farther

1. 1
   adverb

   Alternative form of further.

   The signal grew weaker the farther we drove from the city.

   She could throw the ball farther than anyone else on the team.

   Note

   The adverb follows the same modern split as the adjective: throw a ball farther, drive farther from the city. David Hume, writing in 1748, speaks of a matter "carried farther," meaning further in degree rather than in miles. A useful test is whether you could measure the distance. If you could, farther fits. If the sense is "to a greater extent" or "moreover," further is the expected form.

2. 2
   adjective

   Alternative form of further.

   A small chapel stood at the farther corner of the estate.

   We could barely make out the farther bank through the morning fog.

   Note

   Usage guides now keep this spelling for literal distance, as in the farther bank or the farther corner, and leave further for the sense "more, additional." Older writers did not divide them so neatly. In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813), "farther apology would be absurd" means an additional apology, not a more distant one. When the meaning is "more," further is now the safe choice.

3. 3
   verbdated

   Alternative form of further. Dated and uncommon as a verb; further is the usual spelling.

   Note

   An old-fashioned and now uncommon spelling of the verb meaning to help forward or promote, as in farthering a cause or farthering trade. It inflects regularly (farthers, farthering, farthered). Modern prose almost always writes further the cause, so use farther as a verb only to echo an older style.

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