adv. (sb.) Now formal or arch. [f. WHERE 15 + WITH prep.]
I. 1. Interrogative. With what?
c. 1200. Ormin, 1718. & tiss me birrþ nu shæwenn ȝuw Whatt itt ȝuw maȝȝ bitacnenn, & whærwiþþ itt maȝȝ fesstnenn ȝuw Inn ȝure rihhte læfe.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s T., Prol. 131. Wher with sholde he make his paiement If he ne vsed his sely Instrument?
1539. Bible (Great), Judges vi. 15. Oh Lord, wher with shall I saue Israel!
1557. N. T. (Genev.), Matt. v. 13. But if the salte haue lost his sauour wher with shal one salt?
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., I. i. 264. Which with, O with, but with this I passion to say wherewith.
II. Relative. With which.
2. In instrumental and allied senses: By means of which; whereby.
Sometimes followed by to and inf. (see TO prep. B. 16, and cf. b c below).
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 585. Min handax … Ȝware wiþ ich abbe geans & maniman aslawe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5399. Now haue we noght ware-wit we mai Lenght our liue wit fra þis dai.
1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 3835. Þe pape þe kays bers, Whar-with he bathe opens and spers.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 214. Sche … hath ynow wherwith to plese Of worldes good whom that hire liste.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, V. vii. He brake the cord wherwith he was bounden.
1526. Tindale, Eph. ii. 4. The greate love wherwith he loved vs.
1605. Shaks., Macb., I. vi. 17. Those honors … Wherewith your Maiestie loades our House.
c. 1730. Ramsay, Wyfe of Auchtermuchty, x. He gat water in a pan, Quherwith he slokend out the fyre.
1880. Swinburne, Stud. Shaks., 29. That royal robe of heroic verse wherewith he had clothed the ungrown limbs of limping … tragedy.
1904. J. T. Fowler, Durham Univ., 5. Without even a shirt of his own wherewith to cover his body.
b. With ellipsis of antecedent, or as compound relative involving antecedent (cf. WHAT C. I.*): That, or something, with which; the means by which. (a) with following clause, usu. with to and inf.; (b) with ellipsis of following clause.
(a) c. 1230. Hali Meid., 11. As gentille wimmen mest alle nu o worlde þat nabbeð hwerwið buggen ham brudgume.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 419/46. Me þinchez … þe feste feble were Bote Men hadden ȝware-with þe wombe Ioye a-rere.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 302. And bisily gan for the soules preye Of hem þat yaf hym wher with to scoleye.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 6710. I wole … Telle how a man may begge at nede That hath not wherwith hym to fede.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, liv. 181. He had not wherwith to arme him.
1611. Bible, Ps. cxix. 42. So shall I haue wherewith to answere him that reprocheth me.
1788. Priestley, Lect. Hist., V. lviii. 460. They will have wherewith to purchase the produce of other countries.
1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, II. iv. Here is wherewith to build the school.
a. 1891. R. W. Barbour, Thoughts (1900), 80. Where is one to get wherewith to help another if not from the healed scars in himself?
(b) 1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. VII. 317. Roberd þe ryfeler on reddite lokede, And for þer was nat wher-with he wepte ful sore.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccv. 99. They … taryed … to refresshe theym … for they founde in that abbey well wherwith.
1550. Crowley, Way to Wealth, 21. Holde the candle to them that haue wherewyth, and wyll sette lustily to it.
c. = WHEREWITHAL 2 c, which is more usual.
(a) 1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 99. A least bitling is made as much for cleaving, if it had but a wherewith to be cloven.
1876. Spencer, Princ. Sociol., § 15. I. 19. Heavily taxed in providing the wherewith to meet excessive loss by radiation.
(b) 1825. Jennings, Obs. Dial. W. Eng., Wherewi’, property estate; money.
3. With which as cause or occasion; in consequence of which; on account of or by reason of which, whereat; by the agency or effect of which, whereby.
c. 1440. Generydes, 3577. Where with the Sowdon was full wele apayde.
1561. Winȝet, Bk. Questions, Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 67. In ony controuersie affirmit be zou, quharewith thai be offendit.
1651. in Fuller, Abel Rediv., Melancthon, 239. He fell into an Ague, wherewith in few dayes he dyed.
1663. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr. (1687), 346. The World will need such a good example, to reform the evil wherewith it abounds.
1814. Scott, Lett., in Lockhart (1837), III. x. 313. Every body that I see talks highly of your steady interest with the public, wherewith … I am pleased but not surprised.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xxiii. I have far too much wherewith to reproach myself.
4. Along with or together with which; against which; in addition to or besides which.
14[?]. Ephyphanye, in Tundale’s Vis. (1843), 123. Saf among we knele among the racke Wherewith the son was somtyme thi plesaunce.
1611. Bible, 2 Chron. xxxv. 21. I come not against thee this day, but against the house, wherewith I haue warre.
1658. Earl Monm., trans. Paruta’s Wars Cyprus, 81. To boot wherewith, he had secret instructions given him.
b. With which occurrence, act, etc.: whereat, whereupon, ‘and with that.’ arch.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lvii. 193. As sone as the lady saw Gerames she knew him, wherwith she began to chaunge coloure.
1575. Bp. T. Cooper’s Reg. (Linc. Episc. Rec. 1912), 123. He gott her neck under his arme & with his leyshe woulde have bound her wherwith she cried out.
1581. A. Hall, Iliad, IV. 61. Yet after this he wils hir hast, wherewith such speed she makes.
1648. Gage, West Ind., 187. We saw the monster stir and move,… wherewith we made hast from him.
1871. Rossetti, Poems, Last Confess., 133. Then all the blessed maidens … laughed up at once … Wherewith I woke.
