Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
How
How
,adv.
1.
In what manner or way; by what means or process.
How
can a man be born when he is old? John iii. 4.
2.
To what degree or extent, number or amount; in what proportion; by what measure or quality.
O,
how
love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Ps. cxix. 97.
By
how
much they would diminish the present extent of the sea, so much they would impair the fertility, and fountains, and rivers of the earth. Bentley.
3.
For what reason; from what cause.
How
now, my love! why is your cheek so pale? Shakespeare
4.
In what state, condition, or plight.
How
, and with what reproach, shall I return? Dryden.
5.
By what name, designation, or title.
How
art thou called? Shakespeare
6.
At what price; how dear.
[Obs.]
How
a score of ewes now? Shakespeare
☞ How is used in each sense, interrogatively, interjectionally, and relatively; it is also often employed to emphasize an interrogation or exclamation. “How are the mighty fallen!”
2 Sam. i. 27.
Sometimes, also, it is used as a noun; – as, the how, the when, the wherefore. Shelley.
Let me beg you – don’t say “
How
?” for “What?” Holmes.
Webster 1828 Edition
How
HOW
,adv.
How can a man be born when he is old?
How can these things be? John 3.
1.
To what degree or extent. How long shall we suffer these indignities? How much better is wisdom than gold! O how love I thy law! How sweet are thy words to my taste. Ps.119.
2.
For what reason; from what cause. How now, my love, why is your cheek so pale?
3.
By what means. How can this effect by produced?4.
In what state. How, and with what reproach shall I return!
5.
It is used in a sense marking proportion; as how much less; how much more. Behold, he putteth no trust in his servants--how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay-- Job.4.
By how much they would diminish the present extent of the sea, so much they would impair the fertility and fountains and rivers of the earth.
6.
It is much used in exclamation. How are the mighty fallen! 2 Sam.1.
7.
In some popular phrases, how is superfluous or inelegant. Thick clouds put us in some hope of land; knowing how that part of the South Sea was utterly unknown.