very
Etymology
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
Etymology
From Middle English verray, from Old French verai, from la-eme vērāgus, from cl. vērāx, derived from vērus, from itc-pro *wēros, from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁ros.
Distantly cognate with the Old English wǣr#Adjective_2. Over time displaced the use of a number of Germanic words or prefixes to convey the sense 'very' such as fele, full-#Prefix_2, mægen#Noun_2, sore#Adverb_4, sin-, swith#Adverb, (partially) wel.
Pronunciation- (British, America) IPA: /ˈvɛɹi/
very (not comparable)
- (literary) True, real, actual.
- The fierce hatred of a very woman.
- The very blood and bone of our grammar.
- He tried his very best.
- We're approaching the very end of the trip.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene ii]:
- […] I am the veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth.
- 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC ↗:
- The very essence of truth is plainnesse, and brightnes; the darknes and crookednesse is our own.
- 1659, Henry Hammond, A Paraphrase and Annotations upon All the Books of the New Testament, London: Richard Davis, 2nd edition, The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, Chapter 3, verse 19, p. 517,
- […] they that think to be wiser then other men, are by so much verier fools then others, and so are discerned to be.
- 1855, Chambers's Journal, page 257:
- […] : he has become a very democrat. He disdains not to be seen in the back-parlour of the petty tradesman, or the cleanly cottage of the intelligent mechanic. He raises his voice in the cause of progress; […]
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:
- ‘Thou seest after all I am a very woman.’
- 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey's Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC ↗, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382 ↗, column 1:
- Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
- The same; identical.
- He proposed marriage in the same restaurant, at the very table where they first met.
- That's the very tool that I need.
- 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC ↗:
- Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
- With limiting effect: mere.
- The very idea of climbing the ladder made me dizzy.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC ↗:
- We have many examples in our daies, yea in very children, of such as for feare of some slight incommoditie have yeelded unto death.
- Italian: vero
- Portuguese: mero
very (not comparable)
- To a great extent or degree.
- Synonyms: greatly, drastically, extremely
- That dress is very you.
- Not very many (of them) had been damaged.
- She's very similar to her mother.
- ‘Is she busy?’ ― ‘Not very.’
- 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC ↗; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC ↗, page 0091 ↗:
- Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean.
There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
- “ […] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.
- Conforming to fact, reality or rule; true.
- Synonyms: truly, actually, authentically
- (with superlatives) Used to firmly establish that nothing else surpasses in some respect.
- He was the very best runner there.
- This is my very own treehouse.
- (to a great extent) ever so, main (dialectal), mighty, sore (archaic), swith (dialectal), way too, eminently, wicked (Rhode Island)
- French: très
- German: sehr, ganz, wahrlich
- Italian: molto, estremamente
- Portuguese: muito; assaz (chiefly archaic)
- Russian: о́чень
- Spanish: muy
- French: vraiment
- German: wahrlich
- Italian: davvero
- Portuguese: de facto (Portugal), de fato (Brazil)
- Russian: са́мый
- Spanish: verdaderamente
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
