- O.F.
- of «ov, uhv; unstressed uhv», preposition.1. belonging to: »
the children of a family, a friend of his boyhood, the news of the day, the captain of a ship, the cause of the quarrel. One half of the fraction one fourth is one eighth.
2. made from: »a house of bricks, castles of sand.
4. that has as a quality: »a look of pity, a word of encouragement, a woman of good judgment.
7. having to do with; in regard to; concerning; about: »to think well of someone, to be fond of, to be fifteen years of age, to be hard of heart, hard of hearing, short of stature.
8. that is used for or has as a purpose: »a house of prayer.
9. by: »the writings of Shakespeare, Darwin, Freud, the symphonies of Beethoven.
10. owing to; as a result of having or using; through: »to die of a disease, to expect much of a new medicine.
11. out of: »She came of a noble family. His second marriage…took place in 1922 and there was a son of the marriage (London Times).
12. among: »a friend of mine, a mind of the finest. Two of us went and two of us stayed at home.
13. during: »of late years.
14. (in telling time) before: »ten minutes of six.
15. Of connects nouns and adjectives having the meaning of a verb with the noun which would be the object of the verb; indicating the object or goal (especially of a verbal noun): »the eating of fruit,
»his drinking of milk, the love of truth, in search of a ball, a hall smelling of onions, a man sparing of words.
Usage of, have. In representations of nonstandard speech the form of is often written instead of have, since in unstressed position both are pronounced «uhv»:»You could of been a great athlete (New Yorker). I'd of chased them rascals myself (Atlantic).
of, off. A redundant of (as in off of, inside of) is sometimes used in informal English, but the usage is not regarded as standard: »He stepped off (not off of) the sidewalk.
See idiom under off. (Cf. ↑off)of-,Old French.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
