Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb At a former or past time; previously.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In time past; in a former time.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb In time past; formerly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb archaic In time past; in a former time;
formerly .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Ye spoke us a word aforetime; as ye spoke to us, will ye not do?
The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume III Anonymous 1879
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'Hast thou then two names?' asked she, and he answered (and indeed his voice was choked with tears), 'Yes; my name aforetime was Asaad, [FN#70] but now it is Muterr.' [
The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume III Anonymous 1879
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"Hast thou then two names?" enquired she, and he replied (and indeed his voice was choked with tears), "Yes; my name aforetime was Al-As'ad, the most happy, but now it is Al -
Arabian nights. English Anonymous 1855
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Incidentally he stubbornly refused to admit that he had anything to do with the killing of Brent, whom the sheriff of Sanborn had finally identified as the aforetime foreman of the Olla.
The Ridin' Kid from Powder River Henry Herbert Knibbs 1909
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"The Bishops of London and Lincoln, after that I had diligently studied and kept terms aforetime at Cambridge."
Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2) John Roby 1821
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“Hast thou then two names?” enquired she, and he replied (and indeed his voice was choked with tears), “Yes; my name aforetime was Al – As’ad, the most happy, but now it is Al-Mu’tarr — Miserrimus.”
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I have heard it aforetime, when skin-clad men sang in fire-circles that pressed back the frost and night.
CHAPTER XXXIV 2010
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I have bearded and bitten the frozen seas, and, aforetime of that, ere ever the ice-ages came to be, I have dripped my shoulders in reindeer gore, slain the mastodon and the sabre-tooth, scratched the record of my prowess on the walls of deep-buried caves -- ay, and suckled she-wolves side by side with my brother-cubs, the scars of whose fangs are now upon me.
CHAPTER XXXIV 2010
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For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures MIGHT HAVE HOPE.
The Art of T.C. Chiu 2009
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From the lofty cross-beams, on long sennit strings, hung the heads of enemies taken aforetime in jungle raid and sea foray.
CHAPTER XII 2010
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