Forms: 1–2 toweard, 2 towaard, 2–3 touward, 2–4 to-ward, 2, 4–6 Sc. towart, (4 tawart, 6 Sc. touart), 3 (Orm.) towarrd, (3–4 to(-)war), 4–5 taward(e, 4–6 towarde, 5 tooward, to-warde, to ward, to warde, (towor, 6 towerde, towrd, tward, torde), 3– toward, (8–9 tow’rd, 9 dial. toard). [OE. tóweard, f. tó, TO prep. + -weard, -WARD; orig. the uninflected form or singular neuter of TOWARD a. In OE., originally followed by a genitive; later by a dative like the simple to.
The first pronunciation figured above is now chiefly northern and (app.) American; the fourth is not recognized in any modern dictionary, British or American, nor app. by any orthoepist; but it appears to be the prevailing one in London and the south of England. See Walker, on the word. It was app. referred to in 1749 by Chesterfield, Lett., 27 Sept.: ‘The vulgar man goes to wards and not towards such a place.’ It may have arisen from the analytical form in to us ward to heaven ward, in which to has its ordinary stressless pronunciation as a preposition; and, if so, may have existed locally or as an alternative form, esp. in verse, from the 16th c. So with TOWARDS.]
1. Of motion (or action figured as motion): In the direction of; so as to approach (but not necessarily reach: thus differing from TO prep. 1).
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. 22. Þonne ærnað hy ealle toweard þæm feo. Ibid. (c. 897), Gregory Past. C., ix. 59. Ða ðe gað on ryhtne weʓ toweard ðæs hefonrices.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 3. Þe helend nehlechede to-ward ierusalem þare burh.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 18/589. Þo þe deuelene comen toward him, huy ne miȝten come him neiȝ.
c. 1375. Cursor M., 3356 (Fairf.). Quat mon ys he Þat comande tawarde [v.r. tilward] vs I se.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxiii. (George), 844. Dacyane … Towart his palace went.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 6112. Þo ledys … gon tooward þe grekis.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, I. 98. Towart Dunbar without restyng thai raid.
1552. Huloet, Torde, vide in toward.
1611. Bible, Phil. iii. 14. I presse toward the marke.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, XI. 641. The steeds with sounding feet Shake the dry field, and thunder tow’rd the fleet.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., I. 504. Tow’rd the Northern sky … the Hero cast his eye.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par. (1890), 233/2. The company of maidens drew Toward where they stood.
† b. pred. after to be: On the way to. Obs.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 3569. Þe king was toward scottlond.
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 660. Toward the deth as he was … He mette with mayster Baucillas.
† c. With implication of reaching; to. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 27. Pilgrimes were they alle That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.
c. 1425. XI Pains of Hell, 238, in O. E. Misc., 218. Vp taward heuen þai con him bryng.
1440. Paston Lett., I. 40. This same weke shall he to ward Fraunce.
c. 1500. Melusine, 102. They departed fro Lusynen and camme to Poytiers toward the Erle.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 403. I must away this night toward Padua. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., V. i. 232. Vpon which Errand I now goe toward him.
2. Of position: In the direction of; on the side next to; turned or directed to, facing.
13[?]. Cursor M., 2474 (Cott.). Abram chese him toward þe est.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 235. Alway his face was toward þe sonne.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxxii. 147. Þat tyme occupied Cristen men many cuntreez toward þase partiez.
c. 1482. J. Kay, trans. Caoursin’s Siege of Rhodes (1870), ¶ 10. Atte fote of a hylle toward the Weste.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 55. When he entred into the chambre the dukes backe was towarde him.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 306. Under Suth-rey toward the South lieth … Suth-sex.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), I. 75. This needle … [was] three-square toward the point.
1853. M. Arnold, Scholar Gypsy, xiii. Have I not passed thee on the wooden bridge … Thy face toward Hinksey and its wintry ridge?
† b. Beside, near; about, in attendance upon; in the possession of; with. Obs.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 110. And þe gretteste with-holde toward e.
c. 1400. Brut, cxxxii. 136. Harolde … wolde nouȝt departe with his peple of þing þat he hade gete, but helde it al toward [v.r. towards] him-self.
1433. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 423/1. Makyng þo þat beth toward hym to do the same.
1469. in Archæologia, XV. 170. The oon key shall abyde toward the wardeyn, and the second toward the maister aboveseid.
1601. Bp. Andrewes, Serm., Matt. xxii. 21 (1631), II. 88. Herod and they that were toward him, being all that they were by Cæsar.
3. In the direction of (in fig. senses). a. gen.: esp. with words expressing tendency or aim, and followed by an abstract noun expressing state, condition, etc. (In quots. 13[?] and 1553 ‘on the way to’: cf. 1 b; in quot. 1600, ‘to’: cf. 1 c.)
[a. 1225. Ancr. R., 120. Tu schalt demen þi suluen wod, þo þu þer touward þouhtest.]
13[?]. Cursor M., App. ii. 790 (B. M. Add. MS.). What þinges þat I say may To myn felawis…, That I was toward þi buriynge.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 75. That folk may the Ryhte weye se Best assuryd to-warde ther passage.
1553. Respublica, IV. iv. 1126. So ye though oppressed with longe aduersitee, Yet doubte not, are towarde wealth & prospiritee.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. vii. 162. His bigge manly voice, Turning againe toward childish trebble, pipes And whistles in his sound.
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm. Eccl. ix. 10, Wks. 1686, III. 224. Incessantly working toward the end for which it was designed.
1818. Southey, Ess. (1832), II. 135. There is no danger of our tending toward the same extreme.
1875. Whitney, Life Lang., ii. 18. Tracing the history of words toward their origin.
1891. Mrs. Maude, Pyrography, i. 7. An immense advance has been made toward perfection.
b. With a noun or pronoun denoting the object of action or feeling: To; against.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 17. Gif we suneȝieð towaard him we sculen gan to bote.
c. 1200. Ormin, 2601. Forr ȝho wass … milde & meoc & bliþe, Ȝa towarrd Godd, ȝa towarrd mann.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 122. Bot wolde god that grace sende, That toward me my lady wende, As I towardes hire wene.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 10049. He is wel wroth toward his wiff.
c. 1460. Oseney Reg., 123. The seruice … that þe saide chanons schall aquite towarde the Chere lordes.
c. 1500. Melusine, xxxvii. 297. Now haue I betrayed you … and haue forsworne my self toward you.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. ii. 13. This was a great argument of loue in her toward you.
1785. Liberal Amer., II. 226. To explain the real motives of his conduct toward me in America.
1813. Southey, Nelson, II. vi. 84. The policy which ought to be pursued toward the French in Egypt.
1867. R. Collyer, Nat. & Life, xiii. 247. This is the way in which I act toward my own children.
† c. With regard to, in reference to, respecting, concerning, about. Also as toward (cf. as to). Obs.
a. 1240. Lofsong, in Cott. Hom., 211. Opene ham [my wits] heouenliche king touward heouenliche þinges.
c. 1300. Beket, 765. If thu wolt owȝt toward me, thu wost wel y ne mai noȝt fiȝte.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 34. Wel me qwemeth, That thou thiself hast thus aquit Toward this vice, in which no wit Abide mai.
1433. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 423/2. As toward his abode here … he saide þat he knoweth [etc.].
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 96 b. And as towarde the letter sent … vnto my lorde of Bedford of the whiche the tenor is before rehersed.
1564. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 285. Swa that na complaint salbe … maid to the Quenis Majestie towart the saidis contraversiis and debattis.
1670–1. Marvell, Corr., Wks. (Grosart), II. 360. On Munday next, when the House will probably proceed severely toward their penaltyes.
d. In comparison with: = TO 18. Now dial.
1527–8. in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1721), I. App. xvii. 38. Which bookes … be not to be regarded toward the new printed Testament in Englishe.
1887. S. Chesh. Gloss., To’art as, in comparison with.
4. Of time: So as to approach; at the approach of, nearly as late or as far on as, shortly before, near.
14[?]. Torr. Portugal (E.E.T.S.), Fragm. ii. 511. It drewe towarde the nyght.
a. 1500[?]. Wycket (1828), p. ii. Towarde the laste dayes the kynge of the northe shall come.
1797. Holcroft, trans. Stolberg’s Trav. (ed. 2), III. lxxx. 240. Toward the conclusion of their independence.
1802. M. Cutler, in Life, etc. (1888), II. 89. Gentlemen most accustomed to speaking … were principally to wait till toward the close of the debate.
1844. Southey, Life A. Bell, I. 54. Toward the close of October letters … had reached him by way of Glasgow.
1876. Stedman, Victorian Poets, 103. At dates well toward the middle of this century.
5. † a. Of condition or quality: Verging upon, near; somewhat like, nearly, as if; toward blackness, somewhat or nearly black. Obs.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), N iij. Whan the bladder is towarde any syckenes.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 153. The Thlaspi yt cometh out of Cappadocia is toward blacknes, and the sede is not fully rounde.
1566. Blundevil, Horsemanship, IV. iv. (1580), 3. It is best knowne, whether a Horse be sicke or not, or toward sicknesse, by these signes.
b. Of quantity: Nearly as much as, nearly.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. iv. (Rolls), 20. Welnyȝ or weel toward the al hool lawe with which Cristen men ben chargid.
1879. S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., xxi. 453. They rise … toward a hundred feet above the plain.
6. In prospect of; in the imminence of; (as predicate) in preparation for. Obs. or arch.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 327 b. When Crassus was towarde a journey into Syria.
1576. Gascoigne, Steele Gl. (Arb.), 79. Towarde shipwracke, many men can pray.
1865. Swinburne, Atalanta, 877. [I] stand, girt as they toward hunting.
† b. Coming upon, ‘in store for’; usually of evil: ready to fall upon, threatening. Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 82. Þai couth nocht persawe þe skaith Þat towart þaim wes apperand.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], Hist. Ivstine, XXVI. 94. By the inwardes of those beasts, perceiuing … that there was toward them a great slaughter.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., 399. All which … plainely shewed, that this kind of death was toward him.
7. In the way of contribution to; as a help to; for the purpose of making up, promoting, assisting, or the like; for.
1468. in Blades, Caxton (1882), 151. Hit is accorded that [they] shall haue in honde xl li sterling toward thoire costs & charges.
1483. Cely Papers (Camden), 144. To pay thys hallff ȝerys wages … here ys nothyng toward hytt.
c. 1530. H. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, 655, in Babees Bk., 100. Giue the pore of thy good; Part thou therof toward their want.
1662–3. Marvell, Corr., Wks. (Grosart), II. 83. I have writ this same … to prepare our correspondence toward your service.
1710. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 5 Oct. Here is two and eightpence halfpenny toward your loss.
1828. Southey, Ess. (1832), II. 273. Raising a fund … toward the expenses of removing paupers by emigration.
8. For to … -ward, separated by the sb. or pron., as in to us-ward, to God-ward, see -WARD, and cf. TO prep. 2 e.
