6. Used as conj.: = ‘like as’, as. Now generally condemned as vulgar or slovenly, though examples may be found in many recent writers of standing. This use originated partly in an ellipsis of as or an extension of the quasi-prepositional function of the adv. (sense 1) to govern a clause instead of a sb., and partly in an anacoluthic use (somewhat common in the 16th c.) by which the sb. or pronoun which is primarily a dative governed by like is used as the subj. or obj. of a following clause.
A good example of this anacoluthon (but with to instead of simple dative) is the following: 1596 Spe…