Ex*cept" (?), conj. Unless; if it
be not so that.
And
he said, I will not let
thee go, except thou bless me.
Gen. xxxii. 26. But yesterday you never opened lip,
Except, indeed, to drink.
Tennyson. &fist; As a conjunction unless
has mostly taken the place of except.
Ex*cept" , prep. [Originally past participle, or verb in the imperative mode.]
With exclusion of; leaving or left out; excepting.
God and his Son except,
Created
thing naught valued he nor . . . shunned.
Milton. Syn. -- Except, Excepting, But,
Save, Besides.
Excepting, except, but, and save are exclusive. Except marks exclusion
more pointedly. "I have finished all the letters except one," is more marked than "I have finished all the letters but one." Excepting is the same as except, but less used. Save is chiefly found in poetry. Besides (lit., by the side of) is in the nature of
addition. "There is no one here except or but him," means, take him away and
there is nobody present. "There is nobody here besides him," means, he is present
and by the side of, or in addition to, him is nobody. "Few ladies, except her Majesty, could have made themselves heard." In this example, besides should be used, not except.
Ex*cept" , v. i. To take exception; to object; -- usually followed by to, sometimes by against; as, to except to a witness
or his testimony.
Except thou wilt except against my love.
Shak.
Ex*cept" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Excepted;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Excepting.]
[L.
exceptus, p. p. of excipere to take or draw
out, to except; ex out + capere to take: cf. F. excepter. See Capable.]
1. To take
or leave out (anything) from a number
or a whole as not belonging to it; to exclude; to omit.
Who
never touched
The
excepted tree.
Milton.
Wherein (if we only except the unfitness of the judge)
all other things
concurred.
Bp. Stillingfleet. 2.
To object to; to protest against.
[Obs.] Shak.
Hear it pronounced