What is "what"

What \What\, interrog. adv. Why? For what purpose? On what account? [Obs.]

What should I tell the answer of the knight.
--Chaucer.

But what do I stand reckoning upon advantages and gains lost by the misrule and turbulency of the prelates? What do I pick up so thriftily their scatterings and diminishings of the meaner subject?
--Milton.

What \What\, n. Something; thing; stuff. [Obs.]

And gave him for to feed, Such homely what as serves the simple ?lown.
--Spenser.

What \What\, pron., a., & adv. [AS. hw[ae]t, neuter of hw[=a] who; akin to OS. hwat what, OFries. hwet, D. & LG. wat, G. was, OHG. waz, hwaz, Icel. hvat, Sw. & Dan. hvad, Goth. hwa.

1. As an interrogative pronoun, used in asking questions regarding either persons or things; as, what is this? what did you say? what poem is this? what child is lost?

   What see'st thou in the ground?
   --Shak.

   What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
   --Ps. viii. 4.

   What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
   --Matt. viii. 27.

   Note: Originally, what, when, where, which, who, why, etc., were interrogatives only, and it is often difficult to determine whether they are used as interrogatives or relatives. [1913 Webster] What in this sense, when it refers to things, may be used either substantively or adjectively; when it refers to persons, it is used only adjectively with a noun expressed, who being the pronoun used substantively.

2. As an exclamatory word:

   1. Used absolutely or independently; -- often with a question following. ``What welcome be thou.''
      --Chaucer.

      What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
      --Matt. xxvi. 40.

   2. Used adjectively, meaning how remarkable, or how great; as, what folly! what eloquence! what courage!

      What a piece of work is man!
      --Shak.

      O what a riddle of absurdity!
      --Young.

      Note: What in this use has a or an between itself and its noun if the qualitative or quantitative importance of the object is emphasized.

   3. Sometimes prefixed to adjectives in an adverbial sense, as nearly equivalent to how; as, what happy boys!

      What partial judges are our love and hate!
      --Dryden.

3. As a relative pronoun:

   1. Used substantively with the antecedent suppressed, equivalent to that which, or those [persons] who, or those [things] which; -- called a compound relative.

      With joy beyond what victory bestows.
      --Cowper.

      I'm thinking Captain Lawton will count the noses of what are left before they see their whaleboats.
      --Cooper.

      What followed was in perfect harmony with this beginning.
      --Macaulay.

      I know well . . . how little you will be disposed to criticise what comes to you from me.
      --J. H. Newman.

   2. Used adjectively, equivalent to the . . . which; the sort or kind of . . . which; rarely, the . . . on, or at, which.

      See what natures accompany what colors.
      --Bacon.

      To restrain what power either the devil or any earthly enemy hath to work us woe.
      --Milton.

      We know what master laid thy keel, What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel.
      --Longfellow.

   3. Used adverbially in a sense corresponding to the adjectival use; as, he picked what good fruit he saw.

4. Whatever; whatsoever; what thing soever; -- used indefinitely. ``What after so befall.''
   --Chaucer.

   Whether it were the shortness of his foresight, the strength of his will, . . . or what it was.
   --Bacon.

5. Used adverbially, in part; partly; somewhat; -- with a following preposition, especially, with, and commonly with repetition.

   What for lust [pleasure] and what for lore.
   --Chaucer.

   Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom shrunk.
   --Shak.

   The year before he had so used the matter that what by force, what by policy, he had taken from the Christians above thirty small castles.
   --Knolles.

   Note: In such phrases as I tell you what, what anticipates the following statement, being elliptical for what I think, what it is, how it is, etc. ``I tell thee what, corporal Bardolph, I could tear her.''
   --Shak. Here what relates to the last clause, ``I could tear her;'' this is what I tell you. [1913 Webster] What not is often used at the close of an enumeration of several particulars or articles, it being an abbreviated clause, the verb of which, being either the same as that of the principal clause or a general word, as be, say, mention, enumerate, etc., is omitted. ``Men hunt, hawk, and what not.''
   --Becon. ``Some dead puppy, or log, or what not.''
   --C. Kingsley. ``Battles, tournaments, hunts, and what not.''
   --De Quincey. Hence, the words are often used in a general sense with the force of a substantive, equivalent to anything you please, a miscellany, a variety, etc. From this arises the name whatnot, applied to an ['e]tag[`e]re, as being a piece of furniture intended for receiving miscellaneous articles of use or ornament. [1913 Webster] But what is used for but that, usually after a negative, and excludes everything contrary to the assertion in the following sentence. ``Her needle is not so absolutely perfect in tent and cross stitch but what my superintendence is advisable.''
   --Sir W. Scott. ``Never fear but what our kite shall fly as high.''
   --Ld. Lytton.

   What ho! an exclamation of calling.

   What if, what will it matter if; what willhappen or be the result if. ``What if it be apoison?''
   --Shak.

   What of this? What of that? What of it? etc., what follows from this, that, it, etc., often with the implication that it is of no consequence. ``All this is so; but what of this, my lord?''
   --Shak. ``The night is spent, why, what of that?''
   --Shak.

   What though, even granting that; allowing that; supposing it true that. ``What though the rose have prickles, yet't is plucked.''
   --Shak.

   What time, or What time as, when. [Obs. or Archaic] ``What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.''
   --Ps. lvi. 3.

   What time the morn mysterious visions brings.
   --Pope.

Old English hwæt, referring to things in abstraction; also "why, wherefore; indeed, surely, truly," from Proto-Germanic pronoun *hwat (cognates: Old Saxon hwat, Old Norse hvat, Danish hvad, Old Frisian hwet, Dutch wat, Old High German hwaz, German was, Gothic hva "what"), from PIE *kwod, neuter singular of *kwos "who" (see who). Corresponding to Latin quid.\n

\nMeaning "what did you say?" is recorded from c.1300. As an adjective and adverb, in Old English. As a conjunction in late Old English. Exclamatory use was in Old English. What the _____ (devil, etc.) as an exclamation of surprise is from late 14c. As an interrogative expletive at the end of sentences from 1891; common in affected British speech. Or what as an alternative end to a question is first attested 1766. What have you "anything else one can think of" is from 1925. What's up? "what is happening?" first recorded 1881.\n

\n"To give one what for is to respond to his remonstrant what for? by further assault" [Weekley]. The phrase is attested from 1873; what for? as introducing a question is from 1760. To know what is what is from c.1400; I'll tell you what to emphasize what is about to be said is in Shakespeare.

adv. 1 In some manner or degree; in part; partly; usually followed by ''with''. 2 Such. 3 (label en obsolete) why? 4 (label en now rare) Used to introduce each of two coordinate phrases or concepts; both…and. det. 1 Which; which kind of. 2 How much; how great (used in an exclamation). interj. 1 (non-gloss definition: An expression of surprise or disbelief.) 2 (context British colloquial dated English) Is that not true? n. (context obsolete English) something; thing; stuff pron. 1 (context interrogative English) Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used interrogatively in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc. 2 (context relative nonstandard English) that; which. 3 (context relative English) That which; those that; the thing that.

What or WHAT may refer to:

• what, an interrogative pronoun in English:
  • "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism
• Web Hypertext Application Technology
• Winter Haven Area Transit, a transit system in Florida, US

In entertainment:

• WHAT (AM), a radio station serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
• What? (film), a film directed by Roman Polanski
• What, the American title for the film The Whip and the Body
• What Records, a UK record label
• What? Records, a US record label
• What.CD, a private music tracker website for BitTorrent users
• "What?" (song), a song by Rob Zombie
• "What" a song by Bassnectar from Vava Voom
• "What?", a song by Corrosion of Conformity from Eye for an Eye
• "What?", a song by The Move from Looking On
• "What?", a song by A Tribe Called Quest from The Low End Theory
• "What", the name of the second baseman in Abbott and Costello's comedy routine " Who's on First?"
• "What?", a catchphrase of professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin

In technology

• What (ITS utility), a small information utility in the Incompatible Timesharing System

El Zol 1340 WHAT-AM is a commercial radio station located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, broadcasting on 1340 AM. The station is owned by Aztec Capital Partners, Inc.

What (typed as in the prompt) was a small information utility available in the Incompatible Timesharing System. It could provide information about incoming email, bus schedule on the MIT campus, executable source files or answer the user in a humorous manner.