Word Study
away
CIDE DICTIONARY
away, adv. [AS. aweg, anweg, onweg; on on + weg way.].
- From a place; hence. [1913 Webster]"The sound is going away." [1913 Webster]"Have me away, for I am sore wounded." [1913 Webster]
- Absent; gone; at a distance; as, the master is away from home. [1913 Webster]
- Aside; off; in another direction. [1913 Webster]"The axis of rotation is inclined away from the sun." [1913 Webster]
- From a state or condition of being; out of existence. [1913 Webster]"Be near me when I fade away." [1913 Webster]
- By ellipsis of the verb, equivalent to an imperative: Go or come away; begone; take away. [1913 Webster]"And the Lord said . . . Away, get thee down." [1913 Webster]
- On; in continuance; without intermission or delay; as, sing away. [1913 Webster]" It is much used in phrases signifying moving or going from; as, go away, run away, etc.; all signifying departure, or separation to a distance. Sometimes without the verb; as, whither away so fast ? “Love hath wings, and will away.”
Waller. It serves to modify the sense of certain verbs by adding that of removal, loss, parting with, etc.; as, to throw away; to trifle away; to squander away, etc. Sometimes it has merely an intensive force; as, to blaze away." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
away, adv., adj., & n.
--adv.
1 to or at a distance from the place, person, or thing in question (go away; give away; look away; they are away; 5 miles away).
2 towards or into non-existence (sounds die away; explain it away; idled their time away).
3 constantly, persistently, continuously (work away; laugh away).
4 without delay (ask away).
--adj. Sport played on an opponent's ground etc. (away match; away win).
--n. Sport an away match or win.
--adv.
1 to or at a distance from the place, person, or thing in question (go away; give away; look away; they are away; 5 miles away).
2 towards or into non-existence (sounds die away; explain it away; idled their time away).
3 constantly, persistently, continuously (work away; laugh away).
4 without delay (ask away).
--adj. Sport played on an opponent's ground etc. (away match; away win).
--n. Sport an away match or win.
Idiom
away with (as imper.) take away; let us be rid of.
Etymology
OE onweg, aweg on one's way f. A(2) + WAY
THESAURUS
away
a rebours, a reculons, absconded, absent, afar, against the grain, aloof, anticlockwise, apart, arear, aside, ass-backwards, astern, asunder, at a distance, at once, back, backward, backwards, counterclockwise, deleted, departed, directly, disappeared, distal, distant, distantly, elsewhere, elsewhither, exotic, expeditiously, extinct, far, far off, faraway, forth, forthwith, fro, gone, gone away, hence, hindward, hindwards, immediately, in juxtaposition, in reverse, instanter, instantly, lacking, long-distance, long-range, lost, lost to sight, lost to view, missing, momentarily, nearby, no longer present, no more, nonattendant, nonexistent, not found, not here, not present, now, off, omitted, on one side, on the side, out, out of sight, over, past and gone, promptly, pronto, punctually, quickly, rearward, rearwards, remote, remotely, removed, retrad, right, right away, right off, separated, sidelong, somewhere else, speedily, straight, straightway, subtracted, swiftly, taken away, thence, therefrom, thereof, to one side, to the side, vanished, wanting, whence, widdershins, wide apart, wide awayROGET THESAURUS
away
Absence
N absence, inexistence, nonresidence, absenteeism, nonattendance, alibi, emptiness, void, vacuum, vacuity, vacancy, tabula rasa, exemption, hiatus, lipotype, truant, absentee, nobody, nobody present, nobody on earth, not a soul, ame qui vive, absent, not present, away, nonresident, gone, from home, missing, lost, wanting, omitted, nowhere to be found, inexistence, empty, void, vacant, vacuous, untenanted, unoccupied, uninhabited, tenantless, barren, sterile, desert, deserted, devoid, uninhabitable, without, minus, nowhere, elsewhere, neither here nor there, in default of, sans, behind one's back, the bird has flown, non est inventus, absence makes the heart grow fonder, absent in body but present in spirit, absento nemo ne nocuisse velit, Achilles absent was Achilles still, aux absents les os, briller par son absence, conspicuous by his absence, in the hope to meet shortly again and make our abs.Distance
N distance, space, remoteness, farness, far- cry to, longinquity, elongation, offing, background, remote region, removedness, parallax, reach, span, stride, outpost, outskirt, horizon, aphelion, foreign parts, ultima Thule, ne plus ultra, antipodes, long range, giant's stride, dispersion, length, cosmic distance, light-years, distant, far off, far away, remote, telescopic, distal, wide of, stretching to, yon, yonder, ulterior, transmarine, transpontine, transatlantic, transalpine, tramontane, ultramontane, ultramundane, hyperborean, antipodean, inaccessible, out of the way, unapproached, unapproachable, incontiguous, far off, far away, afar, afar off, off, away, a long way off, a great way off, a good way off, wide away, aloof, wide of, clear of, out of the way, out of reach, abroad, yonder, farther, further, beyond, outre mer, over the border, far and wide, over the hills and far away, from pole to pole, to the uttermost parts, to the ends of the earth, out of hearing, nobody knows where, a perte de vue, out of the sphere of, wide of the mark, a far cry to, apart, asunder, wide apart, wide asunder, longo intervallo, at arm's length, distance lends enchantment, it's a long long way to Tipperary, out of sight, out of mind.For further exploring for "away" in Webster Dictionary Online