abreast

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English abrest,^[2][3] from the phrase on brest,^[2][4] formed from English a- + breast.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} The idea is of people with their breasts in one line.^[4][10] Hoad compares French de front,^[11] and Weekley suggests that the first element was perhaps originally of.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Side by side: in Lovelich's Grail (before 1450, composed about 1410), in the phrase al on abrest.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 15th century,^[4][3] while the OED's first record of the sense is from 1567, in Maplet's Greene Forest.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 1590s the word was applied to ships sailing side by side in a line.^[5] With of it meant alongside from 1635, and figuratively from 1642, in Fuller, on equal terms with, not outdone by; in later use especially up to date with or informed about.^[5] Etymonline dates to keep abreast in this figurative sense to the 1650s.^[4] Johnson (1755) explained it as standing so that the breasts bear against the same line, and quoted Shakespeare's Henry V.^[10] Sailors also used it from 1685 as a preposition, alongside, and since 1769 for a position directly to port or starboard.^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1410 – side by side, in the phrase on abrest.^[2] The OED first records the sense in 1567.^[5]
• 1599 – of ships, in a line side by side.^[5]
• 1635 – abreast of, alongside of.^[5]
• 1642 – abreast of, on equal terms with; later, up to date with.^[5]
• 1685 – preposition, alongside, especially at sea.^[5][3]
• 1769 – at sea, directly to port or starboard of.^[5]
• 1807 – into a side-by-side position; alongside.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Side by side and facing or moving the same way: The hikers walked three abreast along the lane.^{[13][3][14][5]}
2. (nautical) Of ships, in a line side by side; also, directly abeam.^[3][5]
3. abreast of or with: up to date with, informed about: She reads two papers a day to keep abreast of the news.^{[13][14][3][5]}
4. abreast of: level with or equal to a standard: Pensions have not kept abreast of prices.^[3][5]

Preposition

1. (nautical) Alongside; directly to the side of: The ferry lay abreast the pier.^[3][5]

Related words

• breast
• abeam

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin