beforetime
Americanadverb
adverb
Etymology
Origin of beforetime
First recorded in 1250–1300, beforetime is from Middle English bifor time. See before, time
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Is this the beforetime for Johns, a memory of a time before he decided to be an artist, before he turned inward and began to live almost entirely in his head?
From Washington Post • Sep. 29, 2021
Nay, she had beforetime hinted that some individual of the name, of moderate wealth and good breeding, might in time be found for a suitable alliance.
From Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 by Roby, John
We surmised that he found encouragement in this house, and had beforetime listened to thy childish and unreasoning folly.
From A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia by Douglas, Amanda Minnie
You have cleverly fooled me beforetime, With a dainty scorn, and then an imploring forgiveness!
From Poems by Howells, William Dean
The flood-gates of his affections may have been opened, and he may have become receptive to influences which had upon him beforetime little or no effect.
From How to be Happy Though Married Being a Handbook to Marriage by Hardy, Edward John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
