Chapter Weyve to Wheal of W by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

(c) Used adverbially in a sense corresponding to the adjectival use; as, he picked what good fruit he saw.

4. Whatever; whatsoever; what thing soever; — used indefinitely. "What after so befall." Chaucer.

Whether it were the shortness of his foresight, the strength of his will, . . . or what it was.

Bacon.

5. Used adverbially, in part; partly; somewhat; — with a following preposition, especially, with, and commonly with repetition.

What for lust [pleasure] and what for lore.

Chaucer.

Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom shrunk.

Shak.

The year before he had so used the matter that what by force, what by policy, he had taken from the Christians above thirty small castles.

Knolles.

In such phrases as I tell you what, what anticipates the following statement, being elliptical for what I think, what it is, how it is, etc. "I tell thee what, corporal Bardolph, I could tear her." Shak. Here what relates to the last clause, "I could tear her;" this is what I tell you.

What not is often used at the close of an enumeration of several particulars or articles, it being an abbreviated clause, the verb of which, being either the same as that of the principal clause or a general word, as be, say, mention, enumerate, etc., is omitted. "Men hunt, hawk, and what not." Becon. "Some dead puppy, or log, orwhat not." C. Kingsley. "Battles, tournaments, hunts, and what not." De Quincey. Hence, the words are often used in a general sense with the force of a substantive, equivalent to anything you please, a miscellany, a variety, etc. From this arises the name whatnot, applied to an étagère, as being a piece of furniture intended for receiving miscellaneous articles of use or ornament.

But what is used for but that, usually after a negative, and excludes everything contrary to the assertion in the following sentence. "Her needle is not so absolutely perfect in tent and cross stitch but what my superintendence is advisable." Sir W. Scott. "Never fear but what our kite shall fly as high." Ld. Lytton.

What ho! an exclamation of calling. — What if, what will it matter if; what will happen or be the result if. "What if it be a poison?" Shak. — What of this? that?it?etc., what follows from this, that, it, etc., often with the implication that it is of no consequence. "All this is so; but what of this, my lord?" Shak. "The night is spent, why, what of that?" Shak. — What though, even granting that; allowing that; supposing it true that. "What though the rose have prickles, yet't is plucked." Shak. — What time, or What time as, when. [Obs. or Archaic] "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." Ps. lvi. 3.

What time the morn mysterious visions brings.

Pope.

What
(What) n. Something; thing; stuff. [Obs.]

And gave him for to feed,
Such homely what as serves the simple lown.

Spenser.

What
(What), interrog. adv. Why? For what purpose? On what account? [Obs.]

What should I tell the answer of the knight.

Chaucer.

But what do I stand reckoning upon advantages and gains lost by the misrule and turbulency of the prelates? What do I pick up so thriftily their scatterings and diminishings of the meaner subject?

Milton.

Whate'er
(What*e'er") pron. A contraction of what-ever; — used in poetry. "Whate'er is in his way." Shak.