wherewith

alternative obsolete wherwith

1. archaicnot comparableWith which; with what.

   Yee are the ſalt of the earth: But if the ſalt haue loſt his ſauour, wherewith ſhall it bee ſalted?

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:13, column 1

   3 more examples

   In the left there was a ſort of Engine, from the Back of which were extended twenty long Poles, reſembling the Paliſado's before your Majeſty's Court; wherewith we conjecture the Man-Mountain combs his Head, for we did not always trouble him with Queſtions, becauſe we found it a great Difficulty to make him underſtand us.

   1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Emperor of Lilliput, Attended by Several of the Nobility, Come to See the Author in His Confinement. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 39

   [T]he other having Five Quarters on each of his Five Acres, the Crop of One of them will pay the Rent and Expence of all his Five Acres, and he may keep the remaining Twenty Quarters, till he can ſell them at five Shillings a Buſhel, which amounts to forty Pounds, wherewith he may be able to buy four of his five Acres at twenty Years Purchaſe, out of one Year’s Crop, […]

   1731, [Jethro Tull], “[Of Differences between the Old and the New Husbandry.] Of the Different Goodness of a Crop”, in The New Horse-Houghing Husbandry: or, An Essay on the Principles of Tillage and Vegetation. […], London: […] [T]he Author, →OCLC, page 147

   Worship we the Godhead, / Love Incarnate, Love Divine, / Worship we our Jesus,— / But wherewith for sacred sign? // Love shall be our token, / Love be yours and love be mine, / Love to God and all men, / Love the universal sign.

   1885, Christina G[eorgina] Rossetti, “December 29 [Love Came Down at Christmas]”, in Time Flies: A Reading Diary […], London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge […], →OCLC, page 251

plural wherewiths · alternative obsolete wherwith

1. archaicuncountableusuallySomething with which; the means by which.

   Hath not he wherewith [translating dequoy] to be beholding vnto this his killing vivacitie?

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, “An Apologie of Raymond Sebond”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 284

   Synonyms: wherewithal