again
See also: again-
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /əˈɡɛn/, /əˈɡeɪn/
Audio (UK) (file) Audio (US, California) (file) - (regional US) IPA(key): /əˈɡɪn/[1]
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -eɪn, -ɛn
- Hyphenation: a‧gain
Etymology
From Middle English again, ayain, ayen, anȝen, from Old English āġēan, onġēan, onġeġn (“towards, against, opposite to, contrary to, against, in exchange for, opposite, back, again, anew, also”), equivalent to a- + gain (“against”). Cognate with Danish igen (“again”), Swedish igen (“again”), and Norwegian igjen (“again”)
Adverb
again (not comparable)
- Another time; once more. [from 14thc.]
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
- The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […] . Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated competition.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ […]. […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.
- 1931, Robert L. May, Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Montgomery Ward (publisher), draft:
- He tangled in tree-tops again and again / And barely missed hitting a tri-motored plane.
- 1979, Charles Edward Daniels et al., “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (song), Million Mile Reflections, Charlie Daniels Band, Epic Records:
- Johnny said, “Devil, just come on back if you ever want to try again / I done told you once, you son of a bitch, I’m the best that’s ever been.”
- 2010, Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian, 30 October:
- The last sentence is so shocking, I have to read it again.
-
- Over and above a factor of one. [from 16thc.]
- 1908 December 10, Austin H. Clark, “New Genera and Species of Crinoids”, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Volume XXI, pp.229–230:
- Cirri l-lxxx, 15, about 12mm. long; first two joints short, about twice as broad as long; third about one-third again [=one and one-third times] as long as broad; fourth and fifth the longest, about half again [=one and a half times] as long as broad; […].
- 1908 December 10, Austin H. Clark, “New Genera and Species of Crinoids”, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Volume XXI, pp.229–230:
- Used metalinguistically, with the repetition being in the discussion, or in the linguistic or pragmatic context of the discussion, rather than in the subject of discussion. [from 16thc.]
- Great, thanks again!
- Tell me again, say again; used in asking a question to which one may have already received an answer that one cannot remember.
- What's that called again?
- I ask again, I say again; used in repeating a question or statement.
- Again, I'm not criticizing, I just want to understand.
- Here too, here also, in this case as well; used in applying a previously made point to a new instance; sometimes preceded by "here".
- Approach B is better than approach A in many respects, but again, there are difficulties in implementing it.
- 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, OCLC 7780546; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., 55 Fifth Avenue, [1933], OCLC 2666860, page 0016:
- A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.
- (obsolete) Back in the reverse direction, or to an original starting point. [10th–18thc.]
- Bring us word again.
- 1526, The Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 2:
- And after they were warned in ther slepe, that they shulde not go ageyne to Herod, they retourned into ther awne countre another way.
- Back (to a former place or state). [from 11thc.]
- We need to bring the old customs to life again.
- The South will rise again.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess:
- Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
- (obsolete) In return, as a reciprocal action; back. [13th–19thc.]
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter I, in Le Morte Darthur, book III:
- but Merlyn warned the kynge couertly that gweneuer was not holsome for hym to take to wyf / for he warned hym that launcelot shold loue her and she hym ageyne
- 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 31, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- So women are never angrie, but to the end a man should againe be angrie with them, therein imitating the lawes of Love.
- 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:
- Thus men are plagued with women, they again with men, when they are of diverse humours and conditions […].
- 1852–3, Charles Dickens, Bleak House
- As he lies in the light before a glaring white target, the black upon him shines again […].
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter I, in Le Morte Darthur, book III:
- (obsolete) In any other place.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
- (obsolete) On the other hand.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
- The one is my sovereign […] the other again is my kinsman.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
- Moreover; besides; further.
- (Can we date this quote?) Hersche
- Again, it is of great consequence to avoid, etc.
- (Can we date this quote?) Hersche
Derived terms
Translations
back to a former place or state
another time
|
|
used in a question to ask something one has forgotten
Preposition
again
- (obsolete or dialectal) Against.
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book X:
- And here begynneth the treson of Kynge Marke that he ordayned agayne Sir Trystram.
- 1924, J H Wilkinson, Leeds Dialect Glossary and Lore, page 60
- Ah'd like to wahrn (warn) thi agaan 'evvin owt to dew wi' that chap.
- 2003, Glasgow Sunday Herald, page 16, column 2:
- You may think you are all on the same side, agin the government.
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book X:
References
- Hans Kurath and Raven Ioor McDavid (1961). The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States: based upon the collections of the linguistic atlas of the Eastern United States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, p. 131.
Scots
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English onġēan.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /əˈɡen/, /əˈɡɛn/
Conjunction
again
- in preparation for, in advance of
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