prep. expressing separation or origin, followed by:
1. a person, place, time, etc., that is the starting-point of motion or action, or of extent in place or time (rain comes from the clouds; repeated from mouth to mouth; dinner is served from 8; from start to finish).
2 a place, object, etc. whose distance or remoteness is reckoned or stated (ten miles from Rome; I am far from admitting it; absent from home; apart from its moral aspect).
3 a a source (dig gravel from a pit; a man from Italy; draw a conclusion from premisses; quotations from Shaw). b a giver or sender (presents from Father Christmas; have not heard from her).
4 a a thing or person avoided, escaped, lost, etc. (released him from prison; cannot refrain from laughing; dissuaded from folly). b a person or thing deprived (took his gun from him).
5 a reason, cause, or motive (died from fatigue; suffering from mumps; did it from jealousy; from his looks you might not believe it).
6 a thing distinguished or unlike (know black from white).
7 a lower limit (saw from 10 to 20 boats; tickets from {pound}5).
8 a state changed for another (from being the victim he became the attacker; raised the penalty from a fine to imprisonment).
9 an adverb or preposition of time or place (from long ago; from abroad; from under the bed).
10 the position of a person who observes or considers (saw it from the roof; from his point of view).
11 a model (painted it from nature).
Phrases and idioms:
from a child since childhood. from day to day (or hour to hour etc.) daily (or hourly etc.); as the days (or hours etc.) pass. from home out, away. from now on henceforward. from time to time occasionally. from year to year each year; as the years pass.
Etymology: OE fram, from f. Gmc