WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Each
Part of Speech : a.
Etymology : [OE. eche, ?lc, elk, ilk, AS. ?lc; a always + gelic like; akin to OD. ieg, OHG. , MHG. iegelich. Aye, Like, and cf. Either, Every, Ilk.]
Definition : 1. Every one of the two or more individuals composing a number of objects, considered separately from the rest. It is used either with or without a following noun; as, each of you or each one of you. "Each of the combatants." Fielding.

Note: To each corresponds other. "Let each esteem other better than himself." Each other, used elliptically for each the other. It is our duty to assist each other; that is, it is our duty, each to assist the other, each being in the nominative and other in the objective case. It is a bad thing that men should hate each other; but it is far worse that they should contract the habit of cutting one another's throats without hatred. Macaulay. Let each His adamantine coat gird well. Milton. In each cheek appears a pretty dimple. Shak. Then draw we nearer day by day, Each to his brethren, all to God. Keble. The oak and the elm have each a distinct character. Gilpin.

2. Every; -- sometimes used interchangeably with every. Shak. I know each lane and every alley green. Milton. In short each man's happiness depends upon himself. Sterne.

Note: This use of each for every, though common in Scotland and in America, is now un-English. Fitzed. Hall.

Syn. -- See Every.

or a. pron.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913