-ways

-ways
-wise, -ways
Both suffixes were active in forming adverbs (always, sideways / crosswise, edgewise) up to the 19c, and tended to overlap (e.g. edgeways / edgewise, crossways / crosswise), but in current use only -wise is now productive in the special meaning ‘in the manner of —’ in ad hoc formations:

• Her mass of chestnut hair parted Rossetti-wise in the middle —Rose Macaulay, 1923

• … dangling his arms beside his hips and rolling his head idiotwise —J. McInerney, 1985.

From the 1940s, the suffix developed a further meaning ‘as regards —’; ‘in respect of —’:

• Plotwise, it offers little more or less [etc.] —Saturday Review, 1948

• They all keep up with me, drinkingwise —New Yorker, 1993

• Many of us know that sometimes that's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise —weblog, AmE 2005 [OEC].


Modern English usage. 2014.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • ways — ways; side·ways; bar·ways; bend sin·is·ter·ways; bend·ways; chev·ron·ways; cor·ner·ways; pale·ways; sal·tire·ways; slanch·ways; some·ways; …   English syllables

  • Ways — Ways …   Wikipédia en Français

  • WAYS — may stand for:* World Association of Young Scientists, formerly World Academy of Young Scientists * WAYS (AM), an AM radio station in Macon, Georgia * WAYS FM, an FM radio station in Macon, GeorgiaThe term ways is also an alternative name for… …   Wikipedia

  • ways — I was standing out in the street a little ways, wrote the American novelist Tom Wolfe in his Bonfire of the Vanities (1987). This use of the plural ways, meaning ‘at some indeterminate distance (in time or place)’ is related to a use (with a… …   Modern English usage

  • -ways — A suffix formed from way by the addition of the adverbial s (see { wards}). It is often used interchangeably with wise; as, endways or endwise; noways or nowise, etc. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ways — a sloping structure down which a new ship is launched. → way ways parts into which something divides or is divided. → way …   English new terms dictionary

  • ways — index approaches, conduct, deportment, means (opportunity), policy (plan of action), presence (pois …   Law dictionary

  • ways — [ weız ] suffix in a particular direction: used with some nouns: sideways …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • -ways — ► SUFFIX ▪ forming adjectives and adverbs of direction or manner: lengthways …   English terms dictionary

  • -ways — [wāz] [ME < way (see WAY) + adv. gen. s] suffix forming adverbs in a (specified) direction, position, or manner [sideways]: equivalent to WISE (sense 1) …   English World dictionary

  • ways — [wāz] pl.n. [with sing. v.] Informal WAY (n. 10) …   English World dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”