Etymology Inherited from Middle English before /bifore, from Old English beforan, from be- + foran (“before”), from fore, from Proto-Germanic *furai, from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“front”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian befoar (“before”), German Low German bevör (“before”), German bevor (“before”).
We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
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In front of in space.
He stood before me.
We sat before the fire to warm ourselves.
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His angel, who shall go / Before them in a cloud and pillar of fire.1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.[…]But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again[…]she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC:
The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
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In the presence of.
He performed before the troops in North Africa.
He spoke before a joint session of Congress.
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Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).
The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule.
If a suit be begun before an archdeacon[…]1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani:
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In store for, in the future of (someone).
Your whole life is before you.
The golden age[…]is before us.1831, Thomas Carlyle, “The Phœnix”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 164:
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There is an Eternity behind thee as well as one before. Hast thou bewailed the aeons that passed without thee, who art so much afraid of the aeons that shall pass?1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 76:
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In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.
In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline".
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At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking.
An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, and amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations.
He that cometh after me is preferred before me.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 1:15:
before
adv
Etymology Inherited from Middle English before /bifore, from Old English beforan, from be- + foran (“before”), from fore, from Proto-Germanic *furai, from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“front”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian befoar (“before”), German Low German bevör (“before”), German bevor (“before”).
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At an earlier time.
I've never done this before.
This achievement far exceeded anything that had come before.
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All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
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Literary, Poetic In advance in position or sequence; ahead.
When people call this beast to mind, They marvel more and more At such a little tail behind, So LARGE a trunk before.1896, Hilaire Belloc, “The Elephant”, in The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts:
before
conj
Etymology Inherited from Middle English before /bifore, from Old English beforan, from be- + foran (“before”), from fore, from Proto-Germanic *furai, from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“front”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian befoar (“before”), German Low German bevör (“before”), German bevor (“before”).
1
In advance of the time when.
Near-synonym: no later than
Brush your teeth before you go to bed.
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But before this elaborate treatise can become of universal use and ornament to my native country, two points[…] are absolutely necessary.1731 (date written), Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “An Introduction to the Following Treatise”, in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, […], London: […] B[enjamin] Motte […], published 1738, →OCLC, page xiv:
Stephen Ward then had to time his tackle excellently to deny Tarmo Kink as the Wolves winger slid the ball out of play before the Estonian could attempt to beat Given.2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport:
I'll die before I('ll) tell you anything about it.
before
noun
Etymology Inherited from Middle English before /bifore, from Old English beforan, from be- + foran (“before”), from fore, from Proto-Germanic *furai, from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“front”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian befoar (“before”), German Low German bevör (“before”), German bevor (“before”).
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Of before-and-after images: the one that shows the difference before a specified treatment.
On the left of the double column of photographs are the “befores.” Look at them! Fine boys all, yet here is an unformed mouth; there, a fine face just missing strength by a slight over-plumpness of feature; below, a clever face just a shade too “smart”; on the next page, a form too slight and beginning to stoop. On the right are the “afters.”1918 April, “Before and After”, in Arthur Deerin Call, editor, Advocate of Peace, volume LXXX, number 4, Washington, D.C.: American Peace Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, “Editorial Notes” section, page 105, column 2:
I told them that I was taking part in a ‘Before and After’ feature for the magazine. The beauty editor had picked a couple of girls in the office to experiment on. ‘I always think that the befores look better than the afters in that kind of experiment,’ Aunt G said.1973, Mary Lutyens, chapter 8, in Cleo, London: Michael Joseph, →ISBN, page 164:
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Sometimes we’d agree the person looked better in their before. Happier somehow. More themselves before the muscles. […] Other times we’d laugh at the befores. I’d make a crack, something like, “People should need a special government ID to buy spandex like that. It’s a question of public safety.”2017, Meagan Cass, “Calling All Soloflex Men”, in ActivAmerica, Denton, Tex.: University of North Texas Press, →ISBN, page 100:
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Often, Poetic, Uncommon That which occurred or existed previously.
As all are commanded to yield like the mummy when the dung beetle rolls the sun / before all the befores of the trillion nights past night and day / though I knew that the broken receding mouth of the Sphinx had nothing to add / of resurrection in the history of its grimace.1982, Hugh Seidman, “Hymn”, in Throne/Falcon/Eye: Poems, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN; quoted in Michael Heller, “SEIDMAN, Hugh”, in James Vinson, D[aniel] L[ane] Kirkpatrick, editors, Contemporary Poets (Contemporary Writers of the English Language), 4th edition, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, 1985, →ISBN, pages 763–764:
Your music has lasted since the beginning of the world. A stone was born in the waters. […] Voice rising to heaven, pure music, green primal root, mother-sea, before all the befores.1995, Maria Luisa Spaziani, translated by Laura Stortoni, “The Aegean”, in Sentry Towers, Berkeley, Calif.: Hesperia Press, →ISBN, page 41:
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Yet when I was a child, I stood with my mother on that distant shore, or walked with her up the road, past orchards of plums and pears, past fields narrow as piano keys. To the village where she was born, and her mother before her; all other mothers, all the befores that ever were.1998, Janice Kulyk Keefer, “Prologue: A Bridge of Words”, in Honey and Ashes: A Story of Family, Toronto, Ont.: HarperPerennialCanada, →ISBN, page 3:
Because we’re in debt to that before, to all the befores where the life was before the words. Every time we pick up a hammer and a nail there’s a dead man in it who built a lean-to out of the weather in Wyoming in December or a farmer in Latin America someplace on the back of a mule-drawn cart broken down with a town’s vegetables rotting in the sun or a Mennonite right over there in McGaheysville this minute saying no to some nigh useless particle board siding and still fashioning his house with his hand.2000, Daniel Villasenor, chapter 6, in The Lake, New York, N.Y.: Viking, →ISBN, page 30:
For high in the brightest tower of Light Castle, one thing shone still brighter—the Princess of Light! She came from before all the befores, from a place that is no place. Not fire. Not water. Not air. Not earth. No place. Neither solid, nor liquid, nor gas. Nothing to speak of.2001, Ezra Scott, “Anavak’s Tale”, in Angel Up My Sleeve, Santa Fe, N.M.: Fontanel Books, →ISBN, page 25:
The packing that took all week to finish had also taken her mind off Mike. Less and less she found herself weeping. Her focus was on the nexts. There was little time now to think about all the befores. Today would put an end to the last leftover one.2003, Cynn Chadwick, chapter 16, in Cat Rising, Binghamton, N.Y.: Alice Street Editions, →ISBN, page 236:
A big wind blew all their befores away. Impacted teeth grew over their names. Even the lines in their hands unraveled, these are the lines they stand in to ask for their hands back.1999 March, Julia Vinograd, “The Homeless”, in Street Spirit, volume 5, number 3, San Francisco, Calif.: American Friends Service Committee, →OCLC, page 13:
I guess I should have known from all the befores / that when it’s all said and done / I don’t want to be / I won’t stand to be / I refuse to be / anything but YOURS2006, Walee [pseudonym], “I Never Can Say Goodbye”, in What’s on the Menu? All of Me! Literary Entrees Prepared by Walee, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, chapter 3, page 55:
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They were chatting and laughing and it made my heart hurt. They were getting out. Returning to whatever their befores were. They didn’t even glance back at the house as they climbed into the waiting vehicles.2015, Sarah Pinborough, chapter 14, in The Death House, London: Gollancz, →ISBN, page 160: