hence

A later Middle English spelling, retaining the voiceless -s, of hennes, (henne + adverbial genitive ending -s), from Old English heonan (“away", "hence”), from a West Proto-Germanic *hin-. Cognate with Old Saxon hinan, Old High German hinnan (German hinnen), Dutch heen, Swedish hän. Related to Old English her (“here”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛns/

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• Rhymes: -ɛns

hence (not comparable)

1. (archaic) from here, from this place, away

   I'm going hence, because you have insulted me.

   Get thee hence, Satan!

   • 1599-1601, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act 4, Scene 1:

     O Gertrude, come away! / The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch, / But we will ship him hence:

   • 1849, Arthur Hugh Clough, Easter Day (Naples, 1849):

     Ye men of Galilee! / Why stand ye looking up to heaven, where Him ye ne’er may see, / Neither ascending hence, nor returning hither again?

2. (archaic, figuratively) from the living or from this world

   After a long battle, my poor daughter was taken hence.

3. (archaic, of a length of time) in the future from now

   A year hence it will be forgotten.

   • 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III, Scene i:

     […] And now farewell / Till half an hour hence.

4. (conjunctive) as a result; therefore, for this reason

   I shall go to Japan and hence will not be here in time for the party.

   The purse is handmade and hence very expensive.

   • 1910, Sun Tzu, Lionel Giles (translator), The Art of War, Section VI: Weak Points and Strong, 8:

     Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.

   • 1910, [1513], Niccolò Machiavelli, Ninian Hill Thomson (translator), The Prince, Chapter VI:

     Hence it comes that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.

   • 1731 May 27, Benjamin Franklin, Apology for Printers, published in The Pennsylvania Gazette:

     That hence arises the peculiar Unhappiness of that Business, which other Callings are no way liable to;

• (as a result; therefore, for this reason): consequently

• hither

• whence
• thence

hence

1. (obsolete) Go away! Begone!

   "...Hence! and bestow your dead

   Where no wrong against him cries!"

   • 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I Scene 2:

     MIRANDA: Beseech you, father——

     PROSPERO: Hence! Hang not on my garments.

• Neche