of one thing to another in respect of place or position. We might go on to illustrate by saying:

"The house stands upon rising ground. There is a lawn before the door, a veranda along one side of the house, behind it an apple orchard bending under the weight of its ruddy fruit. Below the orchard the river flows between rocky banks, and beyond it rises a steep woody hill. A little up the stream there is a bridge across it, so high that boats can pass beneath it.'

"We might next explain what is so very common that a device found to serve well for one purpose is apt to be applied to many others. So many other relations besides those of place are expressed by prepositions. Thus there are relations of timebefore noon; between dawn and sunrise; during the eclipse; after the Revolution. Before frost, before rain, after taking the oath, are but slight modifications of the same. Prepositions also express cause, instrumentality, manner, and purpose.

and

"The house was struck by lightning.'
"It was all through love of fame.'
"They fled for fear of discovery.'
"The letter was sealed with wax.'

"She prayed with zeal and fervor.'

"They were working for an education.'

"Prepositions thus take a variety of secondary meanings. "Through has not the same signification in :

"I was walking through a wood'

"They betrayed him through envy.'

So one may walk with a lady, with difficulty, with a limp, with a cane, with a sprained ankle."*

"Now, if prepositions are concerned in expressing the various relations of so many of the different parts of speech, multiplied, as these relations must be, by that endless variety of combinations which may be given to the terms, and if the sense of the writer or speaker is necessarily mistaken as often as any of these relations are misunderstood or their terms misconceived, how shall we estimate the importance of a right explanation and a right use of this part of speech?"†

* SAMUEL RAMSEY The English Language and English Grammar ch. 8, p. 485 + GOOLD BROWN Grammar of English Grammars pt. iii, ch. 10, p. 435.

How admirably has Byron, in his "Prisoner of Chillon," lit up his description of the 'little isle" by the fine choice of prepositions:

"And then there was a little isle
Which in my very face did smile,
The only one in view;

A small green isle, it seemed no more,
Scarce broader than my dungeon floor,
But in it there were three tall trees,
And o'er it blew the mountain breeze,
And by it there were waters flowing,
And on it there were young flowers growing,
Of gentle breath and hue."

II-Prepositions Defined and Illustrated

The principal English prepositions are the following:

abaft, aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid or amidst, among or amongst, around (see also round), aslant, at, athwart,

Barring, bating, before, behind, below, beneath, beside or besides, between, betwixt, beyond, but (compare except), by, Concerning, considering,

Down, during,

Ere, except, excepting (compare but),

For, from,

In, inside, into,

Mid, midst,

Notwithstanding,

Of, off, on (compare upon), out, outside, over, overthwart,
Past, pending, per,

Regarding, respecting, round (compare around),

Save, saving, since,

Through, throughout, till (compare until), to (compare unto), touching, toward or towards,

Under, underneath, until (compare till), unto (compare to), up, upon (compare on),

Via,.

With, within, without.

In addition to these, there are many prepositional phrases, which, while they may be easily separated into their elements, are yet always used as phrases, and have all the effect of compound prepositions; as, according to, in accordance with, on account of, because of, with or in respect to, in consideration of, in spite of, by means of, with or in regard to, in default of, in consequence

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of, with or in reference to, as to, etc. The meaning of such phrases is usually evident from a knowledge of the separate words, and need not be particularly explained.

As this work is designed for popular utility and ready reference, it has been thought best to take up the prepositions and other words discussed in alphabetical order, rather than in the order of their importance or of any system of philosophical classification. The alphabetical is the simplest of all arrangements, and leaves the reader in no doubt where to turn. He has only to know how a word is spelled, when he may seek and find it as in a dictionary.

In the quotations, prominence is given to the Anglican or Authorized Version of the English Bible as an acknowledged authority of pure Elizabethan English. With this are especially associated Shakespeare and Milton, while numerous authors of eminence, both English and American, are appealed to as authority for the statements made.

ABAFT

This nautical preposition is very ancient, and is derived fronꞌ aft or æftan, back, behind, after, first reinforced by the prefix be or bi-, by, near, forming baft, which was in use as a separate word in the fourteenth century. This was further reinforced by the prefix a-, on or at, forming the word abaft. The most commor application of this word is to denote that which is on the after part of a ship or other vessel, or which is farther aft than the object of the preposition; as:

The black cook . . . had a bunk just abaft the galley.

COFFIN Old Sailor's Yarns ch. 4, p. 31. That is, the black cook's bunk was a little farther aft than the galley.

[This term (abaft) is not used with reference to things out of the ship. YOUNG Naut. Dict.]

Objects outside of and directly behind a ship are commonly spoken of as astern of the ship. But there is a broadly inclusive

use of the word abaft in the phrase abaft the beam, which is prepositional in form, but adverbial in sense. If a line be drawn directly across a vessel at right angles to the keel till it intersects the horizon on each side, and if the line of the keel be prolonged directly astern till it, too, cuts the horizon, then any object between the cross-line and the stern-line on the right-hand side may be described as "to starboard abaft the beam," and any object in the corresponding place on the left as "to port abaft the beam."

The wind is aft through the northeast, just abaft the beam. MAURY Physical Geography of the Sea xv, 649.

MURRAY'S New English Dictionary.

ABOARD

Aboard, like abaft, is distinctly a nautical preposition. It is compounded of the prefix a-, on, plus the noun board, and is thus equivalent to the fuller prepositional phrase on board of.

Of place exclusively:

1. Upon the deck of, or within the boards or sides of (a ship or other vessel).

Aboard my galley I invite you all.

SHAKESPEARE Antony and Cleopatra act ii, sc. 6, 1. 104.

He had ten carpenters with him, most of which were found aboard the prize they had taken.

DE FOE Captain Singleton ch. 13, p. 165.

The prepositional phrase aboard of is also often used:

He came aboard of my ship.

DE FOE Captain Singleton ch. 12, p. 151.

A boat went aboard of the Ayacucho and brought off a quarter of beef. DANA Two Years before the Mast ch. 9, p. 45.

2. By extension on, upon, or in any conveyance; as, come aboard the car; we can talk when we get aboard the train.

3. Across or alongside of: a secondary nautical meaning; as, to lay the ship aboard the enemy.