Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb, preposition & conjunction Before.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Before in place; in front: especially in nautical phraseology.
- Before in time; previously.
- Before in time.
- Before in place; nautical, further forward or nearer the bows than: as, afore the windlass.
- Before in position, station, or rank.
- In or into the presence of; under the regard or notice of.
- Before that; before; rather than.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- preposition Archaic Before (in all its senses).
- preposition (Naut.) Before; in front of; farther forward than.
- preposition among the common sailors; -- a phrase used to distinguish the ship's crew from the officers.
- adverb obsolete Before.
- adverb (Naut.) In the fore part of a vessel.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb dialect
Before . - adverb nautical In the
fore part of aship . - preposition
before
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"I asked you if she wan't a Cahoon; Cahoon was her name afore she married Hall, wan't it?"
Galusha the Magnificent Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1907
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"Blest if I've ever 'eard the lingo afore," said Bill.
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Noo she's in afore the King, bowed doon upon a knee
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Why, a vagrant's a chap that, if he'd all your master owns to-morrow, he'd be on the tramp again afore t 'year were out, and three years wouldn't repair t' mischief he'd leave behind him.
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The kerrige's lined with blue satin, 'n' never was sot in afore this mornin '.
Oldtown Folks 1869
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Folks oughtenter lay up their treasures on airth; I could n't help thinkin 'on 't, when I see Tiny a wearin' them jewels, jest how vain an 'transitory everythin' is, an 'how the women 't has worn 'em afore is all turned to dust, an' lyin 'in their graves.
Oldtown Folks 1869
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"Why weren't we called afore?" asked one of the party.
The Gold Hunters' Adventures Or, Life in Australia William Henry Thomes 1859
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Shields, years ago; and he called him by his name afore they were well out o 't' river.
Sylvia's Lovers — Complete Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 1837
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Shields, years ago; and he called him by his name afore they were well out o 't' river.
Sylvia's Lovers — Volume 3 Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 1837
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I hadn’t time to ask him a word afore he was gone. An’
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