every English · revision 1861

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 1200|origins=ang ǣfre ǣlc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈev.ri/^(Roach et al. 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|every]], [[m|enm|everich]],^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD) [[inh|ang|ǣfre ǣlc|t=each of a group, literally ever each]],^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) a phrase formed [[af|ang|ǣfre|ǣlc|t1=ever|t2=each]].^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD 2000)^(Klein 1966) According to Barnhart the OED suggests that ''ǣlc'' already contained a compound of [[m|ang|ā|t=always]], and that ''ǣfre'' was added to reinforce a meaning that had become obscured.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Each of a group, taken one by one: probably about 1200 as ''eauer-euch'', literally “ever each”, then ''euerich'' (about 1250, in ''Ancrene Riwle'') and ''euery'' (about 1303, in Mannyng's ''Handlyng Synne'').^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At first ''every'' was not distinguished in meaning from ''each'',^(Weekley 1921) which had earlier expressed the same distributive sense by itself;^(OED 1989) Etymonline notes that the word still seems to want emphasis, as in ''every last'' and ''every single''.^(Etymonline) It could formerly be used of two things, in the sense of “each” or “both”, but is now used of three or more.^(Wiktionary) In Chaucer, Shakespeare and Spenser it was also a pronoun, “each one”,^(Etymonline) as in Hooker's ''every of us'';^(MWU 2024)^(Johnson 1755) this use is now archaic.^(MWU 2024)^(HTOED) The sense “all possible”, as in ''every chance'', and “complete”, as in ''every confidence'', are later developments listed by the modern dictionaries.^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD) Set phrases include ''every now and then'' (1660s), the American ''every once in a while'' (1814), which Bartlett called “a singular though very common expression”, and ''every Tom, Dick, and Harry'' (by 1723).^(Etymonline) ''Every man for himself'' goes back to Chaucer, and the proverb ''every little helps'' appears to come from a 1590 French saying about an ant pissing into the sea.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – ''eauer-euch'', each without exception.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1250 – ''euerich'', in ''Ancrene Riwle''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1303 – the contracted form ''euery''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a1250–1637 – as a pronoun, everyone.^(HTOED)

+ * 1660s – ''every now and then''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1723 – ''every Tom, Dick, and Harry''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1814 – ''every once in a while'' (US).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Determiner===

+ # Each member of a group, without exception: ''every child knows it''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+ # All possible; the greatest or best that can be: ''had every chance of winning''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Each one of a series, marking how often something recurs or the interval between: ''every third day''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(COED 2004)

+ # Complete, entire: ''we have every confidence in her''.^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # ''(archaic)'' Each one; everyone.^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[everybody]]

+ * [[everyday]]

+ * [[everyhow]]

+ * [[everyone]]

+ * [[everyplace]]

+ * [[everything]]

+ * [[everywhen]]

+ * [[everywhere]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[each]]

+ * [[ever]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Every'' is singular in form but plural in sense, and the American Heritage Dictionary notes that it takes a singular verb (''every car has been tested''); a later pronoun referring back to it is often plural in speech (''their brakes''), though this is still widely criticized in writing.^(AHD) In American English the stress of ''every which way'' changes its meaning: with the stress on ''which'' it means “in disorder, akimbo”, with the stress on ''every'' “in every possible way”.^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}