between Meaning, Definition & Usage

Be*tween" preposition

Etymology

OE. bytwene, bitweonen, AS. betweónan, betweónum; prefix be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two, akin to Goth. tweihnai two apiece. See Twain, and cf. Atween, Betwixt.

Definitions

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. Syn. -- Between, Among. 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.

Be*tween" noun

Definitions

1. Intermediate time or space; interval. Poetic & R. Shak.