Unclear. Middle Englishōssen had a rather different meaning, "to reveal, to prophesy", but theOED suggests it could nonetheless be the same verb. The origin of the Middle English verb is itself obscure, but it may be a variant ofhalsen, from Old Englishhālsian, although this too had a rather different meaning, "to beseech, entreat; to exorcise; to imprecate".
(dialectal) To set about, or intend be inclined to set about (doing something).
1840, Ann Coward Wheeler,The Westmoreland Dialect in Four Familiar Dialogues: In which an Attempt is Made to Illustrate the Provincial Idiom, page64:
JENNET. [...] Soa yee see Iseossin towart hausekeepin. SARAH. Whya nowt but weel. Wees nit hev the weddin an kirsenin at yaa time, that's a cumfort. JENNET. Hed Sammy ivver offerd onny thing that's mismannerd to me, awr courtship wod sean hae[…]
1872,Notes and Queries, page492:
"Dun you know if the glasses isossing to sattle?"
1876, Richard Morris,On the Survival of Early English Words in Our Present Dialects, page60:
1885, Thomas Hallam,Four Dialect Words: Clem, Lake, Nesh, and Oss, Their Modern Dialectal Rang, Meanings, Pronunciation, Etymology, and Early Or Literary Use, page58:
Aw'mossin t' goo t' Buxton
1903,Bye-gones: Relating to Wales and the Border Counties, page136:
I told you to do so and so, but you dunnaoss to do it.
2024 August 1, Deborah Mutch,British Socialist Fiction, 1884-1914, Volume 3, Taylor & Francis,→ISBN:
1875, Bickerdike,Beacon Alm., page 41, quoted in theEDD:
They owe fer cannels, an' meyle, an' nivveross to pay.
1886, Robert Holland,A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Chester, page459:
"... he ne'erosses pay me, an aw hearn foaks sen he isna gettingk on gradely reet, so aw'st just caw an ax for th' brass afore he goes to th' wa', an then aw'st caw an get thee a yew pair o' pattens as aw coom hwom!"
1897, Hamilton Kingsford,Vigornian Monologues: A Series of Papers in Illustration of the Dialect of Worcestershire, page11:
Tom Stokes 'eossed to goo an' ketch 'er, an' wen 'er runned by 'im 'e thraowed a stone vicious, an' 'it 'er ov the heye, an' 'er worn't good fur nothin' ahterwards, an' I sowld 'er fur wot 'er 'ud fetch[…]
↑2.02.1“oss”, inOED Online, Oxford:Oxford University Press, launched 2000.: /ɒs/ is the only pron. in the 1933 printOED; OED online has British English /ɒs/; Northern English /ɒs/, /ɒːs/; US /ɑs/
AIS:Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] –map 90: “le ossa; un osso” – onnavigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
Arrighi, Cletto (1896),Dizionario milanese-italiano, col repertorio italiano-milanese:[…][1] (in Italian), Milan: Hoepli, page489
Det finns bara en av mig och det är jag. Det finns bara en av dig och det är du. Det finns bara två avoss, och det är vi.
There is only one of me and that is I. There is only one of you [object] and that is you [subject]. There are only two ofus, and that is us [we – subject]. [Swedish has some of the same subject/object fuzziness as English, but a standalone "Det är <pronoun>" idiomatically (through intuition rather than being taught) uses the subject form]
Ska vi gå hem till dig eller hem till mig, ellervar och en hem till sitt? Ska vi göra som dom andra ochägnaoss åt varandra, eller ska var och en sköta sitt?
Shall we go to your place ["home to you" – idiomatic] or to my place [home to me], or each one ["each and one" – idiomatic] home to theirs [nominalized – neuter gender is used when there is no concretereferent, like in impersonal constructions and here, as a rule of thumb]? Shall we do like the others and spend time on each other [engageourselves in each other as an activity – doesn't have the connotations ofdevote], or shall each one mind [take care of] theirs [nominalized]?
Note that some verbs have special senses when used reflexively. For example, do not confusevi lär oss att... ("we learn to...") [reflexive] withde lär oss att... ("they teach us to...") andvi lär oss själva att... ("we teach ourselves to..."). Here,lär meansteach(es) if it is not reflexive, butlearn(s) if it is reflexive. Hence the need for the separate pronoun "oss själva" to be used when object and subject agree, but the verb nevertheless should not be used in the reflexive case.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, launched 2000.: /ɒs/ is the only pron. in the 1933 printOED; OED online has British English /ɒs/; Northern English /ɒs/, /ɒːs/; US /ɑs/