Between, prep.
Etymology: [OE. bytwene, bitweonen, AS. betweónan, betweónum; prefix be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two, akin to Goth. tweihnai two apiece. See Twain, and cf. Atween, Betwixt.]
1. In the space which separates; betwixt; as, New York is between Boston and Philadelphia.
2. 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.
3. Belonging in common to two; shared by both. Castor and Pollux with only one soul between them. Locke.
4. 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.
3 more senses
5. 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.
6. 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. 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. 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.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Between, n.
Intermediate time or space; interval. [Poetic & R.] Shak.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for between; he lists it under amid.
Where he writes about it:
Between (archaic or poetic, betwixt) is said of two persons or objects, or of two groups of persons or objects. — from amid
"Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen," Gen. xiii, 9; the reference being to two bodies of herdmen. — from amid