The Collaborative International Dictionary
Between \Be*tween"\, prep. [OE. bytwene, bitweonen, AS. betwe['o]nan, betwe['o]num; prefix be- by + a form fr. AS. tw[=a] two, akin to Goth. tweihnai two apiece. See Twain, and cf. Atween, Betwixt.]
In the space which separates; betwixt; as, New York is between Boston and Philadelphia.
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Used in expressing motion from one body or place to another; from one to another of two.
If things should go so between them.
--Bacon. -
Belonging in common to two; shared by both.
Castor and Pollux with only one soul between them.
--Locke. -
Belonging to, or participated in by, two, and involving reciprocal action or affecting their mutual relation; as, opposition between science and religion.
An intestine struggle, open or secret, between authority and liberty.
--Hume. With relation to two, as involved in an act or attribute of which another is the agent or subject; as, to judge between or to choose between courses; to distinguish between you and me; to mediate between nations.
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In intermediate relation to, in respect to time, quantity, or degree; as, between nine and ten o'clock.
Between decks, the space, or in the space, between the decks of a vessel.
Between ourselves, Between you and me, Between themselves, in confidence; with the understanding that the matter is not to be communicated to others.
Syn: Between, Among.
Usage: Between etymologically indicates only two; as, a quarrel between two men or two nations; to be between two fires, etc. It is however extended to more than two in expressing a certain relation.
I . . . hope that between public business, improving studies, and domestic pleasures, neither melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance.
--Johnson. [1913 Webster] Among implies a mass or collection of things or persons, and always supposes more than two; as, the prize money was equally divided among the ship's crew.
Usage examples of "between themselves".
Delaying them counted as a victory, for it let the battered fragments of the Army of Franklin put more distance between themselves and Doubting George's disgustingly numerous, revoltingly well-fed, and alarmingly well-armed soldiers.
In bare minutes they had put fifty miles between themselves and the base.
Jose and the other guy had sat around reading the newspaper and talking between themselves in Spanish, while Kayla sat in the bedroom, slowly going stir-crazy.
On learning the rank of Don Fernando and the resolution of Don Luis the four then settled it between themselves that three of them should return to tell his father how matters stood, and that the other should remain to wait upon Don Luis, and not leave him until they came back for him, or his father's orders were known.
But they talked calmly enough between themselves, with no indication that they might abuse him.
Every time, no matter what I said, they left the shop and went off arguing between themselves.
They had all agreed to keep their trip a secret between themselves until the last possible minute, against the possibility that Federation diplomacy might prohibit such a trip and Starfleet bureaucracy would consider it interference.
They were still playing catch-up, but they'd managed to considerably narrow the gap between themselves and their potential enemies.
Again, they display great agility in leaping over walls and various other obstacles between themselves and freedom.
It was important at this time not to take the time to hunt, but to put as much distance between themselves and the sammads as they could.
The technicians, murmuring a few words of jargon back and forth between themselves, were well along in the process of detaching the separated modules from the rack and fitting them back together in a more compact form.
Taking advantage of it, they fled, heading down a connecting alley and putting as much distance between themselves and the Place as they could.
That's between themselves and God, as he's said to me many a time.
If we pull out for Endicott and they follow us, they can trap us between themselves and whatever ships are already picketing the system.
When they saw the distance between themselves and the other passengers, they created the usual uproar.