IX-Prepositions Defined and Illustrated

IN

In is the Anglo-Saxon in, and, as stated by Maetzner, seems to point to a local abiding." In may be termed specifically the preposition of inclusion.

I. Of place or space:

1. Denoting the object as surrounding or including in space: (a) Within the bounds of; within the contour, surface, or exterior of; enveloped or restrained by; contained or included within; pertaining to or connected with the interior of; within; inside; as, the stars in the sky; the prisoner in chains; a story in a book; a room in the house; she clasped the child in her arms. Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

SHAKESPEARE As You Like It act ii, sc. 1.

Nor night-bird, chambered in the rocks.

WORDSWORTH Peter Bell pt. ii, st. 18.

My foreign friends, who dream'd us blanketed
In ever-closing fog, were much amazed.

TENNYSON Queen Mary act iii, sc. 2.

In every representative body properly constituted the people are practically present.

SUMNER Speeches and Addresses July 7, 1853, p. 207. Pretty faces framed in pretty bonnets are meant to be seen. HOLMES Autocrat ch. 8, p. 225.

(b) Within the class or group of; comprised or included within the number of; among; as, in the army; one in a thousand.

Jonathan Edwards . . . was bred in the family of a Connect icut minister. HOLMES Pages from an Old Volume essay xi, p. 367.

She is the only genuine 'bucker' in the outfit, bonâ fide bucking horse that ever threw me.

BAILLIE-GROHMAN Camps in the Rockies ch. 4, p. 100. She never had a fire; one in a sleeping-room would have been sinful luxury in the poor minister's family.

MARY E. WILKINS Humble Romance, Moral Exigency p. 221.

(c) With the compounds of self, as himself, herself, itself, etc., denoting separation from all else, and nearly equivalent to by; as, to know the thing in itself.

A man was not made to shut up his mind in itself; but to give it voice and to exchange it for other minds.

CHANNING Works, Self-Culture p. 19.

2. Denoting the object or that which it surrounds as a goal or end of motion:

(a) Toward, so as to enter; into, so as to remain within; into; to; as, to sink in the mire; to dip the pen in ink; to put one in a rage; to break in pieces.

[NOTE.-Such phrases as "Come in the house," "He fell in the water," are used, but in such cases into is preferred. See INTO.] Golden tresses, wreathed in one, As the braided streamlets run!

LONGFELLOW Maidenhood st. 2.

Never put yourself in the wrong with an audience. It has every advantage of you.

N. SHEPPARD Before an Audience ch. 8,

p. 130.

It is singular how much fonder civilians are of urging measures that end in blood than those whose profession is arms. S. LOVER Handy Andy ch. 19, p. 175.

Expecting immediate support from Normandy, the conspirators hastened to put themselves in a military posture.

W. RUSSELL Modern Europe vol. i, letter xxiii, p. 144. This is the first time my honour was ever called in question. GAY Beggar's Opera act ii, sc. 2.

(b) Toward, so as to rely or rest on; as, to hope in God; to trust in one's innocence.

I believe in . . . the holy Catholic Church. Apostles' Creed. The belief in astrology was almost universal in the middle of the 17th century. SCOTT Guy Mannering ch. 4, p. 39.

I believe fully, enthusiastically, without break, pause, or aberration, in the divinity of Christ.

H. W. BEECHER Doctrinal Beliefs, Faith in Christ P. 17. Trust in the certitude of compensatory justice.

SWINBURNE in The Athenæum July 10, 1886, p. 49.

II. Of time:

1. Included within; occupying all or a part of; during ; within; as, in the forenoon; in the evening; in the past century. 'Tis vain! in such a brassy age I could not move a thistle. TENNYSON Amphion st. 9.

The bridge was in the very act of being thrown and grappled to the ramparts. W. WARE Zenobia vol. ii, letter xiv, p. 183.

It is not once only that the well-planned schemes of swindling turfites have been quietly strangled in their birth.

Contemporary Review June, 1873, p. 23.

There are certain intellectual products which are only possible in hours or minutes of great cerebral excitement.

HAMERTON Intell. Life pt. x, letter v, p. 360.

2. Denoting the final point of a specified or indicated period: at the end of; at the close of; after the lapse or expiration of; after; as, in an hour it will fall; in a year I shall return; due in three months. The period may be indefinite; as, in time he will

conquer.

In an hour everything indicated an immediate and bloody conflict. WEBSTER Works, Bunker Hill p. 90.

III. Of various relations:

1. Denoting something as limiting or specifying: with regard to; as regards; with respect to; on the part of; for; to; of; as, round in the shoulders; weak in faith; you are deceived in him; he is unfortunate in his friends.

We... should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. 2 Cor. ix, 4. The contrivances of nature surpass the contrivances of art in the complexity, subtility, and curiosity of the mechanism. PALEY Natural Theology ch. 3, p. 20. Spanish statesmanship could beat the world in the art of delay. MOTLEY United Netherlands vol. iv, ch. 41, p. 165. Simple honesty of purpose in a man goes a long way in life. SMILES Character ch. 1, p. 18.

True as the steel of their tried blades, Heroes in heart and hand. HALLECK Marco Bozzaris st. 2.

In man as in lower animals, the thatch of hair indeed forms an effective shelter to the head.

E. B. TYLOR Anthropology ch. 2, p. 44.

2. Denoting material, means, occupation, instrument, or essence, or the sphere within which anything acts: by means of; with the use of; by; through; as, he spoke in a whisper; in the king's name; to work in gold; to deal in hardware; virtue consists in doing right.

[We may certainly call this the instrumental use of the preposition in. MAETZNER English Grammar vol. ii, p. 347.]

The savory pulp they chew, and in the rind

Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream.

MILTON Paradise Lost bk. iv, 1. 336.

In all the sports of children, were it only in their wanton breakages and defacements, you shall discern a creative instinct. CARLYLE Sartor Resartus bk. ii, ch. 2, p. 73.

Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice,
With the masts went by the board.

LONGFELLOW Wreck of the Hesperus st. 19.

Vice is ever conceived in darkness and cradled in obscurity. GREELEY American Conflict vol. i, ch. 2, p. 24. Descartes... made the essence, the very existence of the soul, to consist in actual thought.

HAMILTON Metaphysics lect. xvii, p. 218.

[NOTE.-For the phrases consist in and consist of see DIS

TINCTIONS under OF.]

That man's mind is apt to become small as a pin point who is employed all his life in making a pin point.

McCоsн Emotions bk. i, ch. 1, p. 20.

Pursuant to the King's orders, I passed the night before last . . . in waiting upon the friends of the King.

THACKERAY Henry Esmond bk. iii, ch. 13, p. 442.

3. Denoting a thing or person as the object of an emotion: because of; in the act of; on account of: sometimes nearly equivalent to at or of; as, to delight in strife; to take pleasure in doing good; exulting in victory.

O, not in cruelty, not in wrath, The Reaper came that day. LONGFELLOW Reaper and the Flowers st. 7.

And now Wentworth exulted in the near prospect of Thorough.

MACAULAY England vol. i, ch. 1, p. 71. The Woodman's heart is in his work, His axe is sharp and good. HOOD The Elm Tree pt. ii, st. 5.

My mother's son cannot learn to delight in thin potations.
SCOTT Quentin Durward int.,

p. 6. He lost interest even in the dinner parties, with a business squint, that he had been so fond of giving.

EGGLESTON The Faith Doctor ch. 4, p. 42. Some of Brehm's monkeys took much delight in teasing, in various ingenious ways, a certain old dog whom they disliked. DARWIN Descent of Man vol. i, ch. 2, p. 40.

4. Denoting a cause or occasion present with an action: during the continuance of and because of; because of; on account of; by; through; as, stumbling in fear; shouting in anger.

In this revival [of religion in Kentucky about 1801] originated our camp-meetings. P. CARTWRIGHT Autobiography p. 45.

The Gothic church plainly originated in a rude adaptation of the forest trees with all their boughs to a festal or solemn arcade. EMERSON Essays, History in first series, p. 24.

Mirrors, effaced in their own clearness, send
Her only image on through deepening deeps
With endless repercussion of delight.

LOWELL The Cathedral st. 7.