both

• bothe (archaic)

From Middle English bothe, boþe, from Old English bā þā (“both the; both those”) and Old Norse báðir, from Proto-Germanic *bai-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian bee (“both”), West Frisian beide (“both”), Dutch beide (“both”), German beide (“both”), Swedish både, båda, Danish både, Norwegian både, Icelandic báðir. Replaced Middle English bō from Old English bā, bū, and beġen, also from Proto-Germanic *bai-.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bōth, IPA^(key): /bəʊθ/
• (General American) enPR: bōth, IPA^(key): /boʊθ/
• (nonstandard US) enPR: bōlth, IPA^(key): /boʊlθ/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio

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• Rhymes: -əʊθ

both

1. Each of the two; one and the other; referring to two individuals or items.

   "Did you want this one or that one?" — "Give me both."

   Both children are such dolls.

   • Bible, Genesis xxi. 27

     Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Viscount Bolingbroke

     He will not bear the loss of his rank, because he can bear the loss of his estate; but he will bear both, because he is prepared for both.

2. Each of the two kinds; one and the other kind; referring to several individuals or items which are divided into two groups.
   • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:

     Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.

both

1. Including both of (used with and).

   Both you and I are students.

   • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

     Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.

2. (obsolete) Including all of (used with and).
   • (Can we date this quote?) Oliver Goldsmith

     Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Samuel Taylor Coleridge

     He prayeth well who loveth well both man and bird and beast.

   • 1892, Richard Congreve, Essays Political, Social, and Religious (volume 2, page 615)

     […] as he appreciates its beauty and its rich gifts, as he regards it with venerant love, fed by both his intellectual powers, his contemplation, and his meditation.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:both.

From Old Irish both (“hut, bothy, cot; cabin”), from Proto-Celtic *butā (compare Middle Welsh bot (“dwelling”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to be”).

• IPA^(key): /bˠɔh/, /bˠɔ/

both f (genitive singular botha, nominative plural bothanna or botha)

1. Booth, hut.

Alternative declension

• "both" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Entries containing “both” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.
• “2 both” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

From Old Norse búð.

both (plural boths)

1. Alternative form of bothe (“booth”)

Old English bā þā; influenced by Old Norse báðir.

both

1. Alternative form of bothe (“both”)

both

1. Alternative form of bothe (“both”)

both

1. preterite passive conjunct of at·tá