Wheres

Part of speech: noun, conjunction

Definitions

1. The term denotes the plural of a query about the location of multiple items or places ; it can also represent informal, contracted forms used to ask where several things are situated or to reference various locations collectively ; it serves as a colloquial expression to inquire about multiple sites or positions simultaneously
2. This expression is used to ask the position or whereabouts of several objects or places ; it may function as a casual or conversational way to seek the locations of various entities ; it works as a plural interrogative form concerning the place or setting of multiple subjects
3. It functions as a plural inquiry into the location of different people, items, or places ; it is commonly employed in informal speech as a contraction combining multiple questions about place ; it acts as a plural form interrogating the whereabouts or setting of more than one thing or person

Etymology: "Wheres" is the plural of "where," so it is a noun formed by simply adding an -s to a word that was already a question word. Its base was an interrogative with a long pedigree: Old English "hwǣr" meant "at what place," built from the same Proto-Germanic stem "hwar" that gave rise to the "wh-" question words across the Germanic languages, and traceable back to a Proto-Indo-European root for the interrogative pronoun. Using "wheres" as a noun for inquiries about locations is a modern, informal bit of wordplay. English speakers have long used interrogatives as nouns when they want to talk about the questions themselves, as in "the whys and wherefores." Here the plural reshapes "where" into a list of locations sought, so a "wheres" becomes the set of places someone is trying to pin down.

Synonyms: locations, places, spots, sites, positions