flourishing without =?

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Tom looked in the direction that the stranger pointed, and beheld one of the great trees, fair and flourishing without, but rotten at the core, and saw that it had been nearly hewn through, so that the first high wind was likely to blow it down.

More:

http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=0KUtin0ODWYC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=and+a+friar+was+summoned+from+a+neighboring+convent&source=bl&ots=oQHl2TEQmt&sig=6mkVzlFzLw_TMdFWiGbmiC9UaG0&hl=zh-CN&ei=fC1nTo_bAeuSiAfq8fTOCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=true

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 1 • Views: 648 • Replies: 3

No top replies

View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

This is a usage of the word "without" which is no longer much used. It means "on the outside." Think in terms of without meaning on the outside, and within meaning on the inside.

. . . beheld one of the great trees, fair and flourishing on the outside, but rotten at the core . . .

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

This is a usage of the word "without" which is no longer much used. It means "on the outside." Think in terms of without meaning on the outside, and within meaning on the inside.

. . . beheld one of the great trees, fair and flourishing on the outside, but rotten at the core . . .

Cool!
Thanks

0 Replies

Just as without was once commonly used to mean on the outside, so within was once commonly used to mean on the inside (and still largely is). This is a verse from the New Testament of the bible, from the book of Matthew, Chapter 23:

Quote:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

Within here means on the inside.

0 Replies

flourishing without =?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know