foretime

American  

[fawr-tahym, fohr-] / ˈfɔrˌtaɪm, ˈfoʊr- /

noun

1. former or past time; the past.

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foretime British  

/ ˈfɔːˌtaɪm /

noun

1. time already gone; the past

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Etymology

Origin of foretime

First recorded in 1530–40; fore- + time

Example Sentences

And this is the prophecy, written right bold On a parchment all tattered and yellow and old; So old and so tattered that nobody knows How far into foretime its origin goes.

From The Glugs of Gosh by Dennis, C. J. (Clarence James)

Vast was the buried and antique lore that was his, for the foretime Made him master of earlier customs as well as of newer.

From Studies in the Poetry of Italy, I. Roman by Miller, Frank Justus

With the speed of Light his mental vision flashed back along and over the valley of the dead years, and saw arrayed before it all the strange phasmaramas of the foretime.

From Tom Clark and His Wife Their Double Dreams, And the Curious Things that Befell Them Therein; Being the Rosicrucian's Story by Randolph, Paschal Beverly

The feel of cool linen comes like the caress of a forgotten sweetheart, the tinkle of glass and silver are so many chiming fairy bells inviting him back into the foretime days.

From The Silver Horde by Beach, Rex Ellingwood

It has shown some reasonable basis for the most superstitious aberrations of the foretime.

From The Will to Believe : and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by James, William