asunder

adverb

No English definition recorded for this entry.

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /əˈsʌndə/ / /əˈsʌndəɹ/

adj

Etymology: From Middle English asunder, asonder (“apart in position, distant; apart in movement; to pieces; alone, separately; distinct in kind, different”), asondri (“distinct, separate”), onsunder, onsondre (“apart, asunder; alone, separately; especially, particularly (?)”), from Old English onsundrum, on sundur (“asunder, apart, privately”), probably from on- (prefix meaning ‘on, upon’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- (“on, onto”)) + sundor, sunder (“alone, apart; separately; privately”) (from Proto-West Germanic *sundr, from Proto-Germanic *sundraz (“alone, separate”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *senH- (“apart; for oneself; without”)). By surface analysis, a- (prefix meaning ‘at; in; on’ denoting a condition, manner, or state) + sunder (“(obsolete except dialectal) different; separate”). cognates * Danish sønder * Dutch zonder * Faroese sundur * German sonder * Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍂𐍉 (sundrō) * Icelandic sundur * Norwegian Bokmål sunder, sønder * Swedish sönder

Different, unlike.
“Moth[er]: I cannot blame thee. / But it greeues thee more that Villaine liues. / Iul[iet]: VVhat Villaine Madame? / Moth: That Villaine Romeo. / Iul: Villaine and he are manie miles a ſunder.”

adv

Of two or more people or things:
“Page. I vvarrant you, hee's the man ſhould fight vvith him. / […] [Robert] Shal[low]. It appeares ſo by his vveapons: keep them aſunder: […]”
“Heer's a coyle to keep fire and tovv a ſunder.”
Of two or more people or things:
“Our hartes ſwelled, as that they ſhoulde breake / The fire of loue, was ſo ſore kept vnder / When I from her, ſhoulde departe aſunder”
“Thoughe the lordes departed euery daye vnagreed⸝ yet they departed a ſõder [a sonder] right amiably⸝ for euery daye they poynted to mete agayne the nexte day⸝ bothe parties truſtyng at laſt to cõclude [conclude] on ſome good poynt.”
Into separate parts or pieces, often due to some violent action.
“to crack asunder torn asunder”
“And he [Judas Iscariot] hath nowe poſſeſſed a plott of grounde with the rewarde off iniquyte. And when he was hanged⸝ braſt [burst] a ſondre in the myddes⸝ and all his bowels guſſhed out.”
Apart from other people; individually, separately; specifically, in private, privately.
“[…] I was of the ſame Jeſus Chriſt inſtitute: ſo this préeminence may I lawfully chalenge, that Chriſt choſe them, what tyme he was to our bodily infirmities ſubiect, but me called to be a ſondre to be his preacher, what tyme he had put of all condicions of mannes weakenes.”
“[I]t vvas Employment enough for us to keep them [the prisoners] aſſunder, and ſupply them vvith Victuals.”
Chiefly in the form to know asunder: in a manner distinguishable from other similar things.
“Ye summond our kynge,—why dyd ye so? / […] / Know ye not suger and salt asonder? / Your sumner to saucy, to malapert, / Your harrold in armes not yet halfe experte.”
“Foure ſorts of Marle be found in this VVeald, knovvne aſunder by the difference of colours, and thereby alſo differing in degrees of goodneſſe one from the other: […]”

verb

Etymology: From Middle English asondren (“to alienate; to separate; to depart; to part company; to disappear”), from Old English asundran, āsundrian (“to disjoin; to separate; to sunder, put asunder; to sever”) (possibly influenced by onsundrum (adverb): see etymology 1), from ā- (prefix meaning ‘away; from’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *úd (“away; out”)) + sundrian (“to separate, sunder”) (from Proto-Germanic *sundrōną (“to separate, sunder”), from *sundraz (“alone, separate”) (see further at etymology 1) + *-ōną (suffix forming factitive verbs from adjectives)).

To set apart (one or more people or things) from other people or things; to put asunder, to separate, to sunder.
“A plough beetle, ploughſtaff, to further the plough, / great clod to a ſunder that breaketh ſo rough: […]”
“Thou could not be perſvvaded that my vvittes / Could once retire ſo farre from ſence aſondred, […]”