pron.
Pronunciation: m ī - ' self, m ə -, Southern also - ' sef
Function: pronoun
Date: before 12th century
1 : that identical one that is I ― used reflexively <I'm going to get myself a new suit>, for emphasis <I myself will go>, or in absolute constructions < myself a tourist, I nevertheless avoided other tourists>
2 : my normal, healthy, or sane condition <didn't feel myself yesterday>
usage Myself is often used where I or me might be expected: as subject <to wonder what myself will say ― Emily Dickinson> <others and myself continued to press for the legislation>, after as, than, or like <an aversion to paying such people as myself to tutor> <was enough to make a better man than myself quail> <old-timers like myself >, and as object <now here you see myself with the diver> <for my wife and myself it was a happy time>. Such uses almost always occur when the speaker or writer is referring to himself or herself as an object of discourse rather than as a participant in discourse. The other reflexive personal pronouns are similarly but less frequently used in the same circumstances. Critics have frowned on these uses since about the turn of the century, prob. unaware that they serve a definite purpose. Users themselves are as unaware as the criticsthey simply follow their instincts. These uses are standard.