rel. adv., conj. (sb.). In early use as two words.
I. As relative adv. or advb. phr.: cf. where that s.v. WHERE II.
† 1. = WHERE 5, 7–11. Obs. or rare arch.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1782. Þei … tok forþ here wey … to sum wildernesse where as þei bredde.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 74. Nat fer fro Pedmark ther his dwellyng was Where as he lyueth.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 1966. The helthe of loue[rs] mut be founde Where as they token firste hir wounde.
c. 1450. Merlin, 242. The grete distruxion where-as the kynge Aguysanx hadde I-be.
1548–9. (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Collect 4th Sund. aft. Easter. That … oure heartes may surely there be fixed, where as true ioyes are to be founde.
1567. J. Sanford, trans. Epictetus, 23. Whereas vtilitie is, there is pietie.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xx. 172. Auicularia groweth … in fields amongst wheate, or where as wheate hath growen.
1578. Bible (Geneva), To Rdr. Whereas the Ebrewe speache seemed hardly to agree with ours, we haue noted it in the margent.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. lxxxv. I. 39. All that levell whereas the river Mæander now runneth by goodly medowes.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 12. Ornaments on that upright, whereas the Southerly windes raise much dust.
1868. Morris, Earthly Par. (1870), I. II. 655. And quickly too he gat Unto the place whereas the lady sat.
II. As illative or adversative conjunction.
2. In view or consideration of the fact that; seeing that, considering that, forasmuch as, inasmuch as. (Chiefly, now only, introducing a preamble or recital in a legal or other formal document.)
1424. Information against Walter Aslak, in Paston Lett., I. 16. Where as the seyd William Parton, by assignement and commaundement of the seyd Duk of Norfolk … was the Styward of the seyd Duc of Norffolk.
1488–9. Act 4 Hen. VII., c. 2. Where as it was of old tyme…, that ther was for the weale of the Kyng … Fynours and parters of Gold and Silver [etc.].
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, civ. 345. Where as thou sayest I am a traytoure I shall shewe the how thou lyest.
1539. Bible (Great), 1 Kings viii. 18. Where as it was thyne hert to buylde an house vnto my name, thou dyddest well, that thou wast so mynded.
1635. R. N., trans. Camden’s Hist. Eliz., I. 31. Whereas the Emperour and the Catholicke Princes by many Letters made intercession, that the displaced Bishops might be mercifully dealt withall … shee answered [etc.].
1713. Act 13 Anne c. 28 § 1. Whereas Part of the Highway … is become so very ruinous that [etc.].
1918. Act 8 Geo. V., c. 6. Preamble, And whereas the Army Act will expire in the year, one thousand nine hundred and eighteen on the following days.
3. Introducing a statement of fact in contrast or opposition to that expressed by the principal clause: While on the contrary; the fact on the other hand being that. (The principal clause usually precedes, but sometimes follows as in 2.)
† In quot. 1542, Notwithstanding that; though (obs.).
1535. Coverdale, 2 Esdras vii. 5. There are layed vp for vs dwellynges of health & fredome, where as we haue lyued euell.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 7. This knaue, wheras he is the greattest glution … that maye bee, yet is he the moste idle lubber.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., II. v. 76. I deriued am From Lionel Duke of Clarence…; whereas hee, From Iohn of Gaunt doth bring his Pedigree.
1631. Weever, Anc. Funeral Mon., 520. Hee might haue worne the Diadem many yeares, whereas he bare the title of King no longer than two moneths.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, X. iii. Whereas he had received a very handsome fortune with his wife, he had now spent every penny of it.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xxvi. ‘Yet, they are great whiskered fellows, six feet high each.’ ‘Whereas…, Harry, you will never be anything more than a little pale lameter.’
1882. Besant, All Sorts, xxiv. I brought him up in ignorance of his father, whom he had always imagined to be a gentleman; whereas he was only a sergeant in a Line regiment.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 519. Whereas a pinhole has no focus, every lens has a focus.
III. 4. as sb. (from 2). A statement introduced by ‘whereas’; the preamble of a formal document.
1795. Coleridge, Plot Discovered, 23. While the contrary remains unproved, such a Whereas must be a most inadequate ground for the present Bill.
1796. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), s.v., To follow a whereas; to become a bankrupt…: the notice given in the Gazette that a commission of bankruptcy is issued out against any trader, always beginning with the word whereas.
1804. F. L. Holt, Land we live in, I. i. (1805), 30. Egad I am as long-winded as the Whereas of a proclamation, when I should be as brief as a quaker’s nota bene.
1863. Gurowski, Diary, 18 Oct. (1864), II. 347. A new whereas calling for three hundred thousand volunteers.
