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Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday July 11, 2007

betimes \bih-TYMZ\, adverb:
1. Early; in good time; before it is late.
2. At times; on occasion.
3. [Archaic] Soon; in a short time.

But it takes a piece of political theatre, like yesterday's release of the Iraq dossier, to get us out of bed betimes.
-- Andrew Marr, "I couldn't have a lie-in because of the Iraq dossier", Daily Telegraph, September 25, 2002

It looks like it's trying to clear this morning, though waves of drizzle betimes pass through.
-- Will Cook, "Macklin's Cross", Irish America, February 1, 2004

Some of them were poets or novelists first and critics only betimes.
-- Denis Donoghue, The Practice of Reading

Betimes is from Middle English bitimes, from bi, "by" + time, "time."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for betimes

 

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