# of

Pronunciation: US say "UV" /ʌv/; UK say "OV" /ɒv/

## Preposition

1. Used after a word naming a part, number or amount to introduce the whole it is taken from.
   - Simple: Used to show the larger group or thing that a part comes from, as in some of the cake.
   - _Only the top of the mountain was in sunlight._
   - _The heart of the problem is money._
2. Used to show possession or belonging, the noun after it owning, having, or being characterized by the noun before it.
   - Simple: Shows who or what something belongs to, or what it is part of.
   - _The lid of the pan was still hot._
   - _The habits of the rich fascinate the poor._
3. Used to show what a collective or quantity noun is made up of.
   - Simple: Used after words like 'lot', 'group', or 'dozen' to say what they contain.
   - _A flock of geese passed over the farm._
   - _She left a pile of papers on the desk._
4. Used after an agent noun, verbal noun or noun of action to name its object.
   - Simple: Used after a noun of action or a doer-noun to say what the action is aimed at.
   - _The teaching of children requires patience._
   - _Public distrust of the press grew during the trial._
5. Used to show a quantity, measure, age, price or rate.
   - Simple: Used to give an amount, such as an age, a price, a size or a rate.
   - _The fine was set at a maximum of five thousand pounds._
   - _Sound travels at a speed of about three hundred meters a second._
6. Used in titles and names to link a person to the place, institution or domain they hold, belong to or come from.
   - Simple: Used in titles and names to show the place a person rules or comes from, as in Bishop of Durham.
   - _The Bishop of Durham spoke first._
   - _The captain of the ship stayed aboard until the last passenger left._
7. Belonging to, existing in or taking place in a given place or time.
   - Simple: Used to say where or when something belongs or happened.
   - _The poets of the nineteenth century often wrote about nature._
   - _The citizens of Athens voted in the open air._
8. Used to link a class of things to a specific member of it.
   - Simple: Used between the name of a type of thing and the particular one you mean.
   - _The port of Dover handles most of the ferries._
   - _He answered to the name of Bob._
9. Used after a noun of knowledge or communication to introduce its subject matter; about.
   - Simple: Used after a noun like 'story' or 'news' to say what it is about.
   - _He wrote a history of the Roman army._
   - _There was talk of a merger between the two companies._
15. Used to introduce the material or substance something is made from, after a verb of making or directly after a noun.
   - Simple: Used after words like 'made' or 'built', or after a noun, to say what material something is made from.
   - _The old church was built of local stone._
   - _Modern corks are often made of plastic._
10. Used to show the cause, motive or source of an action or state.
   - Simple: Used to show why something happens, as in died of a fever or did it of her own free will.
   - _She did it of her own accord._
   - _Her grandfather died of pneumonia last winter._
11. Used after a noun of action to name who or what performs it (the subjective genitive).
   - Simple: Used after an action noun to say who does the action, as in 'the arrival of the guests'.
   - _The decision of the court surprised everyone._
   - _The growth of the city has swallowed three villages._
12. From or away from a point, distance or number.
   - Simple: Used after a distance or number to say how far from a place or amount.
   - _The plane crashed within sight of the runway._
   - _Upwards of fifty people came to the meeting._
13. Used after an adjective to introduce the thing it applies to, or the cause of the feeling or state it names.
   - Simple: Used after words like afraid, proud, tired or typical to show what the feeling or quality is about.
   - _Such restraint was characteristic of her whole career._
   - _Long summers are typical of the region._
14. Used after a verb or adjective of removal, absence or lack to name what is taken away or missing.
   - Simple: Used to show what is taken away or missing, as in robbed of his money or free of sugar.
   - _The essay is devoid of any original thought._
   - _The valley was bare of trees after the fire._
16. Used to show a quality or characteristic; characterized by.
   - Simple: Used to describe what kind of person or thing someone is, as in 'a man of few words'.
   - _He was a man of few words and fewer smiles._
   - _It was a decision of great importance._
17. Used before a possessive pronoun or genitive noun to give a partitive sense.
   - Simple: Used before words like 'mine' or 'John's' to mean 'one of mine' or 'one of John's'.
   - _That old car of Dad's finally died._
   - _A colleague of hers recommended the book._
18. Used to link two nouns in near-apposition, the first describing the second.
   - Simple: Used to call something a kind of thing in a strong, often rude way, as in 'a fool of a man'.
   - _He drove a rusty coffin of a van._
   - _She called him a great lump of a boy._
19. Used to show ancestral source or origin of descent.
   - Simple: Used to say where a person, family, or word comes from.
   - _Our neighbor comes of an old Vermont family that has farmed the same land for generations._
   - _She was born of a mother who sang and a father who painted._
20. Before the hour, in telling time; to. *(US)*
   - Simple: In American English, before the hour when telling time, as in 'a quarter of three'.
   - _The train pulls out at ten of five._
   - _She called at twenty of four, just before the meeting._
21. Used to link an adjective modified by a common degree word such as too, that, or as to a following singular noun with a. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: Joins a phrase like too big or that big to a and a noun, as in that big of a deal.
   - _Losing the opening game isn't as big of a setback as people think._
   - _For a team this small, six months might be too short of a deadline._
22. Used after an adjective judging behavior to name the person who acted.
   - Simple: Used after an adjective to say who acted that way, as in 'kind of you'.
   - _It would be foolish of us to refuse the offer._
   - _How thoughtful of the neighbors to bring soup._
24. Used after a passive verb to show the agent, an old use now mostly replaced by 'by'.
   - Simple: Used after a passive verb to say who does the action, an old use now mostly replaced by 'by'.
25. Links an adjective to a following noun or noun phrase to show in what respect the adjective applies, as in quick of wit or easy of access. *(literary)*
   - Simple: Joins a describing word to a noun to show what part or way it is true of, as in slow of speech.
   - _Though gray of hair, the senator remained sharp of mind._
   - _The cove was beautiful but hardly easy of access from the village._
26. Introduces the topic of what someone thinks, knows, says, hears, or dreams, following the verb for that act.
   - Simple: Used after verbs like think, know, talk, hear, or dream to say what they are about.
   - _He rarely spoke of the war, even to his own children._
   - _Do you know of a quiet place to study near campus?_

## Verb

23. Eye dialect spelling of have, chiefly in depictions of colloquial speech.
   - Simple: Spelling of have that shows casual speech. Writers use it after could, would, must and similar words.
   - _"I could of told you that," the old man muttered._
   - _"They must of gone home already," Tommy said, peering through the window._

## Other meanings

- (preposition) From or starting at a particular time or earlier condition.
- (preposition) Some or a part of something, or one among a group, as in "give of your time".
- (preposition) On or during a particular period, now usually suggesting something happens regularly, as in coming home late of an evening.
- (preposition) Throughout a named span of time, as in not having met of many years.
- (preposition) Used after a noun to tell how long a state or activity lasts, as in a delay of two hours.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–22, 24–26** — In Old English, of meant "from, out of, off" and was the unstressed form of æf. It became Middle English of and then the modern word. The chain goes back through Proto-West Germanic *ab and Proto-Germanic *ab ("away, away from") to Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó ("away"). Off is a doublet, descended from the stressed form of the same Old English word.
**Meaning 23** — A spelling of unstressed have (as in could've), which sounds like the preposition of.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/of (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).