afore









afore


adverb, preposition, conjunction Older Use.

  1. before.

adverb, preposition, conjunction

  1. an archaic or dialect word for before
adv.

Old English onforan “before, at the beginning of, in front of,” from phrase on foran, from on (prep.) + foran (adv.) “in front,” dative of for.

In some cases probably it represents Old English ætforan “at-fore.” Once the literary equivalent of before, now it has mostly been replaced by that word except in nautical use and in combinations such as aforesaid and aforethought.

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