GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Whether , pron. [OE. whether, AS. hwæer; akin to OS. hwear, OFries. hweder, OHG. hwedar, wedar, G. weder, conj., neither, Icel. hvārr whether, Goth. hwaar, Lith. katras, L. uter, Gr. , , Skr. katara, from the interrogatively pronoun, in AS. hwā who. .  See Who, and cf. Either, Neither, Or, conj.] Which (of two); which one (of two); -- used interrogatively and relatively.  [Archaic]
   1913 Webster
   Now choose yourself whether that you liketh.
   Chaucer.
   
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   One day in doubt I cast for to compare
   Whether in beauties' glory did exceed.
   Spenser.
   
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   Whether of them twain did the will of his father?
   Matt. xxi. 31.
   
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2.       
   Whether, conj. In case; if; -- used to introduce the first or two or more alternative clauses, the other or others being connected by or, or by or whether. When the second of two alternatives is the simple negative of the first it is sometimes only indicated by the particle not or no after the correlative, and sometimes it is omitted entirely as being distinctly implied in the whether of the first.
   1913 Webster
   And now who knows
   But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?
   Shak.
   
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   You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge.
   Shak.
   
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   For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
   Rom. xiv. 8.
   
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   But whether thus these things, or whether not;
   Whether the sun, predominant in heaven,
   Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun, . . . 
   Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid.
   Milton.
   
   1913 Webster
   Whether or no, in either case; in any case; as, I will go whether or no. -- Whether that, whether.
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster