How adv.
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.
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how
adv 1: to what extent or amount or degree; "how tall is she?"
2: in what way or manner or by what means (`however' is
sometimes used as an intensive form of `how'); "how did
you catch the snake?"; "he told us how he did it";
"however did you get here so soon?" [syn: however]