, exactly, from Albert Square to 18th-century Seville?

d. In statements about condition, welfare, affairs, circumstances, etc.

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xxxvii. 14 Loca hwæðer hyt wel sy [L. si cuncta prospera sint] mid him..& cyð me hu hyt sy.

OE tr. Gospel of Nicodemus (Cambr.) xx. §1. 209 Hyt wæs swyðe angrislic þa ða Satanas..cwæð to þære helle: gegearwa þe sylfe.

c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) 64 (MED) Sikerliche swa hit feareð.

a1350 Sayings St. Bernard (Harl. 2253) in F. J. Furnivall Minor Poems Vernon MS (1901) ii. 514 Þus hit geþ bi-tuene hem tuo.

c1390 (c1300) MS Vernon Homilies in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1877) 57 243 Hou schal hit fare of vs caytyues?

1480 Table Prouffytable Lernynge (Caxton) (1964) 4 What do ye? How is it with you?

1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Kings iv. 26 Axe her yf it go well with her.

1611 Bible (King James) 2 Kings iv. 26 Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child?

1681 H. Neville Plato Redivivus 15 Well, Sir, How is it? Have you rested well to Night?

1751 W. Warburton in Wks. of Alexander Pope III. 109 Thus it fared with our two Worthies.

1764 London Mag. Nov. 581 Oh, no, it is all over with me.

1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake v. 211 Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu, That on the field his targe he threw.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam iv. 4 O heart, how fares it with thee now.

1881 F. Hall Lett. to Editor N.Y. Nation 21 As it has fared with all others..so, simply, it fares with me.

1928 H. Crane Let. 27 Mar. (1965) 321 How goes it with your translations?

1995 Daily Tel. 3 Nov. 7/2 Aye, it's cush here. Peterlee is sorted.

2007 E. Morrison Swung (2008) i. 22 Wanting to ask her how it was going.

e. In statements of physical or mental sensation.These often have a clause expressing the affecting cause, and then pass into A. 4.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 6 Ða on Herodes gebyrddæge tumbude þære Herodiadiscean dohtur beforan him & hit licode Herode [L. placuit Herodi].

a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 55 Mid alle his mihte he wule us swenchen. Gif we leornið godes lare, þenne of-þuncheð hit him sare.

a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 57 In myn herte hit doþ me god when y þenke on Iesu blod.

c1475 (?c1425) Avowing of King Arthur (1984) l. 376 Hit schall þe noȝte greue.

1673 J. Ray S. & E. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 64 It dares me, it pains or grieves me.

1709 J. Swift Vindic. I. Bickerstaff 8 It grieved me..when I saw my Labours, which had cost so much Thought and Watching, bawl'd about by common Hawkers of Grubstreet.

a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. 154 Scratching where it itches.

1844 E. B. Barrett Poems II. 161 How that true wife said to Pœtus..‘Sweet, it hurts not!’

1916 E. O'Neill Bound East for Cardiff in Provincetown Plays 1st Ser. 16 It hurts like hell—here... I guess my old pump's busted. Ooohh!

1965 Rotarian Sept. 29 It upsets me when someone takes over in my own kitchen.

2000 N.Y. Times 10 Apr. c2/2 She is not a people person... She just doesn't do small talk. If you hang out with her, it feels awkward.

f. In quoting from books and other written sources; as it says, it tells, etc. Now archaic or colloquial.Usually expressed by the passive it is said, it is written, etc.: see A. 4a(b).

ΚΠ

OE Ælfric Homily: Wyrdwriteras (Hatton 115) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1968) II. 728 He [sc. David] asende his heretogan, swa swa hit segð on Leden on þæra Cyninga Bocum.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 2689 Itt seȝȝþ þatt sannte marȝe for. Wiþþ mikell hih þatt weȝȝe.

a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 15 (MED) Fulsoð hit seið, moni hit for-let for drihtenes eye.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 262 Helyes hweoles þe weren ifurene hit telleð.

c1300 Pilate (Harl.) l. 169 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 115 As hit saiþ in þe godspel.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. l. 3945 In a Cronique it telleth thus.

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 55 In Saynt Edwarde's life it sais, he was forsuorn.

1483 tr. Adam of Eynsham Reuelation Prol. f. 2 Founde hem as hit folowth wele aftir in this boke.

1535 W. Marshall tr. Marsilius of Padua Def. of Peace xxviii. f. 120^v The glose, where it saythe [etc.].

1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. iii. i. §5. 10 As where it tells of Nabuchadnezzar his owne vanishing away.

a1688 J. Bunyan Acceptable Sacrifice (1689) 92 As it says in another place, Out of the Deep, out of the Belly of Hell Cryed I.

1795 Freemasons' Mag. June 395/2 In the Leyden Gazette, Dec. 26, 1794, it says [etc.].

1840 K. H. Digby Mores Catholici x. vii. 171 In Saxon histories... Thus it says.

1894 G. F. X. Griffith tr. C. Fouard St. Paul xv. 352 From the sequel, as it reads in the Acts, it would seem [etc.].

1902 H. K. Mann Hist. Popes I. ii. 234 ‘In mense Junius Indictione ii,’ or x., as by mistake it reads in the Chronicle.

1932 G. K. Chesterton Chaucer iii. 108 Chaucer was a man for whom the world teemed with quiet fun, as it says in the comic opera.

1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting 66 It says here that you got five O Grades.

g. In negative conditional clauses with for (see for prep. 22b).

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) III. 1201 If hit were nat for the Popis commaundement..I shulde do batayle with the.

1552 T. Wilson Rule of Reason (rev. ed.) sig. Ciiij No one man could be knowne from an other..if it ware not for the Accidentes.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. i. 43 If it were not for one trifling respect, I could come to such honour.

a1676 H. Guthry Mem. (1702) 25 If it had not been that the said Francis, with the help of two pretty Men that attended him, rescu'd him out of their Hands.

1710 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 7 Oct. (1948) I. 47 They may talk of the you know what; but, gad, if it had not been for that, I should never have been able to get the access I have had.

a1732 J. Gay Fables (1738) II. xiii. 118 Were it not for this cursed show'r, The park had whil'd away an hour.

1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. ii. v. 200 Assistance which they would have had no Occasion for, had it not been for their Misconduct.

1780 Mirror No. 102 The misapplication of the term is so completely ridiculous, as to be beneath contempt, were it not for the mischief that I am convinced has been occasioned by it.

1864 G. Meredith Emilia in Eng. II. v. 69 I feel better already, if it weren't for my legs.

1883 J. T. Taylor Hardwich's Man. Photogr. Chem. (ed. 9) 203 Iodide of Cadmium..would have superseded the other Iodides, had it not been for its glutinizing action on Pyroxyline.

1974 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Apr. 375/2 Disaster that would have been total had it not been for the conventional crime-writer's beginning and end.

2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 9 Nov. viii. 3/5 Penn State would still be a cow college if it wasn't for Joe Paterno.

h. In statements of the situation or circumstances.

1854 Pioneer (San Francisco) Mar. 151 Will you come in and drink a glass of ale? It's quiet back there and I think it would do me good.

1858 W. M. Thackeray Virginians I. v. 34 They became tenderly attached to each other. It was ‘my Fanny’ and ‘my Rachel’ in the letters of the young ladies.

1890 R. Kipling in Scots Observer 1 Mar. 409/2 O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' ‘Tommy, go away’; But it's ‘Thank you, Mister Atkins’, when the band begins to play.

1922 Sat. Evening Post 4 Mar. 18/3 That's one great slogan, ‘Business as Usual!’ ain't it? Well, it's business as usual here.

1976 Radio Times 4–10 Sept. 16/1 Next morning it was back to work on The Brothers.

2005 L. Kellaway Who moved my Blackberry? (2006) iv. 112 Now it's over to you—we want to hear your views!

4. Placed before the verb as anticipatory subject, with the logical subject of the sentence as complement.it is sometimes rhetorically retained when the logical subject is placed before the verb.

a. With the logical subject a clause.This construction is sometimes called ‘extraposition of a clausal subject'.

(a) With an infinitive clause.In Old English usually with the inflected (dative) infinitive preceded by to. It is not certain whether in quots. OE, lOE the infinitive clause should be interpreted as the logical subject or as modifying the predicative adjective.

OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) Pref. i. 2 Forþon hit is god godne to herianne & yfelne to leanne.

lOE Laws: Gerefa (Corpus Cambr.) xviii. 455 Hit is earfoðe eall to gesecganne, þæt se beðencan sceal, ðe scire healt.

a1225 ( Ælfric's Homily De Initio Creaturae (Vesp. A.xxii) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 217 Hit is wel swete of him to specene.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 15527 Hit is on mine rede to don þat þu bede.

a1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 118 (MED) Moder milde..on þe hit is best to calle.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 53 (MED) Hit is grat wyt to loki mesure ine mete and ine drinke.

c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 634 In the se it happede hem to mete.

c1475 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Taylor) in J. Robson Three Early Eng. Metrical Romances (1842) 8 Hit were fulle tere for a tung, my tourmentes to telle.

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Matt. 58 a To lothe and dyspyse them, it is no holynes, but pryde.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. iii. 196 Vnlesse..to defend our selues it be a sinne.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iii. iii. 79 How hard it is to hide the sparkes of Nature.

1635 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Donzella Desterrada 98 Depends it on mee..to know either your being..or your stay here?

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 641 To stand or fall Free in thine own Arbitrement it lies.

a1716 O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. iii. 25 It has been commonly their Fate to fare hardlier.

1744 E. Young Complaint: Night the Sixth 12 Is it in Time to hide Eternity?

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 49 It was necessary to make a choice.

1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 290/1 It has been found possible to render voting perfectly secret and to provide for a scrutiny.

1923 N.Y. Times 6 Sept. 4 (advt.) It is important to get Wheatsworth Crackers with your bowl of milk or ‘half and half’.

1997 Independent 7 June (Long Weekend section) 3/5 It's hard to reconcile the control-freak in his nature with the hyper-adrenalinated kid in front of the camera.

(b) With a declarative noun clause (with or without that). Now esp. frequent with the passive voice, as it is said, etc.

eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xlvi. 355 Hit tocymð ðæt hie hit sprecan sculon.

OE Wulfstan Luke on Last Days (Hatton 113) 125 Hit is gecweden þæt sunne aðystrað.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 1339 Soþ hit is, of luue ich singe.

c1300 Childhood Jesus (Laud) l. 99 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1875) 1st Ser. 6 It is þe beste Vnder þis treo þat ich me reste.

c1300 St. Dunstan (Harl.) l. 117 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 37 Hit biful þat þe bischop of wircetre was ded.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 199 Hyt is redde in storyes that Ytaly somme tyme..was callede the grete londe off Grece.

a1425 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Linc. Inn) (1952) l. 3692 Schame hit is we weore so feynt.

c1475 MS Trin. Dublin 245 in J. H. Todd Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) p. xvi Hit is writen in the first book of holy writ, that ther weren thre patriarkes in the peple of God.

c1500 in F. J. Furnivall Gild of St. Mary, Lichfield (1920) 14 It is ordenyd that..no tenaind at wyll shall make a tenand.

1594 R. Carew tr. J. Huarte Exam. Mens Wits xiii. 204 It is necessarie that he hold a difference of imagination, forecastfull, warie.

1611 Bible (King James) 1 Kings xviii. 1 It came to passe after many daies, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah.

1611 Bible (King James) 1 Kings xviii. 4 It was so, when Iezebel cut off the Prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah tooke an hundred Prophets and hid them.

1650 A. Weldon Court & Char. King James , 122 Its verily beleeved..it was intended the Law should run in its proper channell.

1711 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1889) III. 163 'Tis pretended that this Smith must have went away that Morning.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. vi. iii. 247 It may be objected, that very wise Men have been notoriously avaricious.

1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel ii. xxxii. 57 Use lessens marvel, it is said.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right II. xv. 64 It seems they have been mopping up some rich surfacing.

1946 Nature 21 Dec. 917/1 It might be feared that his remarks will leave the cytochemist with a gloomy feeling.

2005 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 30 Aug. 15/1 It is expected 500 will attend.

eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. v. 46 Ealles his heres wæs swelc ungemet þæt mon eaðe cweþan mehte ðæt hit wundor wære, hwær hie landes hæfden þæt hie mehten an gewician.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 63 Hit is vncerteyn who bulde first þis citee.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 1480 A gret mervaile it is forthi, How that a Maiden wolde lette, That sche hir time ne besette To haste unto that ilke feste, Wherof the love is al honeste.

1485 W. Caxton in Malory's Morte Darthur Pref. sig. iij Wherfor it is a meruayl why he is nomore renomed in his owne contreye.

1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. f. 15 For it is merueilous, how great establishment groweth hereof.

1621 T. Granger Familiar Expos. Eccles. (vii. 4) 161 It is vncertaine, what coast it [sc. the needle of a compass] most affecteth, or rather what his naturall position is, being violently agitated.

1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. i. 28 It is incredible, how speedily and generally the Infection spread by his preaching.

1707 J. Freind Acct. Earl of Peterborow's Conduct in Spain 211 It is no Matter what becomes of the Town.

1711 in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. v. 186 It is inexpressible, how well he prepared for his long departure, his desired exit.

1824 S. E. Ferrier Inheritance lxxiii It was inconceivable, too, what he made of himself all day.

1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 15 Dec. 369/2 It is of no consequence whether you ever got up a club for a paper or not.

1953 P. Larkin Let. 22 July in Sel. Lett. (1992) 205 It doesn't matter what you write as long as you feel strongly enough.

1978 J. Updike Coup (1979) vi. 247 It's a miracle, what you can squeeze out of a rock.

2003 Guardian 28 Oct. ii. 2/3 It doesn't matter where your sympathies lie.

(d) With a gerund clause.

1644 S. Kem Messengers Prep. 22 It's good stepping into the poole upon the motion of the waters.

1659 M. Playford tr. Hist. Eng. & Sc. Presbytery xxii. 68 It is ill going Procession when the Devil carries the Crosse.

1725 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 232 Indeed, it's hard mixing in with self-willed and peremptory people.

1800 T. Dibdin Jew & Doctor ii. ii. 27 It's no use talking to the savage.

1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby iv. 27 It's expensive keeping boys at home.

1920 E. O'Neill Beyond Horizon ii. i. 122 If you think it's fun sweltering in this oven of a kitchen to keep things warm for you, you're mistaken.

1993 J. Green It: Sex since Sixties 33 It's difficult being a woman.

2003 A. Garner Thursbitch (2004) 44 It's no use getting mithered.

b. In a periphrastic introductory clause with to be (cf. sense A. 2) having as its highlighted complement an adverbial phrase, noun phrase, etc., followed by a relative clause equivalent to a main clause of which the phrase thus highlighted would be the adverbial, subject, object, etc.In Irish English used colloquially in a wider range of contexts than in other varieties of English, frequently with zero relative pronoun.This construction is often called a ‘cleft sentence’.

(a) With adverbial as complement.In Old English in comparable constructions hit is usually omitted. However, hit is sometimes found in constructions with adverbial indicating time, where to be originally has the sense ‘to happen’ or ‘to be the case’ (cf. be v. 2, 3); occasionally þæt is found rather than hit.

eOE Metres of Boethius (transcript of damaged MS) (2009) i. 1 Hit wæs geara iu ðætte Gotan eastan of Sciððia sceldas læddon.

OE Wulfstan Last Days (Hatton) 137 Hit wæs oft ær þæt Godes halgan fela wundra þurh Godes mihta openlice worhtan.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 1165 Heruore hit is þat me þeshuneþ.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 74^v If a nerue or a corde be kut in þe necke, it is seldom þat..þe necke haue fre mouyng.

c1425 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Harl.) 9 In þe tyme bi twene Abraham & Moyses it was þat men come to Engolond.

a1500 (a1400) Sir Amadace (Adv.) (1810) l. 284 Hyt is in the deyd name that Y speyke.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. ii. 128 It is to you good people, that I speake.

1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall x It was not till the eighteenth year of his reign, that Diocletian could be persuaded by Galerius to begin a general persecution.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 28 It was by him that money was coined.

1893 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 13 254 We are told by Pliny..that it was at Corinth that gold was first mixed with the bronze.

1938 E. Waugh Scoop ii. v. 233 I read the newspapers with lively interest. It is seldom that they are absolutely, point blank wrong.

1961 J. Thurber Let. 13 Apr. (2002) 748 It was some fifteen years ago that the English medical journal, The Lancet, first began using the expression ‘Walter Mitty’ syndrome.

2007 Racing Rev. 65/3 It is to Belgium that they are looking for help in moving further afield.

(b) With the noun phrase which would be the subject of the clause as complement.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Mark (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 44 Swa hwylcne swa ic cysse he hit is [L. quemcumque osculatus fuero ipse est].]

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 1053 A fende it was þat me biȝat.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) John vi. 64 It is the spirit that quykeneth, the fleysch profiteth nothing.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 8476 It was he, þat..Of worþines was þe lode-sterre.

1581 A. Hall tr. Homer 10 Bks. Iliades iii. 52 It is Aiax the strong, Who is best hope, defence and wall, that to the Greeks belong.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. ii. 14 It is a good diuine that followes his owne instructions.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. ii. 72 It is a wise Father that knowes his owne childe.

1664 J. Evelyn tr. R. Fréart Parallel Antient Archit. ii. i. 88 It was Architecture her self which was here the Historiograph of this new kind of History.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 225. ¶5 If we look into particular Communities and Divisions of Men..it is the discreet Man..who guides the Conversation.

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 124 ‘'Tis an ill wind,’ said a boatman..‘which blows no body any good.’

1812 J. Watt Let. 13 Apr. in J. P. Muirhead Origin & Progress Mech. Inventions J. Watt (1843) II. 338 It is a Mr. Fulton who has constructed the steam-boats in America.

1830 W. Carleton Traits & Stories Irish Peasantry II. 133 And maybe..'tis we that didn't lick them well in the last fair.

1883 Harper's Mag. June 35/1 It is I who am a drag on you. It is I who am getting you into danger.

1922 Fortn. Rev. 1 Mar. 516 It is a bad workman who complains of his tools.

2007 A. McCall Smith Good Husband Zebra Drive x. 113 It's not everybody who is as good to their staff as you are.

(c) With the noun phrase which would be the object or complement of the clause or the object of a preposition within it as complement.In quot. eOE (unusually early, but superficially very similar) hit is in apparent grammatical agreement with spell, which is neuter in Old English; hence, not a secure instance of this construction.

eOE Metres of Boethius (transcript of damaged MS) (2009) xxii. 53 Hit is riht spell þæt us reahte gio ald uðwita, ure Platon.]

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 169 Hit is yourself that I love so well.

1529 T. More Dyaloge Dyuers Maters iv. iii. f. C.iii/2 He myght..saye yt was not it that he appeled vnto.

1652 H. Bell tr. M. Luther Colloquia Mensalia 113 The Turks and Jews do acknowledg God the Father, but it is the Son that they shoot at.

1738 S. Whatley tr. K. L. von Pöllnitz Mem. III. 261 Perhaps it was this Town only that a certain Frenchman had seen, when he said that he had taken Notice of but three Things in Holland.

1800 M. Edgeworth Castle Rackrent 41 It's the barrack room your honor's talking on.

1845 W. Carleton Denis O'Shaughnessy 197 'Twas his weddin' you seen passin' a minute agone.

1863 W. C. Dowding Life & Corr. G. Calixtus vi. 40 It is the Ramist party that the allusion points to.

1903 J. Vaizey Pixie O'Shaughnessy xv. 166 It's a fine strapping lass you will be one of these days.

1926 S. O'Casey Plough & Stars iii. 80 Is it wounded y'are, Mrs Clitheroe?

1968 Vogue 15 Apr. 121/1 Both red and white wines are grown, but it is the latter that are worth looking for.

2008 I. Wedde Chinese Opera 31 It was the solitude of my house that I liked.

(d) Irish English. With a verbal element which would be the verb of the clause as complement.This verbal element usually is or includes an -ing form.

ΚΠ

1698 J. Dunton Rep. Sermon (Bodl. MS. Rawl. D. 71) in A. Bliss Spoken Eng. in Irel. (1979) 133 'Tis come bourying you are de corp, de cadaver, of a verie good woman.

1829 G. Griffin Collegians (ed. 2) III. xvi. 3 Is it to drink you say she used?

1843 W. Carleton Traits & Stories Irish Peasantry (new ed.) I. 22 Why, thin, is it thinkin' to venthur out sich a night as it's comin' on yer Reverences would be?

1914 P. MacGill Children of Dead End viii. 51 It's only dramin' and dotin' that she is.

1996 F. McCourt Angela's Ashes v. 137 Is it coddin' me you are?

II. Objective uses.

5. As object: the thing (inanimate, abstract, etc.: see sense A. 1a) previously mentioned, implied, or easily identified.

a. As direct object.

eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 885 Þy ilcan geare feng Carl to þam westrice..swa hit his þridda fęder hæfde.

eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) i. i. 10 On ðæm londe is xxxii þeoda; nu hæt hit mon eall Parthia.

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) i. 185 Wyrc þe nu ænne arc, þreo hund fæðma lang..& þritig fæðma heah. Gehref hit eal.

OE Blickling Homilies 231 Hu mæg ic hit on þrim dagum gefaran?

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) ii. 9 Faraones dohtor cwæþ to hyre: vnderfoh þis cyld & fed hit me.

lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 1070 Se arcebiscop axode hyrsumnesse mid aþswerunge at him, & he hit forsoc.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) Ded. l. 125 & forr þi. wha se lerneþþ itt. & follȝheþþ itt wiþþ dede.

a1200 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Trin. Cambr.) 252 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 227 [Þ]ar is fur..[N]e mai hit quenche salt water.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 235 Alured king hit seide & wrot, ‘He schunet þat hine wl wot.’

c1300 Judas Iscariot (Harl.) l. 142 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 111 His gvttes fulle to grounde, menie men hit iseye.

c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. i. l. 90 (MED) Clerkes þat knowen hit [sc. truth] scholde techen hit aboute.

?c1425 Recipe in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Arun. 334) (1790) 428 Set hit on the fyre, and let hit boyle.

a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail l. l. 728 Certein me Semeth In My wyt that they han wel deservit It.

1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 600/1 Adam eate hit also through temptacion.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Exod. ii. 9 Take this childe, and nurse it for me, I wyll geue y^e thy rewarde.

1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. ii. 36 Would hee not (a naughty man) let it sleepe.

1611 Bible (King James) Psalms cxix. 140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy seruant loueth it.

1611 Bible (King James) 1 Kings iii. 26 Let it be neither mine nor thine, but diuide it.

1635 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Donzella Desterrada 98 Taking mee by the hand and gently wringing it.

1733 A. Pope Ess. Man iii. 77 Heaven..To Man imparts it [sc. knowledge of his end]; but with such a View, As while he dreads it, makes him hope it too.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. v. vi. 164 Pardon me, if I have said any Thing to offend you—I did not mean it.

1808 W. Scott Marmion v. xii. 259 The bride kissed the goblet; the knight took it up.

1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede II. iii. xxii. 147 She must keep it under her clothes, and no one would see it.

1879 A. Bain Higher Eng. Gram. 27 The day will be fine; no one doubts it.

1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xiii. 144 Few will believe it, but it's an honest-to-goodness fact.

1952 E. F. Davies Illyrian Venture vi. 115 I went back..to get my second horse, only to find it dead lame, having been pricked when it was shod.

2011 New Yorker 11 Apr. 60/3 They love it if she's a Type A who can't find a guy.

b. After a preposition.Also with prepositions that originally took a complement in the dative in Old English, replacing him pron. (see him pron. 2a).In Middle English compounds of there- (þar-) were more usual: see there adv. Compounds 1c and thereafter, thereat, thereby, therein, thereon, therewith, etc., as main entries.

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xx. 25 Gyf ðu stænen weofod me wyrce, [ne] getimbra ðu ðæt of gesnidenum stanum; gyf ðu ðin tol ahefst ofer hit [L. super eo], hit byð besmiten.

lOE Wulfstan Baptism (Corpus Cambr. 302) (1957) 172 Þonne se mæssepreost cristnað ærest þæt cild, þonne orðað he þriw [perh. read þry] on an on hit.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Royal) (1850) Apoc. xxi. 24 The kinges of erthe shulen bringe to her glory and honour in to it [1526 Tyndale vnto hit].

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 2795 (MED) Þat place es neghest aboven hel pitte, Bytwen purgatory and itte.

1485 W. Caxton tr. Paris & Vienne (1957) 3 Nor say nothynge to hyr of hyt.

1582 Bible (Rheims) Matt. xxviii. 4 What is that to vs? looke thou to it.

1582 Bible (Rheims) Matt. xxviii. 24 Looke you to it [1611 See ye to it].

1590 Tarltons Newes out of Purgatorie 29 He hied him thither, and found them all hard at it by the teeth.

1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. i. 30 We ought to looke toote [1623 to it] .

1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles xi. 21 A litle Daughter: for the sake of it, Be manly.

1635 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Donzella Desterrada 99 Shee would oft-times sigh to thinke of it.

1663 S. Pepys Diary 15 Apr. (1971) IV. 103 I to my office and there hard at it till almost noon.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. vi. vii. 276 Unless you consent to it, I will not give you a Groat.

1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric I. xviii. 382 There is no froth nor affectation in it.

1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake iii. 101 The Hermit, by it stood, Bare-footed, in his frock and hood.

1858 E. Bulwer-Lytton (title) What will he do with it?

1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim vii. 85 He saw nothing for it but ship before the mast—could get perhaps a quartermaster's billet in some steamer.

1998 Toronto Star 29 July c1/1 The Jays..go about it bass ackwards.

c. As indirect object: to it.Replacing Old English him: see him pron. 2a.

lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 963 He macode fyrst þa wealle abutan þone mynstre, geaf hit þa to nama Burch þe ær het Medeshamstede.

a1400 (c1300) Archbishop & Nun (Coll. Phys.) in J. Small Eng. Metrical Homilies (1862) 87 He yald it [sc. that bodi] that it gert him do, With pin, and reft it rest and ro.

?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 110 To don it [sc. the sun] worschipe and reuerence.

?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens iv. sig. Oj Take a lytell candell of waxe and gyue it a lytel stey belowe that it may holde ryght upon the flesshe.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 186 'Tis a good dulnesse, And giue it way.

a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 162 It grandame will Giue yt a plum.

1642 D. Rogers Naaman 362 Shewing it an entrance and a possiblenesse of escape.

1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 574 Beating down the Head or Yeast into it; this gives it the sweet Aleish Taste.

1782 W. Cowper Conversation in Poems 236 Give it the breast or stop its mouth with pap!

1816 P. B. Shelley Superstition in Alastor 73 Converging thou didst give it name, and form.

1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling iv. 92 Give it a pull so as to embed the barb.

1938 Amer. Home Jan. 41/1 A few of us have long been utilizing the principle involved without giving it a name.

1992 Harper's Mag. Oct. 72 The prognosticators..recruit an audience and show it a film.

6. reflexive. = itself pron., adj., and adv. Now archaic except after a preposition.The reflexive use of it is rarer than that of him, her, because of the lower frequency of neuter agents.

ΚΠ

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xvi. 30 Reste ðæt folc hit [L. sabbatizavit populus] on ðam seofoðan dæge.

a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 109 Whar ðe godd ȝifð ðese mihte, hit kydh hit sone.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Coll. Phys.) l. 22575 Ogayn þe se þan sal it draw Doun fra þe lift vnto þe law.

?1531 R. Barnes Supplic. Kinge Henrye VIII f. cxxxi^v What collour so euer yt bryng wyth yt of holynes lett yt be a cursed and reknyd of the deuell.

a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) v. vii. 55 My heart hath one poore string to stay it by.

1799 Scots Mag. Nov. 775/1 There is scarcely one of those haunts but what attracts to it some story-teller.

1895 Outlook 27 Apr. 684/1 The church..naturally draws to it those who believe in that creed and policy.

1908 Pacific 26 June 5/2 It pulled after it, at immense speed, a boat fully manned.

2011 C. H. Long Josefina's Sin 136 As it emerged, it took with it the piece of my heart that it owned, to accompany her soul to heaven.

7. Used as anticipatory object when the logical object is a clause. Cf. A. 4.

eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxii. 488 Ic hit wat ðæt nauht nis þæs þe he [don] ne mæge.

lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 675 Ic hit wille þet hit on ælle wise beo swa swa ge hit sprecon hauen.

a1250 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Nero) (1952) 196 God hit wot me were leouere uorto don me touward rome.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 22798 Whenne god hit wol..þat monnes flesshe to molde fal.

1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xv. f. liv^v I take yt that prohybycyon of openynge of the counsayle in this case is onely to be vnderstande of theyr own consayle amonge them selfe.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. i. 63 I take it your owne busines calls on you.

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iv. i. 206 Publish it, that she is dead.

1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures xlviii. 185 Good luck would have it that this young Damosel came hither.

1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. 24 Several People will have it that this Root is Alexiterial.

1758 C. Lennox Henrietta II. v. viii. 260 It will be more for your reputation to have it known that you lived in such a respectable society.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam i. 1 I held it truth..That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things.

1881 C. P. Mason Eng. Gram. §405 He made it clear that the plan was impossible.

1924 J. Buchan Three Hostages ix. 127 ‘I can take it that there's nothing wrong with me?’ ‘Nothing that a game of squash and a little Eno won't cure’.

2004 National Geographic Mar. 36/2 Legend has it that the Hai are descended from a renowned archer.

a. As a vague or indefinite object of a transitive verb, after a preposition, etc. Also as object of a verb which is predominantly intransitive, giving the same meaning as the intransitive use, and as object of many verbs formed (frequently in an ad hoc way) from nouns meaning ‘act the character, use the thing, indicated’.Through verbs having corresponding nouns of the same form, as to lord, the construction seems to have been extended to other nouns as king, queen, etc. There may have been some influence from do it as a substitute, not only for any transitive verb and its object, but for an intransitive verb of action, as in ‘he tried to swim, but could not do it’, where it is the action in question.

?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element sig. Evi^v And I can daunce it gyngerly..And I can kroke it curtesly And I can lepe it lustly And I can torn it trymly And I can fryske it freshly And I can loke it lordly.

1548 W. Patten Exped. Scotl. sig. G.ij^v If they had meant to fight it out.

1579 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 73 To face it oute lustelye.

1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. O8 That flaunt it out in their saten doblets.

1590 H. Smith Wedding Garment 29 When our backs flant it like courtiers.

1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus iv. i. 120 Ile goe braue it at the Court.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) i. iii. 80 She sweepes it through the Court with troups of Ladies.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. vii. 200 I see them Lording it in London streets.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) ii. iii. 16 Ile Deuill-Porter it no further.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 381 Foote it featly heere, and there.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 449 Ile Queene it no inch farther.

1645 J. Milton L'Allegro in Poems 31 Com, and trip it as ye go On the light fantastick toe.

1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 65 Taught many Successors to King it right for many ages.

1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 78 Poore Coblers well may fault it now and then.

1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine ii. x. 210 Hyssop doth tree it [L. arborescit] in Judea.

1787 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 334 She is coqueting it with England.

1850 E. B. Browning Calls on heart ii The world goes riding it fair and grand.

1873 R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunting Songs (new ed.) 104 Dyspepsy and gout the amusement may share, So go it, ye cripples! and take a Bath chair.

1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat ii We decided that we would..hotel it, and inn it, and pub. it when it was wet.

1947 J. Symons Man Called Jones (2001) i. 64 The system which permits..Lionel Hargreaves to lord it over you and me.

2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane iv. 70 Surely roughing it in London can't be that bad.

b. Used as a vague object in imprecations.

1606 H. Parrot Mous-trap sig. B4^v Tvsh hang it: haue at all.., Comes not deuce ace, assoone as six & three?

1703 R. Steele Tender Husband iii. ii No, hang it!

1779 F. Burney Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 394 I would have sent to you, but Hang it, thought I.

1800 T. Morton Speed Plough ii. ii. 28 But dash it, Lady Nelly, what do make thee paint thy vace all over we rud ochre zoo?

1877 S. Mackaye Won at Last iii. Damn it! I wish this laughing hyena was in ballyhack!

1922 S. Lewis Babbitt v. 51 Darn it, I thought you'd quit this darn smoking!

1992 Independent 11 Dec. 13/6 Trevor pranged his car. (‘Sod it,’ he said, ‘that's my night ruined.’).

III. As antecedent pronoun with postmodifying clause or phrase.

9. Followed by a relative expressed or understood. That (which); the one (that). Now rare.More frequently expressed by that which, the one that, what.In quot. eOE with Old English relative þætte (see the pron.¹ b).

ΚΠ

eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxvii. 510 Ne mæg nan mon oðsacan þæt hit ne sie eall good þætte riht [bið] and eall yfel þætte woh bið [L. bonum esse quod iustum est contraque quod iniustum est malum.].

OE Homily: Sunnandæges Spell (Corpus Cambr. 419) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 214 Hit is soð, þæt wit secgað, ðæt fram nænigum eorðlicum handgeweorce næs seo boc awriten.

a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 117 Hit is soð ðat tu seiest.

c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Harl.) l. 566 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 510 Louerd..þu hit ert þat ich habbe iloued.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Eccles. i. 9 What is that was, it that is to come? What is that is mad, it that is to be maad?

c1450 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1977) 84 Iuy..takyth hold; it kepyth fast And strenkyth it that is hym bye.

c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 145 J..takis fra him jt, yat he wald haue tane fra me.

a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. Q.vj^v Idelnesse, whereby our envy entreth, is it whiche openeth the gate to all vyces.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Chron. iv. A God caused it for to come that he axed.

1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 541 It that tha wyn at our plesour to spend.

1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. xi. sig. E It hapth in one houre, that hapth not in .vii. yere.

1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus v. i. 59 And if it please me which thou speakst.

1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. i. 53 It holdes currant that I tolde you yesternight.

1611 Bible (King James) Isa. li. 9 Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab?

a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) ii. iv. 76 That's it, that alwayes makes a good voyage of nothing.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxvi. 137 But that is not it I intend to speak of here.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VII. lxxix. 271 That is it that makes the loss insupportable.

1898 S. Baring-Gould Old Eng. Home ii. 30 The highly-gifted Celt went wrong at the outstart, and that is it which has been his bane through centuries.

2002 M. M. Perelman tr. M. Levinshtein Spirit Russ. Sci. 20 That's it which is so interesting!

IV. In extended uses.

10. Sexual intercourse. Now colloquial. Cf. do v. 18.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > [noun] > sexual intercourse

ymonec950

moneOE

meanc1175

manredc1275

swivinga1300

couplec1320

companyc1330

fellowred1340

the service of Venusc1350

miskissinga1387

fellowshipc1390

meddlinga1398

carnal knowinga1400

flesha1400

knowledgea1400

knowledginga1400

japec1400

commoning?c1425

commixtionc1429

itc1440

communicationc1450

couplingc1475

mellingc1480

carnality1483

copulation1483

mixturea1500

Venus act?1507

Venus exercise?1507

Venus play?1507

Venus work?1507

conversation?c1510

flesh-company1522

act?1532

carnal knowledge1532

occupying?1544

congression1546

soil1555

conjunction1567

fucking1568

rem in re1568

commixture1573

coiture1574

shaking of the sheets?1577

cohabitation1579

bedding1589

congress1589

union1598

embrace1599

making-outa1601

rutting1600

noddy1602

poop-noddy1606

conversinga1610

carnal confederacy1610

wapping1610

businessa1612

coition1615

doinga1616

amation1623

commerce1624

hot cocklesa1627

other thing1628

buck1632

act of love1638

commistion1658

subagitation1658

cuntc1664

coit1671

intimacy1676

the last favour1676

quiffing1686

old hat1697

correspondence1698

frigging1708

Moll Peatley1711

coitus1713

sexual intercourse1753

shagging1772

connection1791

intercourse1803

interunion1822

greens1846

tail1846

copula1864

poking1864

fuckeea1866

sex relation1871

wantonizing1884

belly-flopping1893

twatting1893

jelly roll1895

mattress-jig1896

sex1900

screwing1904

jazz1918

zig-zig1918

other1922

booty1926

pigmeat1926

jazzing1927

poontang1927

relations1927

whoopee1928

nookie1930

hump1931

jig-a-jig1932

homework1933

quickie1933

nasty1934

jig-jig1935

crumpet1936

pussy1937

Sir Berkeley1937

pom-pom1945

poon1947

charvering1954

mollocking1959

leg1967

rumpy-pumpy1968

shafting1971

home plate1972

pata-pata1977

bonking1985

legover1985

knobbing1986

rumpo1986

fanny1993

c1440 S. Scrope tr. C. de Pisan Epist. of Othea (St. John's Cambr.) (1970) 46 His stepmoder loued him so wel & so hoote that sche requyred it of him.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Fretiller,..to..lust to be at it.

1699 A. Boyer Royal Dict. at At She longs to be at it, Elle s'impatiente de goûter les Fruits de l'Amour.

1727 P. Longueville Hermit ii. 115 Come let's see what you'll do, for I long to be at it.

1896 J. S. Farmer Vocab. Amatoria 118/1 Faire, to copulate; ‘to do it’.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xviii. [Penelope] 713 Gardner said no man could look at my mouth and teeth smiling like that and not think of it.

1923 T. Wolfe Lett. (1956) 45 I have been reading the Amores of Ovid this morning. It is beautiful Latin and beautiful poetry—although it is altogether concerned with two topics: How am I going to get it and How fine it was when you let me have it.

1949 N. Mitford Love in Cold Climate i. xi. 119 I was lugged off to their secret meeting-place..to be asked what it was like.

1972 F. Warner Maquettes 16 He doesn't even know I'm overdue. And he hasn't had it for a week.

1999 E. Holly Velvet Glove (2007) i. 9 Need it bad, don't you?

11. Originally U.S. In emphatic predicative use: the actual or very thing required or expected; that beyond which one cannot go; the acme.Quot. a1834 is given in O.E.D. Suppl. as the earliest example, but it here seems interpretable as simply referring back to ‘the character’, especially since other evidence of use before 1896 is lacking.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [noun] > peak of perfection

perfection1340

pointc1400

pinnaclec1450

firmament1526

tipe1548

vertical point1559

acmea1568

status1577

summity1588

sublimation1591

turret1593

topgallant1597

non ultra?1606

vertical1611

non plus ultra1647

ne ultraa1657

verticle1658

summit1661

ne plus ultra1664

ne plus1665

nonplus1670

tip-top1702

pink1720

sublime1748

eminencea1854

it1896

a1834 C. Lamb Dramatic Ess. (1891) 52 Lovegrove..revived the character..and made it sufficiently grotesque; but Dodd was it, as it came out of Nature's hands.]

1896 G. Ade Artie i. 4 I didn't do a thing but push my face in there about eight o'clock last night, and I was ‘it’ from the start.

1900 Dial. Notes 2 42 Did he know his Greek? I should say so. He was it.

1906 Daily Chron. 5 Mar. 6/6 There is in America a curious use of the word ‘it’ conveyed by emphasis. Pre-eminently Roosevelt is ‘it’. Next after Roosevelt an American would say ‘Shaw is it’.

1915 ‘I. Hay’ First Hundred Thousand xx. 307 You can't go anywhere in London without running up against him. He is It.

1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers (N.Y. ed.) 178 Red Men still stick themselves over with bits of his fluff, And feel absolutely IT.

1963 P. Willmott Evol. Community i. 8 People were making themselves out to be something they weren't... They thought they were it.

2009 L. Harris Taste for Red 47 Have you ever known a person who thinks she's it on a stick? The center of the universe?

B. adj.

1. As possessive adjective. Of it; which belongs or relates to it. Also reflexive: of itself; which belongs or relates to itself. Cf. its adj. Now English regional (chiefly north midlands and northern) and Scottish (rare). †it own: its own (obsolete). Surv. Eng. Dial. records this use in Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, and Leicestershire (cf. C. Upton et al. Surv. Eng. Dial.: Dict. & Gram. (1994) 488). Sc. National Dict. records this use in the Northern Isles, north-eastern Scotland, Midlothian, and Berwickshire in 1958.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > owning > [adjective] > own > his, her, its, or their > its

hisOE

itselfa1400

itc1400

its1577

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 956 Aboute Sodamas and hit sydez alle.

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 264 Þer watz no law to hem layd bot loke to kynde, And kepe to hit, and alle hit cors clanly fulfylle.

c1475 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Taylor) in J. Robson Three Early Eng. Metrical Romances (1842) 5 I wille speke with the sprete, And of hit woe wille I wete, Gif that I may hit bales bete, And the body bare.

1533 J. Gau tr. C. Pedersen Richt Vay sig. Lii Ye sinful hart..hes notht faith in it selff na cane notht haiff it of it aune natur na power.

?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens ii. sig. Ij It sendeth the humour melencolyke to the stomacke for to prouoke it appetyte.

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke vii. 81 b Loue..also hath it infancie & it hath it commyng forewarde in growthe of age.

1563 J. Davidson Answer to Tractiue Kennedy in D. Laing Misc. Wodrow Soc. (1844) I. 206 The Romane Kirk hes receavit be it awin judgement, the commune translatione.

1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. ii. 19 It hath no forme of it owne; for had it any of it owne, it could not breede them, because it owne would occupie it to the full.

1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique i. xxix. 197 He shall suffer the yong asse to sucke it dam, vntill it be two yeeres old.

1605 Bp. J. Hall Medit. & Vowes II. §86 That, which with it owne glory can make them happie.

1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear iv. 211 It had it head bit off beit young.

1611 Bible (King James) Lev. xxv. 5 That which groweth of it [1660 its] owne accord..thou shalt not reape.

1622 G. Wither Faire-virtue sig. F8 Each part as faire doth show, In it kind, as white in Snow.

1795 Sporting Mag. Sept. 325/1 Able to make it own way.

a1824 J. Briggs Remains (1825) 181 Wat its quite a throddy; an as like it fadther as if he ed spit it.

1869 E. Waugh Lancs. Sketches 89 Look at it een; they're as breet as th' north-star ov a frosty neet.

1876 J. Richardson Cummerland Talk 2nd Ser. 15 With threetnin' storm, Helvellyn laps Dark cloods aroond it' heid.

1881 Lancash. Gloss. (at cited word) If he can catch houd o' that dog he'll have it life.

1884 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester (1886) (at cited word) Come to it mammy.

1892 J. Wright Gram. Dial. of Windhill 121 Possessive..it its... it iəd wāks its head aches.

1899 in N.E.D. (1900) N.E. Scotch [Dundee, arch.] ‘See at the cat pittin' up it paw an' clawin' it head’.

1920 L. M. Watt Douglas's Æneid 172 A woman in the North will say that a child has ‘bladdit it hand’.

1986 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Mar. 11 It had a mouse in it paw.

2. attributive. [After It girl n.; compare also It boy n.] Designating a person who or thing which is exceptionally fashionable, successful, or prominent at a particular time, as it bag, it couple, it gadget, etc. Frequently with capital initial.

1997 Sunday Times 2 Nov. x. 12 Her range of It Bags are attracting a loyal following, especially among supermodels.

1998 Time 19 Jan. 73/2 By the end of 1967, Sonny & Cher had sold 40 million records world wide and had become rock's ‘it’ couple.

2000 Wired July 260/2 Hyderabad..is becoming the new ‘it’ place for startups.

2003 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) July 122/3 For now, executives and producers of the genre are suddenly Hollywood's ‘It kids’.

2005 J. Cox Around World in 80 Dates iv. 102 Paul, a chef who worked in one of the ‘It’ restaurants in Copenhagen.

2008 Sun (Nexis) 13 May The latest ‘it’ gadget to set pulses racing, the iPhone caused a stir when it was released earlier this year.

C. n.¹

a. In children's games: (the name of) the player who has the task of catching or touching any of the others. Also figurative and in extended use. Cf. he n.¹ 3a.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > hiding or chasing game > [noun] > he or it

he1810

it1825

1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. It, a term applied, in the games of young people, to the person whose lot it is to afford the sport. Thus, in Blindman's Buff, he who is blindfolded is It, in Loth. Hit. It is also used in Hy Spy, Tig, &c.

1842 R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes Scotl. (new ed.) 62/2 The tig usually catches and touches some one upon the crown, before all are in—otherwise he has to be it for another game.

1888 H. C. Bolton Counting-out Rhymes 2 The leader then counts out once more, and the child not set free by the magic word is declared to be ‘it’.

1923 R. Kipling Land & Sea Tales 279 As the sides are chosen and all submit To the chance of the lot that shall make them ‘It’.

1949 J. B. Priestley Delight 137 The boy who was ‘it’ retrieved the can and replaced it in the circle.

1950 C. S. Lewis Lion, Witch & Wardrobe iii. 30 They decided to play hide-and-seek. Susan was ‘It’ and..the others scattered to hide.

1970 G. Jackson Let. 23 Mar. in Soledad Brother (1971) 188 It's us against them, hide and seek. They're always it and getting caught means getting dusted.

1974 S. Gulliver Vulcan Bull. 111 ‘I'm not helping to get him knocked off to suit..the CIA.’ ‘That's too bad, Lee,’ said Selby quietly, ‘because you're it.’

2011 L. Oliver Delirium 387 ‘Tag’, I say to Hana... ‘You're it’.

b. A children's game in which one player has the task of catching or touching any of the others; = tag n.² 1 Cf. he n.¹ 3b.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > hiding or chasing game > [noun] > tag

tick1622

hide-and-seek1724

tag1738

tig1816

touch-last1825

touch1828

widdy widdy way1832

touch and run1844

tiggy1845

widdy1859

Tommy Touchwood1876

pom-pom-pull-away1883

pull-away1883

squat tag1883

stoop tag1898

he1900

it1969

shadow tag1969

1969 I. Opie & P. Opie Children's Games ii. 65 The following are the names for the ordinary game of Touch:..It. Common in the west country, and relatively uncommon elsewhere.

1999 T. Lott White City Blue (2000) 101 Colin and I splashing each other, bombing, having underwater races, playing ‘It’ around the pool perimeter.

2007 C. Kelly Children's World xi. 427 Often, chasing games of this kind, rather than being played as plain ‘it’ or ‘tig’ (in Russian salki) were associated with mini-scenarios.

a. Someone or something referred to by the pronoun it; an impersonal or unknown entity.

1854 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Aug. 166/2 God—a germ, a principle, an it, a he, the spirit of life in every particle of matter!

1858 Tait's Edinb. Mag. July 405/1 The inference that they, these governesses..should not be dignified with the attribute of humanity—so the governess was only an ‘it’ with him, and not a ‘she’.

1914 D. Crawford Not Lawful to Utter ii. vi. 128 Their ‘whither’ was as usual only an it. It, that is, heaven—a locality.

1960 R. D. Laing Divided Self i. 21 Seen as an organism, man cannot be anything else but a complex of things, of its, and the processes that ultimately comprise an organism are it-processes.

1998 B. Kingsolver Poisonwood Bible (1999) ii. 92 Yes, I could see there was charcoal for cooking it..and calabash bowls to put it in, but where was the it, whatever it was?

b. Psychoanalysis. In the theory of G. W. Groddeck: the unconscious force or agency behind human behaviour and personality, esp. as expressed in an individual's physical or mental health. See discussion in the etymology at id n.³

ΚΠ

1928 L. P. Clark in G. Groddeck Bk. of It Pref. Professor Freud..has acknowledged our indebtedness to Dr. Groddeck for his enlarged view of the unconscious, which we now refer to as It.

1941 L. MacNeice Poetry of Yeats 179 A parallel process can be observed in W. H. Auden, in whose system something like Groddeck's ‘It’ takes the place of Yeats's Anima Mundi.

1965 Listener 24 June 948/1 What was this force? The It. Freud was interested, and took over Das Es as the Id.

1988 A. Sayres in F. D. Homer Interpr. Illness 22 The it is sovereign on matters of health and illness.

2006 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 22 Oct. 45 Groddeck saw the ‘It’ as the dominant, though unconscious, agency of personality.

3. An alluring or magnetic personal quality, esp. sex appeal. Now rare.Popularized by Elinor Glyn (see quot. 1927), who used the term as the title of her 1927 novel (adapted by her for the screen in the same year).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > attractiveness > [noun] > sex appeal

sexual attraction?1798

sex appeal1903

it1904

oomph1937

bed-worthiness1959

1901 G. Ade 40 Mod. Fables 63 In the Commercial Agencies he was Rated AA Plus A1, which meant that he had it in Bales.]

1904 R. Kipling Traffics & Discov. 352 'Tisn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just It. Some women'll stay in a man's memory if they once walk down a street.

1927 E. Glyn ‘It’ i. 10 He had that nameless charm, with a strong magnetism which can only be called ‘It’.

1932 Bystander 23 Mar. 546 A film star who has proved to producers and film public alike that she is blessed with that undefinable quality called ‘It’.

1972 L. P. Bachmann Ultimate Act i. 16 She really had ‘It’, as it was called.

1997 Rugby World Aug. 114/2 For by then one has emerged who possesses that indefinable ‘IT’, that unstated and cohesive charisma and all-court personality around which the others are happy and comfortable to bond.

2008 Ebony Mar. 114/1 She's just got it like that.

Phrases

P1. colloquial. this is it: the event previously spoken about or feared is about to happen.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [phrase] > this is it

this is it1906

1906 Metrop. Mag. Feb. 572/1 ‘Wough, this is it!’ he said to himself.

1920 Lyceum Mag. May 31 Schools! This is it!

1942 Newsweek 27 July 23/3 Finucane tried to settle the rocking plane onto the water. It hit the waves, then sank like a rock. Just before, Paddy spoke into the two-way radio: ‘This is it, chaps.’

1959 Sunday Times 5 Apr. 15/7 He heard the sound of countless aircraft overhead. This is it, he thought.

1978 T. Willis Buckingham Palace Connection ix. 179 ‘This is it, then.’ ‘Yep... Over the top and the best of luck.’

2008 J. Armstrong & S. Bain Peep Show 2nd Ser. Episode 5. 114/2 This is it. I have entered the world of men. All I need is some beef jerky and somewhere to spit.

P2. colloquial. that's it.

a. Used to express affirmation or agreement: ‘you are right’, ‘exactly’. Also is that it?: used to invite confirmation of a statement or proposal.

1727 D. Defoe Conjugal Lewdness 245 Tom. What, you will have a Wife pass'd Children then. Is that it? Jack. Yes, yes, that's it indeed. But I would not have a very Old one, neither.

1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer v. ii. 93 Tony. Riddle me this, then. What's that goes round the house and round the house and never touches the house? Hart. I'm still astray. Tony. Why that's it, mon. I have led them astray...

1825 Missionary Herald (Boston) Nov. 341/2 Mr. K. ‘What you mean is, that he walks not according to the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.’ Derveesh. ‘That's it.’

1878 W. C. Russell Wreck of Grosvenor III. 11 ‘That's it, sir,’ exclaimed Cornish. ‘I reckon there's little enough mutineering among 'em now Stevens is gone.’

1918 C. Wells Vicky Van iv. 53 ‘A friend of hers named Somers has been bumped off.’ ‘What? Killed?’ ‘That's it.’

1948 Boys' Life 7/1 ‘That's it, Jerry,’ he said in an awed voice, ‘Irish is telepathic.’

1976 T. Sharpe Wilt iv. 35 You want a blow job, is that it?

2012 Slate Mag. (Nexis) 19 Dec. Yes, that's it exactly. The mass invasion of the press makes it harder for any journalist to go deep.

b. Used to express annoyance, disgruntlement, or resignation, esp. as caused by a particular act, event, etc., which is beyond the limits of one's toleration, and typically marks the commencement of a new course of behaviour.

1933 G. O'Neil Amer. Dream 145 That's it. I've had enough. I'm clearing out.

1975 Black Belt Oct. 64/3 A dejected Maruyama walked off the mat and told us, ‘That's it, I'm through; I'm too old.’

1997 J. Ryan Dismantling Mr Doyle iii. 37 You want to leave it? Just go ahead. Tell him, that's it, you're through.

2013 Scotsman (Nexis) 14 Feb. When I was subjected to some horrible remarks I thought ‘that's it, I've had enough.’

c. There is no more to it than that; the matter is settled, the job is done.

ΘΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > the whole or all > that is all or the whole [phrase]

that's it1966

1966 P. Willmott Adolescent Boys E. London v. 92 We just sat about..doing half-witted things. You only had to find a weak teacher and that was it.

1968 Listener 31 Oct. 574/3 Really I think the Brummie likes to stay at home. And work. And shop in Birmingham. Holiday in Majorca—and that's it.

1972 Observer 13 Feb. (Colour Suppl.) 18/1 To put it briefly, parents are parents and that's it.

2010 Observer 3 Jan. (Mag.) 5/1 That's it, then. It's over.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	it
释义	itpron.adj.n.¹ Brit. /ɪt/, U.S. /ɪt/ Forms: 1. α. Old English (rare)–1500s hitt, Old English–1500s hyt, Old English–1600s hit, early Middle English hic (transmission error), Middle English ȝet (south-eastern), Middle English ȝit (Essex), Middle English het, Middle English hiȝt, Middle English hite, Middle English hitȝ, Middle English hith, Middle English hitte, Middle English hyȝt, Middle English hyte, Middle English hyth, Middle English hytt, Middle English hytte, Middle English þit (see note below), Middle English yit (east midlands), late Middle English hett (in a late copy); English regional 1800s het (Somerset); U.S. regional 1800s– hit; Scottish pre-1700 hyt, pre-1700 hytt, pre-1700 1700s– hit, 1800s– hut, 1900s– het. eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 877 Gefor se here on Miercna lond & hit gedęldon sum & sum Ceolwulfe saldon.OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) xxi. 352 Hitt ys þeahhwæðere awriten on Cristesbocum hu he sylf her on worulde lærde.OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 27 Habbað geleafan, Ic hyt eom.a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 135 Ȝif hitt cumð ofte smitende to ðin hierte, wite þu to soðe ðat hit is of dieule.c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 137 Nou we most y-wyte more Of þyse worldle some lore, Hou hyȝt may be.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2962 Til a contre cades he flitt, Abimalech was lauerd of hitt [a1400 Fairf., a1400 Trin. hit; a1400 Gött. itt].a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 14463 Ȝet walde þai noȝt traw on hitte.?c1425 Recipe in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Arun. 334) (1790) 447 Do hit in a pot, and let hitte sethe.a1450 St. Edith (Faust.) (1883) 2199 Hurre soule fatte to heuene blysse þe thrydtythe day or hite were y-bore.c1450 (a1400) Orologium Sapientiæ in Anglia (1888) 10 366 Hith longith to þe forto byleue þis soþfastly.c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn 2098 Ȝit vaillith nat to hast.1524 R. Pace Let. 5 Aug. in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. App. xi. 27 Pleasith hyt your Highnes to bee advertisid.1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 139 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 265 Scho pullit hir cunt and gaif hit buffettis tway Vpoun þe cheikis.1598 Queen Elizabeth I tr. Plutarch De Curiositate in Queen Elizabeth's Englishings (1899) xiv. 23 As wound that bloudies hit self while hit is Launged.1675 T. Duffett Mock-tempest v. ii. 46 The nothingness of the Mouse,..the somethingness, yea the fullness of hit.1798 D. Crawford Poems 53 The vera sight o' hit They douna dree.1825 J. Jennings Observ. Dial. W. Eng. 44 Het o'nt.1858 Harper's Mag. Jan. 178/2 Why, hit was cold enough to freeze the hair off a bar.a1896 J. Slater Seaside Idylls (1898) 42 Na, that's nae hut.c1937 J. Boatman in C. L. Perdue et al. Weevils in Wheat (1976) 50 Hit was a toll bridge.1952 Edinb. Evening News 9 July 4/4 An ordinary can..was kicked as far as a boyish foot could send it, and it had to be retrieved by the boy victim who was ‘het’.2004 M. R. Smith D Greetin Bairn (SCOTS) Hit is nae less o an imposition fur a hits guise o freendly assistance. β. Old English (rare) Middle English– it, Middle English ith, Middle English itte, Middle English yth (Norfolk), Middle English 1600s ite, Middle English (1700s archaic) ytte, Middle English–1500s (1800s– regional) et, Middle English–1600s jt, Middle English–1600s ytt, Middle English–1700s yt, Middle English–1700s (1900s– archaic) itt, 1500s ete, 1800s– ut (regional), 1900s– 'ut (English regional); Scottish pre-1700 ite, pre-1700 jt, pre-1700 yt, pre-1700 yte, pre-1700 1700s itt, pre-1700 1700s– it. OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 168 Hyre oðer awrat þas gewyrdelican race on ledenum gereorde, ac we it reccað on Englisc.lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1128 He hit dide forði þet he wolde þurh his micele wiles ðear beon wær it tweolf monð oððe mare & siððon ongeon cumen.c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) Ded. l. 27 Unnc birrþ baþe þannkenn crist Þatt itt iss brohht till ende.a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 107 Be swo it beo.?a1200 (?OE) Peri Didaxeon (1896) 31 Þacc yt þanne gelomelice mid þan wermum wætere betwex þan scaldrun [read sculdrun].c1300 Body & Soul (Laud Misc. 108) (1889) 63 Bi top and tail he slongen hit And kesten it with myȝt and mayn Doun into the develes pit.?c1350 Ballad Sc. Wars 99 in A. Brandl & O. Zippel Mitteleng. Sprach- u. Literaturproben (1917) 138 Rym itt es recth als þou may For ay skill ii tell it þee.1372 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 72 Be et as þu me seyde.c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 4147 Jt shal be wel dere abouȝth.a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 2520 Feyne thee other cause than itte.c1480 (a1400) St. Matthew l. 194 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 195 He mad of ȝerdly paradyce a fyte, & quhat delyt is in Ite.c1500 in F. J. Furnivall Ballads from MSS (1868) I. 456 He that had yt in his hart.a1550 in R. Dyboski Songs, Carols & Other Misc. Poems (1908) 6 The blessid stoke þat yt on grew, Ytt was Mary, that bare Jhesu.1594 J. Colville Orig. Lett. (1858) 262 Qwat yowe sey in hes nem sell be as he haid seillit and sowscriwit itt.1611 E. India Co. Comm. 4 Apr. in A. Farrington Eng. Factory in Japan (1991) II. 984 Yf ytt should please God to send the like crosse upon any of theis our shipps.1690 W. Temple Ess. Poetry 63 in Miscellanea: 2nd Pt. Like a froward Child, that must be Play'd with and Humour'd a little, to keep ite quiet, till it falls asleep.1743 J. Isham Observ. Hudsons Bay (1949) 132 There is a Sort of mawse..which the Indians Eats frequent, they wash itt clean, then Boil itt for a considerable time till itts tender, then mixing it with Ruhiggan Burgoe or other Victuals, and Reckon itt Good Eating.a1770 T. Chatterton Compl. Wks. (1971) I. 92 Phille. Praie have you herdeen of the Storme of Hayle W. I have and that ytte with Reddour did sayle.1867 Lonsdale Mag. Jan. 269 Et went nineteen times round.1890 S. S. Buckman John Darke's Sojourn in Cotteswolds iv. 23 I disproved o' ers doing ut at the time.1919 E. O'Neill Moon of Caribbees 113 Ut is only from your chance meetin' wid Harry..that I happen to know where to reach you.1977 C. B. Clarke Edible & Useful Plants Calif. 184 There are many forms of it, and the red, white, and green forms are named from early times.2002 Belfast News Let. 2 Feb. 20 He gaut tha cake instead o tha deuks aun hens thaut wuda gaut et. γ. late Old English–early Middle English hid, Middle English hyd; Scottish (Orkney and Caithness) 1800s hedt, 1800s– hid. lOE Charter: Bp. Ealhferð to Cuðred (Sawyer 1275) in A. J. Robertson Anglo-Saxon Charters (1956) 26 Swa hid wæs ðy dege ðe hioe hit hiom sealdan.a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 56 Al þis world, hid sal agon.a1500 (?a1390) J. Mirk Festial (Gough) (1905) 276 Þer come an angyll..and smot al þe wheles y two peces; as þogh hyd had ben a whyrlwynde, þay rennon ouer þe pepull.1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. Hedt,..It, Orkn[ey].1880 W. T. Dennison Orcadian Sketch-bk. 1 I wad try a tullye for hid gin I tought I could get hid bae fechtin' for hid.1934 John o' Groat Jrnl. 2 Feb. Fan they cam' oot hid wis as dark as pitch.1956 C. M. Costie in Lallans 51 (1998) 9 The Horse tried his very best, bit hid wisno a canny load he hid tae cairry.1989 D. Howson Beginning (SCOTS) Hid wiz trawlermen fae Eberdeen. δ. Middle English id, Middle English yd; English regional (Lancashire) 1800s– id; Scottish (chiefly Orkney, Shetland, and Caithness in later use) pre-1700 1900s– id, 1800s– 'id; Irish English 1800s id. a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 55 Þe frut of þire wombe ibleset mot id be. ▸ c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 2424 Yif ye id [emended to it in ed.] do, ye do you shame.a1450 Rule St. Benet (Vesp.) (1902) l. 78 To fulfyll yd in word and dede.1508 Balade in Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. dv It may wele ryme Bot it accordis nought.1886 H. Cunliffe Gloss. Rochdale-with-Rossendale Words & Phrases Id,..It.1891 J. Baron Blegburn Dickshonary in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 333/1 Some fooak says id as iv they were tawkin' abeawt a hinseckt when they meean their husband, child, wife, or parent.a1899 D. Nicolson MS Coll. Caithness Words in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 185/2 I'm no muckle hobbled aboot 'id.1931 Orcadian 7 May 3/5 Whin I tink apin id hid mak's me tink a hape o' lang.1949 ‘Lex’ But-end Ballans 26 He wharkid dere a bonny while Afore he got 'id oot.1961 ‘Castlegreen’ Tatties an' Herreen' 22 She wis reetan' 'iss wey an' 'at wey bit id wis no use.2005 D. Howson Recorded Interview (SCOTS transcript) in www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk 'Id dented Dan's pride, for Peter Flett's boat hed a car enchiney fitted. ε. 1500s–1700s (1800s– regional, nonstandard, archaic, and poetic) 't. 1595 S. Daniel First Fowre Bks. Ciuile Warres v. lxviii. sig. Cc4^v The cause in managing Is more then yours; 't imports the publique rest.a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) ii. ii. 183 You staid well by 't in Egypt.a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Prophetesse iii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Eeee^v/1 'T was I that..smote ye all with terrour.a1687 C. Cotton Aeneid Burlesqued (1692) 83 Whether 't was that she..Fainted for want of brandy-cherry.1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 157 This is not the King's Highway, 't is a Way upon Sufferance.1749 B. Franklin Poor Richard's Almanack 11 'T is a well spent penny that saves a groat.1840 R. H. Horne Gregory VII V. iv. 101 'T was but the last gust of a storm outspent.1844 E. B. Browning Lady Geraldine's Courtship xxxvi 'T is a picture for remembrance.1887 G. G. Green Gordonhaven 90 'T wis than mony o's felt the poor i' wir ain herts for the first time.1888 R. Kipling Under Deodars 93 Remember, Bobby, 't isn't the best drill..it's the man who knows how to handle men.1892 M. C. F. Morris Yorks. Folk-talk 24 He brak 't i two.1956 in Sc. National Dict. (1960) V. 302/2 [Aberdeen] ‘Is't gaan tae keep dry, think ye?’ ‘I wadna say 't.’1999 J. D. McClure in M. Burgess & D. O'Rourke Friends & Kangaroos 79 I gied ye immortality—tae me, whit wes 't ye gied? 2. Combined (sometimes in contracted form) with a preceding or following word. a. Enclitic or with a proclitic word. α. Middle English -ith (perhaps transmission error), Middle English -itt, Middle English -th, Middle English -tt, Middle English -ut, Middle English -ygth (East Anglian), Middle English -yt, Middle English -yth, Middle English -ytt, Middle English -ytte, Middle English 1600s -et, Middle English 1600s (1800s– Scottish) -it, Middle English–1600s (1800s– regional) -t, 1500s–1700s (1800s– regional, nonstandard, archaic, and poetic) -'t, 1600s -t'. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1574 Loc ȝiff þut mihht ohht findenn. & whær sitt iss [= whereso it is] itt harrdneþþ all. Þe gode manness heorrte.c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 2858 Ȝhot unnderrstod, & wisste.a1200 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Trin. Cambr.) 112 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 223 Se þe last wot, he seið ofte mast; se þit al wot is stille.c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1963) 983 Brutus ȝef Corineum..one deal of his londe and settet [c1275 Calig. sette hit] on his honde.a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 590 Oðer fowerti..Dais and nigtes stodet [sc. the water] so.a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3472 Ne ist nogt moyses, amrame sune.a1425 (?a1350) Gospel of Nicodemus (Galba) (1907) 1076 Right on þis maner wast.?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh.) (1950) 192 Tak þis herbe and stamp it and leyt to þe sor.1567 G. Turberville tr. G. B. Spagnoli Eglogs viii. f. 79^v How thinkst thou Candid is't not right and reason?1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 461 I see the tricke ant [1623 on't].1605 G. Chapman Al Fooles iv. sig. H2^v I will not set my hand toot.a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. i. 66 What a full fortune does the thicklips owe, If he can carry'et thus?a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 246 What is't thou canst demand?1622 J. Hagthorpe Divine Medit. xxviii. 55 For each thing is more noble in degree, As'ts freer from Materialitie.?1630 R. Howard Sacred Poeme 29 Mother of mercy, b'it not sayd, that thou Didst' ere reiect, an humbled sinner's vow.1664 D. Turberville Let. Oct. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) II. 379 Which makes mee farther presumptuouse to desyre your advice int.1669 J. P. Antidote against Melancholy 73 I fear the draught will ne're Compound for half the charge an't.1705 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus I. iv. 4 It is but Justice that each Toe Should the same Pennance undergo.1798 W. Wordsworth Goody Blake & Harry Gill in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 85 What is't that ails young Harry Gill?1818 J. Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck I. 143 ‘Is your master a very religious man?’ ‘He's weel eneugh that way—no that very reithe ont.’1842 R. Browning Soliloquy Spanish Cloister viii Ope a sieve and slip in in't [rhyme print].1876 R. Browning Pacchiarotto & Other Poems 40 That chord now—a groan or a grunt is't? Schumann's self was no worse contrapuntist.1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Words Whitby I'se sikker on't.1886 A. D. Willock Rosetty Ends (1887) xii. 93 Dauvit tried nae mair experiments in galvanism. Ae dose o'it saired him.1926 ‘I. Farquhar’ Pickletillie Folk 215 What's this o't, Pete?1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor ii. i. 125 He's more to be praised than braised for't.2006 P. McIntosh Merchant's Mark (2008) iv. 103 We've..a pot of mutton broth on the cran, wi barley and onions in't. β. Middle English -d (East Anglian), Middle English -ed (East Anglian), Middle English -id (northern), Middle English -yd (East Anglian and south-east midlands); Scottish pre-1700 -de, pre-1700 -id, pre-1700 1700s– -'d, pre-1700 1800s -d. a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1082 Al ðat nigt he sogten ðor Ðe dure, and fundend neueremor.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Coll. Phys.) 22124 Þat al was felde lange siþin gane, He sale do raisid [a1400 Vesp. rais it] efte of stane.c1450 T. Wimbledon Serm. (Hatton) 16 Þus fardyd [= fared it] bi kyng achab.1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) iv. l. 482 To tak him in thai maid thaim redy ford.a1500 Thewis Gud Women (Cambr. Kk.1.5) l. 201 in R. Girvan Ratis Raving & Other Early Scots Poems (1939) 94 Quhilk, war nocht forss, þai wald nocht dod, And ȝhit is [read it] cummys thaim al for gud.1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 2095 Gude, halie peopill, I stand for'd.1568 Interlud Droichis Part Play 135 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 320 Quha trowis best that I do lude.1597 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae (ed. 2) 924 Affection dois affermd.a1634 A. Gardyne Theatre Scotish Worthies (1878) 88 He..to restrain'd Laid all his lines.1706 Mare of Collingtoun in J. Watson Choice Coll. Scots Poems (1977) I. 51 If it did her ony gude The morn she shou'd hae mair o'd.1743 Scots Mag. Nov. 525 The back o' the hand o'd [sc. a child] 's a' brunt.1817 W. Scott Rob Roy (1818) II. vi. 129 Naething will drived out o' my head, that the dog-kennell at Osbaldistone-Hall is better than mony a house o' God in Scotland.1873 J. A. H. Murray Dial. S. Counties Scotl. 191 Gie the man'd.1900 N.E.D. (at cited word) Mod. Sc. If you say'd I'll believe'd, for ye wadna tell'd if ye didna ken'd to be true.1952 R. T. Johnston Stenwick Days (1984) 7 A'll mak' them enter for the croonin' contest, an' tell them a'll mairry the winner o'd.?2002 I. W. D. Forde Hale ir Sindries ii. vi. 164 Tammas kent it weill, bot gied-na onie inklin at he wes fameiliar wi'd. b. Proclitic or with an enclitic verb. α. regional, nonstandard, archaic, and poetic in later use Middle English– t-, 1500s– t'-, 1500s– 't-. Sometimes showing reanalysis as it tis, it twas, etc.?a1289 Ancrene Riwle (Cleo.: Scribe D) (1972) 318 Þe blisse þet he greiþed alse as it tis uneuenelike til alle uerdlike blisses, also it is untalelike to alle werdlike þingis.a1400 (c1300) Northern Homily: Pilgrim of St. James (Coll. Phys.) in Middle Eng. Dict. at Hien Twas a man..That til sain Iamis hit the way.a1450 St. Edith (Faust.) (1883) 2380 Ychaue wrytone..þe very trewthe ryȝt as hit tys, After my connynge.c1475 Mankind (1969) 828 Alas, tys pety yt schwld be þus.1528 T. More Dialogue Heresyes iv, in Wks. 278/1 By the masse, cholde twere a faire fish pole.1598 R. Haydocke tr. G. P. Lomazzo Tracte Artes Paintinge ii. 47 T'is onely thou that can'st dis-arme this hande.a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) i. vii. 1 If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twer well, It were done quickly.1683 Satyr by way of Dial. between Lucifer & Ghosts of Shaftsbury & Russell 4 But's Hand is out, 'ts long since he kist the Book.1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 67 'Tis a Good Boy, said his Master.1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xxviii. 96 'Twill be rather too good for me.1780 W. Cowper Table Talk 768 'Twould thin the ranks of the poetic tribe.1808 W. Scott Marmion v. xii. 260 'Twere better by far To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar.1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd (1986) viii. 45 We thought we heard a hand pawing about the door for the bobbin, but weren't sure 'twere not a dead leaf blowed across.1940 in Negro in Virginia (1992) 30 Twarn't no drift snow. Twas' jus' a ordinary fallin' snow.1954 J. Kerouac Let. 26 Aug. in Sel. Lett. 1940–56 (1995) 443 T'is only an arbitrary conception of my dualistic taste-organ, my tongue.1959 P. Marshall Brown Girl, Brownstones iv. iii. 207 What it tis anyway?2005 J. Martyn Ringfort to Runway ii. iv. 154 'Tis damn dacent of ye, entirely.2012 J. McDonald Benediction 377 ‘Tis a good day fer it out there, I'm told.’ ‘Oh, it tis. It tis,” Donal replied. β. 1500s–1600s yt-, 1500s– it-, 1600s jt-, 1600s–1700s itt-, 2000s– i'- (English regional); U.S. regional 1800s et-, 1800s– hit-; Scottish pre-1700 1700s– it-, 1900s– hid- (Orkney), 1900s– hit-, 1900s– ut-; also Welsh English 2000s– ut-. Frequently with contracted verbs, where an apostrophe is now standard.1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall A v He is my bone companion, its he that cheares up me.1596 E. Spenser Faerie Queene (new ed.) ii. iii. sig. P4^v Where ease abounds, yt's eath to doe amis.1606 N. Baxter Sir Philip Sydneys Ouránia sig. D4^v Though it be, one thing by generation, Yt's another thing in contemplation.1651 N. Culpeper Semeiotica Uranica Epist. sig. A3 Speculation brings onely pleasure to a mans selfe; its Practice which benefits others.1684 G. Meriton York-shire Dial. 26 It'l git neay Cawd, it's bedded up to th' Een.1687 J. Walker Let. 10 Oct. in R. Law Eng. in W. Afr. (2001) II. 57 As to the fllag itt's soe torne that it's a shame to hoyst it.1743 J. Isham Observ. Hudsons Bay (1949) 132 They wash itt clean, then Boil itt for a considerable time till itts tender.?1772 Young Coalman's Courtship to Creelwife's Daughter (ed. 3) ii. 6 By my suth it'll be the last thing I'll part wi'.1859 F. W. Farrar Julian Home iv. 38 It'd save lots of grind.1897 C. F. Lummis King of Broncos 39 Et'll shore be a job to round 'em up.1931 J. Leask Peculiar People 131 Na, 'e waas no great rug, bit hid's no fair tae cast canteelins at onyane 'at's gaen in 'is accoont.1934 Z. N. Hurston Jonah's Gourd Vine i. 13 Strack uh light... Hit's dark in heah.1979 Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. 21 Sept. 917/1 It's lost its zing.1996 W. N. Herbert Cabaret McGonagall 46 An sae ut'll be wi you, ma luve.2005 S. Elmes Talking for Brit. i. 8 To us i's the ‘launder’. Well, you 'ave an autsider come in, say, ‘Well your launder need fitten’, 'n' they'll look blank ut yuh. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Originally the nominative and accusative third person neuter personal pronoun form. Cognate with Old Frisian hit , het (West Frisian it ), Old Dutch hit (also it ; Middle Dutch het , hit , Dutch het ): on the further etymology see discussion at he pron., n.¹, and adj. Parallel in inflection are Old Saxon it (Middle Low German it ), Old High German ez , iz (Middle High German ez , iz , German es ), Gothic ita : see further discussion at he pron., n.¹, and adj.Form history. Old English (chiefly late West Saxon) hyt (see Forms 1α) probably shows laxing in low stress (if not simply an inverted spelling with y for i in areas where Old English  had been unrounded). The early attestation and eventual prevalence of loss of initial h- (compare Forms 1β, 1δ) is due to low stress; similar forms are found for other pronouns of the third person, as 'em pron., a pron., and the forms cited at Forms 1β, 1η at he pron., n.¹, and adj. Compare also the early attestation (and frequency) of forms with loss of vowel due to low stress (compare Forms 1ε, 2). The Middle English form þit at Forms 1α (from the Ramsey Cartulary, MS Otho B.xiv) perhaps reflects occasional graphic equivalence of þ and h in some east midland manuscripts (e.g. Arundel 248); compare also the form yit at Forms 1α from a different version of the same charter. Changes in function. For the extension in function to use in indirect object function as well as with prepositions which earlier took a dative see A. 5c and A. 5b and compare discussion at him pron., n., and adj. On use as possessive adjective ( B. 1) compare discussion at its adj. and pron. Grammatical and natural gender. Generalization of the neuter pronoun for referents that show no natural gender is chiefly a Middle English development (compare discussion at he pron., n.¹, and adj.); for occasional earlier examples see quot. ?a1160 at sense A. 1a(a), and quots. OE¹, lOE at sense A. 5a. The fact that the neuter pronoun was already well established in Old English in senses A. 1a(b) and A. 2a seems to have supported its use especially in contexts in which the pronoun may alternatively be taken as referring to the whole concept expressed in the preceding clause or sentence. It tends to occur in particular in recapitulatory functions. Compare discussion in B. Mitchell Old Eng. Syntax (1985) §§69–71, 1485–90. Semantically empty subjects. As a semantically empty or non-referential subject, the neuter pronoun is already found frequently in Old English in some types of sentence, e.g. in statements of weather (see sense A. 3a), but is much rarer in other types of sentence (e.g. existential sentences: see sense A. 2b). Use of the pronoun as empty subject does not become obligatory until Middle English, when the word order becomes more fixed and the slot of the subject requires filling. In Old English and early Middle English word order can also be more freely employed for the purpose of highlighting elements of the sentence, and therefore constructions of the kind covered at sense A. 4b are not usually required. A. pron. The subjective and objective case of the third person singular neuter pronoun. I. Subjective uses. 1. The thing previously mentioned, implied, or easily identified. a. As subject or subject complement. In early use with reference to any neuter noun. (a) With reference to an inanimate thing or (where sex is not particularized) an animal or (usually young) child. Π OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) vi. 48 Hit [sc. þæt hus] wæs [L. erat] ofer þæne stan getrymed. lOE Laws of Æðelstan (Rochester) vi. vi. §1. 176 Emban urne ceapgild: hors to healfan punde, gif hit swa god sy. ?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1135 þa þestrede þe dæi..& uuard þe sunne suilc als it uuare thre niht ald mone. c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 774 (MED) An hors is strengur þan amon, Ac for hit non iwit ne kon, Hit berþ on rugge grete semes. c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 8 Water is kendeliche cheld, Þaȝ hit be warmd of fere. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 7 Þe folk þat is þerin, it is of diuers kynd. 1509 J. Fisher Mornynge Remembraunce Countesse of Rychemonde (de Worde) sig. Biii^v It [the body when it dieth] is so grosse y^t it occupyeth a rowme. 1575 G. Gascoigne Complaint Greene Knight in Posies 183 A peece which shot..so streight, It neyther bruzed with recule, nor wroong with ouerweight. 1611 Bible (King James) Luke xi. 14 And he was casting out a deuil, and it was dumbe. View more context for this quotation 1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. iii. G vj b Hiena, a subtill beast..counterfeiting the voyce of a man; in the night it will call shepherds out of their houses, and kill them. 1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. iii. K vj Being burnt, it [Ebone] yeelds a sweet smell. 1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Baucis & Philemon in Fables 157 With Leaves and Barks she feeds her Infant-fire: It smoaks. 1766 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. ii. 116 It [sc. the heron] perches and builds in trees. 1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. II. §647 This species [of beetle] is remarkable for the pertinacity with which it feigns death when alarmed. 1896 Argosy Jan. 395/2 We heard the clatter of the vase as it fell. 1918 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 21 Dec. 2069/2 Identify and segregate the infected schoolchild before it has an opportunity to make a number of contacts. 1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary xix. 202 Horace..went forward into the smoking car. It was full too. 1995 H. Dunmore Spell of Winter (1996) viii. 104 The baby was crumpled and puny and it cried all the time. 2008 New Yorker 11 Feb. 97/1 A toy for toddlers that made..funny noises when it rolled. (b) With reference to an abstract thing, or a matter expressed or implied in a statement, or occupying the attention of the speaker. Π OE Wulfstan Sermo ad Anglos (Nero) (1957) 267 Swa hit sceal nyde for folces synnan ær Antecristes tocyme yfelian swyþe, & huru hit wyrð þænne egeslic & grimlic wide on worolde. OE King Ælfred tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) l. 6 Nis hit nan wundor þeah þu sy god and ic yfel. a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 69 (MED) We ne maȝen þe fond from us driue..bute hit beo þurh godes ȝifte. c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 47 (MED) Ha wes him sone ihondsald þah hit hire unwil were. a1350 Maximian (Harl.) l. 275 in K. Böddeker Altengl. Dichtungen (1878) 253 Amen, par charite! Ant so mote hit be! 1417 in Rec. Parl. Scotl. to 1707 (2007) 1417/1 To yhur bailyhis..and al otheris that it pertenys to. c1475 (?c1425) Avowing of King Arthur (1984) l. 519 I conne notte say þe þertille. Hit is atte þe quene wille. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. v. 58 Isaac, it were my deth If Iacob weddeth in kynd of Heth. c1523 J. Rastell Expos. Terminorum Legum Anglorum sig. F.v^v Quo waranto is a writ and it lyeth wher a man vsurpith to haue any franches vppon the kyng, [etc.]. 1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie i. xcvii. 597 The feast of Passeouer, was not a ceremony without instruction: but y^t it conteined doctrine in it. And it is an article of great importance. a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. iii. 88 Sir, you and I must part, but that's not it. View more context for this quotation 1649 J. Graunt Cure Deadly Doctr. 5 This your allegorizing Doctrine doth not onely destroy the Faith of some in particular, but it overthrows the whole Doctrine of faith it selfe. 1660 H. Fletcher Perfect Politician 129 This was the work of one hour; but it ended not here. 1756 J. Wesley Let. 6 Jan. (1931) III. 350 ‘The wrath to be atoned’ is neither sense nor English, though it is a solecism you perpetually run into. 1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued I. ii. xxxiii. 303 This is giving the ladies reason, It is so because it is. 1826 F. Place Diary 22 Nov. in Affairs of Others (2007) 186 Not one was found to support Mr Humes motion, useful as it could not fail to be. 1883 Cent. Mag. Nov. 144/2 While it was going on, I emptied the contents of my haversack into a fire. 1903 S. S. Pratt Work of Wall St. 147 A market is rigged when it is manipulated. 1952 G. H. Dury Map Interpr. p. v The statement that maps are the geographer's tools has been repeated so often that it is in danger of becoming a platitude. 2009 R. Dasgupta Solo 152 You are behaving like an eccentric and making people nervous. If it continues we will have to confiscate your equipment. (c) derogatory or humorous, with reference to a person. Also in childish language. ΚΠ 1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 337 See where it comes. View more context for this quotation 1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 91 Slip but from any Profession some little while, and say it hath travelled, and it may passe for an able Physitian. 1848 J. J. Hooper Widow Rugby in Some Adventures Simon Suggs 128 ‘Hit 'll fight!’..‘Hit!..who dars to call me hit?’ 1879 S. S. Thorburn David Leslie (ed. 2) I. xxi. 276 Poo old boy, does it want its hair brushed? then it sall. 1924 C. Greer-Petrie Angeline gits Eyeful 25 I hope to die if hit didn't have hits arm locked around that thar Reno widder's waist. 1937 J. R. R. Tolkien Hobbit v. 93 ‘Where iss it gone to?’ said Gollum... ‘Here I am, following behind!’ said Bilbo. 2011 S. Lotz Pigeon Fancier in Afr. Pens 2011 226 ‘How long has it been here?’ ‘He, Levin. Don't call him it.’ b. As anticipatory subject, representing the topic of a sentence, when the logical subject is a noun, esp. with attributes. Now poetic, rhetorical, and colloquial.In colloquial use the verb is sometimes repeated, e.g. it is a country of vast extent, is China: cf. be v. 9f. ΚΠ OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) i. Introd. 26 Hit is welig þis ealond on wæstmum. c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 99 (MED) Hit nis nan eðelich þing, þe refschipe of rome. c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 4147 (MED) Jt shal be wel dere abouȝth, Þe tol þat was in Grece souȝth. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 109 The cyte..where hit is schewede the palice of Melchisedech. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiv. 172 Lord, it is sothe all that we say. 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. clxix. 207 It canne nat be recorded the gret feest and chere that they of the Cytie..made to the prince. a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) cx. sig. Fvi^v It greued her hert right sore thassurance of her & of Arthur. 1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel* i. xii. 17 What may it be, the heavy sound? 1841 H. W. Longfellow Goblet of Life v Above the lowly plants it towers, The fennel with its yellow flowers. 1912 A. Brown My Love & I xviii. 167 At last it came, the news unheralded by any personal note, but staring out boldly from the evening paper. 1985 L. Lochhead True Confessions 6 It's nice a wee taste of haggis now and again. c. Used redundantly or anaphorically with a noun that is the subject or subject complement. Now chiefly in interrogative or emphatic clauses with the noun phrase subject extraposed or poetic in ballad style. Cf. he pron. 1b. ΚΠ OE tr. Orosius Hist. (Tiber.) (1980) i. i. 19 Brittannia þæt igland, hit is norðeastlang. lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 963 Ic wille þet ealle þa freodom & ealle þa forgiuenesse þe mine forgengles geafen þet hit stande. a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 56 (MED) Al þis world, hid sal agon. a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 930 For sertes, þis same sekenes mi-self it holdes. ?a1425 Constit. Masonry (Royal 17 A.i) l. 36 in J. O. Halliwell Early Hist. Freemasonry in Eng. (1844) 13 Hys name hyt spradde ful wondur wyde. 1534 Bible (Tyndale rev. Joye) Mark xi. 30 The baptyme of John, was it from heuen, or of men? Answer me. 1578 T. Tymme tr. J. Calvin Comm. Genesis 236 What grievous torments of mind, this horrible Confusion brought..it cannot by words be sufficiently expressed. a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 388 The raine it raineth euery day. View more context for this quotation 1743 E. Young Complaint: Night the Fifth 16 This sacred Shade, and Solitude, what is it? 1798 W. Wordsworth Idiot Boy in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 177 And as her mind grew worse and worse, Her body it grew better. 1801 T. Campbell Ye Mariners of Eng. 13 The deck it was their field of fame, And Ocean was their grave. 1803 H. K. White Gondoline in Clifton Grove 39 The night it was dark, and the moon it shone. a1849 E. A. Poe Annabel Lee in Coll. Wks. (1969) I. 478 Our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we. 1923 in M. Taft Blues Lyric Poetry (1983) 111 This northern country : it make you choose But it never will cure : the Mason-Dixon blues. 1958 S. Beckett Unnamable 110 This livid eye, what use is it to him? 1986 E. MacColl & P. Seeger Till Doomsday in Afternoon 221 Her name it was pretty Peggy, O. 2002 M. Montes Circle of Time xii. 86 My leg—I think it's broken. 2. As subject of the verb to be with a noun phrase complement.Formerly the verb agreed with the complementary noun or pronoun, and in Old English and early Middle English the pronoun might come first in the phrase: e.g. it am I, Old English ic hit eom (= it is I), it are ye (= it is you), it were two dragons. a. The subject of thought, attention, enquiry, etc.; the person or thing in question. Frequently with a relative clause forming part of the complement (often used for emphasis: cf. sense A. 4b) or with such a clause implied, in statements or questions regarding identity.Until the 19th cent., the verb of the relative clause contained in the complement normally agreed with the antecedent pronoun (e.g. it is I who am to blame, it is you (or they) who are the cause), but in informal style increasingly since then it has tended, if a single party is referred to, to have third person singular agreement (e.g. it's me who's to blame, it's you who's the cause). Π OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 109 Ealswa tua uerba sunt ðine word hit synd: on ðam tu byð anfeald getel and on ðam a menigfeald. OE Ælfric Homily (Corpus Cambr. 162) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 291 Hyre andwyrde se Hælend, Ic hit eom þe þe to sprece. OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 26 Hi..cwædon þus, Soþlice hyt ys scinlac [L. fantasma est]. Ða spræc se Hælend.., Ic hyt eom [L. ego sum]. c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 348 Ich hit am, þe deouel belial. c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 1209 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 141 ‘Sire,’ quad þe oste, ‘þov it art.’ c1300 St. Christopher (Harl.) l. 41 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 60 Beau frere quaþ þis oþer ic hit am. c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 3183 Hit ne buþ..none Vauasers þat buþ þer on þe tour. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. l. 321 If any peple perfourme þat texte it ar þis pore freres. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Shipman's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 214 Peter it am I Quod she. a1450 (?1419–20) Friar Daw's Reply (Digby) l. 217 in P. L. Heyworth Jack Upland (1968) 79 It ar ȝe þat stonden bifore in Anticristis vanwarde. c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 1323 Thoo atte last aspyed y That pursevantes and herauldes..Hyt weren alle. ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 274 It is I þat am here in ȝour syth. 1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) ii. xlv. f. xxv What is hit thenne that thou beryst soo trussed in thy fardel? a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xx. 238 Wene ye that I it am? 1611 Bible (King James) Mark vi. 50 It is I, be not afraid. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. i. 119 It is thee I feare. View more context for this quotation 1727 W. Warburton Crit. & Philos. Enq. Causes Prodigies & Miracles i. 7 Was it but Falshood's Mask of Veri-Similitude that we doated after. 1794 T. Hardy Progress Christian Relig. 44 It is you who spread treachery, cruelty, depair and heartbreak. 1805 R. Southey Madoc i. vi. 61 A beautiful and populous plain it was;..And many a single dwelling specking it. 1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxiv. 83 Is it the secret instinct of decaying nature? 1900 Gentleman's Mag. June 525 He's murdered Waite, that's what it is. 1952 T. Armstrong Adam Brunskill xi. 388 Are you sure, Cherry love, as it's you who's given Reuben Nattrass the go-by, or is it t'other road about? 2011 Independent 1 Mar. (Viewspaper section) 4/4 ‘Hi Mum’, she said, ‘it's only me’. b. As the subject of an existential clause: = there adv. 4d. Now chiefly U.S. regional (southern and south Midland).In Old English esp. with following that-clause; compare A. 4a(b). ΚΠ eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) Epil. 467 Is hit lytel tweo ðæt ðæs wæterscipes welsprynge is on hefonrice; ðæt is Halig Gæst. OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) ii. 196 Hit næs nan neod þam ælmihtigum scyppende, þæt he of wife acenned wære. OE Blickling Homilies 81 Hit wæs an geleafa & an hiht on þa halgan þrynesse ær Cristes tocyme. a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 139 Fiat lux & facta est lux, beo liht and hit wes liht. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Deut. xxxiii. 5 Hit [a1425 Corpus Oxf. there] shal bee anuntys þe most riȝt akyng. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 22169 (MED) It es na land þat man kan neuen..þat he ne sal do þam to be soght. c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 280 Hit arn aboute on þis bench bot berdleȝ chylder. a1425 (?c1384) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 345 (MED) It is no nede to argue here for to disprove þis foli. a1500 (?a1400) Sir Torrent of Portyngale (1887) l. 1491 It were two dragons stiff and strong, Vppon theyre lay they sat and song, Be-side a depe well. 1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. sig. ¶.v^v It was sometime when he was not. 1577 R. Holinshed Hist. Scotl. 479/2 in Chron. I It was no neede to bidde them packe away. a1593 C. Marlowe Edward II (1594) sig. D4^v Cosin it is no dealing with him now. a1617 P. Baynes Comm. First & Second Chapters Colossians (1634) 211 [They] are so proud, so censorious, that it is no living with them. 1881 Every Boy's Ann. 533/2 Paul Drouet and Jules Haye and their employers, whom it is no need to name. 1910 Amer. Bee Jrnl. Jan. 11/3 It's no need to tell a Texan he doesn't know the flavor of horsemint honey. 1920 J. Firth Reminisc. Orkney Parish 68 Aet an' fou you, for hid's plenty more i' the press. 1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. vi. 126 It's so many weeds in dis yard, Ah'm liable to git snake bit at my own door. 1984 J. Nazel Delta Crossing xii. 172 It ain't nothing to it. 2004 V. Buford Shadows of Legion vi. 121 It ain't nobody here... It ain't nobody in the shop. †c. As the subject of a clause stating of what sort a person is: he, she, they. Obsolete. Π c1300 Life & Martyrdom Thomas Becket (Harl. 2277) (1845) l. 1003 Wel we witeth hit is a wrecche. a1325 St. Blaise (Corpus Cambr.) l. 62 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 49 Ne clupe noȝt þine godes so vair name, for pur deuelen it beoþ. c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1506 Sche..knew by hyre manyere..That it were gentil men of gret degre. 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. iii. 18 It is the most impenitrable curre that euer kept with men. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) i. iv. 58 It is a peerelesse Kinsman. View more context for this quotation 1630 T. Dekker Second Pt. Honest Whore sig. F4^v It's a generous fellow. 1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 67 'Tis a Good Boy, said his Master. View more context for this quotation 1710 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 23 Nov. (1948) I. 102 'Tis the ramblingest lying rogue on earth. 1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 7 It is a sly artful Fellow of a broken Attorney, that he has hir'd to personate a Minister. 1864 J. S. Le Fanu Uncle Silas I. xii. 124 Upon my word, it is a wise little woman. d. Introducing a ballad, etc.: the subject of the song or tale. Now archaic. ΚΠ ?1545 Christmas Carolles newely Inprynted sig. Aii^v It was a mayde of brentenars She rode to myll vpon a horse. ?a1603 Beggar's Daughter Bednall-Green i. 1 in T. Percy Reliques (1883) I. 361 Itt was a blind beggar, had long lost his sight, He had a faire daughter of bewty most bright. 1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere i, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 5 It is an ancyent Marinere, And he stoppeth one of three. 1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel vi. xi. 172 It was an English ladye bright..And she would marry a Scottish knight. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter (rev. ed.) in Poems (new ed.) I. 110 It is the miller's daughter, And she is grown so dear. 1918 W. de la Mare Motley 62 It was the great Alexander, Capped with a golden helm. a1971 S. Smith Singing Cat in Coll. Poems (1975) 367 It was a little captive cat Upon a crowded train His mistress takes him from his box To ease his fretful pain. 3. As the non-referential subject of a verb or impersonal statement, expressing action or a condition of things simply, without reference to any agent. a. In statements of weather. Π OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Oxf.) ii. x. 134 Swylc swa..sie fyr onælæd & þin heall gewyrmed, & hit rine & sniwe & styrme ute. OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) vii. 27 Þa rinde hit [L. descendit pluvia] & þær comun flod & bleowun windas. lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Bodl.) (2009) I. xxi. 285 On sumera hit bið wearm and on wintra ceald. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 1943 Þre dæȝes hit rinde blod. c1300 St. Michael (Harl.) in T. Wright Pop. Treat. Sci. (1841) 137 Hor-frost cometh whan hit is cold. c1330 Seven Sages (Auch.) (1933) l. 2137 Sche saiþ hit haþ ben þonder. a1450 Seven Sages (Cambr. Dd.1.17) (1845) l. 2213 (MED) Hyt raynyd and lygnyd and thonryd fast. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) John xii. f. cxl Then sayde the people that stode by and herde, it thoundreth [1611 King James said that it thundered]. 1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 45 Where it is counted for a wonder, that..it was cold or snowed. 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World ii. 13 It rained very hard. 1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 10 By this Time it blew a terrible Storm indeed. 1766 P. Thicknesse Observ. Customs Fr. Nation 106 It blows cats and dogs, as the sailors say. 1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 83 St. Agnes' Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was! 1846 C. Dickens Pictures from Italy 249 It is now intensely cold. 1848 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 292 It blew great guns and poured cats and dogs. 1903 W. C. Edgar Story Grain Wheat ii. 24 In a few days it thawed again. 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel i. 77 Outside it was raining pitchforks. 2004 Trail May 30/2 (caption) Chuff me, it's freezing. b. In statements about the time of day, season of the year, etc. Π OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) x. 9 We willað..offrian wurðlice urum Drihtne, for ðam þe hit is halig tid [L. est enim sollemnitas]. OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) xxiv. 29 Hit æfenlæcð & se dæg wæs ahyld [L. advesperascit et inclinata est iam dies]. OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 979 Þy ilcan geare wæs gesewen blodig wolcen..; þæt..on mistlice beamas wæs gehiwod þonne hit dagian wolde. OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.iv) anno 1006 Ða hit winterlæhte, þa færde se fyrd ham. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 8918 Till þatt itt comm till efenn. c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 332 Ac þu singest allelonge niȝt, From eve fort hit is dai liȝt. c1330 Seven Sages (Auch.) (1933) l. 1495 (MED) Sire, vp, vp, hit is dai! c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 284 (MED) Hit is ȝol & nwe ȝer. a1425 (?c1350) Ywain & Gawain (1964) l. 596 It neghed nere the nyght. a1500 (?c1400) Earl of Toulous l. 460 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) I. 397 (MED) When hyt dawed, he rose vp soone. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) John x. f. cxxxvj Hit was at Ierusalem the feaste of the dedicacion, and itt was wynter. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. vii. 2 Would it were day. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. vii. 6 Will it neuer be Morning? View more context for this quotation 1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 44 It was almost night. View more context for this quotation 1727 J. Thomson Summer 31 'Tis raging Noon. a1771 T. Gray Agrippina in Poems (1775) 134 'Tis time we go, the sun is high advanc'd. 1800 S. T. Coleridge tr. F. Schiller Death Wallenstein ii. iv. ii. 137 It strikes eleven. 1832 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter x, in Poems (new ed.) 37 'Twas April then. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 175 It was ten o'clock. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 191 It was Monday night. 1944 N.Y. Times 25 Apr. 5/5 It was about noon..when he climbed out of his own ‘sanger’. 1998 P. Gourevitch We wish to inform You v. 63 It was Sunday at the Cercle Sportif in Kigali. c. In statements about space, distance, or length of time. Π eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxxi. 532 Ac hit is swiðe feor of uncrum wege, of þæm wege þe w[i]t getiohhod habbað on to farenne. OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1066 Harold..þær his liðes abad, for þam þe hit wæs lang ær hit man gegaderian mihte. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 20345 Say me how longe hit is to þon. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Mark ix. f. lvij^v Howe longe is it a goo, sens this hath happened hym? And he sayde, of a chylde. 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. iii. 1 How far is it my Lord to Barckly now? View more context for this quotation 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III v. v. 188 How farre into the morning is it. View more context for this quotation 1611 Bible (King James) Mark ix. 21 Howe long is it agoe since this came vnto him? View more context for this quotation a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) London 222 It was not long before he was caught by the Setters of the Secretary Walsingham, and brought to the Tower. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. v. ii. 123 Nor was it, indeed, long before Jones was able to attend her to the Harpsichord. View more context for this quotation 1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer i. 13 We were told it was but forty miles..and we have come above threescore. 1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose iv, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. IV. 72 ‘It is a far cry to Lochow’..‘It is not for me to say how far it may be to Lochow’. 1889 Harper's Mag. Aug. 328/1 It is only a few years since the Western critics scoffed at the very idea of such a thing as an original Russian art. 1912 J. Judge & H. Williams (title of song) It's a long, long way to Tipperary. 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway iv. 92 It was years before she got an inkling what it was that differentiated her from all the stand-ins and walkers-on. 2002 Times 11 Feb. ii. 28/3 Just how far is it, exactly, from Albert Square to 18th-century Seville? d. In statements about condition, welfare, affairs, circumstances, etc. Π OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xxxvii. 14 Loca hwæðer hyt wel sy [L. si cuncta prospera sint] mid him..& cyð me hu hyt sy. OE tr. Gospel of Nicodemus (Cambr.) xx. §1. 209 Hyt wæs swyðe angrislic þa ða Satanas..cwæð to þære helle: gegearwa þe sylfe. c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) 64 (MED) Sikerliche swa hit feareð. a1350 Sayings St. Bernard (Harl. 2253) in F. J. Furnivall Minor Poems Vernon MS (1901) ii. 514 Þus hit geþ bi-tuene hem tuo. c1390 (c1300) MS Vernon Homilies in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1877) 57 243 Hou schal hit fare of vs caytyues? 1480 Table Prouffytable Lernynge (Caxton) (1964) 4 What do ye? How is it with you? 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Kings iv. 26 Axe her yf it go well with her. 1611 Bible (King James) 2 Kings iv. 26 Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? View more context for this quotation 1681 H. Neville Plato Redivivus 15 Well, Sir, How is it? Have you rested well to Night? 1751 W. Warburton in Wks. of Alexander Pope III. 109 Thus it fared with our two Worthies. 1764 London Mag. Nov. 581 Oh, no, it is all over with me. 1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake v. 211 Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu, That on the field his targe he threw. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam iv. 4 O heart, how fares it with thee now. View more context for this quotation 1881 F. Hall Lett. to Editor N.Y. Nation 21 As it has fared with all others..so, simply, it fares with me. 1928 H. Crane Let. 27 Mar. (1965) 321 How goes it with your translations? 1995 Daily Tel. 3 Nov. 7/2 Aye, it's cush here. Peterlee is sorted. 2007 E. Morrison Swung (2008) i. 22 Wanting to ask her how it was going. e. In statements of physical or mental sensation.These often have a clause expressing the affecting cause, and then pass into A. 4. Π OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 6 Ða on Herodes gebyrddæge tumbude þære Herodiadiscean dohtur beforan him & hit licode Herode [L. placuit Herodi]. a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 55 Mid alle his mihte he wule us swenchen. Gif we leornið godes lare, þenne of-þuncheð hit him sare. a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 57 In myn herte hit doþ me god when y þenke on Iesu blod. c1475 (?c1425) Avowing of King Arthur (1984) l. 376 Hit schall þe noȝte greue. 1673 J. Ray S. & E. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 64 It dares me, it pains or grieves me. 1709 J. Swift Vindic. I. Bickerstaff 8 It grieved me..when I saw my Labours, which had cost so much Thought and Watching, bawl'd about by common Hawkers of Grubstreet. a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. 154 Scratching where it itches. 1844 E. B. Barrett Poems II. 161 How that true wife said to Pœtus..‘Sweet, it hurts not!’ 1916 E. O'Neill Bound East for Cardiff in Provincetown Plays 1st Ser. 16 It hurts like hell—here... I guess my old pump's busted. Ooohh! 1965 Rotarian Sept. 29 It upsets me when someone takes over in my own kitchen. 2000 N.Y. Times 10 Apr. c2/2 She is not a people person... She just doesn't do small talk. If you hang out with her, it feels awkward. f. In quoting from books and other written sources; as it says, it tells, etc. Now archaic or colloquial.Usually expressed by the passive it is said, it is written, etc.: see A. 4a(b). ΚΠ OE Ælfric Homily: Wyrdwriteras (Hatton 115) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1968) II. 728 He [sc. David] asende his heretogan, swa swa hit segð on Leden on þæra Cyninga Bocum. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 2689 Itt seȝȝþ þatt sannte marȝe for. Wiþþ mikell hih þatt weȝȝe. a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 15 (MED) Fulsoð hit seið, moni hit for-let for drihtenes eye. ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 262 Helyes hweoles þe weren ifurene hit telleð. c1300 Pilate (Harl.) l. 169 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 115 As hit saiþ in þe godspel. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. l. 3945 In a Cronique it telleth thus. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 55 In Saynt Edwarde's life it sais, he was forsuorn. 1483 tr. Adam of Eynsham Reuelation Prol. f. 2 Founde hem as hit folowth wele aftir in this boke. 1535 W. Marshall tr. Marsilius of Padua Def. of Peace xxviii. f. 120^v The glose, where it saythe [etc.]. 1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. iii. i. §5. 10 As where it tells of Nabuchadnezzar his owne vanishing away. a1688 J. Bunyan Acceptable Sacrifice (1689) 92 As it says in another place, Out of the Deep, out of the Belly of Hell Cryed I. 1795 Freemasons' Mag. June 395/2 In the Leyden Gazette, Dec. 26, 1794, it says [etc.]. 1840 K. H. Digby Mores Catholici x. vii. 171 In Saxon histories... Thus it says. 1894 G. F. X. Griffith tr. C. Fouard St. Paul xv. 352 From the sequel, as it reads in the Acts, it would seem [etc.]. 1902 H. K. Mann Hist. Popes I. ii. 234 ‘In mense Junius Indictione ii,’ or x., as by mistake it reads in the Chronicle. 1932 G. K. Chesterton Chaucer iii. 108 Chaucer was a man for whom the world teemed with quiet fun, as it says in the comic opera. 1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting 66 It says here that you got five O Grades. g. In negative conditional clauses with for (see for prep. 22b). Π a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) III. 1201 If hit were nat for the Popis commaundement..I shulde do batayle with the. 1552 T. Wilson Rule of Reason (rev. ed.) sig. Ciiij No one man could be knowne from an other..if it ware not for the Accidentes. a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. i. 43 If it were not for one trifling respect, I could come to such honour. View more context for this quotation a1676 H. Guthry Mem. (1702) 25 If it had not been that the said Francis, with the help of two pretty Men that attended him, rescu'd him out of their Hands. 1710 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 7 Oct. (1948) I. 47 They may talk of the you know what; but, gad, if it had not been for that, I should never have been able to get the access I have had. a1732 J. Gay Fables (1738) II. xiii. 118 Were it not for this cursed show'r, The park had whil'd away an hour. 1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. ii. v. 200 Assistance which they would have had no Occasion for, had it not been for their Misconduct. 1780 Mirror No. 102 The misapplication of the term is so completely ridiculous, as to be beneath contempt, were it not for the mischief that I am convinced has been occasioned by it. 1864 G. Meredith Emilia in Eng. II. v. 69 I feel better already, if it weren't for my legs. 1883 J. T. Taylor Hardwich's Man. Photogr. Chem. (ed. 9) 203 Iodide of Cadmium..would have superseded the other Iodides, had it not been for its glutinizing action on Pyroxyline. 1974 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Apr. 375/2 Disaster that would have been total had it not been for the conventional crime-writer's beginning and end. 2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 9 Nov. viii. 3/5 Penn State would still be a cow college if it wasn't for Joe Paterno. h. In statements of the situation or circumstances. Π 1854 Pioneer (San Francisco) Mar. 151 Will you come in and drink a glass of ale? It's quiet back there and I think it would do me good. 1858 W. M. Thackeray Virginians I. v. 34 They became tenderly attached to each other. It was ‘my Fanny’ and ‘my Rachel’ in the letters of the young ladies. 1890 R. Kipling in Scots Observer 1 Mar. 409/2 O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' ‘Tommy, go away’; But it's ‘Thank you, Mister Atkins’, when the band begins to play. 1922 Sat. Evening Post 4 Mar. 18/3 That's one great slogan, ‘Business as Usual!’ ain't it? Well, it's business as usual here. 1976 Radio Times 4–10 Sept. 16/1 Next morning it was back to work on The Brothers. 2005 L. Kellaway Who moved my Blackberry? (2006) iv. 112 Now it's over to you—we want to hear your views! 4. Placed before the verb as anticipatory subject, with the logical subject of the sentence as complement.it is sometimes rhetorically retained when the logical subject is placed before the verb. a. With the logical subject a clause.This construction is sometimes called ‘extraposition of a clausal subject'. (a) With an infinitive clause.In Old English usually with the inflected (dative) infinitive preceded by to. It is not certain whether in quots. OE, lOE the infinitive clause should be interpreted as the logical subject or as modifying the predicative adjective. Π OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) Pref. i. 2 Forþon hit is god godne to herianne & yfelne to leanne. lOE Laws: Gerefa (Corpus Cambr.) xviii. 455 Hit is earfoðe eall to gesecganne, þæt se beðencan sceal, ðe scire healt. a1225 ( Ælfric's Homily De Initio Creaturae (Vesp. A.xxii) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 217 Hit is wel swete of him to specene. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 15527 Hit is on mine rede to don þat þu bede. a1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 118 (MED) Moder milde..on þe hit is best to calle. 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 53 (MED) Hit is grat wyt to loki mesure ine mete and ine drinke. c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 634 In the se it happede hem to mete. c1475 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Taylor) in J. Robson Three Early Eng. Metrical Romances (1842) 8 Hit were fulle tere for a tung, my tourmentes to telle. 1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Matt. 58 a To lothe and dyspyse them, it is no holynes, but pryde. a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. iii. 196 Vnlesse..to defend our selues it be a sinne. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iii. iii. 79 How hard it is to hide the sparkes of Nature. View more context for this quotation 1635 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Donzella Desterrada 98 Depends it on mee..to know either your being..or your stay here? 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 641 To stand or fall Free in thine own Arbitrement it lies. View more context for this quotation a1716 O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. iii. 25 It has been commonly their Fate to fare hardlier. 1744 E. Young Complaint: Night the Sixth 12 Is it in Time to hide Eternity? 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 49 It was necessary to make a choice. 1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 290/1 It has been found possible to render voting perfectly secret and to provide for a scrutiny. 1923 N.Y. Times 6 Sept. 4 (advt.) It is important to get Wheatsworth Crackers with your bowl of milk or ‘half and half’. 1997 Independent 7 June (Long Weekend section) 3/5 It's hard to reconcile the control-freak in his nature with the hyper-adrenalinated kid in front of the camera. (b) With a declarative noun clause (with or without that). Now esp. frequent with the passive voice, as it is said, etc. Π eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xlvi. 355 Hit tocymð ðæt hie hit sprecan sculon. OE Wulfstan Luke on Last Days (Hatton 113) 125 Hit is gecweden þæt sunne aðystrað. c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 1339 Soþ hit is, of luue ich singe. c1300 Childhood Jesus (Laud) l. 99 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1875) 1st Ser. 6 It is þe beste Vnder þis treo þat ich me reste. c1300 St. Dunstan (Harl.) l. 117 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 37 Hit biful þat þe bischop of wircetre was ded. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 199 Hyt is redde in storyes that Ytaly somme tyme..was callede the grete londe off Grece. a1425 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Linc. Inn) (1952) l. 3692 Schame hit is we weore so feynt. c1475 MS Trin. Dublin 245 in J. H. Todd Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) p. xvi Hit is writen in the first book of holy writ, that ther weren thre patriarkes in the peple of God. c1500 in F. J. Furnivall Gild of St. Mary, Lichfield (1920) 14 It is ordenyd that..no tenaind at wyll shall make a tenand. 1594 R. Carew tr. J. Huarte Exam. Mens Wits xiii. 204 It is necessarie that he hold a difference of imagination, forecastfull, warie. 1611 Bible (King James) 1 Kings xviii. 1 It came to passe after many daies, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah. View more context for this quotation 1611 Bible (King James) 1 Kings xviii. 4 It was so, when Iezebel cut off the Prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah tooke an hundred Prophets and hid them. View more context for this quotation 1650 A. Weldon Court & Char. King James , 122 Its verily beleeved..it was intended the Law should run in its proper channell. 1711 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1889) III. 163 'Tis pretended that this Smith must have went away that Morning. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. vi. iii. 247 It may be objected, that very wise Men have been notoriously avaricious. View more context for this quotation 1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel ii. xxxii. 57 Use lessens marvel, it is said. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right II. xv. 64 It seems they have been mopping up some rich surfacing. 1946 Nature 21 Dec. 917/1 It might be feared that his remarks will leave the cytochemist with a gloomy feeling. 2005 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 30 Aug. 15/1 It is expected 500 will attend. (c) With an interrogative clause. Π eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. v. 46 Ealles his heres wæs swelc ungemet þæt mon eaðe cweþan mehte ðæt hit wundor wære, hwær hie landes hæfden þæt hie mehten an gewician. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 63 Hit is vncerteyn who bulde first þis citee. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 1480 A gret mervaile it is forthi, How that a Maiden wolde lette, That sche hir time ne besette To haste unto that ilke feste, Wherof the love is al honeste. 1485 W. Caxton in Malory's Morte Darthur Pref. sig. iij Wherfor it is a meruayl why he is nomore renomed in his owne contreye. 1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. f. 15 For it is merueilous, how great establishment groweth hereof. 1621 T. Granger Familiar Expos. Eccles. (vii. 4) 161 It is vncertaine, what coast it [sc. the needle of a compass] most affecteth, or rather what his naturall position is, being violently agitated. 1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. i. 28 It is incredible, how speedily and generally the Infection spread by his preaching. 1707 J. Freind Acct. Earl of Peterborow's Conduct in Spain 211 It is no Matter what becomes of the Town. 1711 in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. v. 186 It is inexpressible, how well he prepared for his long departure, his desired exit. 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inheritance lxxiii It was inconceivable, too, what he made of himself all day. 1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 15 Dec. 369/2 It is of no consequence whether you ever got up a club for a paper or not. 1953 P. Larkin Let. 22 July in Sel. Lett. (1992) 205 It doesn't matter what you write as long as you feel strongly enough. 1978 J. Updike Coup (1979) vi. 247 It's a miracle, what you can squeeze out of a rock. 2003 Guardian 28 Oct. ii. 2/3 It doesn't matter where your sympathies lie. (d) With a gerund clause. Π 1644 S. Kem Messengers Prep. 22 It's good stepping into the poole upon the motion of the waters. 1659 M. Playford tr. Hist. Eng. & Sc. Presbytery xxii. 68 It is ill going Procession when the Devil carries the Crosse. 1725 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 232 Indeed, it's hard mixing in with self-willed and peremptory people. 1800 T. Dibdin Jew & Doctor ii. ii. 27 It's no use talking to the savage. 1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby iv. 27 It's expensive keeping boys at home. 1920 E. O'Neill Beyond Horizon ii. i. 122 If you think it's fun sweltering in this oven of a kitchen to keep things warm for you, you're mistaken. 1993 J. Green It: Sex since Sixties 33 It's difficult being a woman. 2003 A. Garner Thursbitch (2004) 44 It's no use getting mithered. b. In a periphrastic introductory clause with to be (cf. sense A. 2) having as its highlighted complement an adverbial phrase, noun phrase, etc., followed by a relative clause equivalent to a main clause of which the phrase thus highlighted would be the adverbial, subject, object, etc.In Irish English used colloquially in a wider range of contexts than in other varieties of English, frequently with zero relative pronoun.This construction is often called a ‘cleft sentence’. (a) With adverbial as complement.In Old English in comparable constructions hit is usually omitted. However, hit is sometimes found in constructions with adverbial indicating time, where to be originally has the sense ‘to happen’ or ‘to be the case’ (cf. be v. 2, 3); occasionally þæt is found rather than hit. Π eOE Metres of Boethius (transcript of damaged MS) (2009) i. 1 Hit wæs geara iu ðætte Gotan eastan of Sciððia sceldas læddon. OE Wulfstan Last Days (Hatton) 137 Hit wæs oft ær þæt Godes halgan fela wundra þurh Godes mihta openlice worhtan. c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 1165 Heruore hit is þat me þeshuneþ. ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 74^v If a nerue or a corde be kut in þe necke, it is seldom þat..þe necke haue fre mouyng. c1425 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Harl.) 9 In þe tyme bi twene Abraham & Moyses it was þat men come to Engolond. a1500 (a1400) Sir Amadace (Adv.) (1810) l. 284 Hyt is in the deyd name that Y speyke. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. ii. 128 It is to you good people, that I speake. View more context for this quotation 1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall x It was not till the eighteenth year of his reign, that Diocletian could be persuaded by Galerius to begin a general persecution. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 28 It was by him that money was coined. 1893 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 13 254 We are told by Pliny..that it was at Corinth that gold was first mixed with the bronze. 1938 E. Waugh Scoop ii. v. 233 I read the newspapers with lively interest. It is seldom that they are absolutely, point blank wrong. 1961 J. Thurber Let. 13 Apr. (2002) 748 It was some fifteen years ago that the English medical journal, The Lancet, first began using the expression ‘Walter Mitty’ syndrome. 2007 Racing Rev. 65/3 It is to Belgium that they are looking for help in moving further afield. (b) With the noun phrase which would be the subject of the clause as complement. Π OE West Saxon Gospels: Mark (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 44 Swa hwylcne swa ic cysse he hit is [L. quemcumque osculatus fuero ipse est].] c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 1053 A fende it was þat me biȝat. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) John vi. 64 It is the spirit that quykeneth, the fleysch profiteth nothing. c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 8476 It was he, þat..Of worþines was þe lode-sterre. 1581 A. Hall tr. Homer 10 Bks. Iliades iii. 52 It is Aiax the strong, Who is best hope, defence and wall, that to the Greeks belong. 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. ii. 14 It is a good diuine that followes his owne instructions. View more context for this quotation 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. ii. 72 It is a wise Father that knowes his owne childe. View more context for this quotation 1664 J. Evelyn tr. R. Fréart Parallel Antient Archit. ii. i. 88 It was Architecture her self which was here the Historiograph of this new kind of History. 1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 225. ¶5 If we look into particular Communities and Divisions of Men..it is the discreet Man..who guides the Conversation. 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 124 ‘'Tis an ill wind,’ said a boatman..‘which blows no body any good.’ 1812 J. Watt Let. 13 Apr. in J. P. Muirhead Origin & Progress Mech. Inventions J. Watt (1843) II. 338 It is a Mr. Fulton who has constructed the steam-boats in America. 1830 W. Carleton Traits & Stories Irish Peasantry II. 133 And maybe..'tis we that didn't lick them well in the last fair. 1883 Harper's Mag. June 35/1 It is I who am a drag on you. It is I who am getting you into danger. 1922 Fortn. Rev. 1 Mar. 516 It is a bad workman who complains of his tools. 2007 A. McCall Smith Good Husband Zebra Drive x. 113 It's not everybody who is as good to their staff as you are. (c) With the noun phrase which would be the object or complement of the clause or the object of a preposition within it as complement.In quot. eOE (unusually early, but superficially very similar) hit is in apparent grammatical agreement with spell, which is neuter in Old English; hence, not a secure instance of this construction. Π eOE Metres of Boethius (transcript of damaged MS) (2009) xxii. 53 Hit is riht spell þæt us reahte gio ald uðwita, ure Platon.] a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 169 Hit is yourself that I love so well. 1529 T. More Dyaloge Dyuers Maters iv. iii. f. C.iii/2 He myght..saye yt was not it that he appeled vnto. 1652 H. Bell tr. M. Luther Colloquia Mensalia 113 The Turks and Jews do acknowledg God the Father, but it is the Son that they shoot at. 1738 S. Whatley tr. K. L. von Pöllnitz Mem. III. 261 Perhaps it was this Town only that a certain Frenchman had seen, when he said that he had taken Notice of but three Things in Holland. 1800 M. Edgeworth Castle Rackrent 41 It's the barrack room your honor's talking on. 1845 W. Carleton Denis O'Shaughnessy 197 'Twas his weddin' you seen passin' a minute agone. 1863 W. C. Dowding Life & Corr. G. Calixtus vi. 40 It is the Ramist party that the allusion points to. 1903 J. Vaizey Pixie O'Shaughnessy xv. 166 It's a fine strapping lass you will be one of these days. 1926 S. O'Casey Plough & Stars iii. 80 Is it wounded y'are, Mrs Clitheroe? 1968 Vogue 15 Apr. 121/1 Both red and white wines are grown, but it is the latter that are worth looking for. 2008 I. Wedde Chinese Opera 31 It was the solitude of my house that I liked. (d) Irish English. With a verbal element which would be the verb of the clause as complement.This verbal element usually is or includes an -ing form. ΚΠ 1698 J. Dunton Rep. Sermon (Bodl. MS. Rawl. D. 71) in A. Bliss Spoken Eng. in Irel. (1979) 133 'Tis come bourying you are de corp, de cadaver, of a verie good woman. 1829 G. Griffin Collegians (ed. 2) III. xvi. 3 Is it to drink you say she used? 1843 W. Carleton Traits & Stories Irish Peasantry (new ed.) I. 22 Why, thin, is it thinkin' to venthur out sich a night as it's comin' on yer Reverences would be? 1914 P. MacGill Children of Dead End viii. 51 It's only dramin' and dotin' that she is. 1996 F. McCourt Angela's Ashes v. 137 Is it coddin' me you are? II. Objective uses. 5. As object: the thing (inanimate, abstract, etc.: see sense A. 1a) previously mentioned, implied, or easily identified. a. As direct object. Π eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 885 Þy ilcan geare feng Carl to þam westrice..swa hit his þridda fęder hæfde. eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) i. i. 10 On ðæm londe is xxxii þeoda; nu hæt hit mon eall Parthia. OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) i. 185 Wyrc þe nu ænne arc, þreo hund fæðma lang..& þritig fæðma heah. Gehref hit eal. OE Blickling Homilies 231 Hu mæg ic hit on þrim dagum gefaran? OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) ii. 9 Faraones dohtor cwæþ to hyre: vnderfoh þis cyld & fed hit me. lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 1070 Se arcebiscop axode hyrsumnesse mid aþswerunge at him, & he hit forsoc. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) Ded. l. 125 & forr þi. wha se lerneþþ itt. & follȝheþþ itt wiþþ dede. a1200 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Trin. Cambr.) 252 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 227 [Þ]ar is fur..[N]e mai hit quenche salt water. c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 235 Alured king hit seide & wrot, ‘He schunet þat hine wl wot.’ c1300 Judas Iscariot (Harl.) l. 142 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 111 His gvttes fulle to grounde, menie men hit iseye. c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. i. l. 90 (MED) Clerkes þat knowen hit [sc. truth] scholde techen hit aboute. ?c1425 Recipe in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Arun. 334) (1790) 428 Set hit on the fyre, and let hit boyle. a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail l. l. 728 Certein me Semeth In My wyt that they han wel deservit It. 1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 600/1 Adam eate hit also through temptacion. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Exod. ii. 9 Take this childe, and nurse it for me, I wyll geue y^e thy rewarde. 1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. ii. 36 Would hee not (a naughty man) let it sleepe. View more context for this quotation 1611 Bible (King James) Psalms cxix. 140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy seruant loueth it. View more context for this quotation 1611 Bible (King James) 1 Kings iii. 26 Let it be neither mine nor thine, but diuide it. View more context for this quotation 1635 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Donzella Desterrada 98 Taking mee by the hand and gently wringing it. 1733 A. Pope Ess. Man iii. 77 Heaven..To Man imparts it [sc. knowledge of his end]; but with such a View, As while he dreads it, makes him hope it too. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. v. vi. 164 Pardon me, if I have said any Thing to offend you—I did not mean it. View more context for this quotation 1808 W. Scott Marmion v. xii. 259 The bride kissed the goblet; the knight took it up. 1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede II. iii. xxii. 147 She must keep it under her clothes, and no one would see it. 1879 A. Bain Higher Eng. Gram. 27 The day will be fine; no one doubts it. 1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xiii. 144 Few will believe it, but it's an honest-to-goodness fact. 1952 E. F. Davies Illyrian Venture vi. 115 I went back..to get my second horse, only to find it dead lame, having been pricked when it was shod. 2011 New Yorker 11 Apr. 60/3 They love it if she's a Type A who can't find a guy. b. After a preposition.Also with prepositions that originally took a complement in the dative in Old English, replacing him pron. (see him pron. 2a).In Middle English compounds of there- (þar-) were more usual: see there adv. Compounds 1c and thereafter, thereat, thereby, therein, thereon, therewith, etc., as main entries. Π OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xx. 25 Gyf ðu stænen weofod me wyrce, [ne] getimbra ðu ðæt of gesnidenum stanum; gyf ðu ðin tol ahefst ofer hit [L. super eo], hit byð besmiten. lOE Wulfstan Baptism (Corpus Cambr. 302) (1957) 172 Þonne se mæssepreost cristnað ærest þæt cild, þonne orðað he þriw [perh. read þry] on an on hit. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Royal) (1850) Apoc. xxi. 24 The kinges of erthe shulen bringe to her glory and honour in to it [1526 Tyndale vnto hit]. a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 2795 (MED) Þat place es neghest aboven hel pitte, Bytwen purgatory and itte. 1485 W. Caxton tr. Paris & Vienne (1957) 3 Nor say nothynge to hyr of hyt. 1582 Bible (Rheims) Matt. xxviii. 4 What is that to vs? looke thou to it. 1582 Bible (Rheims) Matt. xxviii. 24 Looke you to it [1611 See ye to it]. 1590 Tarltons Newes out of Purgatorie 29 He hied him thither, and found them all hard at it by the teeth. 1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. i. 30 We ought to looke toote [1623 to it] . View more context for this quotation 1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles xi. 21 A litle Daughter: for the sake of it, Be manly. View more context for this quotation 1635 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Donzella Desterrada 99 Shee would oft-times sigh to thinke of it. 1663 S. Pepys Diary 15 Apr. (1971) IV. 103 I to my office and there hard at it till almost noon. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. vi. vii. 276 Unless you consent to it, I will not give you a Groat. View more context for this quotation 1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric I. xviii. 382 There is no froth nor affectation in it. 1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake iii. 101 The Hermit, by it stood, Bare-footed, in his frock and hood. 1858 E. Bulwer-Lytton (title) What will he do with it? 1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim vii. 85 He saw nothing for it but ship before the mast—could get perhaps a quartermaster's billet in some steamer. 1998 Toronto Star 29 July c1/1 The Jays..go about it bass ackwards. c. As indirect object: to it.Replacing Old English him: see him pron. 2a. Π lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 963 He macode fyrst þa wealle abutan þone mynstre, geaf hit þa to nama Burch þe ær het Medeshamstede. a1400 (c1300) Archbishop & Nun (Coll. Phys.) in J. Small Eng. Metrical Homilies (1862) 87 He yald it [sc. that bodi] that it gert him do, With pin, and reft it rest and ro. ?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 110 To don it [sc. the sun] worschipe and reuerence. ?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens iv. sig. Oj Take a lytell candell of waxe and gyue it a lytel stey belowe that it may holde ryght upon the flesshe. a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 186 'Tis a good dulnesse, And giue it way. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 162 It grandame will Giue yt a plum. View more context for this quotation 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 362 Shewing it an entrance and a possiblenesse of escape. 1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 574 Beating down the Head or Yeast into it; this gives it the sweet Aleish Taste. 1782 W. Cowper Conversation in Poems 236 Give it the breast or stop its mouth with pap! 1816 P. B. Shelley Superstition in Alastor 73 Converging thou didst give it name, and form. 1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling iv. 92 Give it a pull so as to embed the barb. 1938 Amer. Home Jan. 41/1 A few of us have long been utilizing the principle involved without giving it a name. 1992 Harper's Mag. Oct. 72 The prognosticators..recruit an audience and show it a film. 6. reflexive. = itself pron., adj., and adv. Now archaic except after a preposition.The reflexive use of it is rarer than that of him, her, because of the lower frequency of neuter agents. ΚΠ OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xvi. 30 Reste ðæt folc hit [L. sabbatizavit populus] on ðam seofoðan dæge. a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 109 Whar ðe godd ȝifð ðese mihte, hit kydh hit sone. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Coll. Phys.) l. 22575 Ogayn þe se þan sal it draw Doun fra þe lift vnto þe law. ?1531 R. Barnes Supplic. Kinge Henrye VIII f. cxxxi^v What collour so euer yt bryng wyth yt of holynes lett yt be a cursed and reknyd of the deuell. a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) v. vii. 55 My heart hath one poore string to stay it by. View more context for this quotation 1799 Scots Mag. Nov. 775/1 There is scarcely one of those haunts but what attracts to it some story-teller. 1895 Outlook 27 Apr. 684/1 The church..naturally draws to it those who believe in that creed and policy. 1908 Pacific 26 June 5/2 It pulled after it, at immense speed, a boat fully manned. 2011 C. H. Long Josefina's Sin 136 As it emerged, it took with it the piece of my heart that it owned, to accompany her soul to heaven. 7. Used as anticipatory object when the logical object is a clause. Cf. A. 4. Π eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxii. 488 Ic hit wat ðæt nauht nis þæs þe he [don] ne mæge. lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 675 Ic hit wille þet hit on ælle wise beo swa swa ge hit sprecon hauen. a1250 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Nero) (1952) 196 God hit wot me were leouere uorto don me touward rome. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 22798 Whenne god hit wol..þat monnes flesshe to molde fal. 1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xv. f. liv^v I take yt that prohybycyon of openynge of the counsayle in this case is onely to be vnderstande of theyr own consayle amonge them selfe. 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. i. 63 I take it your owne busines calls on you. View more context for this quotation 1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iv. i. 206 Publish it, that she is dead. View more context for this quotation 1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures xlviii. 185 Good luck would have it that this young Damosel came hither. 1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. 24 Several People will have it that this Root is Alexiterial. 1758 C. Lennox Henrietta II. v. viii. 260 It will be more for your reputation to have it known that you lived in such a respectable society. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam i. 1 I held it truth..That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things. View more context for this quotation 1881 C. P. Mason Eng. Gram. §405 He made it clear that the plan was impossible. 1924 J. Buchan Three Hostages ix. 127 ‘I can take it that there's nothing wrong with me?’ ‘Nothing that a game of squash and a little Eno won't cure’. 2004 National Geographic Mar. 36/2 Legend has it that the Hai are descended from a renowned archer. 8. a. As a vague or indefinite object of a transitive verb, after a preposition, etc. Also as object of a verb which is predominantly intransitive, giving the same meaning as the intransitive use, and as object of many verbs formed (frequently in an ad hoc way) from nouns meaning ‘act the character, use the thing, indicated’.Through verbs having corresponding nouns of the same form, as to lord, the construction seems to have been extended to other nouns as king, queen, etc. There may have been some influence from do it as a substitute, not only for any transitive verb and its object, but for an intransitive verb of action, as in ‘he tried to swim, but could not do it’, where it is the action in question. Π ?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element sig. Evi^v And I can daunce it gyngerly..And I can kroke it curtesly And I can lepe it lustly And I can torn it trymly And I can fryske it freshly And I can loke it lordly. 1548 W. Patten Exped. Scotl. sig. G.ij^v If they had meant to fight it out. 1579 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 73 To face it oute lustelye. 1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. O8 That flaunt it out in their saten doblets. 1590 H. Smith Wedding Garment 29 When our backs flant it like courtiers. 1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus iv. i. 120 Ile goe braue it at the Court. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) i. iii. 80 She sweepes it through the Court with troups of Ladies. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. vii. 200 I see them Lording it in London streets. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) ii. iii. 16 Ile Deuill-Porter it no further. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 381 Foote it featly heere, and there. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 449 Ile Queene it no inch farther. View more context for this quotation 1645 J. Milton L'Allegro in Poems 31 Com, and trip it as ye go On the light fantastick toe. 1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 65 Taught many Successors to King it right for many ages. 1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 78 Poore Coblers well may fault it now and then. 1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine ii. x. 210 Hyssop doth tree it [L. arborescit] in Judea. 1787 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 334 She is coqueting it with England. 1850 E. B. Browning Calls on heart ii The world goes riding it fair and grand. 1873 R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunting Songs (new ed.) 104 Dyspepsy and gout the amusement may share, So go it, ye cripples! and take a Bath chair. 1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat ii We decided that we would..hotel it, and inn it, and pub. it when it was wet. 1947 J. Symons Man Called Jones (2001) i. 64 The system which permits..Lionel Hargreaves to lord it over you and me. 2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane iv. 70 Surely roughing it in London can't be that bad. b. Used as a vague object in imprecations. Π 1606 H. Parrot Mous-trap sig. B4^v Tvsh hang it: haue at all.., Comes not deuce ace, assoone as six & three? 1703 R. Steele Tender Husband iii. ii No, hang it! 1779 F. Burney Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 394 I would have sent to you, but Hang it, thought I. 1800 T. Morton Speed Plough ii. ii. 28 But dash it, Lady Nelly, what do make thee paint thy vace all over we rud ochre zoo? 1877 S. Mackaye Won at Last iii. Damn it! I wish this laughing hyena was in ballyhack! 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt v. 51 Darn it, I thought you'd quit this darn smoking! 1992 Independent 11 Dec. 13/6 Trevor pranged his car. (‘Sod it,’ he said, ‘that's my night ruined.’). III. As antecedent pronoun with postmodifying clause or phrase. 9. Followed by a relative expressed or understood. That (which); the one (that). Now rare.More frequently expressed by that which, the one that, what.In quot. eOE with Old English relative þætte (see the pron.¹ b). ΚΠ eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxvii. 510 Ne mæg nan mon oðsacan þæt hit ne sie eall good þætte riht [bið] and eall yfel þætte woh bið [L. bonum esse quod iustum est contraque quod iniustum est malum.]. OE Homily: Sunnandæges Spell (Corpus Cambr. 419) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 214 Hit is soð, þæt wit secgað, ðæt fram nænigum eorðlicum handgeweorce næs seo boc awriten. a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 117 Hit is soð ðat tu seiest. c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Harl.) l. 566 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 510 Louerd..þu hit ert þat ich habbe iloued. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Eccles. i. 9 What is that was, it that is to come? What is that is mad, it that is to be maad? c1450 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1977) 84 Iuy..takyth hold; it kepyth fast And strenkyth it that is hym bye. c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 145 J..takis fra him jt, yat he wald haue tane fra me. a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. Q.vj^v Idelnesse, whereby our envy entreth, is it whiche openeth the gate to all vyces. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Chron. iv. A God caused it for to come that he axed. 1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 541 It that tha wyn at our plesour to spend. 1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. xi. sig. E It hapth in one houre, that hapth not in .vii. yere. 1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus v. i. 59 And if it please me which thou speakst. View more context for this quotation 1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. i. 53 It holdes currant that I tolde you yesternight. View more context for this quotation 1611 Bible (King James) Isa. li. 9 Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab? View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) ii. iv. 76 That's it, that alwayes makes a good voyage of nothing. View more context for this quotation 1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxvi. 137 But that is not it I intend to speak of here. 1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VII. lxxix. 271 That is it that makes the loss insupportable. 1898 S. Baring-Gould Old Eng. Home ii. 30 The highly-gifted Celt went wrong at the outstart, and that is it which has been his bane through centuries. 2002 M. M. Perelman tr. M. Levinshtein Spirit Russ. Sci. 20 That's it which is so interesting! IV. In extended uses. 10. Sexual intercourse. Now colloquial. Cf. do v. 18. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > [noun] > sexual intercourse ymonec950 moneOE meanc1175 manredc1275 swivinga1300 couplec1320 companyc1330 fellowred1340 the service of Venusc1350 miskissinga1387 fellowshipc1390 meddlinga1398 carnal knowinga1400 flesha1400 knowledgea1400 knowledginga1400 japec1400 commoning?c1425 commixtionc1429 itc1440 communicationc1450 couplingc1475 mellingc1480 carnality1483 copulation1483 mixturea1500 Venus act?1507 Venus exercise?1507 Venus play?1507 Venus work?1507 conversation?c1510 flesh-company1522 act?1532 carnal knowledge1532 occupying?1544 congression1546 soil1555 conjunction1567 fucking1568 rem in re1568 commixture1573 coiture1574 shaking of the sheets?1577 cohabitation1579 bedding1589 congress1589 union1598 embrace1599 making-outa1601 rutting1600 noddy1602 poop-noddy1606 conversinga1610 carnal confederacy1610 wapping1610 businessa1612 coition1615 doinga1616 amation1623 commerce1624 hot cocklesa1627 other thing1628 buck1632 act of love1638 commistion1658 subagitation1658 cuntc1664 coit1671 intimacy1676 the last favour1676 quiffing1686 old hat1697 correspondence1698 frigging1708 Moll Peatley1711 coitus1713 sexual intercourse1753 shagging1772 connection1791 intercourse1803 interunion1822 greens1846 tail1846 copula1864 poking1864 fuckeea1866 sex relation1871 wantonizing1884 belly-flopping1893 twatting1893 jelly roll1895 mattress-jig1896 sex1900 screwing1904 jazz1918 zig-zig1918 other1922 booty1926 pigmeat1926 jazzing1927 poontang1927 relations1927 whoopee1928 nookie1930 hump1931 jig-a-jig1932 homework1933 quickie1933 nasty1934 jig-jig1935 crumpet1936 pussy1937 Sir Berkeley1937 pom-pom1945 poon1947 charvering1954 mollocking1959 leg1967 rumpy-pumpy1968 shafting1971 home plate1972 pata-pata1977 bonking1985 legover1985 knobbing1986 rumpo1986 fanny1993 c1440 S. Scrope tr. C. de Pisan Epist. of Othea (St. John's Cambr.) (1970) 46 His stepmoder loued him so wel & so hoote that sche requyred it of him. 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Fretiller,..to..lust to be at it. 1699 A. Boyer Royal Dict. at At She longs to be at it, Elle s'impatiente de goûter les Fruits de l'Amour. 1727 P. Longueville Hermit ii. 115 Come let's see what you'll do, for I long to be at it. 1896 J. S. Farmer Vocab. Amatoria 118/1 Faire, to copulate; ‘to do it’. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xviii. [Penelope] 713 Gardner said no man could look at my mouth and teeth smiling like that and not think of it. 1923 T. Wolfe Lett. (1956) 45 I have been reading the Amores of Ovid this morning. It is beautiful Latin and beautiful poetry—although it is altogether concerned with two topics: How am I going to get it and How fine it was when you let me have it. 1949 N. Mitford Love in Cold Climate i. xi. 119 I was lugged off to their secret meeting-place..to be asked what it was like. 1972 F. Warner Maquettes 16 He doesn't even know I'm overdue. And he hasn't had it for a week. 1999 E. Holly Velvet Glove (2007) i. 9 Need it bad, don't you? 11. Originally U.S. In emphatic predicative use: the actual or very thing required or expected; that beyond which one cannot go; the acme.Quot. a1834 is given in O.E.D. Suppl. as the earliest example, but it here seems interpretable as simply referring back to ‘the character’, especially since other evidence of use before 1896 is lacking. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [noun] > peak of perfection perfection1340 pointc1400 pinnaclec1450 firmament1526 tipe1548 vertical point1559 acmea1568 status1577 summity1588 sublimation1591 turret1593 topgallant1597 non ultra?1606 vertical1611 non plus ultra1647 ne ultraa1657 verticle1658 summit1661 ne plus ultra1664 ne plus1665 nonplus1670 tip-top1702 pink1720 sublime1748 eminencea1854 it1896 a1834 C. Lamb Dramatic Ess. (1891) 52 Lovegrove..revived the character..and made it sufficiently grotesque; but Dodd was it, as it came out of Nature's hands.] 1896 G. Ade Artie i. 4 I didn't do a thing but push my face in there about eight o'clock last night, and I was ‘it’ from the start. 1900 Dial. Notes 2 42 Did he know his Greek? I should say so. He was it. 1906 Daily Chron. 5 Mar. 6/6 There is in America a curious use of the word ‘it’ conveyed by emphasis. Pre-eminently Roosevelt is ‘it’. Next after Roosevelt an American would say ‘Shaw is it’. 1915 ‘I. Hay’ First Hundred Thousand xx. 307 You can't go anywhere in London without running up against him. He is It. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers (N.Y. ed.) 178 Red Men still stick themselves over with bits of his fluff, And feel absolutely IT. 1963 P. Willmott Evol. Community i. 8 People were making themselves out to be something they weren't... They thought they were it. 2009 L. Harris Taste for Red 47 Have you ever known a person who thinks she's it on a stick? The center of the universe? B. adj. 1. As possessive adjective. Of it; which belongs or relates to it. Also reflexive: of itself; which belongs or relates to itself. Cf. its adj. Now English regional (chiefly north midlands and northern) and Scottish (rare). †it own: its own (obsolete). Surv. Eng. Dial. records this use in Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, and Leicestershire (cf. C. Upton et al. Surv. Eng. Dial.: Dict. & Gram. (1994) 488). Sc. National Dict. records this use in the Northern Isles, north-eastern Scotland, Midlothian, and Berwickshire in 1958. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > owning > [adjective] > own > his, her, its, or their > its hisOE itselfa1400 itc1400 its1577 c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 956 Aboute Sodamas and hit sydez alle. c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 264 Þer watz no law to hem layd bot loke to kynde, And kepe to hit, and alle hit cors clanly fulfylle. c1475 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Taylor) in J. Robson Three Early Eng. Metrical Romances (1842) 5 I wille speke with the sprete, And of hit woe wille I wete, Gif that I may hit bales bete, And the body bare. 1533 J. Gau tr. C. Pedersen Richt Vay sig. Lii Ye sinful hart..hes notht faith in it selff na cane notht haiff it of it aune natur na power. ?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens ii. sig. Ij It sendeth the humour melencolyke to the stomacke for to prouoke it appetyte. 1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke vii. 81 b Loue..also hath it infancie & it hath it commyng forewarde in growthe of age. 1563 J. Davidson Answer to Tractiue Kennedy in D. Laing Misc. Wodrow Soc. (1844) I. 206 The Romane Kirk hes receavit be it awin judgement, the commune translatione. 1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. ii. 19 It hath no forme of it owne; for had it any of it owne, it could not breede them, because it owne would occupie it to the full. 1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique i. xxix. 197 He shall suffer the yong asse to sucke it dam, vntill it be two yeeres old. 1605 Bp. J. Hall Medit. & Vowes II. §86 That, which with it owne glory can make them happie. 1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear iv. 211 It had it head bit off beit young. View more context for this quotation 1611 Bible (King James) Lev. xxv. 5 That which groweth of it [1660 its] owne accord..thou shalt not reape. View more context for this quotation 1622 G. Wither Faire-virtue sig. F8 Each part as faire doth show, In it kind, as white in Snow. 1795 Sporting Mag. Sept. 325/1 Able to make it own way. a1824 J. Briggs Remains (1825) 181 Wat its quite a throddy; an as like it fadther as if he ed spit it. 1869 E. Waugh Lancs. Sketches 89 Look at it een; they're as breet as th' north-star ov a frosty neet. 1876 J. Richardson Cummerland Talk 2nd Ser. 15 With threetnin' storm, Helvellyn laps Dark cloods aroond it' heid. 1881 Lancash. Gloss. (at cited word) If he can catch houd o' that dog he'll have it life. 1884 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester (1886) (at cited word) Come to it mammy. 1892 J. Wright Gram. Dial. of Windhill 121 Possessive..it its... it iəd wāks its head aches. 1899 in N.E.D. (1900) N.E. Scotch [Dundee, arch.] ‘See at the cat pittin' up it paw an' clawin' it head’. 1920 L. M. Watt Douglas's Æneid 172 A woman in the North will say that a child has ‘bladdit it hand’. 1986 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Mar. 11 It had a mouse in it paw. 2. attributive. [After It girl n.; compare also It boy n.] Designating a person who or thing which is exceptionally fashionable, successful, or prominent at a particular time, as it bag, it couple, it gadget, etc. Frequently with capital initial. Π 1997 Sunday Times 2 Nov. x. 12 Her range of It Bags are attracting a loyal following, especially among supermodels. 1998 Time 19 Jan. 73/2 By the end of 1967, Sonny & Cher had sold 40 million records world wide and had become rock's ‘it’ couple. 2000 Wired July 260/2 Hyderabad..is becoming the new ‘it’ place for startups. 2003 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) July 122/3 For now, executives and producers of the genre are suddenly Hollywood's ‘It kids’. 2005 J. Cox Around World in 80 Dates iv. 102 Paul, a chef who worked in one of the ‘It’ restaurants in Copenhagen. 2008 Sun (Nexis) 13 May The latest ‘it’ gadget to set pulses racing, the iPhone caused a stir when it was released earlier this year. C. n.¹ 1. a. In children's games: (the name of) the player who has the task of catching or touching any of the others. Also figurative and in extended use. Cf. he n.¹ 3a. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > hiding or chasing game > [noun] > he or it he1810 it1825 1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. It, a term applied, in the games of young people, to the person whose lot it is to afford the sport. Thus, in Blindman's Buff, he who is blindfolded is It, in Loth. Hit. It is also used in Hy Spy, Tig, &c. 1842 R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes Scotl. (new ed.) 62/2 The tig usually catches and touches some one upon the crown, before all are in—otherwise he has to be it for another game. 1888 H. C. Bolton Counting-out Rhymes 2 The leader then counts out once more, and the child not set free by the magic word is declared to be ‘it’. 1923 R. Kipling Land & Sea Tales 279 As the sides are chosen and all submit To the chance of the lot that shall make them ‘It’. 1949 J. B. Priestley Delight 137 The boy who was ‘it’ retrieved the can and replaced it in the circle. 1950 C. S. Lewis Lion, Witch & Wardrobe iii. 30 They decided to play hide-and-seek. Susan was ‘It’ and..the others scattered to hide. 1970 G. Jackson Let. 23 Mar. in Soledad Brother (1971) 188 It's us against them, hide and seek. They're always it and getting caught means getting dusted. 1974 S. Gulliver Vulcan Bull. 111 ‘I'm not helping to get him knocked off to suit..the CIA.’ ‘That's too bad, Lee,’ said Selby quietly, ‘because you're it.’ 2011 L. Oliver Delirium 387 ‘Tag’, I say to Hana... ‘You're it’. b. A children's game in which one player has the task of catching or touching any of the others; = tag n.² 1 Cf. he n.¹ 3b. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > hiding or chasing game > [noun] > tag tick1622 hide-and-seek1724 tag1738 tig1816 touch-last1825 touch1828 widdy widdy way1832 touch and run1844 tiggy1845 widdy1859 Tommy Touchwood1876 pom-pom-pull-away1883 pull-away1883 squat tag1883 stoop tag1898 he1900 it1969 shadow tag1969 1969 I. Opie & P. Opie Children's Games ii. 65 The following are the names for the ordinary game of Touch:..It. Common in the west country, and relatively uncommon elsewhere. 1999 T. Lott White City Blue (2000) 101 Colin and I splashing each other, bombing, having underwater races, playing ‘It’ around the pool perimeter. 2007 C. Kelly Children's World xi. 427 Often, chasing games of this kind, rather than being played as plain ‘it’ or ‘tig’ (in Russian salki) were associated with mini-scenarios. 2. a. Someone or something referred to by the pronoun it; an impersonal or unknown entity. Π 1854 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Aug. 166/2 God—a germ, a principle, an it, a he, the spirit of life in every particle of matter! 1858 Tait's Edinb. Mag. July 405/1 The inference that they, these governesses..should not be dignified with the attribute of humanity—so the governess was only an ‘it’ with him, and not a ‘she’. 1914 D. Crawford Not Lawful to Utter ii. vi. 128 Their ‘whither’ was as usual only an it. It, that is, heaven—a locality. 1960 R. D. Laing Divided Self i. 21 Seen as an organism, man cannot be anything else but a complex of things, of its, and the processes that ultimately comprise an organism are it-processes. 1998 B. Kingsolver Poisonwood Bible (1999) ii. 92 Yes, I could see there was charcoal for cooking it..and calabash bowls to put it in, but where was the it, whatever it was? b. Psychoanalysis. In the theory of G. W. Groddeck: the unconscious force or agency behind human behaviour and personality, esp. as expressed in an individual's physical or mental health. See discussion in the etymology at id n.³ ΚΠ 1928 L. P. Clark in G. Groddeck Bk. of It Pref. Professor Freud..has acknowledged our indebtedness to Dr. Groddeck for his enlarged view of the unconscious, which we now refer to as It. 1941 L. MacNeice Poetry of Yeats 179 A parallel process can be observed in W. H. Auden, in whose system something like Groddeck's ‘It’ takes the place of Yeats's Anima Mundi. 1965 Listener 24 June 948/1 What was this force? The It. Freud was interested, and took over Das Es as the Id. 1988 A. Sayres in F. D. Homer Interpr. Illness 22 The it is sovereign on matters of health and illness. 2006 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 22 Oct. 45 Groddeck saw the ‘It’ as the dominant, though unconscious, agency of personality. 3. An alluring or magnetic personal quality, esp. sex appeal. Now rare.Popularized by Elinor Glyn (see quot. 1927), who used the term as the title of her 1927 novel (adapted by her for the screen in the same year). ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > attractiveness > [noun] > sex appeal sexual attraction?1798 sex appeal1903 it1904 oomph1937 bed-worthiness1959 1901 G. Ade 40 Mod. Fables 63 In the Commercial Agencies he was Rated AA Plus A1, which meant that he had it in Bales.] 1904 R. Kipling Traffics & Discov. 352 'Tisn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just It. Some women'll stay in a man's memory if they once walk down a street. 1927 E. Glyn ‘It’ i. 10 He had that nameless charm, with a strong magnetism which can only be called ‘It’. 1932 Bystander 23 Mar. 546 A film star who has proved to producers and film public alike that she is blessed with that undefinable quality called ‘It’. 1972 L. P. Bachmann Ultimate Act i. 16 She really had ‘It’, as it was called. 1997 Rugby World Aug. 114/2 For by then one has emerged who possesses that indefinable ‘IT’, that unstated and cohesive charisma and all-court personality around which the others are happy and comfortable to bond. 2008 Ebony Mar. 114/1 She's just got it like that. Phrases P1. colloquial. this is it: the event previously spoken about or feared is about to happen. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [phrase] > this is it this is it1906 1906 Metrop. Mag. Feb. 572/1 ‘Wough, this is it!’ he said to himself. 1920 Lyceum Mag. May 31 Schools! This is it! 1942 Newsweek 27 July 23/3 Finucane tried to settle the rocking plane onto the water. It hit the waves, then sank like a rock. Just before, Paddy spoke into the two-way radio: ‘This is it, chaps.’ 1959 Sunday Times 5 Apr. 15/7 He heard the sound of countless aircraft overhead. This is it, he thought. 1978 T. Willis Buckingham Palace Connection ix. 179 ‘This is it, then.’ ‘Yep... Over the top and the best of luck.’ 2008 J. Armstrong & S. Bain Peep Show 2nd Ser. Episode 5. 114/2 This is it. I have entered the world of men. All I need is some beef jerky and somewhere to spit. P2. colloquial. that's it. a. Used to express affirmation or agreement: ‘you are right’, ‘exactly’. Also is that it?: used to invite confirmation of a statement or proposal. Π 1727 D. Defoe Conjugal Lewdness 245 Tom. What, you will have a Wife pass'd Children then. Is that it? Jack. Yes, yes, that's it indeed. But I would not have a very Old one, neither. 1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer v. ii. 93 Tony. Riddle me this, then. What's that goes round the house and round the house and never touches the house? Hart. I'm still astray. Tony. Why that's it, mon. I have led them astray... 1825 Missionary Herald (Boston) Nov. 341/2 Mr. K. ‘What you mean is, that he walks not according to the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.’ Derveesh. ‘That's it.’ 1878 W. C. Russell Wreck of Grosvenor III. 11 ‘That's it, sir,’ exclaimed Cornish. ‘I reckon there's little enough mutineering among 'em now Stevens is gone.’ 1918 C. Wells Vicky Van iv. 53 ‘A friend of hers named Somers has been bumped off.’ ‘What? Killed?’ ‘That's it.’ 1948 Boys' Life 7/1 ‘That's it, Jerry,’ he said in an awed voice, ‘Irish is telepathic.’ 1976 T. Sharpe Wilt iv. 35 You want a blow job, is that it? 2012 Slate Mag. (Nexis) 19 Dec. Yes, that's it exactly. The mass invasion of the press makes it harder for any journalist to go deep. b. Used to express annoyance, disgruntlement, or resignation, esp. as caused by a particular act, event, etc., which is beyond the limits of one's toleration, and typically marks the commencement of a new course of behaviour. Π 1933 G. O'Neil Amer. Dream 145 That's it. I've had enough. I'm clearing out. 1975 Black Belt Oct. 64/3 A dejected Maruyama walked off the mat and told us, ‘That's it, I'm through; I'm too old.’ 1997 J. Ryan Dismantling Mr Doyle iii. 37 You want to leave it? Just go ahead. Tell him, that's it, you're through. 2013 Scotsman (Nexis) 14 Feb. When I was subjected to some horrible remarks I thought ‘that's it, I've had enough.’ c. There is no more to it than that; the matter is settled, the job is done. ΘΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > the whole or all > that is all or the whole [phrase] that's it1966 1966 P. Willmott Adolescent Boys E. London v. 92 We just sat about..doing half-witted things. You only had to find a weak teacher and that was it. 1968 Listener 31 Oct. 574/3 Really I think the Brummie likes to stay at home. And work. And shop in Birmingham. Holiday in Majorca—and that's it. 1972 Observer 13 Feb. (Colour Suppl.) 18/1 To put it briefly, parents are parents and that's it. 2010 Observer 3 Jan. (Mag.) 5/1 That's it, then. It's over. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online June 2022). > as lemmas IT IT n. information technology. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > [noun] communications technology1941 communication technology1950 information technology1952 computer science1956 computery1960 cyberculture1963 computerdom1968 infotech1981 IT1982 society > communication > information > [noun] > information as processed by machines > technology for disseminating information information technology1952 IT1982 1982 Times 14 Jan. (Information Technol. Suppl.) p. iv/6 Teletext and personal computers are IT, but Hollywood movies on a video machine are probably not. 1983 Listener 21 Apr. 38/1 IT includes banking and shopping via your television set. extracted from In.¹ < pron.adj.n.¹eOE as lemmas
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itpron.adj.n.1

Phrases

> as lemmas

itpron.adj.n.¹