adv. (colloquial).—AWAY (= forthwith, continuously) occurs in several colloquialisms, mostly imperative. Thus: FIRE AWAY! = Commence immediately!; SAY AWAY! = ‘Spit it out’; PEG AWAY! = Keep going; RIGHT AWAY! = at once; ‘AWAY THE MARE!’ = Adieu to care! Begone! FAR-AND-AWAY = altogether; ‘WHO CAN HOLD THAT WILL AWAY?’ = ‘Who can bind an unwilling tongue’? TO MISTAKE AWAY = to pilfer and pretend mistake; AWAY BACK = (1) long ago; and (2) see WAY-BACK.
d. 1520. DUNBAR, Meditatioun in Wyntir, l. 26 [quoted by GIFFORD].
| And Prudence in my eir says ay, | |
| ‘QUHY WAD YOU HALD THAT WILL AWAY?’ |
1535. COVERDALE, John, xvi. 12. I haue yet much to saye vnto you, but ye can not beare it AWAYE.
c. 1540. Doctour Doubble Ale, 323.
| AWAY THE MARE, qō Walis, | |
| I set not a whitinge | |
| By all their writing. |
[?]. MS. Corp. Christ. Coll. Cantab., 168.
| Adew, sweteharte, Christe geve the care! | |
| Adew to the, dewll! AWAY THE MARE! |
1614. JONSON, Bartholomew Fair, i. 1. Over. You will not let him go, brother, and lose him? Cokes. WHO CAN HOLD THAT WILL AWAY? Ibid., ii. 1. But your true trick, rascal, must be, to be ever busy, and MISTAKE AWAY the bottles and cans.
d. 1631. DONNE, Satires, v. Would it not anger a stoic … to see a pursuivant come in, and call all his clothes, copes, books, primers; and all his plate, chalices; and MISTAKE them AWAY, and ask a few for coming.
1676. SHADWELL, The Virtuoso, ii. Come … PULL AWAY!
1832. MACAULAY, Life and Letters, i. 235, 6 July, ‘To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.’ I guess I must answer him slick RIGHT AWAY.
1842. DICKENS, American Notes, ii. I now saw that RIGHT AWAY and directly meant the same thing.
1856. H. B. STOWE, Dred, I. vi. Get the carriage out for me, RIGHT AWAY.
1883. Pall Mall Gazette, 27 Sept., 10. She told him to REPORT AWAY, that she was not afraid.
