whosoever

objective whomsoever · possessive whosesoever · alternative archaic whosoëver

1. formalWhatever person or persons: emphasised or elaborated form of whoever.

   Whosoever partakes of this elixir shall have eternal life.

   5 more examples

   If thou do pardon whoſoeuer pray, / More ſinnes for this forgiueneſs proſper may: […]

   1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]

   Whoſoeuer commeth to me, and heareth my ſayings, and doeth them, I will ſhew you to whom he is like.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 6:47

   His mercy is a panacea, a balſome for an afflicted ſoule, a Soveraigne medicine, an alexipharmacum for all ſinne, a charme for the Divell, his mercy was great to Solomon, to Manaſſes, to Peter, great to all offenders, and whoſoever thou art, it may be ſo to thee.

   1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Cure of Deſpaire by Phyſick, good counſell, comforts, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 4, member 3, subsection 6, page 707

   This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it.

   1840 May 5, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture I. The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 8

   Whosoever shall be found without the soul for getting down, must stand and face the hounds of hell

   1982 (date recorded), Rod Temperton, “Thriller”, performed by Michael Jackson