Beside—Besides

In the later unabridged editions of Webster's dictionary we find the following remarks concerning the use of these two words: " Beside and besides , whether used as prepositions or adverbs, have been considered synonymous from an early period of our literature, and have been freely interchanged by our best writers. There is, however, a tendency in present usage to make the following distinction between them: 1. That beside be used only and always as a preposition, with the original meaning by the side of ; as, to sit beside a fountain; or with the closely allied meaning aside from , or out of ; as, this is beside our present purpose: 'Paul, thou art beside thyself.' The adverbial sense to be wholly transferred to the cognate word. 2. That besides , as a preposition, take the remaining sense, in addition to ; as, besides all this; besides the consideration here offered: 'There was a famine in the land besides the first famine.' And that it also take the adverbial sense of moreover , beyond , etc., which had been divided between the words; as, besides , there are other considerations which belong to this case."