WHENCE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Whence

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/wɛns/ /hwɛns/ Listen

adverb

Whence adv.

From what place; hence, from what or which source, origin, antecedent, premise, or the like; how; used interrogatively. "Whence hath this man this wisdom?" "Whence and what art thou?"

From what or which place, source, material, cause, etc.; the place, source, etc., from which; used relatively. "Grateful to acknowledge whence his good Descends." Note: All the words of this class, whence, where, whither, whereabouts, etc., are occasionally used as pronouns by a harsh construction. "O, how unlike the place from whence they fell?" Note: From whence, though a pleonasm, is fully authorized by the use of good writers. "From whence come wars and fightings among you?" Of whence, also a pleonasm, has become obsolete.

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Etymology of 'Whence'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Whence" Quotes from Famous Books

... mentioned by Ezekiel (xxxviii. and xxxix.) and in the Revelations (xx. 8) as ravagers of the earth and nations, May-Gogg, "he that dissolveth,"—the fierce Normans appeared, coming no one knew from whence, just when the minds of men were trembling at the approach of the millennium, and thus were held to be the forerunners of the destroyers of the world. This name of indefinite gigantic power survived in the Mogigangas, or terrific images, ...

— A Supplementary Chapter to the Bible in Spain • George Borrow

... of Toro, Ferdinand was enabled to concentrate a force amounting to fifty thousand men, for the purpose of repelling the French from Guipuscoa, from which they had already twice been driven by the intrepid natives, and whence they again retired with precipitation on receiving news of the king's ...

— History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella V1 • William H. Prescott

... and games. Moreover, their distaffs and spindles had something peculiar, and no spinster might so finely and nimbly spin the thread. But upon the stroke of eleven, they arose; packed up their spinning gear, and for no prayers might be moved to delay for an instant more. None wist whence they came, nor whither they went. Only they called them, The Maidens from the Mere; or, The Sisters of the Lake. The lads were glad to see them there, and were taken with love of them; but most of all, ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLV. July, 1844. Vol. LVI. • Various

... interesting way is through Couilly and St. Germain, by the Bois de Misere, to Villiers-sur-Morin, whence we climb the hill to Voulangis, with the valley dropping away on one side. It is one of the loveliest drives I know, along the Morin, by the mills, ...

— On the Edge of the War Zone - From the Battle of the Marne to the Entrance of the Stars and Stripes • Mildred Aldrich

... Humbert of Italy perpetrate a crime, and the law should ensure their rigorous punishment. They and those like them should be kept out of this country; and if found here they should be promptly deported to the country whence they came; and far-reaching provision should be made for the punishment of those who stay. No matter calls more urgently for the ...

— State of the Union Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt • Theodore Roosevelt

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