With
King James Dictionary [1]
WITH, prep. G.
1. By, noting cause, instrument or means. We are distressed with pain we are elevated with joy. With study men become learned and respectable. Fire is extinguished with water. 2. On the side of, noting friendship or favor.
Fear not, for I am with thee. Genesis 26 .
3. In opposition to in competition or contest as, to struggle with adversity. The champions fought with each other an hour. He will lie with any man living. 4. Noting comparison. The fact you mention compares well with another I have witnessed. 5. In company. The gentlemen traveled with me from Boston to Philadelphia. 6. In the society of. There is no living with such neighbors. 7. In connection, or in appendage. He gave me the Bible, and with it the warmest expressions of affection. 8. In mutual dealing or intercourse.
I will buy with you, sell with you--
9. Noting confidence. I will trust you with the secret. 10. In partnership. He shares the profits with the other partners. I will share with you the pleasures and the pains. 11. Noting connection.
Nor twist our fortunes with your sinking fate.
12. Immediately after.
With this he pointed to his face.
13. Among. I left the assembly with the last.
Tragedy was originally with the ancients a piece of religious worship.
14. Upon.
Such arguments had invincible force with those pagan philosophers.
15. In consent, noting parity of state.
See! Where on earth the flowry glories lie, with her they flourishd, and with her thy die.
With and by are closely allied in many of their uses, and it is not easy to lay down a rule by which their uses may be distinguished. It is observed by Johnson that with seems rather to denote an instrument, and by a cause as, he killed an enemy with a sword, but he died by an arrow. But this rule is not always observed.
With, in composition, signifies for the most part opposition, privation or separation, departure.
Webster's Dictionary [2]
(1): ( prep.) To denote association in thought, as for comparison or contrast.
(2): ( prep.) To denote the accomplishment of cause, means, instrument, etc; - sometimes equivalent to by.
(3): ( n.) See Withe.
(4): ( prep.) With denotes or expresses some situation or relation of nearness, proximity, association, connection, or the like.
(5): ( prep.) To denote having as a possession or an appendage; as, the firmament with its stars; a bride with a large fortune.
(6): ( prep.) To denote simultaneous happening, or immediate succession or consequence.
(7): ( prep.) To denote association in respect of situation or environment; hence, among; in the company of.
(8): ( prep.) To denote a connection of friendship, support, alliance, assistance, countenance, etc.; hence, on the side of.
(9): ( prep.) To denote a close or direct relation of opposition or hostility; - equivalent to against.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [3]
WITH(E)S in Judges 16:17 represents a term which probably means bow-strings of ‘green’ gut. The Eng. word means a supple twig from a willow (see also Cord).
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [4]
( יֶתֶר , Yether, Judges 16:7-9, a Rope; "cord," Job 30:11; "string," Psalms 11:2). In the passage of Judges cited we read that Delilah bound Samson with seven green withs which had not been dried." "Green ropes," as distinguished from "dry ropes," is the proper meaning, the peculiarity being in the greenness, not in the material. It may imply any kind of crude vegetable, commonly used for ropes, without restricting it to withs, or tough and pliable rods, twisted into a rope. Such ropes are used in the East, and while they remain green are stronger than any other. In India the legs of wild elephants and buffaloes newly caught are commonly bound with ropes of this sort. Josephus says (Ant. 5:9, 11) that the ropes which bound Samson were made with the tendrils of the vine. At the present day ropes in the East are rarely made of hemp or flax. Except some that are made with hair or leather, they are generally formed with the tough fibres of trees (particularly the palm-tree) and roots, with grasses, and with reeds and rushes. These ropes are, in general, tolerably strong, but are in no degree comparable to our hempen ropes. They are very light in comparison, and, wanting compactness, in most cases they are also rough and coarse to the eye. The praises which travellers bestow on ropes of this kind must not be understood as putting them in comparison with those in use among ourselves, but with the bands of hay which our peasants twist, and with reference to the simple and crude materials of which they are composed (Kitto, Pictorial Bible, note ad loc.). (See Cord).
