and Meaning, Definition & Usage

And conjunction
Etymology
AS. and; akin to OS. endi, Icel. enda, OHG. anti, enti, inti, unti, G. und, D. en, OD. ende. Cf, An if, Ante-.
Definitions
  1. A particle which expresses the relation of connection or addition. It is used to conjoin a word with a word, a clause with a clause, or a sentence with a sentence. (a) It is sometimes used emphatically; as, "there are women and women," that is, two very different sorts of women. (b) By a rhetorical figure, notions, one of which is modificatory of the other, are connected by and; as, "the tediousness and process of my travel," that is, the tedious process, etc.; "thy fair and outward character," that is, thy outwardly fair character, Schmidt's Shak. Lex.
  2. In order to; -- used instead of the infinitival to, especially after try, come, go.
    At least to try and teach the erring soul. Milton.
  3. It is sometimes, in old songs, a mere expletive.
    When that I was and a little tiny boy. Shak.
  4. If; though. See An, conj. Obs. Chaucer.
    As they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs. Bacon.

Webster 1913