WHAT

Definitions

1. 1. As an interrogative pronoun, used in asking questions regarding either persons or things; as, what is this what did you say what poem is this what child is lost What see'st thou in the ground Shak. What is man, that thou art mindful of him Ps. viii. 4. What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! Matt. viii. 27.
2. 2. As an exclamatory word: -- (a) Used absolutely or independently; - - often with a question following. "What welcome be thou." Chaucer. What, could ye not watch with me one hour Matt. xxvi. 40.
3. 3. Used adjectively, meaning how remarkable, or how great; as, what folly! what eloquence! what courage! What a piece of work is man! Shak. O what a riddle of absurdity! Young.
4. 4. Sometimes prefixed to adjectives in an adverbial sense, as nearly equivalent to how; as, what happy boys! What partial judges are our and hate! Dryden.
5. 5. As a relative pronoun: --
6. 6. Used substantively with the antecedent suppressed, equivalent to that which, or those [persons] who, or those [things] which; -- called a compound relative. With joy beyond what victory bestows. Cowper. I'm thinking Captain Lawton will count the noses of what are left before they see their whaleboats. Cooper. What followed was in perfect harmony with this beginning. Macaulay. I know well . . . how little you will be disposed to criticise what comes to you from me. J. H. Newman.
7. 7. Used adjectively, equivalent to the . . . which; the sort or kind of . . . which; rarely, the . . . on, or at, which. See what natures accompany what colors. Bacon. To restrain what power either the devil or any earthly enemy hath to work us woe. Milton. We know what master laid thy keel, What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel. Longfellow.
8. 8. Used adverbially in a sense corresponding to the adjectival use; as, he picked what good fruit he saw.
9. 9. Whatever; whatsoever; what thing soever; -- used indefinitely. "What after so befall." Chaucer. Whether it were the shortness of his foresight, the strength of his will, . . . or what it was. Bacon.
10. 10. Used adverbially, in part; partly; somewhat; -- with a following preposition, especially, with, and commonly with repetition. What for lust [pleasure] and what for lore. Chaucer. Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom shrunk. Shak. The year before he had so used the matter that what by force, what by policy, he had taken from the Christians above thirty small castles. Knolles.