erst
Americanadverb
adverb
-
long ago; formerly
-
at first
Etymology
Origin of erst
before 1000; Middle English erest, Old English ǣrest (cognate with Old High German ērist, German erst ), equivalent to ǣr ere + -est -est 1
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.
The front cover of the April 15 issue of the celebrity magazine Die Aktuelle promoted the interview with Mr. Schumacher, who is German, as his first since the accident: “das erste interview.”
From New York Times • Apr. 24, 2023
But he also gave soulful, carefully nuanced readings of Busoni’s “Wer hat das erste Lied erdacht” and ’s “Geheimnis,” and produced gracefully floating head-voice tones in Vaughan Williams’s “Silent Noon.”
From New York Times • Oct. 20, 2010
“Prut! That I do not believe. It was asleep till the fairy prince came through the wood, and waked it up. Ah, well, ‘Die erste Liebe ist die beste’, but that I should not expect.”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
The result often is, that you either are strong-minded enough not to buy at all, or so weak-minded as to take das erste beste that is put before you.
From Town Life in Australia by Twopeny, Richard Ernest Nowell
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.
