of

of¹

/uv, ov/; unstressed /euhv/ or, esp. before consonants, /euh/, prep.

1. (used to indicate distance or direction from, separation, deprivation, etc.): within a mile of the church; south of Omaha; to be robbed of one's money.

2. (used to indicate derivation, origin, or source): a man of good family; the plays of Shakespeare; a piece of cake.

3. (used to indicate cause, motive, occasion, or reason): to die of hunger.

4. (used to indicate material, component parts, substance, or contents): a dress of silk; an apartment of three rooms; a book of poems; a package of cheese.

5. (used to indicate apposition or identity): Is that idiot of a salesman calling again?

6. (used to indicate specific identity or a particular item within a category): the city of Chicago; thoughts of love.

7. (used to indicate possession, connection, or association): the king of France; the property of the church.

8. (used to indicate inclusion in a number, class, or whole): one of us.

9. (used to indicate the objective relation, the object of the action noted by the preceding noun or the application of a verb or adjective): the ringing of bells; He writes her of home; I'm tired of working.

10. (used to indicate reference or respect): There is talk of peace.

11. (used to indicate qualities or attributes): an ambassador of remarkable tact.

12. (used to indicate a specified time): They arrived of an evening.

13. Chiefly Northern U.S. before the hour of; until: twenty minutes of five.

14. on the part of: It was very mean of you to laugh at me.

15. in respect to: fleet of foot.

16. set aside for or devoted to: a minute of prayer.

17. Archaic. by: consumed of worms.

[bef. 900; ME, OE: of, off; c. G ab, L ab, Gk apó. See OFF, A-², O']

Usage. OF is sometimes added to phrases beginning with the adverb how or too followed by a descriptive adjective: How long of a drive will it be? It's too hot of a day for tennis. This construction is probably modeled on that in which how or too is followed by much, an unquestionably standard use in all varieties of speech and writing: How much of a problem will that cause the government? There was too much of an uproar for the speaker to be heard. The use of OF with descriptive adjectives after how or too is largely restricted to informal speech. It occurs occasionally in informal writing and written representations of speech. See also couple, off.

of²

/euhv/, auxiliary v. Pron. Spelling.

have: He should of asked me first. Cf. a⁴.

Pronunciation. Because the preposition OF, when unstressed (a piece of cake), and the unstressed or contracted auxiliary verb HAVE (could have gone, could've gone) are both pronounced /euhv/ or /euh/ in connected speech, inexperienced writers commonly confuse the two words, spelling HAVE as OF (I would of handed in my book report, but the dog ate it). Professional writers have been able to exploit this spelling deliberately, especially in fiction, to help represent the speech of the uneducated: If he could of went home, he would of.

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