me
The self or personality of the speaker, especially their authentic self.
Determiner
- Alternative form of my.
- There don't seem much to say just now. / (Yer what? Then don't, yer ruddy cow! / And give us back me cigarette!) - a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, “The Letter”, in Douglas Kerr, editor, The Works of Wilfred Owen, page 54:
- I want me money back! - 1994, John Hodge, Shallow Grave, spoken by Alex Law (Ewan McGregor):
- Get off me cheese! Get off! Get off! - 1995, Nick Park, A Close Shave:
Origin
A spelling representing the pronunciation (/miː/), which is the older pronunciation (see Middle English mi (“my”); Middle English me (“me”) was pronounced /meː/, similar to modern May); the Great Vowel Shift in the Middle Ages changed /iː/ to /aɪ/, but some dialects retained or reinnovated /iː/ in this word.
Noun Entry 2
- The self or personality of the speaker, especially their authentic self.
- “Quite easily. Here you are taking care of a poor little boy with one arm, and there you are sinking a ship with the other. It can’t be like you.” “Ah, but which is me? I can’t be two mes, you know.” “No. Nobody can be...
- The question seems unanswerable, because if those same atoms were to be collected as they leave my body as waste in the normal process of metabolism, and in a year when my body contained all new atoms, those old atoms...
- “In these last few days I keep feeling that I’m changing, changing into something I don’t quite recognize myself.” / “You’ve become more like yourself.” / “Could there be two mes?” / “Perhaps more than two.” / “It gets...
Synonyms: I
Origin
From Middle English me, from Old English mē (“me”, originally dative, but later also accusative, supplanting accusative mec), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀ, from Proto-Germanic *miz (“me”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁me- (“me”). Cognate with Scots me, North Frisian me, Saterland Frisian mie, Dutch me, mij, Low German mi, German mir (dative only), Icelandic mér (also still dative), Latin mē, Ancient Greek μέ (mé), ἐμέ (emé), Sanskrit मा (mā), all meaning “me”.
Forms
Noun entertainment, lifestyle
- The solfeggio syllable used to indicate the flat of the third note of a major scale.
Origin
From mi (“third note of a major scale”) + -e (“flat”), from Glover's solmization, Italian mi in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the first syllable of Latin mīra in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymn Ut queant laxis by Paulus Deacon.
Pronoun first person, pronoun
- The first-person singular, as the object (of a verb, preposition, etc).
- Can you hear me?
- He gave me this.
- Shew me a token foꝛ good, that they which hate me may ſee it, and bee aſhamed: becauſe thou, Lord, haſt holpen me, and comfoꝛted me. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],...
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As the object (direct or indirect) of a verb.
-
(archaic, proscribed) Myself; as a reflexive direct object of a verb.
- And I awoke, and found me here. - 1819, John Keats, La Belle Dame sans Merci:
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(colloquial, proscribed) Myself; as a reflexive indirect object of a verb; the ethical dative.
- When I get to college, I'm gonna get me a white Nissan Sentra. - 1993 April 5, Harper's Magazine:
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As the object of a preposition.
- Come with me.
- Used in isolation or apposition, or (sometimes proscribed) as the complement of the copula (be).
- Who's there? —Me. (or:) It's only me.
- Who did this? —Me. I did it. (or:) It was me. I did it.)
- Who said that? —(It was) not me.
- I, the first-person singular, as the subject.
- Me and my friends played a game.
- [It was] literally all me and my astrophysicist colleagues could talk about.
- Stella and me have opted to take a course called ‘Autobiography and Fiction’.
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(informal, with a conjunction, often proscribed) As the subject of a verb.
-
(nonstandard, not with a conjunction) As the subject of a verb. Sometimes used to indicate or imitate limited English fluency.
- One of them, whose sobriquet was Big-headed Blackboy, was stretched out before the fire, and no answer could be obtained from him, but a drawling repetition, in grunts of displeasure, of "Bel (not) me want to go. -...
- Well he said me mustn’t eat ’nanas cause ’nanas would make me sick. - 1899 July 20, Mrs. A[lexander] J[effrey] McKelway [i.e., Lavinia Rutherford McKelway], “Children’s Department”, in A[lexander] J[effrey] McKelway,...
- Whoa! That was about the coolest thing ever! Me gotta see that again. - 2005 October 10, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Teen Girl Squad Issue #10”, in Homestar Runner, spoken by Strong Bad (Matthew Chapman):
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(nonstandard, in apposition) Would be the subject of a copula in standard English, though the copula is omitted; used to indicate or imitate limited English fluency.
- “I should stick to Tarzan,” he [Johnny Weissmuller] explains. “You see, I’m no actor. Well, I didn’t have to act in ‘Tarzan, the Ape Man’—just said, ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane.’ I'll never be able to act.” - 1932 June,...
- May opened the door, and a huge Indian walked into the room. “Me Bear Tracks,” he said. “Me hungry.” - 1954 February 3, Mrs. John F. Underhill, “The Last Leaf” (Chapter Three: Bear Tracks), in Lawrence Maxwell, editor,...
Synonyms
Related
meseems methinks noli me tangere Ime myselfmemysen mine mymineme we us ourselvesourselfoursen oursourn our you yourselfyoursen yoursyourn your thou thee thyselftheeselfthysen thine thythine youye yourselves you ally'all you guys yous
Derived
about me address me address me 🐘 after me the deluge a little bird told me arrest-me-red arrest me red arrest-me red ask me anything believe you me cast-me-down choke-me come-and-cuddle-me come at me date-me doc dip me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining don't tread on me fellermelad fight me fixme fool me once for me
Pronoun Early, Modern
- Indefinite pronoun (usually singular); one; you; they; someone.
Origin
From Middle English me, an unstressed phonetic reduction of men, man (pronouns; q. v.). Compare German man (“one, you”, indefinite pronoun).