Too

adv. Forms: 1 tó, 2–7 to, (3 tu, 6 toe), 6– too. [Stressed form of TO prep., which in the 16th c. began to be spelt too.]

  I.  1. In addition (cf. TO adv. 5); furthermore, moreover, besides, also. (Rarely, now never, used at the beginning of a clause.)

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xli. § 5. Þa styriendan netenu … habbað eall þæt ða unstyriendan habbað, and eac mare to.

a. 1240.  Ureisun, in Cott. Hom., 183. Tu art se softe and se swote ȝette to swa leoflic.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 229. Þe envenomed knyfe [he] out braid, & gaf Edward a wounde. To, I wene, he lauht.

1400[?].  Arthur, 532. Seyþ a Pater noster more to.

1533.  More, Debell. Salem, Wks. 997/1. Wold not the iudges … geue them y^e hearing; yes yes I dout not, and the iury to.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., III. i. 110. Prettie and wittie; wilde, and yet too gentle.

1627.  Hakewill, Apol. (1630), 296. Not the bodie only but the minde to … is sickish & indispos’d.

1641.  J. Shute, Sarah & Hagar (1649), 156. Too, we profess our selves the Redeemed of the Lord.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., iii. Take … this book too.

1821.  Scott, Kenilw., xx. I too have sometimes that dark melancholy.

1891.  Law Times, XC. 315/1. If you sell the mansion-house in which the heirlooms are to be kept, you must sell the heirlooms too.

  II.  2. In excess; more than enough; overmuch, superfluously, superabundantly. (Preceding and qualifying an adj. or adv.) a. gen. In excess of what ought to be; more than is right or fitting.

a. 900.  Cynewulf, Crist, 1567. Ac hy to sið doð gæstum helpe.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 41. ʓe eow ondrædaþ þæt ʓe onfon to lytlum leanum.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 28, in Lamb. Hom., 161. Al to muchel ich habbe ispent, to litel ihud in horde.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 182. For mon-sworne, & men-sclaȝt, & to much drynk.

1535.  Coverdale, Num. xvi. 3. Ye make to moch a doo.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., V. ii. 345. One that lou’d not wisely, but too well. Ibid. (1605), Lear, I. iv. 279. Woe, that too late repents.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., vi. I delivered this observation with too much acrimony.

1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xvi. A fellow’s taking a glass too much, and sitting a little too late over his cards.

  b.  More than enough for the particular case in question; in excess of what is consistent with or required by something expressed by the context.

  Usually const. for with sb. (cf. FOR prep. 13 b); to with inf. (cf. TO prep. B. 7 b); or for with sb. + to with inf. (cf. FOR prep. 18).

a. 1300–.  [see TO B. 7 b].

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 5024. Of here a-tir for to telle to badde is my witte.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Blanchardyn, xlvi. 177. Blanchardyn shal neuer come ayen at thys syde; kyng alymodes is to myghty a lorde in his lande.

c. 1518.  Skelton, Magnyf., 1892. All worldly Welth for hym to lytell was.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, V. ii. 72. Thou and I are too wise to wooe peaceablie.

1653.  Walton, Compl. Angler, vii. 160. This dish of meat is too good for any but Anglers.

1665.  Manley, Grotius’ Low C. Warres, 796. The Castle … was too mean a prize for so great an Army to look after.

1710.  Steele, Tatler, No. 200, ¶ 2. Men of Letters know too much to make good Husbands.

1804.  Wordsw., She was a phantom of delight, ii. A Creature not too bright or good For human nature’s daily food.

1908.  R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, xix. Too large an apartment for two people not to feel somewhat lost in it.

  c.  Expressing, sorrowfully or indignantly, regret or disapproval: To a lamentable, reprehensible, painful, or intolerable extent; regrettably, painfully. Cf. 5 c.

c. 1205.  Lay., 5268. To late heom þuȝte are heo þer to comen.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 4618. Ac to prout he was & to fals, þat ssende þis lond alas.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 454. & þus ech siche were herde of ech, but þis abusioun were to straunge.

1447.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 137/1. It apperith to openly in som persones.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 501. The old prouerbes be to true.

1592.  Chettle, Kinde-harts Dr. (1841), 24. Either witles, which is too bad, or wilfull, which is worse.

1648.  Petit. Eastern Assoc., 15. Which is too well pleasing to the adverse partee.

1721.  Wodrow, Suffer. Ch. Scot. (1838), I. I. iv. § 1. 333/2. Some of them, alas too many, were heard swearing very rudely.

1839.  Thackeray, Fatal Boots, Aug. This was too cool.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvii. IV. 87. At best a blunderer, and too probably a traitor.

  d.  Rarely used to qualify a verb: Too much, to excess. (See also 4 b.)

1509.  Barclay, Shyp of Folys, 59. Whyle one is ladyd to the others backe is bare.

1833.  Browning, Pauline, 937–8. I have too trusted my own lawless wants, Too trusted my vain self. Ibid. (1873), Red Cott. Nt.-cap, III. 790. The causes,… Would too distract, too desperately foil Enquirer.

  3.  As a mere intensive: Excessively, extremely, exceedingly, very. (Now chiefly an emotional feminine colloquialism; but see also 5 c and d.)

1340.  Ayenb., 95. The wel greate loue and to moche charite of god þe uader.

1697.  trans. C’tess D’Aunoy’s Trav. (1706), 79. He … had not lost nothing of whatever made me heretofore fancy him too Lovely.

1825.  T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Man of Many Fr., I. 273. ‘We shall see you at dinner, perhaps,’ said the Colonel…. ‘I shall be too happy,’ replied Noel.

1868.  Pr. Alice, Mem., 4 Sept. (1884), 203. How too delightful your expeditions must have been.

  4.  Reduplicated for emphasis: too too (formerly occas. written as one word, toto, totoo, tootoo). a. Qualifying an adj. or adv.; chiefly in sense 2 c. (Very common c. 1540–1660.)

c. 1489.  Caxton, Blanchardyn, liv. 213. Ah! to to well I suspected … that my captiuitie would bring her callamity.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 271. It was toto ferre oddes y^t a Syrian born should in Roome ouer come a Romain.

1582.  in Hakluyt, Voy. (1904), V. 233. Threed … some tootoo hard spun, some tootoo soft spun.

1586.  Day, Eng. Secretary, I. (1625), 5. Vsed bona fide, it was too too bad.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 129. Oh that this too too solid Flesh would melt.

1654–66.  Earl Orrery, Parthen. (1676), 547. Her fears were but too-too well grounded.

1745.  Gentl. Mag., Oct., 550/1. Not apt to toy, and yet not too too nice.

1821.  Scott, Kenilw., xxxvi. It is too, too apparent.

1885.  Leland, Brand-new Ballads (ed. 2), 109. Perishing to find Something which was not too-too-utter-ish To serve for dinner.

1887.  N. & Q., 7th Ser. III. 109/2. The too-too painfully ceremonious manners … of the French.

  † b.  Qualifying a verb, as in 2 d; also absol.

c. 1518.  Skelton, Magnyf., 872. He doth abuse Hym self to to.

1533.  J. Heywood, Merry Play (1903), 183. By my soule I love thee too too.

1534.  More, Comf. agst. Trib., III. Wks. 1247/2. I cannot then see, that the feare … shold any thing sticke with vs, & make vs toto shrinke.

c. 1537.  Thersites (1820), 66. It is to to, mother, the pastyme and good chere That we shall see and haue.

  c.  As adj. in predicative or attributive use: Excessive, extreme; extremely good, highly exquisite.

  A modern affectation, connected with the ‘æsthetic’ craze of c. 1880–90. In first quot. = characterized by the use of ‘too too.’

1891.  N. & Q., 7th Ser. XI. 30/2. Let the exclusive too-too æsthetes tolerate the remark that music and painting do not exist for them.

1893.  Mrs. A. Kennard, Diogenes’ Sandals, i. 12. The piece is nowhere; but my frocks are too too!

  5.  In special collocations. † a. Too much (besides its ordinary use) was formerly sometimes used instead of the simple too to qualify an adj. or adv. Obs.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., I. xi. 53. To miche homeli dele with him.

1530.  Rastell, Bk. Purgat., III. i. When the bodye is to mych hote or to mych colde, or to mych drye or to mych moyste.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., II. ii. 1. Your Maiesty is too much sad.

1638.  Junius, Paint. Ancients, 230. His minde is kept too much busie.

  b.  Too much (as predicate): more than can be endured, intolerable: also too much of a good thing. Too much for: more than a match for; such as to overcome or subdue: so too many for (see MANY A. 5 f), too hard for, etc. Chiefly colloq.

1533.  J. Heywood, Merry Play (1830), 30. Shall we alway syt here styll, we two? That were to mych.

1692–1872.  [see MANY A. 5 f].

1777.  Sheridan, Trip to Scarb., V. ii. Don’t be frightened, we shall be too hard for the rogue.

1796.  Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, I. 233. O too much! too much! there’s no standing it!

1809.  Syd. Smith, Wks. (1867), I. 175. This (to use a very colloquial phrase) is surely too much of a good thing.

1832.  Ht. Martineau, Life in Wilds, v. The light had been too much for him.

1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., xlviii. Mr. Jaggers was altogether too many for the Jury, and they gave in.

  c.  But too … only too: Here too is app. = ‘more than is desirable’ (cf. 2 c), or ‘more than is or might be expected,’ while but (BUT C. 6) or only (ONLY A. 1) = ‘nothing but,’ ‘nothing else than,’ app. emphasizes the exclusion of any different quality or state of things such as might be desired or expected.

1639.  Massinger, Unnat. Combat, II. i. I have Discourse and reason, and but too well know I can nor live, nor end a wretched life.

1654–66.  [see 4].

1817.  Cass. Austen, in Jane Austen’s Lett. (1884), II. 334. I loved her only too well.

1818.  Scott, Rob Roy, viii. Stay, then, rash, obstinate girl … you know but too well to whom you trust.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., v. I. 663. It is indeed but too true that the taste for blood is a taste which … men … may … speedily acquire.

  d.  Only too in recent use, is often a mere intensive, = ‘extremely.’ (Cf. 3.)

1889.  ‘J. S. Winter,’ Mrs. Bob (1891), 245. Mrs. Trafford will only be too glad to come and pay you a visit.

Mod.  I shall be only too pleased.

  e.  None too … is used by meiosis for ‘not quite … enough,’ ‘somewhat insufficiently’: see also NONE C. 3.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 21 May, 5/3. The vast territories of the Dominion have hitherto been none too coherent.

Mod.  Money is none too plentiful with us.

  f.  Quite too...: see QUITE 4 c.

  6.  In combination. a. With an adj. or adv., forming a (nonce) sb. phr., as a too-late, a too-little, a too-much.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., IV. vii. 119. Goodness, growing to a plurisy, Dies in his own too much.

1637.  C. Dow, Answ. to H. Burton, 158. There may be a too-much even in the best things.

1784.  R. Bage, Barham Downs, I. 346. [One] who complains of the Too-much of things he does not value, and of the Too-little of things he does.

1860.  Pusey, Min. Proph., 542. There will be a ‘too late’; not a final ‘too late,’… but … a ‘too late’ to avert that particular judgment.

1905.  Daily Chron., 14 April, 5/4. We have suffered greatly in our national life from the domination of the ‘too-lates’; political procrastination is the thief of opportunity.

  b.  With an adj. or adv., forming an adj. phr. preceding and qualifying a sb., or an adv. phr. qualifying an adj., as too-anxious, -celebrated, familiar, -fervent, -near, -piercing, -trusting, -willing, -wise adjs.; too-early, -late, -long, -much (in quot. 1620 = too great obs.; see also 5 a) adjs. and advs. Hence derivatives (nonce-wds.), as too-bigness, -lateness, -muchness, -soonness.

1612.  Two Noble K., II. ii. 32. Like a too-timely Spring.

1620.  Venner, Via Recta, vi. 100. It … represseth the too-much tenuity … of the bloud.

1624.  Donne, Devot., 221. Those sentences, from which a too-late Repenter will sucke desperation.

1793.  Holcroft, Lavater’s Physiog., xxvi. 127. The gentleness of his voice [will] temper thy too-piercing tones.

1838.  Lytton, Alice, II. ii. The good man was quite shocked at the too-familiar manner in which Mrs. Merton spoke.

1842.  Tennyson, Day-dream, Prol. 18. Turn your face, Nor look with that too-earnest eye.

1849.  Miss Otté, trans. Humboldt’s Cosmos, II. II. v. 596. The Compendium of Algebra … was not based on Diophantus, but on Indian science, as has been shown by my lamented and too-early deceased friend, the learned Friedrich Rosen.

1855.  Kingsley, Heroes, II. I. (1868), 82. Only one walked apart … Asclepius, the too-wise child.

1887.  Spectator, 16 April, 532/1. A too-fervent patriotism.

1858.  De Quincey, in ‘H. A. Page,’ Life (1877), II. xviii. 142. In midst of too-soonness he shall suffer the killing anxieties of too-lateness.

1875.  Blackie, Lett., in Biog. (1895), II. xviii. 122. An everlasting too-muchness.

1904.  S. E. White, Forest, iii. 30. Everything was wrinkled in the folds of too-bigness.