me, pron.1, n., and adj.
Forms:
OE– me, ME meo, ME mi, ME 17– m' (before a vowel), ME–15 my, ME– mee (now arch.), 15 (17–18 regional) ma, 17– meh (regional), 18– mah (regional), 18– muh (regional); Sc. pre-17 mi, pre-17 mie, pre-17 my, pre-17 17– me, pre-17 17– mee, 18 mey, 18– mei, 19– ma. (Show Less)
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate both with Old Frisian mi, Old Dutch mi (Middle Dutch mi, Dutch mij), Old Saxon mi, me < a Germanic 1st person singular accusative pronoun, and with Old Frisian mī, Old Saxon mī (Middle Low German mī, German regional (Low German) mi), Old Dutch mi (Middle Dutch mī, Dutch mij), Old High German mir (Middle High German mir, German mir), Old Icelandic mér, Norn (Shetland) mir, mier, Old Swedish mär, Gothic mis < a Germanic 1st person singular dative pronoun; both < the Indo-European base of Sanskrit mā, Pali, Prakrit maṁ, Old Persian mām, ancient Greek ἐμέ, με, classical Latin mē, Early Irish mé (Irish mé), Old Welsh, Welsh mi, Old Church Slavonic mene, mę, Russian menja, Old Prussian mien, Albanian mua.
A weak form of the pronoun, developed in conditions of lower stress, probably existed from early times, and is evidenced by the forms m- and m' occurring before vowels and by the regional forms ma , mah , etc. In Middle English this weak form tended to fall together with the weak form of my adj. (see the etymological note at that entry, and compare the Older Scots form my listed above); in the compound myself pron. the first element was originally me and was later reassigned to my, partly as a result of this coalescence. Variation between a weak form Old English had also an accusative form mec, (Mercian) mec, mic, (Northumbrian) mech, meh (which did not survive into Middle English), cognate with Old Saxon mik (Middle Low German mik, mek), Old High German mih (Middle High German mich, German mich), Old Icelandic mek, mik (Icelandic mig), Norn (Shetland) moch, Norwegian meg, Old Swedish megh, migh (Swedish mig), Danish mig, Gothic mik, perhaps representing a suffixed form of the accusative root, and perhaps therefore cognate with Greek ἐμέγε, or, more probably, developed in Proto-Germanic under the influence of the nominative form of the first person pronoun (Old English ic, Old Saxon ik, Old High German ih, Old Icelandic ek, Gothic ik). Compare:
Brit.
/mɪ/
,
U.S.
/mɪ/
and a strong form
Brit.
/miː/
,
U.S.
/mi/
continues to be a feature of this word as of several other pronouns.eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter
(1965)
lxxii. 19 (24)
Tenuisti manum dexteram meam et in uoluntate tua deduxisti me et cum gloria adsumpsisti me : ðu nome hond ða swiðran mine & in willan ðinum gelaedes mec & mid wuldre genome mic.
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist.
(Tanner)
iii. ix. 186
Sona mid þy þe seo fæmne mid þære cyste, þe heo bær, geneolecte þæm cafertune þæs huses, þa gewiton ealle þa wergan gastas onweg, þa ðe mec swencton & þrycton, & mec forleton & nower seoðþan æteawdon.
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. x. 32
Omnis ergo qui confitetur me coram hominibus confitebor : eghuelc forðon seðe ge-ondetas meh [OE Rushw. mec, OE West Saxon Gospels: Corpus Cambr. me] before monnum ic ondetu.
OE Seafarer 6
Þær mec oft bigeat nearo nihtwaco æt nacan stefnan.
OE Beowulf
(2008)
447
Gif mec deað nimeð.
A. pron.1 The objective case of the first person pronoun I (see I pron.), reproducing the Old English accusative and dative.
1. As direct object of a verb (originally accusative).
OE Blickling Homilies 7
Of þon me eadige cwædon ealle cneorisna.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt.
(Corpus Cambr.)
x. 32
Ælcne eornustlice þe me cyþ beforan mannun, ic cyþe hyne beforan minun fæder þe on heofenum ys.
c1275
(▸?a1216)
Owl & Nightingale
(Calig.)
(1935)
160
Ich wiste wel þat þu me mis raddest.
c1300
(▸?c1225)
King Horn
(Cambr.)
(1901)
637 (MED)
Hi gonne me assaille.
a1375 William of Palerne
(1867)
545 (MED)
He miȝt..for a fol me hold.
c1390
(▸a1376)
Langland Piers Plowman
(Vernon)
(1867)
A. vii. 88
He is holden, Ich hope to haue me in Muynde.
▸
a1470 Malory Morte Darthur
(Winch. Coll. 13)
(1990)
I. 353
Spare me nat to-morne whan I have rested me.
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae
(1922)
46 (MED)
I wyl obey..to all thyng þat ȝe bydde me.
1535 Bp. J. Fisher in Wks.
(1876)
i. 382
He wil not forsake me nor suffer mee to perish.
1569 E. Fenton tr. P. Boaistuau Certaine Secrete Wonders Nature f. 108
Many learned men of the vniuersitie..assured me, that it was a kinde of flying fishe.
1680 T. Otway Orphan ii. 17
But use me gently like a loving Brother.
1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. i. 14
Did God make me to serve him?
1762 I. Bickerstaff Love in Village
(1765)
i. x. 20
Well, my lad, are you willing to serve the king? Countryman. Why, can you list ma?
1832 Tennyson Œnone in Poems
(new ed.)
53
Hear me, for I will speak.
1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-major I. iv. 67
We were trying to bomb down the tower, and a piece of the shell struck me.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 510
You found me in evil company.
1966 I. Murdoch Time of Angels ix. 100
The only sound argument in the whole of theology, in my humble view, only don't quote me!
1998 S. O'Connell Angel Bird 128
He stretched out his ham-sized fist and hauled me to my feet.
eOE—1998(Hide quotations)
2. As indirect object, and in other originally dative uses.
a. As indirect object of a verb.
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist.
(Tanner)
iii. x. 186
Cwom sum broðor þonon..þe me sægde þæt hit þus gedon wære.
OE Beowulf 2155
Me ðis hildesceorp Hroðgar sealde.
OE Ælfric Homily
(Cambr. Ii.4.6)
in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric
(1967)
I. 363
Se munuc..forwyrnde me þæs weges.
c1275
(▸?a1216)
Owl & Nightingale
(Calig.)
(1935)
159 (MED)
Ich nolde don þa þu me raddest.
c1330
(▸?a1300)
Sir Tristrem
(1886)
l. 1336 (MED)
Bring þou me þat may.
c1400
(▸a1376)
Langland Piers Plowman
(Trin. Cambr. R.3.14)
(1960)
A. vi. 85 (MED)
I perfourmde þe penaunce þe prest me enioynide.
c1480
(▸a1400)
SS. Simon & Jude 56 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial.
(1896)
I. 209
Anence þat þu writtis me now.
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke. iv. f. liiv
Wherefore doooeste [sic] thou promyse me that is myne owne alreadye.
1616 B. Jonson Epicœne i. i, in Wks. I. 532
Giue me a looke, giue me a face, That makes simplicity a grace.
1655 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa III. ii. iii. 225
Those strange accidents which had arriu'd me.
1666 R. Boyle Origine Formes & Qualities 395
The quantity presented me was less inconsiderable.
1701 T. Baker Humour of Age iii. 35
Give it me quickly.
1784 Johnson Let. 20 Mar. in J. W. Croker Life S. Johnson
(1837)
II. 371/1
God has in his mercy granted me a reprieve.
1824 L. L. Cameron Hist. Marten & Two Little Scholars
(new ed.)
vii. 43
This nice fat cheese which brother gave me.
1898 H. R. Haggard Dr. Therne 21
Will you lend it me?
1934 G. B. Shaw Too True to be Good i. 42
It must be that new sleeping draught the doctor gave me.
1993 R. Shell iCED 181
Dalek..sold me two ounces of Colombian gold reefer.
eOE—1993(Hide quotations)
†b. In impersonal constructions.
(a) As object of an impersonal verb, or a verb used impersonally. Now only in set uses and phrases such as meseems v., and methinks v.; see also list v.1 Obsolete.
OE Soul & Body I 152
Forþan me a langaþ, leofost manna, on minum hige hearde, þæs þe ic þe on þyssum hynðum wat wyrmum to wiste.
c1175
(▸OE)
Ælfric Homily
(Bodl. 343)
in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies
(1993)
61
Me idafenæð to wyrcenne his weorc þe me sende, þa hwile ðe dæȝ bið.
c1225
(▸?c1200)
St. Katherine
(1973)
550
Ȝet me teoneð mare þet ha tukeð ure godes to balewe.
▸
c1300 Havelok
(Laud)
(1868)
1284 (MED)
A selkuth drem dremede me nou.
a1400
(▸a1325)
Cursor Mundi
(Vesp.)
3611 (MED)
Þar-efter now mi langes sare.
a1450 York Plays
(1885)
40
Me repentys and rewys for-þi.
1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xx. f. cxlvii
Me nedeth neuer to loke more for the mater.
1590 Spenser Faerie Queene ii. vii. sig. S2v
Me ill befits, that in derdoing armes, And honours suit my vowed daies do spend.
OE—1590(Hide quotations)
(b) In dependence on an adjective, past participle, adverb, or noun. Formerly common in phrases such as me were better, liefer (see better adj. 4a(a), lief adj. 1c, also well adj. 1a); now only in woe is me at woe int., adv., n., and adj. Phrases 2. Obsolete.
OE Ælfric Homily: De Duodecim Abusivis
(Corpus Cambr. 178)
in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies
(1868)
1st Ser. 301
Her is min cild þe me is swiðe leof.
OE Paris Psalter
(1932)
cxviii. 103
Me is on gomum god and swete þin agen word.
a1375 William of Palerne
(1867)
530 (MED)
For i so worngely haue wrouȝt to wite him, me greues.
▸
a1393 Gower Confessio Amantis
(Fairf.)
i. 117
So hard me was that ilke throwe, That [etc.].
c1475
(▸c1445)
R. Pecock Donet
(1921)
6 (MED)
Ouer long it were me to declare..how hard it is to knowe.
1579 Spenser Shepheardes Cal. June 79
Enough is me to paint out my vnrest.
OE—1579(Hide quotations)
c. As dative of interest (= ‘for me’).
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John xiii. 8
Non lauabis mihi pedas : ne ðuoas ðu me foet.
c1225
(▸?OE)
Soul's Addr. to Body
(Worcester)
(Fragm. A) l. 14
Wo me..þet æffre mine lifdawes þus [lon]ge me ilesteþ.
c1330
(▸?c1300)
Guy of Warwick
(Auch.)
2275 (MED)
In þi chamber..kepes me Þis gentil kniȝtez.
c1395 Chaucer Merchant's Tale 1654
Assoileth me this question, I preye.
c1450
(▸c1386)
Chaucer Legend Good Women Prol. 46
In my bed ther daweth me no day That I nam up and walkyng.
1451
(▸c1400)
Vision of Tundale
(Royal)
(1893)
87 (MED)
Dame..Loke me my sparthe.
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae
(1922)
354 (MED)
Acounte me thise yeris wysely.
c1520 tr. Terence Andria iv. i, in Terens in Eng. sig. C.iiiv
Yf thow indeuer the and put to thy payn for onne wedding thow wilt make me twayn.
?1591 R. Bruce Serm. Sacrament (1 Cor. xi. 23) sig. B4
Confound me ane of thir twa, with the vther.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 488. ¶2
A large Family of Daughters have drawn me up a very handsome Remonstrance.
1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VII. xliv. 157
Tie me up this tress instantly.
1849 M. Arnold Sick King in Bokhara in Strayed Reveller 38
Prick me the fellow from the path!
1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-major II. xix. 76
Can I ask you to do me one kindness?
1942 C. Barrett On Wallaby iii. 41
Even an offer of..mobs of tucker..failed to gain me a guide.
1992 Santa Fe
(New Mexico)
Jrnl. Reporter 2 Dec. 34/3
My mother would take me there and buy me a whole new outfit.
OE—1992(Hide quotations)
d. Used expletively in passages of a narrative character. (The so-called ethic dative.) Now arch. and rare. N.E.D. (1906) notes ‘Formerly often in vulgar or colloq. phrases (now obs.) such as “then says me I”, “what did me I but”, etc.’ Examples in earlier literature of this co-occurrence with the subjective pronoun appear in fact not to be common.
a1325
(▸c1250)
Gen. & Exod.
(1968)
l. 3821
Ilc prince me take hise wond.
c1400
(▸?c1390)
Sir Gawain & Green Knight
(1940)
1905 (MED)
Þay fel on hym alle & woried me þis wyly wyth a wroth noyse.
a1450
(▸1391)
Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe ii. §38. 26
Tak me than a rule and draw a strike evene a-lyne.
1534 Prymer in Eng. sig. G.iiij
But Peter..cometh me backe agayne vnto ye fyer.
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis
(new ed.)
vii. f. 81
She went me to an Altar that was dedicate of olde To..Hecate.
1662 G. Torriano New Fabrick Ital. Dialogues 54 in Piazza Universale
(1666)
He spreads me that seed upon a white clout.
1697 J. Vanbrugh Æsop ii. 1
I'se get our wife Joan to be the queen's chambermaid; and then—crack says me I! and forget all my acquaintance.
1703 G. Farquhar Twin-rivals iv. 44
What hears me I—but pat, pat, pat very softly at the Door.
1724 Swift Prometheus
(single sheet)
Prometheus once this Chain [of gold] purloin'd..Then whips me on a Chain of Brass.
1737 T. Gray Let. in Corr.
(1971)
I. 48
At the foot of one of these squats me I.
1823 C. Lamb Oxf. in Vacation in Elia 23
With great exactitude of purpose he enters me his name in the book.
1874 A. C. Swinburne Bothwell
(1882)
iii. i. 244
Down my knave drops me flatlong, with his hair Aghast as hedgehogs' prickles.
a1325—1874(Hide quotations)
3. As the object of a preposition.
OE (Mercian) Rushw. Gospels: Matt. xxvi. 40
Non potuisti unam horam uigilare mecum : ne mæhtest ane hwile uel tid awæccan mid me.
OE Beowulf 541
No he wiht fram me flodyþum feor fleotan meahte, hraþor on holme, no ic fram him wolde.
OE West Saxon Gospels: John
(Corpus Cambr.)
vi. 35
Ic eom lifes hlaf ne hingrað þone þe to me cymð & ne þyrst þone næfre ðe on me gelyfð.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron.
(Laud)
(Peterborough interpolation)
anno 656
Ealle þa ða æfter me cumen.
?c1200 Ormulum
(Burchfield transcript)
l. 237
Þuss hafeþþ drihhtin don wiþþ me.
c1275
(▸?a1216)
Owl & Nightingale
(Calig.)
(1935)
367 (MED)
Þu licst; on me hit is isene.
c1325
(▸c1250)
Prov. Hendyng
(Harl.)
219 in K. Böddeker Altengl. Dichtungen
(1878)
296 (MED)
Ne shulde non be me ylyche.
c1400 Canticum Creatione 11 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden
(1878)
124
Þe rode treo Þat god on deyde for ȝow & meo.
▸
a1470 Malory Morte Darthur
(Winch. Coll. 13)
(1990)
I. 410
I pray to God that he never be..shamed for me.
a1500 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon
(Pierpont Morgan)
(1966)
19 (MED)
He schal be oon wiþ me.
1562 J. Hopkins in T. Sternhold et al. tr. Whole Bk. Psalmes cxliii. 361
Within me in perplexitie: Was mine accombred spryte.
1616 B. Jonson Forrest ix, in Wks. I
Drinke to me, onely, with thine eyes.
1642 King Charles I Answer XIX. Propos. Parl. in Wks.
(1662)
I. 401
You see that My Magazine is going to be taken from Me.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 79. ⁋2
The Writer will do what she pleases for all me.
1755 W. Hay tr. Martial Select Epigrams i. 15
In the whole town no soul can be So near, and yet so far from me.
1816 J. Wilson City of Plague i. i. 101
A voice comes to me from its silent towers.
1886 F. L. Shaw Col. Cheswick's Camp II. i. 14
You put heart into me again.
1940 J. Buchan Memory Hold-the-Door 6
It is a record of the impressions made upon me by the outer world.
1999 J. Lloyd & E. Rees Come Together vii. 207
By my telling her she's too good for him, I'm actually implying she'd be better off with me.
OE—1999(Hide quotations)
4. reflexive (a) as direct object, ‘myself’; now arch. and rare; (b) as indirect object, ‘to or for myself’; now arch. except in colloq. (chiefly U.S. regional) usage. A. 4(b) is sometimes a redundant use, emphasizing that ‘the speaker's advantage (or disadvantage), well-being, pleasure, or the like is ultimately concerned’ ( Dict. Amer. Regional Eng.).
OE Cynewulf Juliana 452
Þær ic swiþe me þyslicre ær þrage ne wende.
OE West Saxon Gospels: John
(Corpus Cambr.)
ix. 11
Ic eode, & þwoh me & geseah.
c1175
(▸OE)
Ælfric Homily
(Bodl. 343)
in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies
(1993)
62
Ic eode and weosc me.
a1225
(▸?c1175)
Poema Morale
(Lamb.)
6 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies
(1868)
1st Ser. 161 (MED)
Þenne ich me bi-þenche wel, ful sare ich me adrede.
?a1300 Dame Sirith 170 in G. H. McKnight Middle Eng. Humorous Tales
(1913)
8 (MED)
I shal strengþen me þer-to.
c1330
(▸?a1300)
Arthour & Merlin
(Auch.)
(1973)
518 (MED)
Þat..Ich may me þere were & hede Fro min fon.
▸
c1390 Chaucer Parson's Tale 309
I purposed fermely to shryue me.
a1450
(▸?1409)
St. Patrick's Purgatory
(Royal)
60 (MED)
I..roos me vp and went in.
c1450
(▸c1393)
Chaucer Scogan 36
I mexcuse.
c1500
(▸1463)
G. Ashby Prisoner's Refl. 96 in Poems
(1899)
4 (MED)
I cast me nat to be neyther styll ne coy.
?1577 F. T. Debate Pride & Lowlines sig. Eviiiv
Thinking to me they meant to gone vs by.
c1600 Club Law
(1907)
i. v. 118
O Lord that I could but save mee as much money, as would buy mee a Scottish dagger to pricke the villaines.
1605 Faire Maide Bristow sig. Biv
This night ile ride, And presently get me a Docters tire.
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia Pref. sig. F
I provided me a Tube of Brass.
1706 N. Rowe Ulysses ii. i
Methought I found me by a murm'ring Brook.
1819 Keats La Belle Dame 44
And I awoke, and found me here.
1821 W. Sewall Diary
(1930)
75
Purchased me some linens.
1859 Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 15
Where can I get me harbourage for the night?
1867 G. A. Macfarren Six Lect. Harmony vi. 206
I must content me..with the bare statement.
1874 2nd Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1873–4 512
In 1861 I built me a horse barn, twenty-eight by forty.
1880 G. M. Hopkins Let. 26 Oct.
(1935)
lxx. 112
I have got me Stainer's Primer of Harmony.
1916 ‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd iii. 42
I'm going to make me one.
1963 W. A. Owens Look to River i. 10
I'll need me a few clothes.
1974 M. Hastings Dragon Island xv. 129
I'll grab me the first-aid box and..see how my patients are doing.
1993 Harper's Apr. 46/2
When I get to college, I'm gonna get me a white Nissan Sentra.
OE—1993(Hide quotations)
5. For the subjective pronoun I.Several of these uses (especially senses A. 5a), while common in colloquial English, have been regarded as nonstandard by many grammarians since the 18th cent.
a. Forming with another pronoun or a noun the subject of a plural verb. Cf. I pron. 2a.
1380 in W. Fraser Douglas Bk.
(1885)
III. 28
Me and myn ayres..haue releissit..al my rycht clayme persuit chalenge or askyng..to fourty markis worth of land.
a1500 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols
(1935)
308 (MED)
Qwan he and me browt un us the schete, Of all hys wyll I hym lete.
1645 S. Verney in Verney Memoirs
Sis peg and me got an opportunity [etc.].
1797 T. Wright Autobiogr.
(1864)
72
My sweetheart and me began now to think of marriage.
1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility II. ii. 31
Anne and me are to go the latter end of January to some relations.
1825 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xix, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 366
Me and Wordsworth are aboon the age we live in.
1864 Dickens Our Mutual Friend
(1865)
I. i. viii. 68
Me and Mrs. Boffin stood the poor girl's friend.
1886 W. Besant Children of Gibeon III. ii. xxvii. 150
We're an easy-going lot, me and my friends.
1893 Northumberland words at Him
Him an' me's gannin'.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 11 Nov. 3/1
I can foresee..that unless me and Ellen advise you, you'll become simply——.
1936 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang.
(ed. 4)
ix. 457
Him and me are friends.
1990 News of World 11 Feb. 11/2
Me and a colleague rushed down to evacuate the area.
1380—1990(Hide quotations)
b. As sole head of a noun phrase forming the subject. Now regional, esp. Caribbean.
c1380 Charter Edinb. Reg. House in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Ken
Be it kennyt till al men throch this presens me..haf hecht [etc.].
1423 Crown Office Writ Reg. House No. 37
Be it maid kend till all..me Alexander of Lochtrysk..giffis and grantis [etc.].
c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. xxxviijv/2
Be it knowen to al men by theis presentis me, T. H. of oxenford glouar, ordeyne [etc.].
1519 in W. Chambers Charters Burgh Peebles
(1872)
49
Be it kennit tyll all men be thir present letteres, me James Baroune..grantis me to haif rasawit [etc.].
c1600 Club Law
(1907)
i. viii. 19
Me cannot tell de reason.
1663 R. Head Hic et Ubique 115
My shelf no howle, me make speak for you.
a1713 T. Ellwood Hist. Life
(1714)
121
Attributing the Deliverance me hitherto had to the Lord.
1776 D. Herd Anc. & Mod. Sc. Songs
(ed. 2)
II. 187
Me never saw the like, man.
1837 United Service Jrnl. June 211
Tank Garamity,..me hab de felicity to find my massa.
1856 D. M. Mulock John Halifax III. xi. 276
Me want to see Grannie and Uncle Guy.
1918 E. C. Parsons Folk-tales of Andros I., Bahamas in Mem. Amer. Folk-lore Soc. 13 36
Me no tiger.
1942 L. Bennett Jamaica Dial. Verses 2
Me 'ave lot a labrish fe tell yuh.
1977 Westindian World 3 June 4/1
All me can say is that all dis revelation come too late, from days gone when me use fe tek me home work back to school.
1993 H. N. Thomas Spirits in Dark ix. 106
When two 'oman live in a house like that, them fight like dog and cat; and me have no interest in fighting with Laurel.
c1380—1993(Hide quotations)
†c. In an absolute clause. Obsolete.
a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi
(Trin. Dublin)
(1893)
69 (MED)
These folke, me beyng displesed [L. me eis adversante], ofte tymes fallen into gret temptacions.
a1605
(▸c1422)
T. Hoccleve Complaint
(Durh.)
375 in Minor Poems
(1892)
i. 108
He that it owght agayne it to hym toke, me of his haste unaware.
a1500—1671(Hide quotations)
d. Predicative.
a1592 R. Greene Frier Bacon
(1594)
sig. F4
Marg...Who or of whome loue shall constraine me like. Serlsbie. Let it be me and trust me Margret.
a1616 Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona
(1623)
ii. iii. 22
Oh, the dogge is me, and I am my selfe.
1672 W. Wycherley Love in Wood v. 88
It was not me you follow'd.
1730 Swift Apol. Lady Carteret 4
To dine with Her! and come at Three! Impossible! it can't be me.
1758 O. Goldsmith tr. J. Marteilhe Mem. Protestant I. 165
There was left surviving only me.
1826 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xxiv, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 226
O ye Gawpus! Ye great Gawpus! It's me, man—it's me!
1852 Southern Lit. Messenger Feb. 93/2
That's me—that's Davy Crockett.
1890 M. Oliphant Kirsteen I. xiv. 245
But it's me that dare not say a word.
1940 G. Marx Let. 10 Oct. in G. Marx et al. Groucho Lett.
(1967)
26
A kind of human interest story with a slightly wacky father, who, of course, would be me.
1985 J. Adams Good Intentions xvii. 131
Yeah, that's me, a regular gorgeous hunk.
a1592—1985(Hide quotations)
e. After as, than. (See than conj. 1b.)
1669 J. Worthington Let. 22 Apr. in Diary & Corr.
(1886)
II. ii. 312
Which doth oblige them to it as much as me.
a1718 M. Prior Poems Several Occasions
(1723)
II. 12
As He was a Poet sublimer than Me.
1747 S. Richardson Clarissa I. x. 58
I am fitter for this world than you: You for the next than me.
1787 R. Burns Poems & Songs
(1968)
I. 284
Gin ye be a Brig as auld as me,..There'll be..Some fewer whigmeleeries in your noddle.
1804 Byron Let. 2 Nov.
(1973)
I. 54
Ld. Delawarr..is considerably younger than me.
1892 N. Dickson Auld Sc. Minister 128
I'm sure ye ken as weel as me that love's just an unco fykiness o' the mind.
1934 A. Russell Tramp-royal in Wild Austral. i. 19
You'll have to rough it..rough it hard, too..same as me.
1962 W. Faulkner Reivers iv. 82
He's younger than me and stouter too for his size.
1990 Fast Forward 17 Jan. 15/3
I am looking for a girl pen-pal around the same age as me.
a1616—1990(Hide quotations)
f. With ellipsis of verb (usually in dialogue); frequently in me neither (see neither adv. 3b) and me too, signifying the sharing of or acquiescing in another person's view, experience, or desire (see me-too n. and adj.). Cf. me-too v., me-tooer n.
1745 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 13 Apr.
(1932)
(modernized text)
II. 596
You must mark out Lord Granville by exterminating without quarter all who belong to him... If you take this resolution,..I empower you to make what use you please of my name as quitting with you; and I say as Will Seymour did, And me, too, sweet Jesus.
1761 J. Woodforde Diary 16 Nov. in W. N. Hargreaves-Mawdsley Woodforde at Oxf.
(1969)
59
Bathurst never betts; only me.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xl. 190
Me too; where's your girls?
1873 L. M. Alcott Work II. xi. 336
‘Me too!’ cried little Ruth, and spread her chubby hand above the rest.
1921 H. Williamson Beautiful Years 128
‘Where are you going?’ ‘Out.’ ‘Where to man?’ ‘Mr. Norman's.’.. ‘Norman's, you said? Right-o. Me, too!’
1960 J. R. Ackerley We think World of You 82
The almost mad stare with which her starting eyes pierced and searched my own for the answer to the only question in the world: ‘Me too?’
1971 Black World June 81/2
‘I just asked.’ ‘Had no business asking.’ ‘Says who?’ ‘Me, stupid!’
1994 This Mag.
(Toronto)
Sept. 28/2
If you're going to think of being queer with a ‘me too! me too!’ attitude, somewhere down the line, it's going to break down because it's also an issue of sexuality.
1745—1994(Hide quotations)
g. colloq. [Compare French moi.] Used intensively.
1844 W. H. Maxwell Wanderings in Highlands & Islands II. xviii. 255
Me, that never..listened to a light-bob.
1923 Dial. Notes 5 244
I am not going to-day, me.
1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xxii. 184
Me, I'd just as leave drink croup medicine.
1963 Listener 20 June 1041/3
Me, I like fighting, too.
1979 D. Law in Observer 19 Aug. 10
It still amazes me to think that I work for the Beeb, me that has always been so shy.
1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! x. 93
Me, I found the whole thing hilarious.
1844—1992(Hide quotations)
1875 W. S. Gilbert Tom Cobb 1
Me so pinched for money till I can hardly raise an egg for breakfast.
1950 J. Hersey Peggety's Parcel of Shortcomings in Fling
(1990)
22
Me, sitting there, taking up half the back seat of the car.
1989 R. Bass Oil Notes 172
Me padding around in down booties in the quiet house.
1998 A. O'Hanlon Talk of Town i. iv. 72
Me riding a woman for the first time in my life.
1875—1998(Hide quotations)
6. In various exclamatory uses, without definite syntactical relation to the context.
a. colloq. and me…: ‘especially considering that I am…’.Quot. c1400 is considered by N. Davies (1967) to be an example of this idiom, representing a more colloquial variant of and I… found elsewhere in this text and contemporary writings.
c1400
(▸?c1390)
Sir Gawain & Green Knight
(1940)
1067
Naf I now to busy bot bare þre dayez, And me als fayn to falle feye as fayly of myyn ernde.
a1796 R. Burns in J. Johnson Scots Musical Museum
(1803)
VI. 562
Robin..Play'd me sic a trick, And me the Eller's dochter.
1812 M. Edgeworth Absentee xi, in Tales Fashionable Life VI. 181
Which would be hard on us, and me a widow.
1864 G. Meredith Emilia in Eng. I. xv. 208
And twenty shindies per dime we've been havin', and me such a placable body, if ye'll onnly let m' explode.
1906 H. Green At Actors' Boarding House 209
I thought I'd die laughing at his making love..and me with a husband doing his bit back in Auburn.
1932 P. G. Wodehouse Hot Water i. 21
And me who had split Even Stephen with her on every deal, never chiselling, never holding out on her, no, not so much as a dime.
1960 V. Williams Walk Egypt i. vi. 50
I swear,..every time I think of the way that little scutter done—and me only trying to be neighborly.
1989 P. McCabe Carn x. 149
Lord above isn't the world a strange place and me here thinking all the time you were in Carnaby Street or some place.
c1400—1989(Hide quotations)
b. In interjectional phrases, as ah me! (see ah int. 2a, 4), ay me! (see ay int. 2), dear me! (see dear int.), †fore me! (see fore adv. 1b), o me! (see O int. 2), oh me! (see oh int.), etc.See also body of me! at body n. Phrases 3, Gods me at god n. and int. Phrases 1c(b)(ii).
a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Fourth Bk. Aeneas
(1554)
iv. sig. Ciii
Aime [1557 Ay me], wyth rage and furyes am I dryue.
1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. H
Ay me vnhappie.
a1626 W. Rowley New Wonder
(1632)
iv. 59
O me my shame! I know that voyce full well.
a1626 W. Rowley New Wonder
(1632)
iv. 60
O me, mine Vncle sees me!
1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads i. 397
Ay me, (said Thetis) would you could here rest Unhurt, ungriev'd.
1707 G. Farquhar Beaux Stratagem v. 64
O me! an ugly Gash upon my Word.
1751 R. Lloyd Progr. Envy in Poems
(1762)
206
Ah me! unhappy state of mortal wight.
1798 in Spirit of Public Jrnls.
(1799)
2 216
Dear me! O la! Good me!
1820 Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 89
Alas me! flit! Flit like a ghost away.
1912 T. Hardy Life's Little Ironies in Wks. VIII. 7
‘Dear me!’ she continued.
1937 D. Teilhet & H. Teilhet Feather Cloak Murders vi. 104
Not that I'm complaining. Dear me, no. I know my place.
1965 Listener 17 June 898/2
Through the window I can see them—ah me! the inevitable reception committee.
1991 Z. Edgell In Times like These xli. 236
Goodness me, it's only a slight cut, pull up your socks, my girl.
a1547—1991(Hide quotations)
c. In surprised interrogation: = ‘Do you mean me?’.
a1616 Shakespeare As you like It
(1623)
i. iii. 40
Duk. And get you from our Court. Ros. Me Vncle. Duk. You Cosen.
1637 T. Heywood Royall King ii. iv
Me my Lord? King. Ey you my Lord.
1760 S. Foote Minor iii. 88
What says your father? Sir Will. Me! Oh, I'll shew you in an instant.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. v. i. 26
Then, turning to Miss Larolles, ‘Don't you dance?’ he said. ‘Me?’ cried she, embarrassed, ‘yes, I believe so.’
1871 J. Ruskin Let. 24 July in Wks.
(1909)
XXXVII. 33
Me docile to Doctors!
1899 A. C. Swinburne Rosamund i. i
Allovine. Speak now. Say first what ails thee? Rosamund. Me?
1963 N. Marsh Dead Water
(1964)
vii. 170
‘Do you mean that you confronted her?’ ‘Me! No, thank you!’
1997 J. Owen Camden Girls 113
Me? I'm the last person to ask.
a1616—1997(Hide quotations)
d. [After classical Latin me miserum!, etc.] In imitation of Latin uses. Cf. misery me! at misery n. Phrases 2.
1639 T. D. Bloodie Banquet ii. ii. sig. C3v
Oh me accursed and most miserable.
1640 R. Brathwait Ar't Asleepe Husband? 104
Alas me wretched!
1667 Milton Paradise Lost iv. 73
Me miserable! which way shall I flie Infinite wrauth, and infinite despaire?
1889 R. Browning Pope & Net iii
‘Unworthy me!’ he sighs: ‘From fisher's drudge to Church's prince—it is indeed a rise.’
1639—1889(Hide quotations)
e. Followed by an infinitive in an exclamation of surprise or indignation at some proposal or statement.
1885 J. K. Jerome On Stage 16
‘Me! me pay!’ I exclaimed, rendered ungrammatical by surprise. ‘What for?’
1907 I. Zangwill Ghetto Comedies 409
‘Me join the Misnagdim!’ cried the cobbler in horror.
1930 Amer. Mercury Dec. 456/2
Me work? Don't be foolish. I'm a noble, I am.
1941 Coast to Coast 167
‘Me take the harness off him!’ my mother said, surprised. ‘Why, I wouldn't touch that mad thing with a forty-foot pole.’
1962 A. La Guma Walk in Night iii. 17
‘Me go to jail for a toit?’ the taxi-driver scowled. ‘Never.’
1996 S. Deane Reading in Dark
(1997)
vi. 221
‘Where would that place be?’.. ‘I don't know. You tell me.’ ‘Don't know? Me tell you? I could tell you anywhere.’
1885—1996(Hide quotations)
f. me and my —— : expressing the speaker's exasperation or amusement at a characteristic indicated by the second part of the phrase.
1947 F. Gruber Whispering Master xiv. 103
‘Me and my big mouth,’ said Johnny bitterly. ‘Oh, don't worry chum..we'd 'a searched you anyway.’
1984 A. Maupin Babycakes xliii. 196
Me and my quaint ideas about husbands and wives and sluts.
1989 T. Kidder Among Schoolchildren vii. ii. 256
Me and my precious schedules... I've got to lighten up. Chill out.
1996 R. Doyle Woman who walked into Doors xxv. 169
Make your own fuckin' tea. That was what I said... Me and my big mouth.
1947—1996(Hide quotations)
7. Premodified by an adjective. Cf. I pron. 1b.
1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos vi. 894
Where now away withdraw you wery me?
1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David iii. i
How many ones there be That all against poor me Their numerous strength redouble.
1648 R. Crashaw Steps to Temple
(ed. 2)
34
And full of Nothing else but emptie Mee.
1697 Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 261
Did you for this, unhappy me convey Through Foes and Fires to see my House a Prey?
1790 D. Morison Poems 96
How then he'd stare wi' sour grimace..Syne flyre like some outlandish race, At wretched me.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. x. x. 132
As for poor little me,..I was sent to the foundling hospital.
1814 J. Austen Let. 2 Mar.
(1995)
256
I am to call upon Miss Spencer: Funny me!
1895 A. W. Pinero Second Mrs. Tanqueray iii. 111
I really thought you'd forgotten poor little me.
1918 W. Cather My Ántonia ii. xiv. 274
‘What do you think of poor me?’ she added.
1961 ‘P. Dennis’
(title)
Little me: the intimate memoirs of that great star..Belle Poitrine.
1994 Amer. Spectator Apr. 57/1
The stewardesses..were sitting in the back of the cabin hanging out and gossiping. I thought they were supposed to be offering us drinks and so forth. Silly me.
1558—1994(Hide quotations)
8. me and my girl (also darling) : (in West Africa) a kind of small sofa, of a size suitable for only two people.
1960 C. Achebe No Longer at Ease ii. 14
The sitting area was taken up with two armchairs, a settee (otherwise called ‘me and my girl’) and a round table on which he displayed his photo album.
1971 A. Kirk-Greene in J. Spencer Eng. Lang. W. Afr. 144
‘Me-and-my-darling’ describes a small sofa.
1986 T. O. Echewa Crippled Dancer ii. x. 211
Stella..plonked herself down on the me-and-my-girl from which Ajuzia had just risen.
1960—1986(Hide quotations)
B. n.
1. (A way of referring to) the person speaking or writing.
1781 W. Cowper Let. 12 July
(1979)
I. 498
Here you receive a bow profound, down to the ground, from your humble me—W C.
1886 R. Kipling Departm. Ditties 38
An inscrutable Decree Makes thee a gleesome fleasome Thou, and me a wretched Me.
1781—1886(Hide quotations)
1828 T. Carlyle in Foreign Rev. 1 115
Haunted and blinded by some shadow of his own little Me.
1864 A. Bain Senses & Intellect
(ed. 2)
i. i. 98
A not me as opposed to the me of passive sensibility and thought.
1877 E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant Introd. ii. 12
A dualism between knowing and being, between the ‘me’ and the ‘not me’.
1905 E. Glyn Vicissitudes Evangeline 266
Whatever accident makes me have this objectionable outside, the me that lives within is an honest person who never breaks her word.
1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey xiv
That was the fighting me: but labour I never could abide, nor the husbandry which breeds healthy children.
1988 S. Bellow Theft 38
I am in touch with the me in myself.
1828—1988(Hide quotations)
C. adj. (predicative).
Suited to or expressive of the tastes, ability, personality, etc., of the writer or speaker; appropriate for the writer or speaker.
1803 S. T. Coleridge Let. 14 Aug.
(1956)
II. 974
Sloth, carelessness, Resignation is not merely in me; it is me. (Spite of Grammar—i.e. Lowth's—for I affirm, that in such instances ‘it is me’, is genuine English & philosophical Grammar.)
1899 J. London Let. 29 July
(1966)
47
This is me all the time and all over.
1905 A. Bennett Sacred & Profane Love i. v. 83
But that poor little book isn't me... I shall never write another like it.
1925 R. Hall Sat. Life vii. 79
Nothings, just nothings, they didn't count; this is the thing that's me.
1938 J. Cary Castle Corner 557
The house has got to be contemporary, it's got to be art..and it's got to be me.
1957 P. Wildeblood Main Chance 56
Cardigans are not..particularly me.
1993 Clothes Show Mag. Feb. 19/3
It's not really me. I'm not a jeans type of girl, I like a sharper image.
1803—1993(Hide quotations)
Compounds
me decade n. orig. U.S. the 1970s, regarded as a period characterized by an obsessive preoccupation with personal fulfilment and self-gratification; (later also) the 1980s, regarded as a period characterized by selfishness and materialism.
1976 T. Wolfe in New York 23 Aug. 26
(title)
Me Decade and the third great awakening.
1976 T. Wolfe in New York 23 Aug. 29/2
In her experience lies the explanation of certain grand puzzles of the 1970s, a period that will come to be known as the Me Decade.
1979 Globe & Mail
(Toronto)
29 Aug.
Your Turn, My Turn is not a movie poking fun at the Me Decade, it's a manifestation of the Me Decade.
1983 Listener 21 Apr. 23/1
Taking their money and running fast is what people have been doing in the Me Decades, otherwise the Purple Decades.
1990 Marxism Today Jan. 23/1
As the me-decade recedes into the collective memory, a new emphasis is being placed in the media on the values of caring, communing and connecting.
1976—1990(Hide quotations)
me generation n. that section of the young adult population of the U.S. and other Western countries which enjoyed relative affluence in the 1970s and 80s, regarded as characterized by a preoccupation with the self and with material gain.
1978 Jrnl. Techn. Writing & Communication 8 287
The ‘me generation’ is obsessed with self.
1985 Sunday Tel. 26 May 5/7
At more than 60 American campuses, apartheid has suddenly inflamed the ‘me generation’ that was thought to be too materialist to care.
1991 New York 9 Sept. 32/1
‘Today we're getting that Me Generation in’, she says disdainfully. ‘A lot of them come in saying they're alcoholics... They just want to belong to something!’
1978—1991(Hide quotations)
me time n. time devoted to doing what one wants, typically on one's own, as opposed to working or doing things for others, considered as important in reducing stress or restoring energy.
1980 R. A. Dunlap Helping yourself with Cosmic Healing xii. 199
Arrange during each day to have some ‘me time’.
1998 Cosmopolitan
(U.K. ed.)
Aug. 218
(caption)
It's not the quantity of me-time that counts, it's the quality.
2012 J. Pate & B. Machen Mothers of Reinvention iv. 161
If you take twenty minutes of ‘me time’ to take that hike, you'll be more energized to face the laundry.
1980—2012(Hide quotations)