English

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Etymology

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From Middle English his-self, his self, his-selfe, his-selven, his selfen; equivalent to his +‎ -self.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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hisself (plural theirselves)

  1. (now chiefly dialectal or informal) Himself.
    • 1853, Cuthbert Bede [pseudonym; Edward Bradley], “Mr. Verdant Green terminates his existence as an Oxford Freshman”, in The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, London: Nathaniel Cooke, [], →OCLC, page 116:
      Among those who seemed disposed to join in this opinion was the Jehu of the Warwickshire coach, who expressed his conviction to our hero, that "he wos a young gent as had much himproved hisself since he tooled him up to the 'Varsity with his guvnor."
    • 1897, The Cosmopolitan, volume 22, page 564:
      Then when he had finally got through he sat down and luk'd as tho' he hisself would die of grief if they brought in a verdict of guilty.
    • 1953, James Baldwin, “The Seventh Day”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN:
      I sure hope he don't get hisself hurt one of these days, running his mouth thataway.
    • 2020, Eoin Colfer, Highfire[1], Hachette, →ISBN:
      ‘Charles ain't exactly got his feet on the ground. Last week he swore to me that he was spending his nights in New Orleans manwhoring hisself. []

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