before
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- befo (pronunciation spelling)
- befo' (pronunciation spelling)
- b4 (Internet slang)
- be4 (Internet slang)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English before, bifore (adverb and preposition), 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”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bĭfôʹ, IPA(key): /bɪˈfɔː/
- (General American) enPR: bəfôrʹ, bēfôrʹ, bĭfôrʹ, IPA(key): /bəˈfɔɹ/, /biˈfɔɹ/, /bɪˈfɔɹ/
- (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: bĭfōrʹ, IPA(key): /bɪˈfo(ː)ɹ/
- (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA(key): /bɪˈfoə/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: be‧fore
- Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
Preposition[edit]
before
- Earlier than (in time).
- I want this done before Monday.
- 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:
- We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.
- In front of in space.
- He stood before me.
- We sat before the fire to warm ourselves.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- His angel, who shall go / Before them in a cloud and pillar of fire.
- 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →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.
- 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
- 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.
- In the presence of.
- He performed before the troops in North Africa.
- He spoke before a joint session of Congress.
- Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).
- The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule.
- 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani:
- If a suit be begun before an archdeacon […]
- In store for, in the future of (someone).
- 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “The Phœnix”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book third, page 164:
- The golden age […] is before us.
- 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 76:
- 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?
- In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.
- In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline".
- At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking.
- An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, an amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 1:15:
- He that cometh after me is preferred before me.
Synonyms[edit]
- (earlier than in time): by, no later than, previous to, prior to, ere (obsolete)
- (in front of in space): ahead of, in front of
- (in front of according to an ordering system): ahead of
Antonyms[edit]
- (antonym(s) of "earlier than in time"): after, later than
- (antonym(s) of "in front of in space"): behind
- (antonym(s) of "in front of according to an ordering system"): after
Translations[edit]
earlier than
|
in front of in space
|
in store for, in the future of
under consideration, judgment, authority of
|
in front of according to an ordering system
|
at a higher or greater position in a subjective ranking
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Adverb[edit]
before (not comparable)
- At an earlier time.
- I've never done this before.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- 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.
- In advance.
- At the front end.
- 1896, Hilaire Belloc, “The Elephant”, in The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts:
- When people call this beast to mind,
They marvel more and more
At such a little tail behind,
So LARGE a trunk before.
Synonyms[edit]
- (at an earlier time): previously
- (in advance): ahead
- (at the front end): in front
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
at an earlier time
|
in advance
|
at the front end
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Conjunction[edit]
before
- In advance of the time when.
- 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:
- But before this elaborate treatise can become of universal use and ornament to my native country, two points […] are absolutely necessary.
- 2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport:
- 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.
- (informal) Rather or sooner than.
- I'll die before I'll tell you anything about it.
Synonyms[edit]
- (rather than): lest
Translations[edit]
in advance of the time when
|
rather or sooner than
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Derived terms[edit]
- accessary before the fact
- accessory before the fact
- age before beauty
- before-and-after
- before and after
- before dark
- beforehand
- before it was cool
- before long
- before-mentioned
- before one knows it
- before one knows where one is
- before one's eyes
- before someone's time
- before the fact
- before the mast
- beforetime
- before times
- before you can say Jack Robinson
- before you can say knife
- best-before date
- best before date
- boldly go where no man has gone before
- bow down before the porcelain god
- bros before hoes
- bros before hos
- business before pleasure
- calm before the storm
- carry all before one
- carry everything before one
- carry the world before one
- cast pearls before swine
- check yourself before you wreck yourself
- chicks before dicks
- come before
- crawl before one can walk
- crawl before one walks
- cross a bridge before one comes to it
- day before yesterday
- don't count your chickens before the eggs have hatched
- don't count your chickens before they're hatched
- fingers were made before forks
- halloo before one is out of the wood
- hoes before bros
- in before
- it is always darkest before the dawn
- it is always darkest just before the dawn
- it is darkest before the dawn
- it is darkest just before the dawn
- I've never heard it called that before
- jump before one is pushed
- kneel before
- know how to walk before one can run
- learn to walk before one can run
- leg before
- leg before wicket
- lie before
- look before one leaps
- lull before the storm
- make-before-break
- milk before meat
- morning after the night before
- not before time
- nothing is said that has not been said before
- one's father was born before one
- pearls before swine
- pride comes before a fall
- pride cometh before a fall
- pride goes before a fall
- pride goeth before a fall
- pride wenteth before a fall
- put before
- put the cart before the horse
- sisters before misters
- tears before bedtime
- the darkest hour is always just before the dawn
- the darkest hour is just before the dawn
- the day before
- the night before last
- throw pearls before swine
- time before time
- wrap it before you tap it
- you must spoil before you spin
References[edit]
- “before”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
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- English 2-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/ɔː(ɹ)
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