Men take _each other's_ measure when they meet for the first
time.--EMERSON.

You ruffian! do you fancy I forget that we were fond of _each
other_?--THACKERAY.

England was then divided between kings and Druids, always at war
with _one another_, carrying off _each other's_ cattle and
wives.--BREWER

The topics follow _each other_ in the happiest order.--MACAULAY.

The Peers at a conference begin to pommel _each other_.--_Id._

We call ourselves a rich nation, and we are filthy and foolish
enough to thumb _each other's_ books out of circulating
libraries.--RUSKIN.

The real hardships of life are now coming fast upon us; let us
not increase them by dissension among _each other_.--GOLDSMITH.

In a moment we were all shaking hands with _one
another_.--DICKENS.

The unjust purchaser forces the two to bid against _each
other._--RUSKIN.

[Sidenote: _Distributives_ either _and_ neither.]

422. By their original meaning, either and neither refer to only
two persons or objects; as, for example,--

Some one must be poor, and in want of his gold--or his corn.
Assume that no one is in want of _either_.--RUSKIN

Their [Ernest's and the poet's] minds accorded into one strain,
and made delightful music which _neither_ could have claimed as
all his own.--HAWTHORNE.

[Sidenote: _Use of_ any.]

Sometimes these are made to refer to several objects, in which case
any should be used instead; as,--

Was it the winter's storm? was it hard labor and spare meals? was
it disease? was it the tomahawk? Is it possible that _neither_ of
these causes, that not all combined, were able to blast this bud
of hope?--EVERETT.

Once I took such delight in Montaigne ...; before that, in
Shakespeare; then in Plutarch; then in Plotinus; at one time in
Bacon; afterwards in Goethe; even in Bettine; but now I turn the
pages of _either_ of them languidly, whilst I still cherish their
genius.--EMERSON.

[Sidenote: Any _usually plural_.]

423. The adjective pronoun any is nearly always regarded as
plural, as shown in the following sentences:--

If _any_ of you _have_ been accustomed to look upon these hours
as mere visionary hours, I beseech you, etc.--BEECHER

Whenever, during his stay at Yuste, _any_ of his friends had
died, he had been punctual in doing hono