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Definition 2024


’em

'em

See also: Appendix:Variations of "em"

English

Pronoun

'em

  1. (now colloquial) Them (typically after a preposition, or otherwise with accusative or dative force; now only in unstressed position).
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter j, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVI:
      Truly said sire Ector I can not here of hym nor of syr Galahad / Percyuale nor syr Bors / lete hem be sayd syre Gawayne / for they foure haue no pyeres
    • 1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night:
      Some are become great, some atcheeues greatnesse, and some haue greatnesse thrust vppon em.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting ’em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.
    • 2010, John Baron, The Guardian, 3 December:
      We've literally had dozens of your photographs submitted this week – keep ’em coming!

Derived terms

See also

Anagrams

References

  1. 'em” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.