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1 [hou]
–adverb
| 1. | in what way or manner; by what means?: How did the accident happen? |
| 2. | to what extent, degree, etc.?: How damaged is the car? |
| 3. | in what state or condition?: How are you? |
| 4. | for what reason; why?: How can you talk such nonsense? |
| 5. | to what effect; with what meaning?: How is one to interpret his action? |
| 6. | what?: How do you mean? If they don't have vanilla, how about chocolate? |
| 7. | (used as an intensifier): How seldom I go there! |
| 8. | by what title or name?: How does one address the president? |
| 9. | at what price: How are the new cars going, cheaper than last year's models? |
| 10. | by what amount or in what measure or quantity?: How do you sell these tomatoes? |
| 11. | in what form or shape?: How does the demon appear in the first act of the opera? How does the medication come? |
–conjunction
| 12. | the manner or way in which: He couldn't figure out how to solve the problem. |
| 13. | about the manner, condition, or way in which: I don't care how you leave your desk when you go. Be careful how you act. |
| 14. | in whatever manner or way; however: You can travel how you please. |
| 15. | Informal. that: He told us how he was honest and could be trusted. |
–noun
—Idioms| 16. | a question concerning the way or manner in which something is done, achieved, etc.: a child's unending whys and hows. |
| 17. | a way or manner of doing something: to consider all the hows and wherefores. |
| 18. | a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter H. |
| 19. | and how! Informal. certainly! you bet!: Am I happy? And how! |
| 20. | Here's how, Informal. (used as a toast). |
| 21. | how come? Informal. how is it that? why?: How come you never visit us anymore? |
| 22. | how so? how does it happen to be so? why?: You haven't any desire to go? How so? |
Origin:
bef. 900; ME how, hu, OE hū; c. OFris hū, ho, D hoe; akin to G wie (OHG hweo), Goth hwaiwa
bef. 900; ME how, hu, OE hū; c. OFris hū, ho, D hoe; akin to G wie (OHG hweo), Goth hwaiwa

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To how
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
How
How\, adv. [OE. how, hou, hu, hwu, AS. h?, from the same root as hw[=a], hw[ae]t, who, what, pron. interrog.; akin to OS. hw[=o]w, D. hoe, cf. G. wie how, Goth. hw[=e] wherewith, hwaiwa how. [root]182. See Who, and cf. Why.]1. In what manner or way; by what means or process. How can a man be born when he is old? --John iii. 4. 2. To what degree or extent, number or amount; in what proportion; by what measure or quality. O, how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. --Ps. cxix. 97. By how much they would diminish the present extent of the sea, so much they would impair the fertility, and fountains, and rivers of the earth. --Bentley. 3. For what reason; from what cause. How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale? --Shak. 4. In what state, condition, or plight. How, and with what reproach, shall I return? --Dryden. 5. By what name, designation, or title. How art thou called? --Shak. 6. At what price; how dear. [Obs.] How a score of ewes now? --Shak. Note: How is used in each sense, interrogatively, interjectionally, and relatively; it is also often employed to emphasize an interrogation or exclamation. "How are the mighty fallen!" --2 Sam. i. 27. Sometimes, also, it is used as a noun; -- as, the how, the when, the wherefore. --Shelley. Let me beg you -- don't say "How?" for "What?" --Holmes.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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how (adv.)
O.E. hu, from W.Gmc. *khwo- (cf. O.S. hwo, O.Fris., M.Du. hu, Du. hoe, Ger. wie, Goth. hvaiwa "how"), from common PIE interrogative pronomial stem. However is M.E.; how come? for "why?" is recorded from 1848. And how! emphatic, first recorded 1865, said to be a Ger.-Amer. colloquialism.
how (interj.)
Native American greeting, Siouxan (cf. Dakota hao, Omaha hau); first recorded 1817 in Eng, but noted early 17c. by Fr. missionary Jean de Brebeuf among Hurons as an expression of approval (1636).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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| HOW home owners warranty |
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.

