Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Reaching beyond the limits of memory, tradition, or recorded history.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not within the bounds of memory; of unknown duration; extending back beyond record or tradition.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition; indefinitely ancient.
- adjective (Eng. Law.) a time antedating (legal) history, and beyond “legal memory” so called; formerly an indefinite time, but in 1276 this time was fixed by statute as the begining of the reign of Richard I. (1189). Proof of unbroken possession or use of any right since that date made it unnecessary to establish the original grant. In 1832 the plan of dating legal memory from a fixed time was abandoned and the principle substituted that rights which had been enjoyed for full twenty years (or as against the crown thirty years) should not be liable to impeachment merely by proving that they had not been enjoyed before.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective That is
beyond memory ;ancient .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective long past; beyond the limits of memory or tradition or recorded history
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The mountains rose, their debris silted up the ocean, the gods took their seats on them and contrived the river, and the India we call immemorial came into being.
A Passage To India Forster, E. M. 1924
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Mostly we are concerned about what this would do to our human rights as a people, that we would not be allowed to continue our way of life since time immemorial, which is similar to what's happened in the lower 48 with the tribes.
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Mostly we're concerned about what this would do to our human rights as a people, that we would not be allowed to continue our way of life that we have known since time immemorial, which is similar to what's happened in the lower 48 with the tribes.
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It is this inspiring message, which has come down to mankind from time immemorial, which is an inspiration to us all in these dark days when almost all the lights of liberty have been extinguished in South Africa, the land we so dearly hold to our heart.
PAPER ON THE GROUP AREAS ACT AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE INDIAN PEOPLE OF NATAL 1956
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Indians were offended at the encroachments made by strangers on lands which they had possessed unmolested for time immemorial, that is nothing wonderful or uncommon.
An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, Volume 1 Alexander Hewatt
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Completely besotted and brutish in their ignorance, they are incapable of obtaining an honest living, and have supported themselves, from a time which may be called immemorial, by practising petty larceny on an organized plan.
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Wiser, stronger, mightier than we were those who shielded us in the first years; who went about among us renewing memory, whispering in our hearts the message of the meaning of life, recalling the immemorial endeavor of the spirit for freedom, knowledge, mastery.
AE in the Irish Theosophist George William Russell 1901
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Haven't we always just liked getting absolutely off our tits since time immemorial, which is why the early drinking theory doesn't work over here like it supposedly does in other countries?
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The Jews had in fact been a presence throughout the middle east, from a time "immemorial" as no Arab could have been.
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009
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Time "immemorial" is in fact remembered well by Jews and it predates the conquest of the middle east by the Arabs who were indigenous to the Arabian peninsula.
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009
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