(a) Used substantively with the antecedent suppressed, equivalent to
that which, or those [persons] who, or those [things] which; — called a
compound relative.
With joy beyond what victory bestows.
Cowper.
I'm thinking Captain Lawton will count the noses of what are left
before they see their whaleboats.
Cooper.
What followed was in perfect harmony with this beginning.
Macaulay.
I know well . . . how little you will be disposed to criticise what
comes to you from me.
J. H. Newman.
(b) Used adjectively, equivalent to the . . . which; the sort or kind
of . . . which; rarely, the . . . on, or at, which.
See what natures accompany what colors.
Bacon.
To restrain what power either the devil or any earthly enemy hath to
work us woe.
Milton.
We know what master laid thy keel, What workmen wrought thy ribs of
steel.
Longfellow.
(c) Used adverbially in a sense corresponding to the adjectival use;
as, he picked what good fruit he saw.
4. Whatever; whatsoever; what thing soever; — used indefinitely. "What
after so befall." Chaucer.
Whether it were the shortness of his foresight, the strength of his
will, . . . or what it was.
Bacon.
5. Used adverbially, in part; partly; somewhat; — with a following
preposition, especially, with, and commonly with repetition.
What for lust [pleasure] and what for lore.
Chaucer.
Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat, what with the gallows,
and what with poverty, I am custom shrunk.
Shak.
The year before he had so used the matter that what by force, what by
policy, he had taken from the Christians above thirty small castles.
Knolles.
In such phrases as I tell you what, what anticipates the following
statement, being elliptical for what I think, what it is, how it is,
etc. "I tell thee what, corporal Bardolph, I could tear her." Shak.
Here what relates to the last clause, "I could tear her;" this is what
I tell you.
What not is often used at the close of an enumeration of several
particulars or articles, it being an abbreviated clause, the verb of
which, being either the same as that of the principal clause or a
general word, as be, say, mention, enumerate, etc., is omitted. "Men
hunt, hawk, and what not." Becon. "Some dead puppy, or log, orwhat
not." C. Kingsley. "Battles, tournaments, hunts, and what not." De
Quincey. Hence, the words are often used in a general sense with the
force of a substantive, equivalent to anything you please, a
miscellany, a variety, etc. From this arises the name whatnot, applied
to an étagère, as being a piece of furniture intended for receiving
miscellaneous articles of use or ornament.
But what is used for but that, usually after a negative, and excludes
everything contrary to the assertion in the following sentence. "Her
needle is not so absolutely perfect in tent and cross stitch but what
my superintendence is advisable." Sir W. Scott. "Never fear but what
our kite shall fly as high." Ld. Lytton.
What ho! an exclamation of calling. — What if, what will it matter if;
what will happen or be the result if. "What if it be a poison?" Shak. —
What of this? that? it? etc., what follows from this, that, it, etc.,
often with the implication that it is of no consequence. "All this is
so; but what of this, my lord?" Shak. "The night is spent, why, what of
that?" Shak. — What though, even granting that; allowing that;
supposing it true that. "What though the rose have prickles, yet't is
plucked." Shak. — What time, or What time as, when. [Obs. or Archaic]
"What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." Ps. lvi. 3.
What time the morn mysterious visions brings.
Pope.