aught









aught


aught 3[awkht] ExamplesWord Origin verb (used with object) Scot.

  1. to own; possess.
  2. to owe (someone or something); be obligated to.

adjective

  1. possessed of.

noun

  1. Archaic.
    1. ownership; possession.
    2. property; a possession.

Origin of aught 3 before 1000; Middle English; Old English æht; cognate with Old High German ēht, Gothic aihts; akin to owe, own aught 4[awkht] adjective Scot.

  1. eight.
  2. eighth.

Origin of aught 4 Middle English aghte, aughte, variant of eighte; see eight Examples from the Web for aughter Historical Examples of aughter

  • Yu’d aughter be ashamed tu send a man egs that wa, anny how.

    The History of The Hen Fever

    George P. Burnham

  • I begged, because she aughter know that is a sore point with me and not intention, and she had me on the raw.

    Believe You Me!

    Nina Wilcox Putnam

  • W’en I wuz erbout fifty years ole, de notion got inter my head dat I aughter preach.

    Up Terrapin River

    Opie P. Read

  • British Dictionary definitions for aughter aught 1 ought used with a negative or in conditional or interrogative sentences or clauses archaic, or literary pronoun

    1. anything at all; anything whatever (esp in the phrase for aught I know)

    adverb

    1. dialect in any least part; to any degree

    Word Origin for aught Old English āwiht, from ā ever, ay 1 + wiht thing; see wight 1 aught 2ought noun

    1. a less common word for nought

    Word Origin and History for aughter aught n.1

    “something,” Old English awiht “aught, anything, something,” literally “e’er a whit,” from Proto-Germanic *aiwi “ever” (from PIE *aiw- “vital force, life, long life, eternity;” see eon) + *wihti “thing, anything whatever” (see wight). In Shakespeare, Milton and Pope, aught and ought occur indiscriminately.

    aught n.2

    “nothing, zero,” faulty separation of a naught (see naught; cf. also adder for the separation problem).

    49 queries 0.512