Such
Pronunciation
- IPA: /sʌt͡ʃ/
- Rhymes: -ʌtʃ
Origin
From Middle English such, swuch, swulch, from Old English swylc, swilc, swelc ("such"), from Proto-Germanic *swalÄ«kaz ("so formed, so like"), equivalent to so + -like. Cognate with Scots swilk, sic, sik ("such"), West Frisian suk, sok ("such"), Dutch zulk ("such"), Low German sölk, sulk, suk ("such"), German solch ("such"), Danish slig ("like that, such"), Swedish slik ("such"), Icelandic slÃkur ("such"). More at so, like.
Full definition of such
Determiner
- (demonstrative) Like this, that, these, those; used to make a comparison with something implied by context.I’ve never seen such clouds in the sky before. Such is life.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 2, I had occasion … to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return … I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, …, and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 2, She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, …; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, …—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
- 2013-06-01, A better waterworks, An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
- (particularly used in formal documents) Any.the above address or at such other address as may notify
- Used as an intensifier; roughly equivalent to very much of.The party was such a bore.
- 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
- 1959, Georgette Heyer, The Unknown Ajax Chapter 1, Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.
Pronoun
such
- A person, a thing, people, or things like the one or ones already mentioned.
- 1804, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, The Tatler, C. Whittingham, John Sharpe, page 315:These oraculous proficients are day and night employed in deep searches for the direction of such as run astray after their lost goods : but at present they are more particularly serviceable to their country in foretelling the fate of such as have chances in the public lottery.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, 'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
- 1988, Miguel Urrutia, Setsuko Yukawa, Economic Development Policies in Resource-rich Countries, page 46:Thus, it is not the coffee boom as such which caused the stagnation of the manufacturing sector in Colombia.
- 2000, Terry Goodkind, Faith of the Fallen (ISBN 0312867867), page 238:Some are just no-good locals—drunks and such—who’d just as soon beg or steal as work.