beforetime

English

Etymology

From before +‎ time.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈfɔːtʌɪm/

Adverb

beforetime (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Formerly, previously.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts VIII:

     There was a certayne man called Simon, which beforetyme in the same cite, used witchecrafte and bewithched the people, sayinge that he was a man that coulde do greate thinges.

   • 1866, Algernon Swinburne, A Ballad of Burdens, lines 33-36

     Thou shalt see

     Gold tarnished, and the grey above the green

     And as the thing thou seest thy face shall be

     And no more as the thing beforetime seen.

References

• “beforetime”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.