Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective In anticipation.
  • adverb & adjective In advance; early.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In good pecuniary circumstances; having enough to meet one's obligations and something over; forehanded: as, “rich and much beforehand,”
  • In anticipation; in advance.
  • Before there is time for anything to be done; before anything is done.
  • To be beforehand with, to anticipate; be in advance of; be prepared or ready for.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective In comfortable circumstances as regards property; forehanded.
  • adverb In a state of anticipation ore preoccupation; in advance; -- often followed by with.
  • adverb By way of preparation, or preliminary; previously; aforetime.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb At an earlier or preceding time.
  • adjective obsolete In comfortable circumstances as regards property; forehanded.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb ahead of time; in anticipation
  • adjective being ahead of time or need

Etymologies

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