before someone's time
prep_phrase1
Idiomatic From before one was born or old enough to be aware of the world.
- I don't know — that was before my time
- At thirteen, I liked a lot of music that was before my time: Louis Armstrong and Dixieland jazz, Sousa marches, and barbershop quartet singing.2007, Bobby Braddock, Down in Orburndale: A Songwriter's Youth in Old Florida, Louisiana State University Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 55:
2
Idiomatic At a stage in one's life, development, etc. that seems premature.
- dead before his time
- Oh yes, and tell her to take care of herself too, and not get herself all banged up again, or she will look old before her time.1951, Johnny Cash, letter to Vivian Cash dated 3 November 1951, reprinted in Vivian Cash (with Ann Sharpsteen), I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny, Scribner (2007), page 38
2 more examples
- Jimi Hendrix is buried at Evergreen Memorial Park in Renton. The electric guitar player extraordinaire died before his time at the young age of 27.2007, Robin Shannon, Cemeteries of Seattle, Arcadia Publishing, published 2007, →ISBN, page 119:
- "Unless you become the third apprentice to quit before his time?"2012, Laura Frantz, Love's Reckoning, Revell, published 2012, →ISBN:
- Related terms
- back in the day