Alexander Dyce, A General Glossary to Shakespeare's Works

for “catching cold,” THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, i. 2. 136 ; “For swallowing the treasure of the realm,” 2 HENRY VI., iv. 1. 74 ; “For going on death's net,” PERICLES, i. 1. 40 ; “For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure,” SONNETS, lii. 4. In these passages for has generally been glossed “for fear of, in prevention of;” but Horne Tooke maintains that for is properly a noun, and has always one and the same meaning, viz. “cause;” so that, according to his explanation of the word, the cause of Lucetta's taking up the papers was that they might not catch cold; the cause of the Captain's damming-up Pole's mouth was that it might not swallow the treasure of the realm; the cause of Pericles's being advised to desist was that he might not go on death's net; and the cause of the rich man not every hour surveying his treasure is that he may not blunt the fine point of seldom pleasure; philologers, however, are far from agreed about the etymology of for. See Webster's Dict., Latham's ed. of Johnson's Dict.