both

Meanings

1. 1
   det

   Each of the two; one and the other; referring to two individuals or items.

   Both (the/my) children are such dolls.

2. 2
   pron

   Each of the two, or of the two kinds.

   Did you want this one or that one? ―Give me both.

3. 3
   conj

   Including both of (used with and).

   I (can) both sing and dance.

4. 4
   conj

   Including all of (used with and).

   […] having much aduantage both in number, valure, and forepreparation […]

5. 5
   adj

   (used with count nouns) two considered together

6. 6
   name

   A surname.

Etymology

From Middle English bothe, boþe, from Old English bā þā (“both the; both those”) and possibly reinforced by Old Norse báðir, from Proto-Germanic *bai. Cognate with Saterland Frisian bee (“both”), West Frisian beide (“both”), Dutch beide (“both”), German beide (“both”), Swedish både, båda, Danish både, Norwegian både, Icelandic báðir. Replaced Middle English bō, from Old English bā, a form of Old English bēġen. A remnant of the Indo-European dual grammatical number.