And (#), conj. [AS. and; akin to OS. endi, Icel. enda, OHG. anti, enti, inti, unti, G. und, D. en, OD. ende. Cf, An if, Ante-.]
1.
A particle which expresses the relation of connection or addition. It is used to conjoin a word with a word, a clause with a clause, or a sentence with a sentence.
(a) It is sometimes used emphatically; as, "there are women and women," that is, two very different sorts of women.
(b) By a rhetorical figure, notions, one of which is modificatory of the other, are connected by and; as, "the tediousness and process of my travel," that is, the tedious process, etc.; "thy fair and outward character," that is, thy outwardly fair character,
Schmidt's Shak. Lex.
2.
In order to; -- used instead of the infinitival to, especially after try, come, go.
At least to try and teach the erring soul.
Milton.
3.
It is sometimes, in old songs, a mere expletive.
When that I was and a little tiny boy.
Shak.
4.
If; though. See An, conj.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
As they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs.
Bacon.
And so forth, and others; and the rest; and similar things; and other things or ingredients. The abbreviation, etc. (et cetera), or &c., is usually read and so forth.
© Webster 1913.