Etymology: Middle English, from Old English eallswā likewise, just as — more at also
Date: before 12th century
1. to the same degree or amount <as soft as silk> <twice as long> 2. for instance <various trees, as oak or pine> 3. when considered in a specified form or relation — usually used before a preposition or a participle <my opinion as distinguished from his> II. conjunction Date: 12th century 1. as if <looks as he had seen a ghost — S. T. Coleridge> 2. in or to the same degree in which <soft as silk> — usually used as a correlative after an adjective or adverb modified by adverbial as or so <as cool as a cucumber> 3. in the way or manner that <do as I do> 4. in accordance with what or the way in which <quite good as boys go> 5. while, when <spilled the milk as she got up> 6. regardless of the degree to which ; though <improbable as it seems, it's true> 7. for the reason that ; because, since <stayed home as she had no car> 8. that the result is <so clearly guilty as to leave no doubt> Usage: see like III. pronoun Date: 12th century 1. that, who, which — used after same or such <in the same building as my brother> <tears such as angels weep — John Milton> and chiefly dialect after a substantive not modified by same or such <that kind of fruit as maids call medlars — Shakespeare> 2. a fact that <is a foreigner, as is evident from his accent> IV. preposition Date: 13th century 1. a. like 2 <all rose as one man> b. like 1a <his face was as a mask — Max Beerbohm> 2. in the capacity, character, condition, or role of <works as an editor> V. noun (plural asses) Etymology: Latin Date: 1540 1. a. a bronze coin of the ancient Roman republic b. a unit of value equivalent to an as coin 2. libra 2a
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.