Adjacent Words

Between ourselves definitions

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Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Between Be*tween", prep. [OE. bytwene, bitweonen, AS. betwe['o]nan, betwe['o]num; prefix be- by + a form fr. AS. tw[=a] two, akin to Goth. tweihnai two apiece. See Twain, and cf. Atween, Betwixt.] 1. In the space which separates; betwixt; as, New York is between Boston and Philadelphia. 2. Used in expressing motion from one body or place to another; from one to another of two. If things should go so between them. --Bacon. 3. Belonging in common to two; shared by both. Castor and Pollux with only one soul between them. --Locke. 4. Belonging to, or participated in by, two, and involving reciprocal action or affecting their mutual relation; as, opposition between science and religion. An intestine struggle, open or secret, between authority and liberty. --Hume. 5. With relation to two, as involved in an act or attribute of which another is the agent or subject; as, to judge between or to choose between courses; to distinguish between you and me; to mediate between nations. 6. In intermediate relation to, in respect to time, quantity, or degree; as, between nine and ten o'clock. Between decks, the space, or in the space, between the decks of a vessel. Between ourselves, Between you and me, Between themselves, in confidence; with the understanding that the matter is not to be communicated to others. Syn: Between, Among. Usage: Between etymologically indicates only two; as, a quarrel between two men or two nations; to be between two fires, etc. It is however extended to more than two in expressing a certain relation. I . . . hope that between public business, improving studies, and domestic pleasures, neither melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance. --Johnson. Among implies a mass or collection of things or persons, and always supposes more than two; as, the prize money was equally divided among the ship's crew.