and

Less common meanings

4. 4
   very (after nice)conjunctioncolloquial

   Used to link nice, good, fine, or lovely with a following adjective or adverb, so that the first word acts as an intensifier meaning very or pleasantly.

   Let the dough rise until it's nice and puffy, then punch it down.

   By the time the meeting ended, everyone was good and tired of the budget.

   UsageKeep the intensifying word first, with no comma: nice and warm, good and tired.

   Note

   Here the first word stops meaning what it says and becomes an intensifier, so good and tired is not good at all, only thoroughly tired.

5. 5
   instead of toconjunctioncolloquial

   Used to link two verbs where the second depends on the first, in place of to.

   Try and get some sleep before the flight.

   I'll go and fetch the car.

   UsageCome and see and go and get are everyday speech; try and is common too, but try to is safer in careful writing.

   Note

   Two verbs are linked where standard English would put to: come and see, go and look, or try and gain her affection. In dialect the pattern stretches further, to Thackeray's been and given and to remember and help yourself in a 1989 novel. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Thackeray used “been and given”. gutenberg.org
   • “Remember and help yourself” occurs in James Kelman’s A Disaffection. en.wiktionary.org
   • The novel containing that example was first published in 1989. en.wikipedia.org
6. 6
   endless repeatconjunction

   Used between two identical words to suggest continued or endless repetition.

   The child asked why, and why, and why again.

   Prices went up and up all year.

7. 7
   plusconjunction

   Used to combine numbers in addition; plus.

   Three and three is six, as every child knows.

   Two and two, the teacher said, do not make five.

   UsageThe verb can be is, are or make: two and two is four; six and four make ten.

   Similarplus

   Note

   Plain spoken arithmetic: two and two make four, which Boswell's Johnson treats as the model of a truth nobody disputes. It also lends itself to play. Carroll's White Queen strings ten ones together to overwhelm Alice. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • In Boswell’s Life of Johnson, Johnson presents “two and two make four” as an undisputed truth. gutenberg.org
   • In Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, the White Queen asks Alice to add ten ones, and Alice loses count. gutenberg.org
8. 8
   conjunction

   Used to introduce a parenthetical or explanatory clause or phrase.

   The bill passed, and by a wide margin.

   Only she, and she alone, held the key.

9. 9
   within numbersconjunction

   Used within numbers, between hundreds and tens or a whole and a fraction, and in older counts and sums of money.

   Lincoln's speech begins 'four score and seven years ago'.

   Grandma still says 'five and twenty past' for twenty-five past.

   Note

   Numbers have kept several different habits with this little word. Old money joined shillings and pence the same way. In Maugham's novel, Philip's pen-holder cost one and twopence, a usage now historical. Putting units before tens, as in five and twenty, is dated, though Lincoln's four score and seven keeps an old way of counting famous. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Historical monetary expressions joined shillings and pence with and. en.wiktionary.org
   • Five and twenty is an older expression for twenty-five. en.wiktionary.org
   • Lincoln used the words four score and seven. loc.gov
10. 10
    conjunction

    Used between repetitions of the same word to show that things of that name differ in kind or quality.

    There are mistakes and mistakes; this one cost lives.

    He said there were friends and friends, and he knew which kind she was.

    UsageOften there are X and X, followed by which kind is meant: there are mistakes and mistakes.

    Note

    Repetition that sorts rather than stretches: there are mistakes and mistakes means some mistakes are far worse than others. Compare the endless-repetition use, as in it rang and rang, where repeating the word adds duration instead of dividing a category.

11. 11
    conjunctiondialectalUS

    If, or provided that, introducing a condition.

    "And he went slower," Mike said softly, "he go better."

    1958, Shirley Ann Grau, The Hard Blue Sky

    Peter answered, and sayde: master, and thou be he, bidde me come unto the on the water.

    1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt (Tyndale Bible)

    Similarif

    Note

    An old conditional: and he were here means "if he were here." Malory and Tyndale use it freely, and it still turns up in a 1958 American novel ("And he went slower, he go better"), which is why it now counts as US dialect. Middle English often spelled the word an. In older texts, read it as if. Its close cousin is the "as if" meaning. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

    • Conditional 'and' means 'if' or 'provided that', supporting the example and its interpretation in older texts. en.wiktionary.org
    • Malory uses conditional 'and', also spelled 'an'. gutenberg.org
    • Tyndale uses conditional 'and' in his translation. scripture.dbs.org
    • The novel containing the quotation is Shirley Ann Grau's The Hard Blue Sky, originally published in 1958. apps.lib.ua.edu
    • The quoted words occur in The Hard Blue Sky and are spoken by Mike. en.wiktionary.org
    • 'An' is an attested Middle English form meaning 'and' or 'if'. en.wiktionary.org
    • 'And' also has a historical 'as if' meaning. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    logicconjunction

    In logic and mathematics, joins two formulas into one that is true only when both are true; the conjunction operator.

    The statement 'x is even and x is positive' picks out the positive even numbers.

    In a truth table, 'p and q' is true in only one row.

    Note

    Logic strips the everyday word down to one job: p and q is true when both parts are true and false otherwise. Symbolic logic writes it ∧ or &, and programming languages often write AND. Unlike the "and then" use, the logical connective says nothing about order or cause, so p and q means exactly the same as q and p. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Logical conjunction is true exactly when both components are true and is false otherwise. learn.microsoft.com
    • The wedge symbol represents conjunction. pressbooks.ccconline.org
    • The ampersand represents conjunction. plato.stanford.edu
    • Programming languages use an AND keyword for logical conjunction. learn.microsoft.com
    • Logical conjunction encodes neither temporal order nor causation; reversing its components preserves its meaning. en.wikipedia.org
13. 13
    half beatnouncolloquialcountable

    In rhythm, the second half of a divided beat, as counted 'one-and-two-and'; the offbeat.

    The horns enter on the and of four, just before the downbeat.

    Clap on the ands and you will feel the swing.

    UsageSaid with the: on the and of four. The plural is ands.

    Similaroffbeat

    Oppositedownbeat

    Note

    A musician's counting word turned into a noun. Count one and two and, and the and is the half-beat in between. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The musical noun names the counting syllable used for a beat's division. intmus.github.io
14. 14
    conjunctionobsolete

    Yet or but, used to join contrasting statements.

    Hee said, I goe sir, and went not.

    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version

    Note

    A contrast left unspoken: the 1611 Bible has a son who says "I go, sir," and went not, where modern English would usually say but. The flat connective makes the reader feel the gap between promise and act. Now obsolete in this role, it is best read as but in older texts. In modern prose the same flatness is a deliberate effect, pointing up irony or outrage, as in he promised, and forgot. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikisource.org
    • A son in the Bible says 'I go, sir' and subsequently does not go. en.wikisource.org
    • Modern English can also use and to juxtapose apparently conflicting facts; but is not obligatory. phon.ucl.ac.uk
    • The historical sense explicitly equivalent to yet or but is labelled obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
    • Such juxtaposition can express surprise or outrage as well as irony. The cited paper explicitly discusses these interpretations. phon.ucl.ac.uk
15. 15
    conjunctionobsolete

    As if or as though, introducing an imagined comparison.

    I will roare you, and 'twere any Nightingale.

    c. 1595, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”

    As they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs.

    1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Innovations”

    Note

    A comparison, not a condition: and 'twere any nightingale means "as if it were a nightingale." Shakespeare gives this line to Bottom, built with were, but the conditional use also takes were, so only the sense of comparison identifies it in older texts. It is obsolete, a sibling of the conditional "if", and modern English says as if or as though. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • The nightingale example uses and to mean as if or as though. en.wiktionary.org
    • Shakespeare uses the quoted nightingale wording with were. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
    • Bacon wrote the quoted words with were. upload.wikimedia.org
    • Bacon's and means if, with the force of even if, rather than as if. The annotated edition explicitly glosses it as If. Were therefore does not by itself distinguish the comparative and conditional senses. upload.wikimedia.org
    • The comparative sense is obsolete and related to conditional and. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    noundialectalUKcountable or uncountable

    In British dialect, breath; a different word from the conjunction, related to Old Norse andi, 'breath, spirit'.

    Similarbreath

    Note

    This is a separate word from the conjunction, with a mixed ancestry. Old English anda meant grudge, envy, anger or zeal, while Old Norse andi meant breath, wind or spirit, and the dialect noun keeps the Norse meaning. It survives only in UK dialect, so breath is the word for general writing. A reader who meets this noun should not mistake it for the conjunction. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The noun is distinct from the conjunction and has both Old English and Old Norse ancestry. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old English anda meant grudge, envy, anger or zeal. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old Norse andi meant breath, wind or spirit. en.wiktionary.org
    • The dialect noun retains the meaning breath. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    noundialectalUKuncountable

    Sea smoke; the steam-like fog that forms when cold air moves over warmer water.

    Similarfog, mist

    Note

    The breath word turned to the weather. The same dialect noun that means breath, from Old Norse andi, names the steam fog that rises off water, as though the sea were breathing out. It belongs to UK dialect. In general English the phenomenon is called sea smoke or steam fog. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The same dialect noun denotes breath and sea smoke. en.wiktionary.org
    • The noun derives in part from Old Norse andi. en.wiktionary.org
    • Sea smoke is steam fog formed over water. en.wikipedia.org
18. 18
    verbdialectalUKintransitive

    To breathe; also to whisper, devise or imagine.

    Similarbreathe, whisper

    Note

    A verb with two ancestors, which explains its odd spread of meanings. Old Norse anda meant to breathe, while Old English andian meant to envy, and both go back to a Germanic word for breathing and sputtering. From breathing it reaches whispering, and from there scheming and imagining. It is UK dialect and intransitive, with regular forms: ands, anding, anded. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The verb has both Old English and Old Norse ancestry. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old Norse anda meant to breathe. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old English andian meant to envy. en.wiktionary.org
    • Both ancestors derive from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic verb meaning to breathe or sputter. en.wiktionary.org