Hypertext Webster Gateway: "how"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

How \How\, adv. [OE. how, hou, hu, hwu, AS. h?, from the same
root as hw[=a], hw[ae]t, who, what, pron. interrog.; akin to
OS. hw[=o]w, D. hoe, cf. G. wie how, Goth. hw[=e] wherewith,
hwaiwa how. [root]182. See {Who}, and cf. {Why}.]
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? --Shak.

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? --Shak.

6. At what price; how dear. [Obs.]

How a score of ewes now? --Shak.

Note: 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.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

how
adv 1: to what extent or amount or degree; "how tall is she?"
2: in what way or manner or by what means; "how did you catch
the snake?"; "he told us how he did it"; (`however' is
used as an intensive of `how' as in "however did you get
here so soon?") [syn: {however}]


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