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himself (iou)



himself pronoun. OE.
[from HIM + SELF adjective (but long interpreted as SELF noun: cf. HIS-SELF).]
I. emphatic.
In apposition to a personal noun (subjective or objective) or to a subjective pronoun: that particular (male) person or animal, that particular thing personified or conventionally treated as male or (in early use) grammatically masculine; the (male) person in question personally. OE.
I. Murdoch 'The great man himself!' said Nick Fawley. O. Manning Yesterday he received a summons from the King himself. N. O. Brown Freud himself added politics in his later writings. G. Greene He never himself asked a question and his discretion seemed to rebuke our..curiosity. E. Heath He himself had been born in the North and come to the South. D. Cecil George Austen educated his sons himself.
(Not appositional.)
a. Subjective: he himself (formerly also, it itself). Now arch. & dial. exc. colloq. after be & after than, as, (cf. HIM 3). OE.
Tennyson The dagger which himself Gave Edith. G. Greene He was full of the conventions of a generation older than himself. P. Kavanagh Every evening himself and Eusebius went down the road.
b. Objective: the (male) person etc. in question himself. E16.
J. C. Powys That had been quite long enough for himself and Lady Val.
II. refl.
Refl. form (indirect, direct, & after prepositions) of HIM: (to, for, etc.) the (male) person in question himself. OE.
Joyce His conversation was mainly about himself: what he had said..to settle the matter. S. T. Warner He had seen himself setting foot upon the island alone. O. Manning He was going to prove himself the saviour of his country. R. P. Jhabvala The Nawab..threw himself far back in his chair. C. P. Snow Humphrey bought himself a second pint of bitter.
Phrases: be himself (a) act in his normal unconstrained manner; (b) feel as well as he usually does (usu. in neg. contexts). by himself on his own.